Helping out in the most dangerous country in the world

When most people go on a winter getaway, it's to lounge on the beach at some exotic resort, but Roy Ralph takes a slightly different approach to getting away from it all. Ralph recently returned from Dohok, Northern Iraq, where he spent three months working with Samaritan's Purse helping internally displaced people of the region.

“It's still rated as the most dangerous country in the world,” Ralph said, adding he could hear the air attacks on ISIS positions in Mosul some 40 kilometres away.

This is not the first time the retired engineer has ventured to far off lands. He has been to Haiti several times, Japan after the tsumani and other disaster areas.

When he completed the disaster assessment and response team (DART) training through Samaritan's Purse, it opened up a variety of doors – all leading to a disaster or war zone of some sort.

Ralph said when he was asked to go to Iraq, he jumped at the opportunty with the full blessing of his wife, Olive.

“I like adventure and since I retired, I have been doing this sort of thing,” he said from his Westside home Monday, two weeks after returning from the Middle East.

“I always had a nomadic spirit, so I jumped at the opportunity. It is the sort of adventure that is exciting to me. I'll go anywhere there is a need.”
Ralph helped distribute much-needed items to people living fleeing the violence of ISIS, including 50,000 winter jackets, 300,000 pairs of shoes, 40,000 blankets and many more items needed to survive the harsh Iraq winter.

Samaritan's Purse paid for all of the items plus the 30 tons of food that was distributed while Ralph was in the region.

“Our focus was to help the one million people who were forced onto Mount Sinjar by ISIS,” he said, adding the people were trapped on the mountain until Kurdish forces managed to secure an escape route.

But once out of the war zone, people had to find a place to live and hunkered down wherever they could in temperatures that dropped below freezing at night. Many people lived in unfinished buildings or whatever accommodations they could find.

“There was in excess of 200,000 people living in tents,” he said.

Because he was there from November to January, Ralph had the opportunity to hand out shoeboxes filled with gifts collected through Operation Christmas Child.

OCC collected some 13 million shoe boxes this year and gave them to children in war zones, disaster areas and areas of tremendous poverty around the world. For many of the children, the shoebox will be the only give they will ever receive.

In Dohok, a city of 80,000 people, Ralph stayed in a rented house, and while there were no car bombings or armed conflict in the immediate area, danger lurked around every corner.

“We were at risk of people kidnapping us and selling us to ISIS,” he said, adding they had to constantly change their schedule and the route they took to the distribution areas to make it harder for any would-be kidnappers to determine a pattern of when and where they would be.

Ralph said ISIS was operating in the city “in a covert fashion for sure.

“Danger was all around you. We knew we were in a war zone, but we didn't worry about the danger. We were there to help people and we went about doing out duties.”

The closest the war came to Ralph was three kilometres when allied bombers hit an ISIS convoy in a nearby mountain.

At 67, Ralph said he plans to keep going on trips as long as possible and will be returning to Haiti in two weeks.

There is also a chance he could return to Iraq in the fall.

Building homes, relationships and helping the least of these in Mexico

Luke 14:12-14
Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

It is very clear how God wants us to treat the poor. There are numerous scriptures, passages and commands telling His people we are to care for the poor, the downtrodden and those in need.
One of my favourite scriptures is, 'For what you do unto the least of these, you do unto me.'
That is not just a passing comment, that is Christ saying when we look after someone in need - the weak, the poor, the infirmed - we are directly caring for Jesus himself. It is something to be taken seriously.
The moment some good friends invited my family to go Mexico to build a home in a barrio of what North American standards would consider a slum, I knew we were going south.
Myself, my wife and two of our children left the cozy confines of our home to travel to Northern Mexico and help an impoverished family have a better life.
There would be 15 pasty-white Canadians from the B.C. and Alberta meeting at 1Mission in Puerto Penasco, Mexico where we would spend three days toiling in the hot sun to build a new home for Charlie, Meetay and their 12-year-old daughter, Jasmine.
1Mission is run by director Greg Yochim with the strong support of his wife, Merle. Both have sacrificed greatly to help the people of the coastal town of around 40,000 people, 100 kilometres from the Arizona border.
When the economy crashed in 2008, it took Greg's business with it. Living in Phoenix with his wife and three children, the Alberta transplants found themselves in a spot many people dread. But the family pushed on, and with a heart for God and a desire to help the poor, Greg spent three years volunteering at the 1Mission base camp.
Financially, things were tight. As his wife worked as a teacher's assistant, Greg split his time between Phoenix and the 1Mission base. But the Lord is faithful, and Greg was hired to work for 1Mission full time.
The goal of 1Mission is to build 75 houses a year for the impoverished people of the region who survive on as little as $40 a week. The price of gas is more than $1US per litre. Alcohol is cheap, milk isn't.
All that is required of the recipient is they provide 200 volunteer hours helping their community. To date, 1Mission has built more than 300 homes - and generated 60,000 volunteer hours.
As we were getting ready to leave the winter clime of Canada, I thought our goal was to change the life of this Mexican family (which we did), but when it was over it would also be my life and the outlook I have that would be changed.
The house, by North American standards, was really not much to look at. A rectangle box with two doors, two windows and a tiny bathroom area, it measured 220 square feet – roughly the same size as the garage of my home.
The neighbourhood was hooked up to electricity only a few months ago. Water was from a small pipe sticking out of the ground with a garden hose attached to it.
All of the work was done by hand from mixing dozens of wheelbarrows of cement to cutting sheets of plywood. Working shoulder-to-shoulder with Charlie and his neighbours was a wonderful experience.
These were 'real' Mexicans, in a 'real' part of Mexico. They were just regular folks and we were blessed to show them the love of Christ in a very real and tangible way. They were caring, hard-working people and you could see the joy on the face of Meetay and Jasmine as the work progressed. Charlie had an infectious look of pride as the home neared completion.
The unpaved roads, roaming dogs, blowing dust and sheer poverty in which so many Mexicans live was far from anything I have ever seen in Canada.
In this Mexico, there are no swimming pools, no waiters catering to your every whim, no maids cleaning your room while you lounged at the beach with a tequila - and I loved every minute of it.
We spent five days in Mexico, three building the home and two at a resort only a few kilometers away. By far, spending time with Charlie and his family was the more enjoyable of the two.
It does the soul good to help others, there is a joy that cannot be found poolside as you sweat in the midday sun and rinse dust from your teeth or nurse a finger that got in the way of a swinging hammer.
Christ has called us to care for the least of these. You do not have to go to Mexico to do it, there are plenty of opportunities your own town to serve.
But if you are heading south, consider skipping a couple days of the king-size bed, big-screen TV and room service to experience the real Mexico and to get more than just a tan. By helping out you will get a sense of satisfaction, lifelong memories and the knowledge that you made a difference in the life of someone not as blessed as you. You will not regret it.
For more information on how to help, go to 1mission.org.

Copyright 2015, Darren Handschuh

Building mansions out of shipping containers

To North American eyes, a shipping container is hardly a mansion, but to a homeless person it can be a palace they never dared dream would be theirs.
Former Kelowna youth pastor Bill Hebner and business partner Chad Smith came upon the idea of converting a shipping container into a home several years ago and their plan is catching on.
The 640-square-foot boxes can go from a container to a home with plumbing, electricity, kitchen and insulation for around $10,000 and can be built in a matter of days.
For years, Hebner – who at the time was with First Baptist Church in Kelowna - took teams of youths to Mexico where they would build brick homes for less fortunate families.
After taking hundreds of youths on the mission trip over the course of a decade, Hebner was asked if he wanted to expand his work into Africa, which he did.
He soon brought 15 South African church leaders to Mexico to see the homes being built there with the idea of setting up similar projects in the African nation. Which they did, but in 2010 Hebner struck upon the idea of converting shipping containers into homes as a simpler, cheaper and faster way to provide a house to those in need.
The first one took him and five unskilled companions five days to build.
“We were shocked at how fast, and at how little skill or energy this thing took to construct,” he said, adding today he could probably build one in 24 hours.
“You can actually build a school in under 10 days,” he said, adding he recently built a school for an village in Africa from shipping containers large enough to house 400 students. “I can build the school for $50,000 and hand it off to an NGO. It is very effective.”
As more homes were built, the idea began to take off and larger facilities have been constructed using the same basic premise.
“We've built some orphanages. We also built a half-way house for getting people out of the sex trade in Kenya,” said Smith.
Within the next few weeks, Smith and Hebner are hoping to open a facility in Johannesburg that can convert shipping containers into homes on a full-time, ongoing basis.
“We would then drop the home onto a site,” said Smith, adding all of the people working in the factory would be local.
There are currently 8.5 million homeless people in South Africa alone, 2.5 million of them are in Johannesburg. More than one billion people worldwide are homeless.
Smith said they also have contracts with Congo and Kenya to open similar factories in those countries.
Hebner added there are stock piles of containers in many port cities.
“My dream is to build half a million homes for the homeless,” said Hebner who is currently working out of the U.K.
“This all basically started in the basement of First Baptist Church,” said Hebner. “I never planned on doing this. It came by accident.”
Hepner wrote a book, How to Build a Simple Three Bedroom Shipping Container House available on Amazon.com, that can be used as a guide to building such a home.
There is no shortage of need for the homes, schools and orphanages Hebner is building and anyone wanting to donate can do so through the Trinity Baptist Legacy Foundation, 1905 Springfield Rd. Kelowna, B.C., V1Y 7V7, or email foundation@trinitybaptist.net.
To donate money specifically to complete the Kenyan safe house, designate the contribution to YL27.
For more information on Hebner and the projects being worked on, go to youthmissionproject.org.uk.

Metro is meeting people where they are at and showing them the love of Christ

The Lord has commanded his people to care for the least of these and to truly care for and understand the poorest among us, we must live among them.

Laurence East took that message to heart and left a secure position as a pastor in a large Okanagan church to help the marginalized members of the society and meet them where they are at.

“I wanted to get outside of the church walls,” said East who is the pastor of Metro Community church and the driving force behind Metro Central, a downtown Kelowna facility that helps the street community.

Metro Central offers a wide range of programs for street people from food to computer access to simply providing a place to hang out and not be alone.

East took his leap of faith several years ago when himself and a few others from his church would spend Saturday evenings at the Kelowna Gospel Mission visiting people.

As their numbers grew a small, but dedicated church began to form.

Today, the church has 250 members, 60 per cent of which are either street people or people who were once living on the streets. The remainder of the church is made up of people from various walks of life.

“We believe we are called to take the most vulnerable in our community, bring them to our church and give them the largest voice,” said East, who is known as Rev on the street.

East partners with several groups and agencies to keep the numerous programs at Metro Central up and running, but 50 per cent of the operating budget comes from the congregation themselves.

Metro has four enterprises: Metro Moving, Metro Laundry as well as operating food carts and a cafe. Most of the people employed at these ventures are former clients of Metro Central who have gotten off the streets and into a more stable, safer lifestyle.

Scripture is full of God telling his people to spread the good news of Christ and for East, Metro is the best way to do that, by showing Christ's love in a real and practical way.

Leaving his position at Willow Park Church was not an easy move to make, but East felt strongly it was something he had to do – he wanted to do.

He knew money would be tight – it still is even after all these years – but he also knew it was what he was called to do, so he took a huge leap of faith and hundreds of people are now benefiting from his strength and determination to step off the safe path and to answer the call of the Lord.

“We are not a 'normal' church. It's risky. We are always struggling to make ends meet,” he said.

But God has his hand on Metro and every month the bills get paid and more people are introduced to the unwavering love of Jesus Christ.

For more information on Metro, check out their website at metrocommunity.ca.

Love in Motion: riding for a cause

Some are pedaling for a few days, some a little longer, but Shirley and Gerry Malnis will be riding a tandem bike from sea to shining sea to raise funds for those in need.
The Vernon couple are among several Okanagan riders taking part in the annual Love in Motion tour.
Some Vernon cyclists rode from Vancouver to Vernon – they all smiled when asked about the Coastal Mountain Range – while a few brave souls will peddle across the entire length of one of the geographically largest countries in the world.
This was Warren Yablonksi's first time riding with Love In Motion. An avid cyclist, the Vernon resident rode from Vancouver to the Okanagan during the first week of the two-month long endeavor.
“We are raising money for people who need help across Canada,” he said, adding the participants can ride for a week or the entire trip.
Love in Motion is designed to raise support and awareness for projects aiding vulnerable and at-risk people. Various groups and organizations across Canada will benefit from the money raised by the ride.
“We raised funds ourselves to go on the ride,” said Yablonksi. Donations can also be made online at loveinmotion.ca or to the VAC Riders at the Vernon Alliance Church. A list of projects and the cities they are in can also be found at the website.
Vernon cyclist Lora Fellenz said the ride is all about helping the less fortunate.
“It raises awareness of the need,” she said. “People stop all the time and ask us what we are doing. They will then often make a contribution.”
As if pedaling some of the largest mountain ranges in North America was not enough of a challenge, many of the riders will be carrying wooden blocks with them.
Fellenz said each block has the name of a person inscribed on them and represent people who have died on the mean streets of Regina.
“The idea is we will carry each others burdens and share each others burdens,” said Fellenz.
"Every morning when we start out in prayer, we pray for the name on the block," said Shirley.
While the Vernon peddlers are riding for the Arbour, some 300 cyclists will take part in the ride before it is over, with each raising money for a program that helps the homeless, drug addicted and other marginalized people.
Anyone who has driven across the province knows the sacrifice and challenge the riders have taken upon themselves in the effort to help others.
“The first week is the hardest because it is all hills,” said Fellenz, adding the area from Golden to Revelstoke will also prove a challenge as other riders nodded in agreement.
However, once they get out of the mountains, it will be relatively flat going through several provinces.
Shirley said the goal of the Vernon group was to raise $23,000 that will be used to expand the Arbour at the Vernon Alliance Church.
The Arbour is a place where the city's less fortunate can go to receive hot soup, items of clothing and is a place where they can go to know someone out there cares for them. It offers a variety of programs that the money from the ride will help to expand.
Numerous organizations that help those in need across Canada will also receive funding generated by the ride.
The theme of this year's ride is justice and compassion, and that is one of the motivators for the husband and wife team who are involved in numerous faith-based events and organizations locally and internationally. They are also heavily involved in Wellspring, an agency working to improve education in Rwanda.
While the Vernon cyclists are riding for the Arbour, some 300 cyclists will take part in the ride before it is over, each raising money for a program that helps the homeless, drug addicted and other marginalized people.
A list of projects and the cities they are in can also be found at the website.
The ride will end in Halifax Aug. 30.

Engineers change lives in Ghana

Randy Runzer would jump at the chance to return to Ghana.
Runzer, an applied science technologist with Urban Systems, recently returned from the African nation where he helped conduct a feasibility study with the faith-based group Engineering Ministries International to build a hospital.
The group of highly educated Christian professionals left the comfort of their homes for the dry, hot landscape of Africa. And they were thrilled to do it.
In Ghana, they connected with other Christians and Runzer said every day started with a time of worship and prayer.
Honouring the Lord before heading off to work was just part of the daily routine for his Christian brothers and sisters in Ghana.
It took almost two days to go from the Okanagan, where Runzer lives, to Carpenter, a small village in Northern Ghana.
Runzer was struck by the poverty of the region and immediately recognized the need for a hospital.
"It's very poor, most of the homes are mud huts, thatched roofs,” said Runzer.
But it was a heart-wrenching story that steeled his determination to help the people of impoverished region.
Runzer was told of Peter, a man who lost his young wife during childbirth because they did not have access to a $2 oxycodin pill.
ﾒIt was heartbreaking to hear that what we take for granted they do not even have access to,” he said.
Runzer said the hospital is the dream of David Mensah, a man who came to Canada from Ghana, where he earned a university education before returning to his homeland where he has built a compound that is the base for several businesses. For more on Mensah and the work he and Canadian Christian organizations are doing in Ghana, go to grid-nea.org/.
Mensah employs locals to work in the businesses he created that include growing peanuts, a fish hatchery, growing mushrooms and raising livestock.
ﾒHe's raising the standard of living for quite a few families in that area,” said Runzer, adding Mensah has established a clinic in the compound, the need is much greater.
ﾒThe nearest good hospital is several hours away by vehicle,” said Runzer who did the site servicing for the feasibility plan.
Runzer joined engineers, architects and other professionals in developing the plan, that if done in the Okanagan, would have cost well in excess of $500,000.
All of the work was done for free and Runzer and his teammates even paid their own way to and from Africa.
The hospital will be built in Carpenter, a village of only a few hundred people, but it will service an area of close to 50,000 people – most of whom have no access to medical care.
Runzer said the hospital will be a “full service” facility capable of handling surgeries, emergency needs and childbirth.
The government gave its approval for the hospital plan earlier this month.
ﾒIt's a go now for detailed design,” said Runzer adding the entire team is ready, willing and eager to return to Carpenter and make the hospital a reality.
But no one is more excited than the people of the region.
ﾒAll of the chiefs in the area, including the paramount chief, came to a presentation that we made. They were cheering all the time, they were so excited about the potential to get a hospital,” he said. “I feel a sense of urgency to help as much as I can. They so desperately need it and they are so grateful for everything you do for them.”
The Carpenter Hospital will be the culmination of years of work at improving health in this rural area of Northern Ghana.  The Ghana Rural Integrated Development (GRID) and Northern Empowerment Association (NEA) have been providing mobile medical teams to serve the needs of the region, and invited Engineering Ministries International to help them design a permanent hospital for the region.
The volunteers developed concepts for the hospital and worked with the leadership of GRID & NEA to understand the vision and determine future programming.  They then surveyed the site and assessed the conditions of the existing buildings and infrastructure. 
Runzer inspected the existing water and drainage and proposed infrastructure for the hospital design.  At the end of the week, the team presented a master plan and building design proposal to the NEA leadership, as well as regional chiefs and the community.  The final
report will be sent to GRID & NEA in the coming months, and will be used by the organizations for both fundraising and for construction.  
For more information on Engineering Ministries International, go to emicanada.org.

Copywrite 2014 Darren Handschuh

Wellspring changing the lives of countless children

It’s not every day a person gets to witness firsthand the difference they are making in the lives of children half a world away, but a group of Vernon ladies enjoyed that very blessing when they travelled to Rwanda earlier this year.
Sherrie Mann, Sharon Sakakibara and Barb Elgin all traveled to Kigali for the first time where they met the children and teachers Wellspring Foundation for Education supports.
Shirley Malnis is the partner engagement co-ordinator for The Wellspring Foundation for Education, and has visited the African nation before, but she is always touched by when she sees the faces of the children Wellspring is helping.
Wellspring officially began in July 2004 in response to the compelling vision of Rwandan Christians to rebuild their country following the 1994 genocide.
Founders Jeffery Kormant and Richard Taylor were committed Christians who were born and raised in Africa. After graduating from Trinity Western University, they went to Rwandan with a vision for an entirely different type of education system that would empower a new generation of Rwandan leaders. Since then, many committed and gifted teachers, leaders, support staff, volunteers and donors have embraced the vision and joined the team.
Amid the bustling metropolis of Kigali are numerous schools, filled with young minds - the future of the African nation.
"The people are beautiful," said Mann. "I have never seen so many smiling faces."
Sakakibara said no matter what school they went to, they were greeted by the huge smiles and laughter of children.
Wellspring operates a program called Ignite 48, which teaches teachers better methods of instruction and sponsors classrooms.The Vernon women spent their time visiting schools, witnessing the works God can do when people call upon his name.
For $55 a month, you can literally change the lives of Rwandan youths by sponsoring a classroom, supporting the teaching program and by opening up doors to education some children do not have access to.
Like the system itself, the classrooms differ greatly from what is found in North American schools.
The Rwandan schools have open classrooms, long tables for desks and up to 60 children per class. All struggle with limited resources.
Malnis said Wellspring works with materials found locally and shows the teachers how to find the supplies they need rather than having them become dependent on supplies being shipped in.
The classroom schedule is broken down into two parts with some students taking in the morning session and others the afternoon classes.
“They go to school and then they go home and work in the fields or wherever,” said Mann, adding the students she met ranged from Kindergarten to Grade 6.
While it is not uncommon for North American youths to balk and complain about having to go to school, Malnis said many Rwandan youths seem eager to get an education, appreciating the privilege of attending class.
“The most common thing we saw were huge smiles on their faces. That is largely due to Ignite 48. One of the students told us how different things are now, how much better they are. They want to go to school now,” said Mann.
Before Wellspring began to train teachers, the school system was described as Draconian.
It was not uncommon for a teacher to use a strong stick to enforce discipline and there was virtually no relationship between student and instructor.
But after attending training sessions through Wellspring, teachers are more engaged with the students and the rising grades reflect the new method of teaching.
“The teachers also teach other teachers,” said Mann. “They go back to the schools and help the teachers to teach. The teachers are so appreciative of learning a new way of doing things..”
After returning from a Wellspring educational session, one teacher got down on his knees and begged the forgiveness of the children for the way they had been treated.
"It became a much more interesting job for the teachers once they learned how to teach," said Malnis. "You could really see the love between the kids and the teachers."
Elgin said Wellspring also helps Rwanda educators to use materials they can find locally and the strength of the Canadian dollar means a financial donation here is magnified many times in Rwanda.
Annual trips are arranged to Rwanda, but you do not have to travel the globe to make a difference. Donations to Wellspring can, and does, change lives.
For more information on Wellspring, go to www.thewellspringfoundation.org   (North American site) or www.wellspringrwanda.org  (Rwandan site).