Can a micro loan really change someones life forever.
I was confronted with this thought at a Catalyst Lab a few years ago. At that point, I began to look into the incredible world of microfinance. I was super skeptical but the more I researched the more I was intrigued, so I got involved and began lending $25 increments. I loved hearing about the people that I was helping and following their reports back to those that loaned to them. Here are the people we have helped as a family.
I am passionate about seeing the cycle of poverty broken in people lives. This is just one of many ways to do that. It started as an experiment and now it is part of my life. I enjoy sitting down with my kids, reading about someone that needs help and seeing my kids eyes light up when they realize that we can help them in a huge way for $25. It is important to me and my wife to raise our kids in a home that is about others in multiple ways!! So the reach of the Schwein’s is widening.
It messes me up inside to know that people all over the world are drinking water from the same mud holes that animals and people bathe and go to the bathroom.
It still messes me up to look at my daughter across our dinner table and to think that she carried up to 40lbs of water every day, multiple times a day, for the first 8 years of her life.
It also messes me up that this a totally solvable crisis. I believe it is possible to see all people have the opportunity to drink clean water. I also believe that when you give even a cup of water to someone you are doing that very thing to Jesus.
THAT IS WHY I LOVE LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL
They believe the same things and it messes them up to know people are going to mud holes instead of a clean water well every day.
• 884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world’s population. (WHO-UNICEF)
• 1.8 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This amounts to around 5000 deaths a day. (UNDP)
• LWI projects providing safe water and hygiene education at an average cost of twenty dollars per person, for a generation. (LWI)
• Water-related disease is the second biggest killer of children worldwide, after acute respiratory infections like tuberculosis. (UNDP) for more statistics go here
Take a few minutes and watch this video. You will realize that water is at the center of everything.
Over the next few weeks I want to introduce you to many of the organizations or things that make my heart beat. They get me excited…they motivate me …they make me cry and they make me dance.
They are what I think about when it’s dark in our house, I’m laying on my back in bed, trying to sleep, but my mind is spinning and I can’t. These are the things that I give my time to, give my money to and talk about.
Africa New Life is helping break the cycle of poverty in Rwanda by providing education, spiritual insight and basic necessities.
My daughter was an ANLM sponsored child before she was my daughter. Africa New Life Ministries holds a special place in my journey.
If it wasn’t for ANLM I wouldn’t have a passion for Africa
If it wasn’t for ANLM I wouldn’t have a passion for Rwanda
If it wasn’t for ANLM I wouldn’t have 3 sponsor children in Rwanda
If it wasn’t for ANLM our church wouldn’t have built a home for orphans
If it wasn’t for ANLM my wife and I wouldn’t have traveled to Rwanda in ‘05
If it wasn’t for ANLM we would’ve never adopted a 9 yr old named Uwangabe Josiane
If it wasn’t for ANLM there would be no song #2, #5, or #10 on my record
The work that Africa New Life is doing is amazing. On Sunday I had the opportunity to partner with them and give one of my CD’s to anyone who sponsored a child. 65 new kids were sponsored. Watch the following video to get an overview of ANLM
It was an amazing day Saturday to watch the community of Grace Chapel tackle all the schools in Wilsonville. People of all ages were spreading bark dust, trimming hedges, pulling weeds and enjoying every minute of it. By the end of the day the schools looked beautiful.
It was one of those days that I was proud to be part of the faith community. I think the ability to go into the community were we live and do something “with no stings attached” is something the greater Church should be known for.
My Haiti trip was incredible!! So many things to process, so many images burned into my mind. People always ask me what the “best” part was or “what was it like?” I still don’t know how to answer that question. A lot of joy and sorrow. A lot of laughter and crying. A lot of questions and no answers.
With that said the one of the “best” parts was walking into LSM’s Homes of Hope and seeing boys and girls that were rescued out of modern day slavery, rescued from death, rescued from abuse and now in a loving home with a mom and dad. The kind of hope that can only be seen in the eyes of an orphan who has realized the are no longer one, will take your breath away and make you want to be about something bigger than yourself.
That was the “BEST” part…realizing once again that God has called me to be about something bigger than myself, to speak for those that can’t, to stand up and help those that can’t. another good reminder about what I want to be about…DO JUSTLY | LOVE MERCY | WALK HUMBLY
