From Yakima to Zambia
Theme of the Week: Investing Internationally
Sheri Venema
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: We loved you so much that we gave you not only God's Good News but our own lives, too (1 Thessalonians 2:8). Bonus Reading: 1 Thess. 2:10-16
Jerry Haak, a 37-year-old fruit farmer, helped start a chapter of Partners for Christian Development in Washington's Yakima Valley that works with farmers in Zambia, where irrigation is a major need. Partners is a young program that works to create jobs in countries with chronic unemployment. It matches North American businesspeople with entrepreneurs in Third World countries.
Jerry's father, a retired dairyman, tinkered with old parts and came up with an inexpensive hand pump that can deliver 20 gallons a minute and lift water 30 feet out of the ground.
The Yakima chapter won't just give the pumps away. Instead, it will loan Zambians money to buy them.
"If they can't afford the pump, it's not worth having," Jerry said. "We're pretty sure they can afford it, but we want them to start figuring it out for themselves."
The Yakima farmers have been to Zambia to see the problems there firsthand and have brought a Zambian farmer to Washington. "If you just give money, you'll never understand the beauty of this program," Jerry said. "Once you become involved as a partner, take a personal interest, it's a totally new thing."
—Sheri Venema in Life@Work
My Response: A kind of hands-on involvement with missions I can picture is …
Thought to Apply: We are God's agents—used by Him to do His work, not ours.—JAMES O. FRASER (missionary to China)
Adapted from Life@Work (11-12/00) by permission.
Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity. 1 of 1
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Father, I want to be a tool in Your hands to reshape the lives of people for whom Your Son died.
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