Too Much of a Good Thing

Tourists flock to Lancaster County to experience the magic of this agrarian hotspot. Lumbering dairy cows, hard-working Amish farmers and roadside produce vendors breathe life into Pennsylvania Dutch Country. The picturesque farmland makes for more than great postcards, however. The land is Lancaster’s most-treasured asset. The rich soil and bountiful nutrients create the perfect environment for farmers. Most years. This summer was unkind.

 

Pennsylvania Dutch Country

The headlines on July 25 tell the story: “Extreme heat, lack of rain leaves Lancaster County’s crops withering in the fields.”

An unusually dry summer distorted Lancaster’s reliable farming formula: It was all sun and no rain. Farmers watched the forecast daily, hoping for movement on the weather radar. One month later, the radar exploded with action. Hurricane Irene and the drenching storms that followed brought record-setting rain.

When the rain came, I cheered for farmers! The inches of precipitation brought sustenance to the struggling soybean sprouts and browning cornfields that desperately needed it. Contrary to my intuition, however, the farmers did not echo my cheers.

Jeff Graybill, a Lancaster agricultural expert, reflected on the rains saying it was “…too dry in the summer, and now there is far too much moisture than we need.”

The over-abundance of rain increased the chance of mold and diseases in crops and delayed farmers’ ability to plant fall crops. The same farmers who clamored for rain to come became desperate for the rain to stop. The much-needed gift arrived. But, too much came and it came too fast. It was too much of a good thing.

During the summer of 2008, Michael Spraggins took a trip to Burundi. The trip sobered Michael, a successful entrepreneur from Orlando, as he immediately felt the pain of the African nation. All around he saw every sort of brokenness, but the healthcare issues especially gripped his heart.

The people of Burundi, like the crops in Lancaster, were dying. Burundi needed “rain.” The pains needed to be addressed. And here was the critical moment. The moment when Michael confronted a desperate situation and committed to act. The moment when emotion often trumps good judgment.

“I descended onto the Burundian tarmac with handful of ideas that promised to change the health prospects of the poor in one of the world’s poorest countries,” Michael reflected.

Michael, armed with a toolbox full of solutions, arrived in Burundi. But, here was the crux. In this moment, he balanced his passion with discretion. Before launching his ideas, Michael learned that “most of those ideas were wrong.”

Before firing up the fundraising engine and rallying the church troops, he paused. He knew that even good gifts like healthcare can be delivered in ways that create more problems than they solve. Michael admitted that his ideas might bring flash floods instead of needed water. So, he endeavored to ask hard questions, to test his ideas, and to find solutions that bring lasting impact, like the type of rain that grows crops. Rain that is steady and measured.

When Michael stepped back from the urgent pain, he was surprised to discover an existing solution. “An unforeseen outcome of our original sustainability thesis was that the church-based clinic outperformed our other pilot clinics in providing the highest quality of care, to the most people, at the cheapest cost.”

Church-based medical clinics were Burundi’s best-kept healthcare secret. They far outperformed their peers and simply needed to be multiplied. So, Michael decided to do this through his upstart organization, LifeNet International. He could have sent rain like Irene sent Lancaster’s farmers; rain that fell too hard and too fast. Instead, he chose the path lined with humility. And that path is leading to a fruitful crop for the people of Burundi.

A Tale of Two Cities–Healthcare and Job Creation

Charles Dickens originally released his literary classic A Tale of Two Cities in weekly installments in the 1850’s. In this vein, join me on a voyage, in monthly installments, to two fictional cities, Assetsville and Needsville—both poor communities in Africa.

I doubt any two topics are creating more news in our country right now than healthcare and job creation. And rightly so—they are important issues. In both Assetsville and Needsville, healthcare and job creation are also major issues. Easily-treated illnesses like malaria and diarrhea have wreaked havoc on families in these cities. Even buying medicine is a lethal guessing game. Job creation is a related and serious issue. In both cities, millions are unemployed and nearly everyone is underemployed. These cities feature identical problems, yet remarkably different approaches to addressing these issues.

In Assetsville, churches, charities and government assistance are focused, as you might imagine, on building on the existing resources and strengths of the community. As a result, hopefulness, respect, and mutuality line the streets. In Needsville, the same types of groups are focused not on the assets, but on issues, weaknesses and problem-solving. As a result, these groups collectively form a proverbial toolbox designed to repair Needsville’s problems. Sadly, this approach has driven out entrepreneurialism, community initiative, and even self-worth. Because of these differences in values, Needsville and Assetsville are worlds apart in their approaches to healthcare and job creation.

Needsville worked with various government agencies to establish foreign-run health clinics to address these serious problems. These clinics are facing insatiable demand for their services. The city also hosts teams of medical volunteers which come to treat common illnesses, conduct surgeries and bring in as much medicine as they can carry. These groups make a huge difference, but come sporadically. With these initiatives, incentives to provide good service are lacking, resulting in dim prospects of long-term viable health solutions in Needsville. In regards to jobs, healthcare is provided almost exclusively to the people of the community, but is not provided by the people of the community.

In Assetsville, however, a different story unfolds. Many new initiatives bring hope that quality healthcare and real job creation are not pipe dreams. A locally-run microfinance institution recently partnered with an innovative healthcare provider to provide loans to nurses interested in business ownership. These nurses  buy franchises from the healthcare provider, receive training and purchase start-up medical kits (shoulder bags complete with malaria tests, a thermometer, medicines and supplies), which enables them to treat 70% of common illnesses. They do not work out of a facility. Rather, these nurses travel to their neighbor’s homes and bring quality healthcare to the people.

Another fresh organization uses a similar solution for vision problems. Aspiring entrepreneurs are trained to diagnose and fit eyeglasses and thousands of Assetsville residents are now working more effectively, learning to read, and seeing the world in a whole new way. In the center of the city, aspiring business owners opened several new pharmacies, providing legitimate medicine and health supplies to those living downtown. Entrepreneurship, employment, and the engine of business, are driving innovation and quality healthcare service.

Two similar cities. Two vastly different prospects for the future of healthcare and job creation. But these cities have issues beyond healthcare. What about education? Food? Clean water? Financial services? Future installments will examine these issues at greater depth.

There’s an App for That

It’s no longer good enough to kill two birds with one stone. We now require each stone to kill six birds. Case and point: While I’m not cool enough to own an iPhone, I have friends who are, and I am continually amazed at its diverse functionality. Mobile communication technology is an absolute marvel in itself, but it’s no longer enough for our phones to make and receive calls from anywhere in the world. Now we require them to provide email, directions, games, web browsing, news, stock trading, and blogging. Daily, the list expands. Are you pregnant and need to track your contractions? Now you can with the Birth Buddy app on your iPhone. You name it – “there’s an app for that.” Microfinance isn’t just about making loans anymore. Traditional microfinance in and of itself is transformative, but the opportunities for innovation on the microfinance framework are boundless.

Clean water is a serious issue around the world; globally, one in six people lack access. HOPE’s program in the Philippines pioneered an innovative, employment-based strategy to address this serious issue. In partnership with PepsiCo, they built a top-notch water purification system right in the branch office. Twenty of their clients took out loans to purchase the water in bulk. These water vendors then load up their bicycles with jugs of water and sell the water in some of the most-underserved communities in the city. Through this model, they collectively sell over 300,000 gallons of clean water annually. Sure, it’s wonderful that our clients in the Philippines can access financial services, but what about the dirty water they drink every day? Microfinance has an app for that.

In the Dominican Republic, many of our clients are able to run a business, but they sadly have family members who are suffering with or have died from AIDS or other sexually-transmitted diseases. When I visited a community bank in the Dominican Republic last year, the loan officer conducted a comprehensive, biblically-based STD training during one of the group’s bi-weekly loan repayment meetings using educational materials developed by a healthcare organization. It’s great our clients there have a safe place to save their money, but how do they educate their children about sexual health? Yep, there’s an app for that.

Recognizing that their clients completely lacked access to Bibles and Christian literature, HOPE Ukraine developed an innovative solution to address this disparity. They have thousands of clients throughout Ukraine and when they started distributing Bibles, the Jesus Film and Christian literature at client meetings, immediately they had created a viable distribution channel for these much-needed resources. Having access to capital is important, but what directs our clients’ financial decision-making and priorities? Do they have access to God’s word? You guessed it. There’s an app for that.

(Chris)

Lessons from Congolese Healthcare

In Kinshasa, Congo, a sprawling capital city in sub-Saharan Africa, HOPE International has a branch office with over 30 Congolese staff members and 5,000 clients. One issue for our branch manager is the provision of quality health insurance for the local staff. Brian, a friend of mine who managed this office for a few years, shared a story which typified this challenge.

Over the course of a few weeks, a number of the local staff members stepped into Brian’s office and shared that the doctor connected with their insurance plan was misdiagnosing their problems. They shared that he treated them poorly, overcharged for his services and failed to appropriately address their health concerns. As the complaints piled up, Brian paid the doctor a visit.

When they met, Brian confronted him with the frustrations and complaints of his staff, advocating on behalf of those who this doctor had wronged. While Brian shared, the doctor interrupted and said, “Well, have any of them died yet?”

Talk about confusion on how success is defined. No, none of the staff members had died—but that doesn’t mean that he was successful! Defining success is critical to the success of any organization. Recently, I have spent significant thinking about that in regards to HOPE’s work.

One of the primary reasons I believe so deeply in HOPE’s work is because of HOPE’s commitment to the proclamation of the Gospel. Woven into the fabric of our organizational culture is a belief that the story of the cross truly changes lives. Helping the poor in their physical state is wonderful and important, but if we are just helping those that are oppressed become oppressors—is that success? Is it success if we are helping vulnerable individuals create wealth only to neglect their communities once they obtain it?

I believe in HOPE’s holistic approach because I believe in the power of the Gospel to reshape attitudes and soften hearts. When that happens, and hearts are changed, then we achieve success. Then we see our clients begin to reflect Christ’s love back into their communities as they rise out of poverty.

Clients like Berky & Rafael, a Dominican couple who started a school for the poorest kids in their neighborhood with their business profits. Clients like Oleg who started an aftercare ministry for men coming out of prison, providing many of them with jobs in his furniture manufacturing business. They have given back to their communities because their hearts have been changed. That for HOPE, and nothing less, is how we define success.