CitiHope International has worked in Malawi since 2002, and The Presbyterian Church of Basking Ridge has contributed to its mission since 2007. First partnering with The Church of Central Africa, Presbyterian Synod of Livingstonia (CCAP-Livingstonia Synod), Citihope’s major activities include providing: medical supplies to health institutions, nutritional supplements to vulnerable persons, and safe drinking water by drilling wells in rural communities.
Similar to Habitat for Humanity, Hogar De Cristo is a non-profit social organization started in Guayaquil, Ecuador, by Jesuit priests in 1971, to assist the poorest of the poor. Since 2003, volunteer work crews have gone to Guayaquil for a week every other summer to build homes for the homeless.
2010 marks the fourth year of a five-year commitment to help reduce extreme poverty in Africa. During this time well over $200,000 has been donated to Millenium Promise and World Vision by BRPC, through our General Mission budget, Lenten offerings and a number of generous individual gifts. The two organizations have similar goals and approaches, both in the same area of Malawi, although MP is secular and WV is ecumenical. Our hands-on opportunities are every 2-3 years for a week-long work trip.
Currently our mission support through General Assembly is designated towards the support of four missionaries each living out their faith and service to God in unique and challenging locations. They include:
Martha Sommers, M.D., Malawi
Doug & Elaine Baker, N. Ireland
Bernard & Farsijana Adeney-Risakotta, Indonesia
Rev. Wesley & Rita Tillett, Lebanon
R.O.C.K Bridge Ministries (Reaching Out to Communities in Kenya to Create a Bridge of Ministry) is one of the organizations working in Africa that is supported through our General Mission budget. One of R.O.C.K. Bridge’s special projects is the Tumaini Bethany Children’s Home, an orphanage and school serving the communities of the PCEA (Presbyterian Church of East Africa). Many members of our congregation also sponsor children at the orphanage.
BRPC supports several programs in Nicaragua through our General Mission budget, including helping impoverished homeless children through an agency working with young girls and the problems of drug addiction and prostitution. Members have also provided medical supplies, including a CAT scan machine and a clinic in which to put it.
Supported by our General Mission budget for over five years, this is a faith-based organization that concentrates on helping children who have at least one parent affected by HIV/AIDS or violence, and their families, by providing educational, medical, nutritional, social and spiritual care. To provide for them, V2V seeks to develop a supportive community of children and families that will provide a safety net for one another in crisis, reinforcing the child's extended family ties and supportint the family's efforts in making positive decisions for their orphaned relatives.
If interested in learning more about Mission opportunities, please contact Dr. Maureen Paterson.