From Judy Fish, Team Expansion’s Holistic Development Director
Ann was a nurse working in a West African town of about 85,000 people. She was part of a local team who was using Community Health Evangelism (CHE) as a strategy for improved health, Kingdom building, and progress within the community. The country, racked by political instability and occasional coups, faced yet an even greater crisis…an ever-growing number of HIV+ positive community members. They were also dealing with the ongoing opportunistic illnesses common to HIV individuals. Medical needs were being met through proper treatment, regular visits, and monitoring. Many came to accept Jesus as their Savior through the love and compassion showed them by the CHE team. Still, a new problem emerged.
Often the breadwinner of the family (if HIV+) was too ill to work, so healthier family members needed a way to generate an income for the family. The CHE team opened a small breakfast bar, with the revenue being used to fund an HIV CHE program, reinvesting in small businesses for HIV+ families. Rather than simply giving money or even food, the local CHE team took the ‘new’ family breadwinner through a CHE microenterprise training course, equipping them with means to support their own families.
The Result
A variety of businesses were launched, including a juicing enterprise, a laundry business, a bakery, and a street snackery. The local church got involved, beginning a small chicken farm that not only supplied eggs for the breakfast bar, but also sold their eggs and chickens at a minimal price to the HIV+ community. Practical needs were met, medical treatment was received, poverty was addressed, dignity was restored, the efforts were self-sustaining, and people came to know Christ as Lord.
