Nicaragua has one of the largest amounts of water, per capita, on the continent—10 percent of the country’s surface is water. Yet, the rural population struggles to access potable water. Today, 37 percent of rural Nicaraguans do not have access to drinking water, according to UNICEF. In rural areas, people often must procure their water from shallow wells, rivers, streams, and lakes that are polluted with residential sewage, pesticides, and industrial toxins. In addition, only 34 percent of the rural population uses adequate sanitation facilities. Poverty exacerbates water and sanitation issues. Nearly half of Nicaragua’s 5.5 million people live below the national poverty line and, therefore, lack resources to improve their access to safe water and sanitation facilities.

Posoltega and San Nicolás, Nicaragua
More than half the population of Posoltega and San Nicolás, in northern Nicaragua, is unemployed. The prevailing economic activities in the rural area are farming and raising livestock. Ninety-six percent of families in Posoltega and San Nicolás obtain their water from a ravine, river, or spring. Nearly 40 percent of households lack latrines, and an additional 26.5 percent have toilets that are in poor condition or not working (World Vision survey, 2006).

Currently, families in this area consume water that is not safe for drinking.  This causes a high percentage of people to suffer from diarrhea, waterborne diseases, and intestinal parasites. The illnesses increase in the winter when the rivers and springs are polluted with insecticide residues and human and animal feces that wash down from agricultural farms. In addition, the population is exposed to hygiene- and sanitation-related diseases.

World Vision Responds
World Vision seeks to bring the gift of clean water and sanitation to the struggling communities of Posoltega and San Nicolás. Motivated by our faith in Jesus, World Vision serves the poor as a demonstration of God’s unconditional love for all people. We work in impoverished areas such as Posoltega and San Nicolás to provide potable water and adequate sanitation so that illnesses decrease, health improves, and the burden on women and children is lessened by reducing the distance to water collection points.  World Vision’s water and sanitation programs help communities attain adequate supplies of safe water and control waste contamination by drilling boreholes, repairing existing wells, creating spring and rainwater catchments, providing water storage, building community filtration systems, constructing household latrines, and processing waste water. Worldwide, World Vision’s projects have given more than 10 million people access to clean water and improved sanitation.

Zambia:   Twachiyanda Community Partnership
Improving the lives of orphans and vulnerable children in Zambia

In the impoverished African country of Zambia, more than 700,000 children have been orphaned due to AIDS-related causes. Because of the stigma attached to HIV and AIDS, these children often are shunned or exploited. Many suffer from malnutrition and depression. They miss school to care for ailing family members or to go to work themselves. In the past, extended family or communities at large could care for them, but resources now are stretched to the breaking point. These children and their communities need help and hope—now and for years to come.

The over-arching goal of World Vision’s Community Partnership is to improve the quality of life for 1,100 orphans and vulnerable children in Twachiyanda, Zambia. Lives are being changed. As children receive nourishment, medical attention, shelter, and encouragement, they feel valued. As young ones attend school and out-of school youth get vocational training, the future looks brighter. As children and adults learn to produce more food and improve their economy, poverty and hunger diminish. As individuals become informed about HIV and AIDS and make positive lifestyle choices, the whole community improves. As people of all ages hear of God’s unconditional love for them and see it in action, hope and healing become greater possibilities.

Supplying goats to orphans and vulnerable children helps provide food and an income generating activity, giving hope and life to Twachiyanda’s residents.

Life in Twachiyanda, Zambia
Located in the Kalomo district of Zambia’s Southern province, Twachiyanda is home to 37,000 people who live in about 100 villages in households of approximately 10 people. More than half the population is younger than 20, meaning there is a high level of dependence. Most residents are farmers who must deal with constant droughts and outbreaks of animal disease, as well as traders who buy their produce at low prices. Like the rest of Zambia, Twachiyanda has a high prevalence
of HIV and AIDS. When parents become sick or die, children lose their providers for food and other support. The how-to of raising crops and livestock also is lost. The orphan population of Twachiyanda is growing at an alarming rate. According to a 2005 study, the number of orphans and vulnerable children had increased from 1,838 to 1,912 in one year, and the number of households with orphans and vulnerable children had risen from 525 to 617, a 17 percent increase.

World Vision responds
The project to touch the Twachiyanda community, which began in 2008, truly is a “partnership” with area’s churches, community members, government agencies, and other nongovernmental organizations. Together, we have been identifying needs, assets, and priorities. World Vision has been mentoring community members, who, in turn, are teaching their peers. We’re building self-sustaining programs to nurture 1,100 children, and as we do, we’re serving thousands of community members as well.

Goals for the Twachiyanda project
Goals for the project include:

• Purchase and distribute 1,000 orange seeds, 1,000 Moringa tree seeds, 550 22-pound bags each of corn and peanut seeds, and 1,100 22-pound bags of assorted vegetable seeds
• Train 1,000 children who are orphaned or vulnerable and people living with AIDS in improved crop production, and 1,100 children who are orphaned or vulnerable and people living with AIDS in livestock and small business management
• Conduct two trainings for support groups – one for effectively managing the finances of community income-generating activities, and another for organizational capacity building, which will enhance community-led initiatives
• -Purchase 774 female goats and 284 male goats, and 300 chicks and building materials to construct three poultry stables

Looking to the future
Life-changing efforts have begun in Twchiyanda. Community members and World Vision continue to identify and prioritize activities that are essential to improving the lives of orphans and vulnerable children. Much has been accomplished, but much more remains to be done. Needed interventions can occur only as resources become available. Thank you for considering how you can help bring hope to Twachiyanda’s orphans, vulnerable children, and community members.

The proposed project will provide safe water, reduce diseases, and change the sanitation habits of residents of eight villages in Posoltega and San Nicolás. Through this project, World Vision will reach out to 537 families, including 2,685 children and adolescents. World Vision will partner with local health and education departments and the communities themselves to accomplish the project goal and objectives.

Project goals and objectives
The goal of the three-year project is to contribute to increased safe water access in the rural communities of Posoltega and San Nicolás. Project objectives include the following:

• Improved hygienic conditions of local families
• Improved personal and community hygiene practices
• Strengthened skills of the community to manage the project and infrastructure

In the initial year of the project, plans include constructing one safe water system, building one storage tank, and installing 140 water filters to treat water for human consumption. Latrines will be constructed in the second and third years of the project.

WORLD VISION APPALACHIA:
Expanding family support work utilizing a community-based and child-focused development approach.

World Vision’s ministry in Appalachia began in 1983 when World Vision provided a $1,000 grant to help fund the construction of a basketball court in the Chestnut Ridge Community of Barbour County, West Virginia. This grant and the completion of the basketball court marked the beginning of what has grown into over twenty-five years of a deepening commitment by World Vision to the Appalachian Region. Starting with a single project in Barbour County, the organization’s capacity has grown and is currently impacting communities in 37 of the West Virginia’s 55 counties and the bordering states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Beginning in 2008, World Vision will expand the ministry to impact other impoverished, rural areas of the United States.

Project Summary
The Need: Rural America holds within her some of the most extreme poverty in America. The Appalachia region contains many counties that are counted as chronically depressed. The impact of the generational poverty includes a myriad of issues from lower educational attainment, broken homes, substance abuse and unstable home environments.

Project Goal: To improve outcomes for children by increasing the stability of families and community support networks. Total commitment by Women of Vision = $100,000.

Beneficiaries: Families and youth residing in target communities.

WORLD VISION AFGHANISTAN:
 Maternal and Child Health in Western Afghanistan

Nearly 30 years of war and instability and continued insecurity in parts of the country have wreaked havoc on Afghanistan’s infrastructure and healthcare system. Despite significant gains in health and education and high levels of assistance from the international community since 2001, Afghanistan remains the 5th poorest country in the world. Every 30 minutes, an Afghan woman dies of childbirth related complications. Making motherhood safer is a critical component of efforts to help women realize their full potential not only as mothers, but also as fully contributing members of society. Afghanistan is among the most challenging countries where WV works, and yet despite the challenges, WV is having a real impact. In order to reduce maternal, infant, and child mortality rates in western Afghanistan, World Vision is training midwives in two provinces and is implementing a 4 year child survival grant from USAID called Better Health for Afghan Mothers and Children. WV also started and continues to support a neonatal unit in Herat Maternity hospital, where the lives of premature and medically fragile newborns are being saved every day. Funding from Women of Vision will increase the impact of existing projects by building the capacity of local female healthcare providers to provide quality care for mothers and their babies.

Herat Maternity Hospital
The maternity unit of Herat hospital is a 100 bed facility serving a patient population of nearly 2 million people. It is a major regional referral hospital serving patients from all of the surrounding rural areas as well as Herat city itself. Approximately 1600 babies are delivered in the hospital in a typical month. Of these, about 10% will have birth complications and need to spend some time in the neonatal care unit.

The Maternity Hospital has recently moved into a new, modern building that is a vast improvement over its previous location, but the improvement in physical infrastructure does not in itself lead to improved health outcomes or enhanced quality of care. Afghanistan is a conservative Muslim country in which most women are unwilling to be treated by male healthcare providers. The number of skilled providers at the Herat Maternity Hospital is still not sufficient to ensure that all mothers and babies receive quality care and the Ministry of Public Health does not have sufficient resources to increase the number of staff.

Having made their way to the hospital from remote villages, often with great difficulty and in the midst of prolonged labor, women still die unnecessarily after they have reached the hospital. Fragile low birth weight babies who need constant monitoring are left untended for extended periods of time. Mothers admitted to the maternity unit do not get adequate care and counseling in lactation, newborn care or self-care due to the shortage of staff.

Project Description
Outcome 1: The quality of care delivered to mothers in labor and delivery units, eclampsia unit and postpartum units of Herat Maternity Hospital is improved through increased staffing levels, improvements in staff training and enhanced patient counseling.

Outcome 2: The quality of care provided to premature and low birth weight newborns in the Neonatal Unit is improved through increased staffing levels, improvements in staff training and enhanced patient counseling.

At Herat Maternity Hospital, mothers who have undergone normal vaginal deliveries without complications normally stay at the hospital for only about an hour after delivery. Complications in either the mother or the baby often arise later, after the mothers have returned home. Mothers who have had C-sections may stay up to five days in the hospital, but the amount of counseling that is provided to them during this time is minimal due to staff shortages.

Through education and awareness raising with communities, families and hospital management, WV is encouraging women who have had uncomplicated vaginal deliveries to stay for a minimum of three hours, but this has been a challenge due to lack of staff who could provide services that patients want and value during this time. Providing good-quality care is one of the most effective ways of ensuring that maternal health services are used, and that the lives of mothers and babies are saved.

With support from Women of Vision, additional staff will be made available. All staff will have improved training on guidelines of care to enable them to more thoroughly assess and monitor the condition of babies and mothers and provide new mothers (and equally importantly their mothers or mothers-in-law, who usually accompany her to the hospital) with crucial information and counseling on newborn care, infection prevention, lactation counseling and education about the importance of exclusive breast-feeding, family planning counseling, immunization information and information about signs of complications that require an immediate return to the hospital. This information will help to ensure that healthy mothers and newborns who leave the hospital will continue to do well and that the families will recognize signs of complications and seek help in a timely manner. WV will provide take-home materials to mothers and families with key messages on newborn care.

WV will also make staff available during all shifts in the neonatal unit. Babies in this unit are particularly fragile and require constant monitoring, attention, and feeding assistance to thrive. New staff will be trained to provide this and to counsel mothers and families on appropriate care and monitoring for babies who have had a difficult start in life. Mothers will be encouraged to visit with their babies, bond with them and to learn to care for them at home.

WORLDWIDE:  Child Sponsorship

Through WORLD VISION, WOMEN OF VISION encourages sponsorship of children in countries all over the world. The impact of a child sponsorship is significant in improving the lives of children, their families and their communities.

THE UNITED STATES:

Seattle, WA:  The Church of Mary Magdalene

Our group plans, donates and serves a hot meal after their Saturday service approximately once per quarter.  It means so much to the women of this church when they meet and are served by women of the community. For most of them, the meal provided is the finest meal they will have all week. Equally as important, our presence shows them there are people in the world who really do care for them.  We also support them with a financial donation.

This is a ministry for women who are struggling to be free from multiple difficulties including homelessness, poverty and abusive treatment. It is for women who have been robbed and raped emotionally, spiritually and physically.

The Church of Mary Magdalene is ecumenical and non-denominational. All women, with or without Christian faith, are welcome.  Find more information at www.churchofmarymagdalene.org.

Renton, WA:  Vision House

We will be involved in various hands-on projects.  For example, cleaning and organizing a storage unit  which contains donations for families and assisting in setting up a "store" where residents can "shop" for free for household items and running a Valentine's Day party for residents' children.

Since 1990 Vision House has provided transitional housing with integrated support services to homeless single mothers and their children and separately to homeless single men recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.

Our success is achieved by addressing the root social and economic problems that many homeless people have to overcome in order to break free from the cycle of homelessness. Our vision is to make a significant contribution to the community by reducing the number of homeless men, women and children in Washington State. Our Vision is to dramatically change the lives of the homeless by providing housing and services, enabling our residents to avoid homelessness, poverty and abuse in the future.  Find more information at www.vision-house.org.

Backpack Project

Each year the WOV-Puget Sound Chapter has the privilege of providing over 600 back-to-school backpacks filled to the top with school supplies for selected schools in the Seattle area, providing children from financially distressed families and communities with the essential supplies they need for learning.

Backpack distributions take place in cities in which World Vision serves children, families, and communities through the Storehouse.  Cities served include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Picayune, MS, Portland, Seattle/Tacoma, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Appalachia and Albany, GA.

AIDS Caregiver Kits

AIDS is the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time.  Every 14 seconds a child loses a parent to this relentless pandemic. Yet there is hope. Local volunteers and family members in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are already caring for people living with HIV. But they lack even the simplest items needed to prolong lives and comfort the sick.

Assembling Caregiver Kits is an effective, hands-on way Women of Vision and others can:

• Show Christ’s unconditional love to those suffering from AIDS
• Equip caregivers with the practical materials they need
• Encourage caregivers to continue caring selflessly for their neighbors    Learn more. . .