What does hopelessness look like to you?
By Sheryl Martin Hash
From newspapers to television to social media, it seems everywhere you turn there is a prevailing sense of hopelessness among people today – and especially young people.
Hopeless about the future … finances … relationships … employment. The list goes on.
Truth be told, most of us have felt hopeless about one thing or another during our lives. We all encounter difficult problems, but most of the time we understand that things will get better. Sometimes, though, we feel powerless to change our circumstances, believing our current situation will never improve.
THE HARD FACTS
That’s the depth of despair that folks living in ultra-poor countries experience. And these are the people Julie’s Heart Cry encounters as we minister in sub-Saharan Africa
In the Central African Republic (CAR), destitute parents worry about how they will feed their families; no government assistance exists. Roughly 71% live below the international poverty line of $1.90 per day.
Child mothers, often the victims of rape or incest, don’t know where to turn after their parents kick them out of the house for getting pregnant. Where will they go? How will they survive – when some are only 11 and 12 years old?
Many disadvantaged people cannot go to a clinic or hospital because they lack funds, or the facility is simply too far away. They must watch their loved ones suffer and die without any medical care. Common diseases that are usually fatal in the CAR include malaria, yellow fever, and diarrheal-related illnesses.
In a culture where women are treated as property, widows and divorcees often find themselves responsible for supporting their families. The majority of these women have no education and no vocational skills – not to mention the discrimination they endure.
Education remains a luxury for most young people. The expected length of schooling is 5.3 years for boys compared to 3.8 years for girls in the CAR. The quality of primary education is low, and few girls have access to secondary education.
UNICEF recently noted that, “the Central African Republic’s 3 million children are the world’s most deprived, with widespread malnutrition, inadequate healthcare access, and instability. … That means CAR is now ranked as the country most at-risk for sliding into humanitarian crisis.” The country also has the worst infant mortality rate in the world, and maternal mortality is among the world’s highest.
JOIN US ON THE JOURNEY
When you view hopelessness through the lens of truly impoverished people, the word takes on a different level of meaning. And the situations mentioned above are just a few of the obstacles facing Central Africans. Nine out of 10 impoverished people in the CAR live without electricity. Only 37% have access to clean water. Sexual violence is on the rise. Nearly half a million people remain displaced following the country’s lengthy civil war.
Julie’s Heart Cry has dedicated itself to improving the way of life for people in rural sub-Saharan Africa – especially vulnerable women and children. Our ministry has built homes, grown and harvested crops, purchased land, created a Resource Center, established a partnership with a Christ-centered birthing facility, founded a home for at-risk youth, furnished schools with furniture and supplies, outfitted hospitals with new equipment and baby beds, provided funds for cancer patients who couldn’t afford treatments, transported pregnant girls to medical appointments, provided biblical discipleship, assisted underprivileged women in starting a business, offered sewing and tailoring classes, provided sewing machines, and so much more.
This ministry has big dreams for the future. We envision building a Youth at Risk home in Uganda. We would like to expand our self-sustainability efforts to include job skills training in baking, soap making and chalk making.
You can come alongside us and help turn dreams into reality by becoming a regular ministry donor. We are excited to witness how God is working in the lives of people in our programs. A few months ago, a young teenager at our Youth at Risk Home in Bangui told a staff member she wanted to learn more about this “born-again thing” she kept hearing about. She soon accepted Jesus Christ and was baptized.
Because of our faithful supporters, this young woman went from a hopeless eternity to finding the one true Hope in her life. And there are so many other underprivileged children just like her who need a little help and a lot of hope. Please join us to see what God does next through Julie’s Heart Cry!
“If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.” ~ Isaiah 58:10
