Friday is usually guest post day, but today I wanted to do something a little different. I recently got two really exciting updates about the projects readers of Stuff Christians Like did in Vietnam and Uganda. I’d like to share those with you.
Vietnam
As many of you know, in November of 2009, we asked a pretty simple question, “What if?” What if a bunch of strangers came together and were able to raise $30,000 to build a kindergarten with Samaritan’s Purse in Vietnam? We thought it would take us six weeks to raise the money. We were wrong.
We raised the $30,000 in 18 hours.
Realizing how badly we had underestimated the massiveness of God, we doubled down and decided to build a second one. We ended up raising another $30,000 and securing a total of $60,000 in 25 days. Here’s the full story if you would like to read it. (Big thank you to Wes Molebash, who illustrated the whole adventure with a metrosexual worship leader!)
Last week, my amazing contact Darren at Samaritan’s Purse sent me a photo of the plaques that will be on the kindergartens and it was hard to not get choked up. Here’s the plaque that will be on the kindergartens, halfway around the world in the jungles of Vietnam:
“Provided by Samaritan’s Purse and the Readers of SCL”
That’s us! Because of God’s awesomeness and the readers of a blog, two villages in Vietnam are forever changed! Jenny and I are trying to figure out how we can go visit the kindergartens when they’re open.
Here’s a photo of one of the kindergartens, which should be completed this spring. (My assumption is that the bird in the photo is some sort of worship eagle mascot. )
Uganda
Last October, we partnered with SafeWorldNexus to do the SCL10K. The goal was to raise $10,000 in 24 hours to save lives from malaria by purchasing mosquito nets. We hit our goal in about 2.5 hours and ended up raising more than $33,000. Matt Chambers, the head of SafeWorld Nexus sent me an update and an example of the GPS coordinates they are putting together right now to show you where your $10 net went. Here is what Matt wrote:
SCL10K Update
At the beginning of a new faith journey, you never know exactly what the end result will be, and SCL10K was no exception. But in the aftermath, what we’re experiencing is much more than we could have ever hoped for! Here’s an update on what’s happened so far…
600 mosquito nets have been hand-delivered in 4 different villages.
3 of those villages (Munyolwe, Kisango and Njagala Bwami) now have nets covering 99% of the people living there.
We’re already receiving reports from some of the earlier net distributions that malaria cases have dropped significantly. We’ll have more specific data later, but this is a great beginning!
The village chiefs are so excited about this new project, they insist on going with our distribution teams to each house and they spend extra time making sure their people are using the net properly for maximum effectiveness. This development is very exciting to us because we want this project to empower the local community and help raise up and resource leaders.
The district chief and member of parliament for our 200,000 people target area have both shared with us that they have never seen a project like this, but believe it is absolutely the best way to begin a fight against malaria in the region and will give us whatever support we need.
There are still 2,500 nets to deliver and we believe the impact will continue to be greater than we ever imagined.
We’d like to extend an open invitation to any of you who gave nets to actually travel with us this summer to deliver them to families in Uganda. There are two trips currently scheduled (and we can easily add more): June 2-12 and July 21-31. One of our biggest commitments is to allow people to see exactly where their money is going and this is a way for you to literally place your gift straight into the hands of the family you gave to.
If you’d like to go, or want more info, please email [email protected] or write me on twitter @chambers_matt. We’d love to have you along on one of these trips!
Finally, for those of you waiting for your Google Earth coordinates to see exactly where your net went, here’s a screen shot of what that will look like. Coordinates will begin going out in the next couple weeks, and the site to view locations will be live by the end of January. Thanks for your patience, it’s quite a task to upload thousands of these locations, but we can’t wait for you to see them!
Thank you so much again for giving, praying and encouraging. “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21
Grace and peace, Matt Chambers, Co-founder, executive director, SafeWorldNexus
When I get wrapped up in book sales and blog traffic and building a “brand,” it’s really easy to forget the things that matter most. This post, this is what Stuff Christians Like is about. Thank you for going on this journey with me. You literally changed the world. Your generosity overwhelms me and your compassion is a constant inspiration.
Jon
