Our Work
Education & Orphan Care
To us,
education is an investment in the individual.
When you sponsor a child in the slums of South Asia or a village in Africa, you make a long-term commitment to their schooling. The impact this has on their life is profound and lasting. As they attend to their studies and learn about their identity in Christ, they find freedom from a life destined for poverty. As they discover their interests and talents, they find the confidence to dream.
Instead of a future working in the fields or making bricks, our students have hope for a career that supports their families. Even more, they graduate knowing there is a God who loves them. An investment in their education permanently increases their spiritual, moral, and economic well-being.
Nutrition
Hunger affects the body and soul.
For those living in deep poverty, hunger is a constant concern. Many work as unskilled contract laborers–their earnings varying day to day. They cannot guarantee their children will eat two meals per day, let alone three.
Others rely on what their small plots of land can produce, but without fertilizer, they yield few crops. They, too, struggle to feed their families.
In many of the places poverty is found, natural disasters, war and political violence, or religious persecution are also present. Hunger is one of the first and most severe symptoms for families living under these harsh conditions.
CRI provides food distributions for these vulnerable families. Through the generosity of our donors, each year we feed thousands of individuals in their time of need. Wherever we provide food assistance, the Gospel is shared and people’s hearts are lifted.
We feed both to make a difference.
Our nutrition programs provide nourishment to those who need it most:
some of our world’s poorest women and children.
Women in the developing world often struggle to find work and food can be scarce. For pregnant women and young children, this impacts growth and development. Undernourished women deliver underweight babies. Of children under five years old, 148.1 million suffer from stunting (Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates), often eating just one meal per day. Without intervention, these children may never overcome this early disadvantage. They will struggle to do well in school or rise out of poverty later in life.
Through our Tessa Grace Nutrition program, we deliver the nutrition necessary to sustain babies’ lives. Mothers receive education and support as they care for their little ones. Where stunting and poor development once felt unavoidable, we bring health and hope.
Clean Water
Clean Water
In rural, poor areas, women and children fetch water for their families every day. The task keeps women from work and children from school. They walk miles, jugs in hand, to retrieve unclean water. Upon consumption, many contract diseases and parasites. In developing countries, approximately 80% of illnesses are linked to unsafe water and poor sanitation.
Our Clean Water program establishes clean water solutions in areas of need. Where water exists, we distribute water filters. For communities without close sources, we drill wells. To ensure that our solutions last, we provide instruction on filter and well maintenance. Wells reside near churches, where our international partners invite families to hear the Gospel.
Because of our Clean Water program, more women earn wages and more children attend school. Families know Christ and lead healthier lives.
Housing
Green Door Housing
In areas of deep poverty,
families live in huts or shacks.
They battle seasonal downpours, collapsing roofs, and walls that crumble around them. Rain ruins their belongings and stored food. Bacterial growth and viruses cause illness. Insect bites lead to malaria and other diseases, and vermin like rats and poisonous snakes are a constant concern. Without lockable doors, thieves break in with ease.
Through our Green Door Housing program, we provide what shacks cannot—shelter that will last a lifetime. We build homes with cement blocks or bricks, wood trusses, and tin roofs for sturdiness. Our local committees choose home recipients–often orphans and widows, the disabled, and the elderly. If they are able, new homeowners help with construction along with local construction crews that provide many men with gainful employment.
Many attend our home stewardship classes.
When the house is complete, we hold a dedication ceremony that shares about Christ’s love to the homeowners and community.
Because of our sponsors, we have provided homes to more than 400 families in Christ’s name.
Widow Care
Project Life
CRI’s work among the deeply poor includes care for widows, the elderly, and the chronically ill in places where good medical care is lacking. Among this group are those who have HIV. Across the globe, it is common to find communities where HIV stigma leaves people abandoned and without incomes to feed themselves or their children. Many become depressed. As their health deteriorates, so does their ability to care for themselves. Some prefer to end their life rather than continue suffering.
CRI’s Project Life ministry empowers our partners and caregivers to provide fellowship, food, prayer, and medical care to the sick and dying within our reach.
Medical Care
Providing
essential medical care
In areas of deep poverty, many suffer from malnourishment. The prevalence of disease, infection, and violence puts individuals at increased risk, while the high cost of healthcare prevents them from seeking treatment. When medical emergencies take place, they have nowhere to turn.
Our Emergency Medical Care program provides immediate treatment to those in critical condition. Donations to our program cover the costs of medicine, surgeries, and hospital stays.
Our Dondo Medical Clinic offers immediate help to those who seek medical attention. In partnership with the Mozambican government, we provide consultations and long-term treatment plans to patients. Our funds cover the costs of clinic maintenance and equipment, first-aid materials and medicine, as well as staff salaries.
In remote villages in South Asia, where access to medical care is non-existent, we bring our medical camps to the communities who need it most.
Spiritual Development
Spreading the Gospel
Though all of our ministries strive to share Christ’s light in Word as well as in deed, some within our reach have a specific calling to preaching and evangelism. We want to help them share the Gospel however we can!
In remote villages of South Asia, we support a network of pastors who share about Christ with isolated, often hostile, people groups. They travel door-to-door praying for the sick and disheartened and planting churches where ministries like Clean Water, medical camps, and Tessa Grace Nutrition begin to take place.
In several locations, we support seminary students who, without our help, would not have access to biblical education. These men and women desire to minister to their impoverished communities equipped with solid theological training. Our hope is that through this ministry, countless others will come to know Christ.
Biblical training and discipleship for women in areas of poverty is rare. Our Strength & Dignity program focuses on empowering women worldwide to study the Bible for themselves and learn that they, too, have a voice in God’s kingdom.