Who, what, when, where...

From late September to early June 2011 I will be a GBIM intern with PHC in CAR. Who? What? Where?! haha yeah I figured I should do some explaining…

Grace Brethren International Missions (GBIM)

GBIM is a missions agency dedicated glorifying God and making his name known throughout the world. They currently work with 216 different people groups across the globe (http://gbim.org/about-us). GBIM and Grace College, where I went to school, are both associated with the fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. Throughout my four years at Grace I had several missions classes with former GBIM missionaries. I personally became involved with the agency during my last semester at Grace through volunteering at the GBIM headquarters in Winona Lake, Indiana.

Project Hope and Charité (PHC)

Project Hope & Charité is GBIM’s orphan care ministry in the Central African Republic (http://www.ph-c.com). PHC is providing help for close to 2,500 African orphans through individual orphan sponsorships and through rural, church-based Christian schools for orphans.  PHC also serves widows who provide surrogate homes for PHC orphans.

PHC is not an orphanage. In African culture it is common for orphans to be adopted into the family of a relative. Community is very important when raising a child. What PHC has done is to develop Hand-in-Hand Orphan Schools in the regions around Bangui where children can get an education, individual attention, and learn about Jesus. The orphan sponsor program of PHC supports orphans whose relatives cannot adequately provide for them.

Central African Republic (CAR)

I will be living in Bangui, Central African Republic. Covered in rainforests and savanna, CAR is a little smaller than Texas and is almost always hot and humid. The national languages are French and Songo.

CAR is one of the world’s poorest countries  with 67 percent of its population living on less than a dollar a day. It has been greatly affected by AIDS, a disease contributing to the large number of orphans in CAR (unicef.org). Of the 4.4 million people in CAR, about 240,000 are HIV/AIDS orphans.

On-field Ministry Plan

What exactly will I be doing as a GBIM intern with PHC in CAR? Here is a list of my roles and responsibilities as an intern:

1)    Learn Songo during the first three months of ministry to help with orphan-to-sponsor communication.

2)    Collect photos and video footage of Hand-in-Hand schools to be used in the USA to produce updated videos.

3)    Collect photos for Editions Cle’ and the African youth magazine.

4)    Use soccer skills to bond with teen girls in the PHC orphan program.

5)    Figure out how Africans learn music and use music to develop relationship and teach.

6)    Help the African PHC staff to develop a systematic approach to orphan-sponsor correspondence.