July 30, 2011

A little village named Tuara is tugging at our hearts.

Tuara is one of many villages on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, the poorest region in Latin America. In this village and many around it, one in three people are drinking contaminated water, which is literally killing their children.

More children die of water-borne illnesses in this village and those surrounding it than in any other region of Latin America.

It doesn't have to be this way. Nicaragua has abundant water resources underground that could save their lives. They just can't get to it!

In Tuara, Forward Edge is nearing the completion of a well, which will serve 1,200 people. All we need is another $1,500 for electrical and plumbing materials to complete it. Think about it, that's only seven dollars a person; seven dollars to save a life!

Once we finish the well at Tuara, we can continue on to many more villages nearby that are also in desperate need of life-saving clean water. Along the way, we will also be sharing about Christ's love, the Living Water for their souls.

To all donors, thank you so much for the investment you've made in Forward Edge. Your support is literally saving lives. How wonderful it is to know that, together, we can offer villages like Tuara life-saving water for today and a brighter future for tomorrow!

We welcome anyone else who would like to give towards this life-saving work. Help us finish the well in Tuara!

June 9, 2011

Ordinary People… Extraordinary Purpose! That's what your support of Forward Edge is all about.

So when I heard this story of God using ordinary people to extraordinarily change the life of a family, I just had to tell you about it!

Thanks to our child sponsors, Katherine was rescued from the Managua dump a few years ago and now lives in Villa Esperanza, a place of hope and refuge for at-risk girls in Nicaragua. But her 11-year-old sister, Marciel, and mother, Edelma, still live in the dump.

Edelma scavenges through the trash for food and resalable goods. Marciel goes to school when she can, but as she grows up, she receives more and more unwanted attention from men who want to use her as a prostitute. And in many other families, Marciel would be pressured to "do her part" to help. That's the lifestyle of the dump, and the very thing we're trying to prevent!

In the past year, a business has purchased the landfill and is covering it up with huge tarps to capture and sell the methane gas. This means the dump is shrinking, which reduces the main source of income for the families living there and forcing some families to leave.

Edelma knew she must find a new way to provide for her family. So she came to Villa Esperanza Director, Wilbert, with hope and a plan.

Edelma's small house is close to a road and God had provided the funds to purchase goods for a small store. All she lacked was the storefront. Could Forward Edge help?

When we heard her plan, we were thrilled to lend a hand! After all, our main goal is to help the girls and their families in a way that has lasting impact.

Wilbert happily presented the need to a visiting team from Canada. They immediately helped buy the materials and geared up for a day of building with Katherine and her family.

Together, the team and the family worked to unload the supplies and break ground on the new business venture. Soon, the building was up and the sign was visible. Edelma was in business!

• Katherine's child sponsors made the relationship with Edelma possible;
• Wilbert nurtured the relationship to keep it strong;
• The mission team stepped out to serve; and
• Friends like you gave selflessly to help a struggling mother who can only repay through her words of gratitude.

Thanks to this body, fitly joined together, Katherine's family is cared for and has hope for today and tomorrow. What a beautiful reminder of Paul's word to the Corinthians, "Now the body is not made up of one part but of many... If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored every part rejoices with it."

You are an integral member of the Forward Edge community that is empowering God's suffering children to have better lives. Because of your financial support, Forward Edge is improving the lives of these families, providing hope and solutions to their unique needs.

There are more families needing this kind of long-term solution in Nicaragua and in other countries where we serve. We cannot continue to help them without you!

Together we make a tremendous difference.

January, 2010 to Present

The earthquake in Haiti...the tsunami in Southeast Asia...flooding in Pakistan. Each disaster brings with it the need to respond, and as Americans we respond with amazing generosity. But have you ever wondered if your generosity might actually be creating a dependence?

Forward Edge International shares this concern. That’s why we specialize in Phase II disaster response work—impacting communities long after the first responders have left, and moving beyond temporary fixes.

One example is our "Jobs for Life Project" in Haiti. This project is designed to create jobs and address Haiti's unemployment rate that has been hovering between 80-90%. The jobs will be created by Haitians, for Haitians, and run by Haitians. It's a program that will empower Haitian entrepreneurs to create jobs for life and move beyond short-term relief and temporary fixes.

One of our Haitian partners—a Christian ministry founded and run by Haitians—has asked Forward Edge to assist in providing long-term solutions to the thousands of people currently in their care. At the heart of our response is job creation. Rather than fostering perpetual dependence, we want to help Haitians help themselves, and in so doing, end the cycle of poverty that has kept millions of Haitians from reaching their full, God-given potential.

Your gift will help fund this effort and offer long-term solutions to a people crippled by natural disaster, limited infrastructure and a dysfunctional government.

Invest today in "Jobs for Life"! Your gift of $17.33 a month, for 12 months, will provide the start-up capital for one chicken per week to a Haitian entrepreneur.