American home builders are making a difference in southeast Africa.

May 10, 2017

What if over half the American population was earning less than a $1 per day.  Well that’s Malawi, a country in southeast Africa where donations from Homes for HOPE are being used.  Consider what it would be like to live in a place where all gasoline is imported, 7 out of 10 hospital beds are filled with HIV/Aids patients, and 6 out of 10 people live on less than a dollar per day.  It’s horrific!  But it’s not hopeless.

In the process of awarding “one” of HOPE International’s clients with the Homes for HOPE Client of the Year Award, I spent time reading about them, studying their environments, learning what has been endured so that in some small way I can understand the value your donation makes in their lives.

This time my study led me to a video documentary filmed by Madonna, of all people, and produced in 2008 called I Am Because We Are.  Madonna was motivated by an anonymous caller pleading for help then literally hanging up the phone.  That’s right, they just stated the problem and then hung up on Madonna.  Her first question was, “Malawi, where is Malawi?”  Like Madonna, most people have never heard of this small country of over 17 million people.

Anyway, Madonna responded, and out of that response she writes and produces a great documentary film.  I recommend watching it.  Now I don’t always agree with her methods and opinions but when it comes to this I commend her on a job well done.

Madonna learned many things but the one thing that stood out to me was that people are in large part, the solution to their poverty.  This reminds me of the question that pastor Patrinko from the Ukraine asked one of America’s great homebuilders, Jeff Rutt, who had been working to help the impoverished in his country.  He asked, “Isn’t there something we can do to help people help themselves?”  The answer was hard to find but it has been answered.  It’s Christ-centered microeconomics and it addresses the brokenness of people along with the brokenness of the economy in which they live.  Have you ever wondered why people who need help, then receive help, later find themselves back in the same situation?  Our problems are more than financial and need solutions that are more than financial which is why it’s so important to put God back into the center of our struggles.

You can help the people of Malawi to help themselves by building a home for HOPE through Homes for HOPE.  Please join the great men and women of our homebuilding industry by supporting the work of HOPE International today!

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