The new year is an opportunity to be persistent in our prayers, just as the Apostle Paul instructed the Thessalonians to “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). This month, let’s look back at a few situations we prayed about in 2011. Then, let’s pray about matters we need to lift up every day in 2012.

Looking Back: 2011

Children pray during World Vision's National Day of Prayer in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Seyha Lychheang/World Vision)

Pray for those still struggling to recover from disasters.

Natural disasters turned millions of lives upside down in 2011. News headlines may forget these people, but their needs remain critical.

Horn of Africa: The United Nations estimates that more than 13 million people are in need of humanitarian aid in drought-ravaged Horn of Africa. More than one-third of the region’s children face emergency levels of malnutrition.

Japan: Last March, the strongest-ever earthquake to hit Japan produced a lethal tsunami and a nuclear reactor meltdown.

United States: Soon after the Japanese disaster, thousands of families across America’s southern states were affected by a series of powerful tornadoes.

Haiti: As we mark the two-year anniversary of Haiti’s devastating earthquake this month, more than half a million people remain homeless and living in temporary camps. A cholera epidemic has claimed more than 6,700 lives, and rising food and fuel prices have threatened hundreds of thousands of Haitians with malnutrition and economic hardship.

Dear God, on behalf of our brothers and sisters whose lives are impacted by disasters, we claim the promise of Psalm 46:1. Be their refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Pray that children in poverty have better access to clean water, healthcare, and the other life essentials.

(Abby Metty/World Vision)

Today, more than 20,000 children younger than 5 will die mainly of causes that can be easily prevented and treated. Undernutrition contributes to more than a third of early childhood deaths. Waterborne diseases, such as diarrhea, also remain a leading cause of illness and death among children in the developing world.

We thank the Lord that some progress has been made. Globally, the mortality rate for children younger than 5 has dropped by more than one-third since 1990. Millions of additional children can be saved with measures that already exist and are not expensive.

Dear God, thank You for the lives of these precious children. Guide their families to the healthcare, clean water, and other necessities they need to grow up strong and be healthy.

Pray that children are no longer forced into sex trafficking.

Human trafficking is modern-day slavery. Today, an estimated 2 million children — most of them girls — are enslaved and abused in the global commercial sex trade. Many children are sold into prostitution to pay off family debts or abducted from the streets and forced to work in brothels. Children who escape or are rescued face a difficult physical and emotional recovery process.

Dear God, there are times when it is right — and righteous — to be angry. It is right to be angry about people who sexually exploit children. Let that righteous anger fuel action, Lord. Don’t let it fade into complacency.

Looking Forward: 2012

Pray that significant advances in eliminating malaria worldwide will be made this year.

Malaria is one of the top killers of children in sub-Saharan Africa. The parasitic disease, already eradicated in some parts of the world, kills one child every 48 seconds. World Vision is distributing millions of insecticide-treated bed nets, reducing the incidence of malaria. The efforts are working. In sub-Saharan Africa, the lives of 1.1 million children younger than 5 have been saved. Praise God! The Roll Back Malaria Partnership goal is to reduce malaria deaths to near zero by 2015.

Dear God, foster a spirit of continued cooperation and sustain a sense of urgency among the partners working to eradicate malaria. We pray this year for breakthroughs in the fight against malaria.

Pray that families worldwide will have the resources in 2012 to grow or buy enough food.

(Le Thiem Xuan/World Vision)

Poor nutrition is the single biggest underlying cause of ill health and death among pregnant women and children in their first two years of life. Insufficient nutrition during the first 1,000 days of life — from conception through age 2 — can cause stunting and poor cognitive development. Without adequate nutritious food, these children will not be able to reach their God-given potential.

Dear God, help us to never forget that nearly a billion people around the world go hungry every day. Please help those who are malnourished, and guide families to resources and long-term solutions.

Pray that children and their communities will know and be transformed by God’s love for them.

Christianity is rapidly growing in the developing world, reflecting a deep hunger for the love of Jesus. Church growth has exploded, yet many churches desperately need programs and materials for the spiritual nurture of children and families. Opportunity abounds for us to demonstrate the love of Jesus among people facing disaster, disease, poverty, and violence.

Dear God, thank You for the local church. Bless World Vision in leveraging its relationships with thousands of local church leaders in developing nations. Cause churches to thrive as they share Your love with the children and families in their communities.

>>Sign up to receive monthly prayer emails from World Vision.

The glitter and excitement of the holidays can leave us harried and breathless. But the gleam of anticipation in a child’s eye — reflecting the magic and wonder of the season — reminds us of the hope we have in Jesus Christ. And as we focus on Him amid the barrage of worldly noise and commercialism, we remember how much Christ in His earthly life identified with those who are hurting.

A sponsored child with a Christmas card. (Nguyen Thi Phuong/WV)

Suggested prayer points

In your quiet times this month, or as you bow your head to pray before a meal, remember to intercede for:

The millions of children and families who are homeless.

A heartbreaking 1 billion people worldwide lack adequate housing. Millions live in health-threatening conditions, in overcrowded slums and informal settlements, or in other conditions that do not uphold their human rights and dignity. Jesus knew that feeling of isolation and displacement. In Luke 9:58, He says, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Dear God, You knew what it was like to be without a home. Guide to spaces of safety and comfort those who don’t have a place to call their own.

Those who are hungry.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the number of people who experience hunger on a daily basis — about 925 million — is close to the number who lack adequate housing. Hunger is one of the leading child killers around the globe. Worldwide, a child dies from hunger-related causes every 15 seconds. In Matthew 25:35-40, Christ says that when we feed a hungry person, we are feeding Him.

Dear God, help us see You in the faces of the hungry. Give us courage to reach out when they lift up their hands in need.

A Somalian mother and son sit in a displacement camp. (Jon Warren/WV)

Those forced to flee their homes because of natural disasters and war.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 47 percent of refugees and asylum seekers are under the age of 18, and 80 percent of the world’s refugees in 2010 were in developing countries — nations with the fewest resources to meet their needs. Jesus started His life on Earth as a refugee. Born far from His home, He and His family fled persecution and lived in Egypt.

Dear God, the psalmist wrote that You are our safe refuge, a fortress where our enemies cannot reach us. Be that safe refuge for those who must flee their homelands.

Christians who are persecuted for their faith.

When you live in a place where Christmas is widely celebrated, it might be hard to imagine being restricted from openly worshiping Christ. Human rights experts estimate that approximately 200 million Christians are living in countries with severely restricted religious freedom and are partly suffering discrimination or persecution. Revelation 2:26 tells us that Christ will give authority over all the nations to those who are “victorious, who obey me to the very end” (NLT). He will give a crown of life to those who remain faithful even while facing death (Revelation 2:10).

Dear God, we claim the promise of Your Word for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are persecuted for their faith. Help them hold on to You and obey You to the very end.

Children who are unprotected and exploited.

Around the world, hundreds of millions of innocent children are forced into labor, armed conflict, early marriage, and sexual abuse. They are especially at risk when they are orphaned or separated from their parents. Christ is very clear that children are close to His heart, and there are consequences for those who would seek to harm them. “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:10).

Dear God, don’t let us ever become complacent about our responsibility to protect children from exploitation. Bring us to our feet to rush to their aid.

>>Sign up to receive monthly prayer emails from World Vision.

Two decades after the famine, Antsokia Valley is thriving with corps that are protected from flocks of birds by children with slingshots.

By Jane Sutton-Redner, photos by Jon Warren

“Everything is here,” say people in Antsokia Valley, from the farmer to the widow to the schoolgirl.

Understand: This is rural Ethiopia. World Vision’s truck is usually the only motorized vehicle around, sharing the road with herds of cattle and sheep, loping camels, and pedestrians. No power lines mar the verdant panorama; the only electricity here comes from a generator. Addictive coffee can be found, but not Starbucks; and if you need an Internet café, you’re out of luck.

As far as Antsokia Valley residents are concerned, they do have everything. Thriving crops fill this 31-mile basin in the country’s central highlands—tall stalks of sorghum and maize, delicate strands of the indigenous teff grain, trees laden with oranges. Irrigation ditches feed mountain spring water to the thirsty fields. Children go to school; the sick find relief at health centers. And the weekly market draws crowds who buy and sell every variety of locally grown produce and farm animal.

But everyone remembers when there was nothing, when the land drained of color and dreams turned to dust. People in Antsokia call it “those bad times.”

More than 20 years ago, a stubborn drought exacerbated by draconian government policies plunged Ethiopia into one of the greatest humanitarian disasters of the 20^th century. Nearly 1 million people starved to death or perished from hunger-related diseases. When the BBC broadcast images of sick, skeletal children, the $4 billion global outpouring was unprecedented—and unrepeated until the recent tsunami crisis in Asia. Lifesaving help arrived from all corners: children donating coins, rock stars raising money, governments sending grain shipments, and humanitarian organizations mobilizing manpower.

Yet today, 6 million of Ethiopia’s 67 million people remain dependent on food aid, due to the constant population growth coupled with shrinking average incomes, erratic rainfall and widespread deforestation, land rights issues, and a host of other factors. Ethiopia continues to receive international relief aid to avert a recurrence of 1984’s horror. But it’s development aid—funds that tackle chronic problems at the root—that makes the difference over the long term.

If there is good news to be found in Ethiopia two decades after the famine, it is where development aid provided passionate people, innovative programs, and community-empowering solutions. Antsokia Valley is one such place. World Vision arrived there during those bad times, determined to stay as long as it took until things got better.

HOPE ON THE HORIZON

Former government official Girma Wondafrash stands at the site of an airfield he helped build in 1984. It's seldom used now, as roads have improved access to the valley.

“World Vision belongs to Antsokia; Antsokia belongs to World Vision,” says longtime resident Girma Wondafrash, 65. Without him, the relationship might not have existed.

Twenty years ago, Girma was the local government representative responsible for some 30,000 people—all in jeopardy as the drought deepened. “One household I knew lost 10 members,” he recalls. “There were eight to 10 people being buried in the same grave. Children were left alone without parents to care for them. I saw a baby trying to suckle at his dead mother’s breast.”

In a place without phones and a time before e-mail and fax machines, Girma’s only way to call for help was to travel 220 miles south to the capital, Addis Ababa, where he spent a week arranging for the central government to formally invite World Vision to work in Antsokia. Shortly after, an American paid a visit—John McMillin, then a World Vision relief director. But he found that his team couldn’t bring equipment and supplies into the inaccessible valley.

“What about an airfield?” Girma asked. Doubtful, John agreed. Operational in Ethiopia since 1971, World Vision had been airdropping food into drought-plagued communities three years before the famine hit TV screens—and it was World Vision’s Twin Otter plane that helped BBC journalists break the story. The resulting surge of donations in 1984 enabled the organization to scale up relief operations from $3.5 million to $70 million and add almost 800 staff.

Desperate for World Vision’s help, Girma immediately met with an engineer to design the airfield. He marshalled thousands of people to contribute labor. “Even those who weren’t strong helped,” he says, describing people using their hands and feet to remove rocks and level the earth. That afternoon, just as workers added the finishing touch—white cloth flags along the landing strip—World Vision’s plane appeared on the horizon.

The airfield provided World Vision’s entrée into Antsokia Valley. By 1984, it was one of eight locations that collectively fed more than 150,000 people a day and provided medical care for thousands more suffering from the kind of diseases that prey on weakened bodies: cholera, typhoid, and malaria.

From the beginning, World Vision had special plans for Antsokia Valley. “The people who designed the programs could see what could happen—what did happen. They were visionaries,” says Dr. Ted Engstrom, World Vision’s president at the time. “Antsokia became a model for other organizations of what could be done in a barren patch of valley.”

THE VISIONARIES GO TO WORK

Antsokia Valley boasts a sophisticated network of irrigation ditches that channel water from mountain springs to fields.

One of John McMillin’s first tasks in parched Antsokia was locating a water source—using, to everyone’s amazement, a jury-rigged divining rod. “When I first struck water, the camels stampeded us to get to it,” recalls John, who now runs the Oceanographic Institute of Dominica. “I knew better than to stand in the way of a thirsty camel after spending months riding them from Pakistan to Tashkent. But, for not moving promptly, I got a nasty bite on the shoulder that still bears a scar.”

John hired talented Ethiopians, including Yemane Birhane Michael, then a 31-year-old fire-extinguisher salesman from Addis Ababa. Yemane had just served in a feeding camp north of Antsokia. “There were people who couldn’t chew. They couldn’t even smile, because they didn’t have food for a long period of time, and their jaws were locked,” he says, demonstrating a teeth-clenched grimace. “After three months, you can’t believe it, they were better.”

Yemane was struck by the drought’s devastation in Antsokia when he arrived. “There were no trees. No nothing. The people were really miserable,” he recalls. The first priority was to feed everyone—high-protein porridge for the severely malnourished; dry rations for the less critical cases. World Vision hired local people to work in the centers as cooks, cleaners, and guards, paying them in the most precious commodity at the time: food.

Once people felt strong enough to return home, Yemane gave them seeds, tools, and livestock for restarting farming. Then John’s team started a massive agricultural recovery project. A 250-acre pilot farm served as a testing ground for new farming methods and crops never before grown in the valley, such as sweet potato and cabbage. A tree nursery raised fast-growing eucalyptus for building materials and local tree varieties for controlling soil erosion. The nursery created hundreds of jobs by employing people to tend the grounds and pack tree seedlings in a special blend of alluvial soil and fertilizer. To date, Antsokia farmers have planted 20 million trees.

Ayalew Yimam, then a young man in his 20s, worked in the tree nursery. Several months earlier, however, he lay in World Vision’s medical tent, watching people die all around him. Stricken with cholera, he had withered away to 80 pounds. “It was the will of God that allowed me to survive,” he says. “On top of that, there was the professional care. The nurses and doctors served us all day and all night. We got not just food and drink, but prayers. That helped us live.”

Ayalew has made the most of his second chance. The 40-year-old married father of two daughters owns a small cafeteria, financed in part by a World Vision loan. The Christian behavior he observed from World Vision staff slowly made an impression, changing him over time to a devout follower of Christ.

The quiet, slender man struggles to encapsulate all that has happened since the famine. “That time is unforgettable,” he says, sitting on his cafeteria patio while customers sip tea nearby. “It’s not just history you can read in a book. You can see it here, in the health centers, the schools, the running water in our yards.”

For Yemane, who now designs projects for World Vision, the past evokes nostalgia. “We were doing something worthwhile,” he smiles. “Whenever I think of that time, I feel like crying. It was so beautiful.”

THE NEW BRASS RING

The newest addition to Antsokia's educational system, Mekoy Secondary School, attracts hundreds of teenagers eager to learn.

In Antsokia Valley terms, 41-year-old Abera Negussie is economically comfortable. He raises maize, sorghum, and a variety of produce on three acres of farmland. The father of five also keeps sheep, goats, and chickens. He’s particularly proud of the way he calls the chickens to feed. When he emits a high-pitched “coo-coo,” the birds come running in a riot of fluttering feathers and clucking. “World Vision taught me that,” he says.

During the famine, Abera was a broken-hearted man whose wife deserted him after their 19-month-old boy died. Since then, he has seen a lot of changes, both in his own life and his community. “Whatever we have—new schools and a health center, agricultural help—it’s because of sponsorship,” he says.

World Vision introduced child sponsorship in Antsokia in 1990. The funds opened up educational opportunities for individual children while bringing benefits to the entire community. But at first, people were skeptical.

Tadelu Taddesse, 70, remembers when staff introduced the concept. “They told us they would take photos of the children. Many people were reluctant. There was a rumor that foreigners would come and take the children away to Europe or America,” recalls the spry great-grandmother.

Appointed a “sponsorship caretaker” responsible for checking in on children in her village, Tadelu received training from World Vision. “It was I who first taught the community that sponsorship was a good idea,” she says proudly, describing how she communicated the benefits to children. She offered her grandson, Yusef, to be the first child photographed. Yusef, now a father of two sons, was sponsored up to the sixth grade.

Two of Abera’s sons were also once sponsored. No more—“I can send them to school myself,” he says. His boys help him around the farm, and oldest daughter Mehiret, 7, collects eggs from the chicken coop. But he does not wish for his children to follow in his footsteps. Orphaned young, Abera never had the chance to go to school. Like many Antsokia parents, he looks to education as the new brass ring—now within his children’s reach, thanks to the schools built with sponsorship funds.

The difference education has made from one generation to the next is dramatic. In a modest mud-and-wood home in Mekoy, Tamene Tesseme, 57, and his 41-year-old wife, Zewdie, shyly relate their memories of the famine, when two of their daughters nearly starved to death. Their 17-year-old son, Emmanuel, sits nearby, a baseball cap pulled down over his brow as he works on his physics homework. Eager to join the conversation, Emmanuel says in fluent English, “I listen when my parents speak about the famine. I heard that a lot of medical people took care of children. This is why I want to be a doctor, to care for people with diseases. I think I should work hard to prevent another famine.”

Zewdie and Tamene have just three years of schooling between them. Yet their only son is already making plans beyond their imagination: To raise money for medical school, Emmanuel will work as a translator, showing English-speaking tourists around Ethiopia’s historic sites.

Such new ideas are incubated at the Mekoy Secondary School, which World Vision and community members built in 1998. (Before that, the closest high school required a 12-mile walk.) More than 780 students attend class in two shifts. In the science lab, youth huddle in small groups, preparing to test hydrogen. Across the compound, students in math class watch a program on Venn diagrams on a plasma-screen TV mounted to the wall—the government finances the equipment and provides education programming via satellite.

“Students have seen others who have gone on to university. We’re very happy when our students have a chance to go to university and get jobs,” says Abebaw Lemma, 32, the school’s director, explaining that not so long ago, just a handful of youth could make that leap.

FACING THEIR FEAR

Assef Seghun harvests sweet potatoes, one of the crops introduced by World Vision since the famine. "We never had them before that," Assef says.

Ask anyone in Antsokia Valley what will happen if another drought comes, and the answer is always positive. “People know how to tackle any problem,” says Girma Wondafrash.

In Antsokia, the average household food stock lasts about 10 and a half months, twice the reserves of rural dwellers in other parts of Ethiopia. Some of the farmers even have bank accounts in Kombolcha, a city about an hour’s drive away. No one grows just one crop anymore, and with variety comes insurance that if one crop fails, something else will grow. Ayalew Yimam explains, “When it appeared that the rain wouldn’t come, I used to be fearful. But now we know more—how to make use of water for irrigation; how to grow better crops.”

“Real change is in the attitude of the people,” says Getachew Michael, World Vision Ethiopia’s national director. This is taking hold in Antsokia Valley after two decades of deliberate, consistent guidance and plenty of donor support. But other communities aren’t so far along.

During the famine, World Vision worked in Ajibar, 320 miles north of Antsokia, a mountainous place where the harsh wind whips up dust from the dry, denuded earth. When relief workers arrived in early 1985, 10 to 15 people were dying each day. After stabilizing the population through feeding centers and food distributions, World Vision started an agricultural rehabilitation program similar to what was done in Antsokia Valley.

But four years later staff had to evacuate when fighting between government and guerrilla forces came too close. “We were desperate when we heard World Vision was leaving,” says Yiman Mohammed, 45. “World Vision had many plans for planting trees, drilling boreholes, and practicing irrigation.” All those activities went on hold until 1997, when conditions improved and staff returned.

The interruption puts Ajibar’s progress well behind that of Antsokia Valley. This is evident in the poor condition of the children, many with eye infections; the modest scale of the farmland; and the lack of trees to cut the wind and hold the soil. World Vision has introduced reforestation, horticulture, irrigation, and microfinance, and 4,500 children are assisted by sponsorship.

Yet families remain vulnerable to the capricious climate—and haunted by the past. Bizuabeb Abebe, 45, lost an infant son in 1984. When asked if she worries that this can happen again, she looks down at her 8-year-old daughter, Ayel, who clings to her side, and compulsively combs her fingers through the girl’s thick, dark curls. “Yes, we fear another famine,” she says. “We never stop thinking about it.”

SEEDS OF FAITH

Choir practice at Meserete Krostos Church.

Back in Antsokia Valley, a group of children gather for evening choir practice in the Ambowuha Meserete Kristos Church. First they practice in formation, lined up in rows facing their guitar-playing choir leader, but as dusk creeps in they sit in a circle around a lantern and continue to clap and sing.

The church is just a stone’s throw away from a weather-beaten corrugated iron building that served as the staff residence during the famine. The proximity is deeply symbolic. During those bad times, World Vision planted seeds of a different kind in Antsokia Valley.

Chiratow Getaneh worked in World Vision’s feeding center when he was 23, helping to feed hundreds of people a day. The satisfaction of saving lives wasn’t all he received from the experience. The prayers and hymns the staff shared during their daily devotions made an impression on him. In 1987, he became a Christian.

“It was a great change,” he says. “I was chewing chat [a locally grown narcotic], drinking, fighting—all the social evils. After accepting Christ, I had a happy life. Now we have a church here. We witness the kingdom of God, and many people have accepted Christ.”

Chiratow, now 43 and a church elder, sits in the darkened sanctuary, watching his 10-year-old daughter Genet practice with the choir. “I have nothing but thirst for you … everything I need is in your hand,” the children sing, their features lit with the golden lantern glow.

Twenty years after the famine, everything is here. And Christians like Chiratow know that faith is the seed from which all of it bloomed. It was faith that brought people in this valley of death back to life—a new kind of life, not dependent on rain or crops, but on each other and God.

Alicia visits the home of her sponsors, Jon and Jeanne Larson. (Hillery Smith Shay/Genesis Photos)

By James Addis

In many ways, Alicia Quimboy is living a Filipino version of the American dream. She recently became a principal of a large public school, is married to a lawyer, and is the mother of two lively boys—Jethro, 8, and Jason, 5.

But even as her career and family life blossomed, Alicia nursed one unrealized ambition—to reconnect with her World Vision sponsors, with whom she lost contact 24 years ago and whom she credits with saving her from a life of abject poverty.

So Alicia asked her husband, José, to see if he could find her former sponsors online. He did some digging and guessed that Jon and Jeanne Larson might be affiliated with a motorcycle club. Alicia wrote a letter to the club, not really expecting a reply. When the Larsons eventually received the letter, they were overjoyed.

Soon, Alicia and Jeanne began exchanging emails almost every day. Without a computer of her own at the time, Alicia frequented a local Internet café. The more the women shared about their lives, the more their friendship grew. The Larsons invited the Quimboy family to visit their farm in Westby, Wis., in July. For Alicia, it was a dream come true.

During her 14 years as a sponsored child, Alicia had addressed the Larsons as “Dad Jon” and “Mom Jeanne” in her letters. Alicia’s own father had deserted the family when Alicia was 3, leaving Alicia’s mother to provide for eight children on her own. To do so, she worked day and night as a fish vendor and laundry woman in their hometown of Dagupan, Philippines.

The Quimboy family at the Larson's home. (Hillery Smith Shay/Genesis Photos)

“My mother tried her best to be a good parent, keeping us all in her loving arms,” Alicia says, “but she could not earn enough money for our daily sustenance.”

Alicia and her siblings helped earn money by washing cars, running errands, and shining shoes. Still, Alicia often went without food and wore dirty, ragged clothes. If things weren’t difficult enough, the family’s home and possessions were destroyed in 1970 when a fire broke out at a nearby market.

Ironically, another disaster marked a turning point in Alicia’s fortunes. When a major flood hit Dagupan in 1972, the 7-year-old came to the attention of World Vision, which was delivering aid to flood-affected families. Alicia was enrolled in a World Vision child-sponsorship program. “I received food items and school supplies every month,” she says. “More importantly, I received a Christian education that strengthened my faith in the Lord.”

She also got regular mail from the Larsons. “I was so happy to receive letters and greetings, especially encouragements and guidance from them—these simply meant so much to me.”

Sponsorship enabled Alicia to attend school, and she made good use of the opportunity. “As a child,” she says, “I always imagined myself being a teacher.” So after graduating from high school and receiving more World Vision help, she went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in elementary education.

Alicia served as a classroom teacher for 12 years. Late last year, she was promoted to principal of North Central Elementary School in Dagupan, responsible for 1,200 children and 30 teachers. Alicia says she is eager to ensure that pupils understand the value of education. “This is their sure ticket to improve their lives,” she says; “to survive the claws of poverty.”

Meanwhile, Jeanne Larson still has all the letters and pictures Alicia mailed to her. She remembers that the initial decision to sponsor Alicia was a tough one. The invitation had come during a World Vision presentation at a concert. Jeanne was 22, a recent nursing graduate who was earning only about $2.50 an hour. She doubted she could afford the sponsorship (then $12 a month) but concluded that she needed to trust God with it.

Today, Jeanne describes renewing her friendship with Alicia as an incredible blessing and a validation of that decision. She says donors sometimes wonder if their money really makes a difference. For Jeanne, there is no doubt that it does.

>>You can sponsor a child for around $1 per day.

Scripture tells us that prayer should be as natural as breathing, a running conversation with a Creator who loves to talk to us. As we prepare for Thanksgiving this month, let’s use the ordinary things of our day to remember to be thankful for them and to pray for those who can’t even imagine having the things we take for granted.

Each time you …

• Turn on a faucet, thank God for clean water. More than 880 million people worldwide only have access to unsafe water sources. And 4,110 children in developing countries die every day because they don’t have clean drinking water. Claim for them the promise of Isaiah 41:18: “I will open up rivers for them on the high plateaus. I will give them fountains of water in the valleys.”

Dear God, You are Living Water, and I thank You that I have constant access to clean water. Protect those who walk miles daily to gather water for their families, and please give them sources of clean, healthy water.

• Read a book, a sign, or an email, thank God for your education. Around the world, some 67 million elementary-age children are not enrolled in school. Many are denied an education because their parents can’t afford their school fees and uniforms. Millions are put to work to help feed the family.

Dear God, You are the beginning of all knowledge. Thank You for the gift of an education that has made such a difference in my life, and make a way for the millions of children who want to go to school to be able to attend.

• Open the medicine cabinet, thank God for access to health care. Every day more than 20,000 children younger than 5 die from causes we can easily prevent, including diarrhea, measles, malaria, and malnutrition. Pray for children born into unhealthy living situations.

Dear God, You are the Great Physician, who gives my body its ability to heal. Touch the bodies of those who are sick and suffering, and give them Your perfect health.

• Put away an item you’ve just bought, thank God for His overflowing generosity to you. Today 1.4 billion people in the developing world live in poverty on less than $1.25 per day — even though most are willing to work. Millions of families in developing countries have no opportunity to earn income. Pray for these families that struggle to survive. Proverbs 14:31 tells us: ” … Whoever is kind to the needy honors God” (NIV). Contemplate what it means for you to be “kind to the needy.”

Dear God, if I am honest with myself, I probably waste more money every day than most people in the world have to live on. Help me to remember just how blessed I am because of who I am — your child — not what I have. And help me be sensitive to those who struggle to sustain their families.

• Read your Bible, be thankful for access to Bibles and other materials that help keep your Christian faith strong and focused. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” In some of the 100 countries where World Vision works, political, economic, or social values severely restrict churches serving as beacons of hope to their communities. Pray that church leaders and congregations will be equipped to demonstrate God’s unconditional love to families in need.

Dear God, thank You for loving me so much that You reveal Yourself to me through Your Word. Help me keep Your truth close to my heart, so that I can grow closer to Yours.

>>Become a part of World Vision’s Hope Prayer Team and receive a monthly email of prayer requests.

Cindy receives the gift of a chicken in Zimbabwe. (Courtesy Cindy Kyser)

Through child sponsorship, I have been connected with families in Southern Africa for several years. Last summer, I visited my sponsored children in Zimbabwe, Swaziland, and Lesotho.  This journey was a leap of faith—traveling alone more than 8,000 miles from home, with the conviction that meeting in person was important. When I arrived at a school in Zimbabwe, I saw more than 700 children outside. Two small girls came running toward me with big smiles, shouting, “Look, it’s Cindy Kyser!” At that moment, I knew that sponsorship was more than exchanging letters and pictures. It creates unique bonds between people based on love. Everyone I visited shared a meal with me, and one village presented me with a live chicken as a gesture of friendship. I returned home with a stronger belief in the global neighborhood, and I am forever changed by the experience.

Jeremy Freeman hopes that donated goats can reverse the curse of the billy goat. (Scott Strazzante/Genesis Photos)

Many people remember the infamous day in 1945 when William Sianis brought his pet goat to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs face the Detroit Tigers in the World Series.

Although William had box-seat tickets for himself and the goat, the pair was refused admission on the grounds that the goat was smelly. A disgruntled William stood outside the stadium, shouting that the Cubs would never win again—an incident that became known as the Curse of the Billy Goat.

Indeed, the Cubs lost against the Tigers and have not won a World Series in 103 years—one of the most notorious losing streaks in American sporting history.

Rather than despair over this sorry tale, Jeremy Freeman, an Internet marketing entrepreneur of Chicago, Ill., started the “Reverse the Curse” campaign. The campaign, which launched in April, is designed to supply goats to impoverished families in the developing world and promote a higher regard for the animals.

Jeremy set up a website that explains just how transformative it can be to rear goats. They provide nutritious milk and cheese and an alternative source of income through selling surplus goats or goat products. Visitors to the website are invited to donate money to supply a goat to a family in need through World Vision.

Jeremy has also established a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and his campaign has gained scores of enthusiastic supporters and raised more than $3,600.

Jeremy laughs when conceding that the curse is not yet reversed: The Cubs are still seeking a World Series title. “But I don’t think the campaign can hurt,” he says. “Doing good is always a positive thing.”

>>You can support the “Reverse the Curse” campaign by donating today!

Don with Beauty, 4, who was born with disabled feet. (Collins Kaumba/WV)

After working for years designing medical equipment, Don Schoendorfer was dissatisfied. The engineer from Irvine, Calif., would labor to come up with something better than his competitors, only to watch them turn around and produce something that topped his product. He felt as if he were on a meaningless treadmill—simply trying to make one company more profitable than another.

But then Don learned that an estimated 100 million people in the world are forced to crawl in the dirt for lack of a wheelchair. And he wondered if this might be his chance to make better use of his talents. “One of the images that I brought back from vacation in Morocco,” he says, “was this woman lying on the ground crawling—using fingernails for traction, clothes ragged and knees bleeding.”

Don discovered that the cost of a traditional wheelchair is beyond the means of many in the developing world. Also, those chairs are often unsuitable. So he founded the nonprofit Free Wheelchair Mission to provide robust, low-cost wheelchairs using parts readily available in the developing world, such as bicycle tires.

Don’s first design worked well but could not be adjusted for children. He developed a new model, collaborating with Dr. Susan Shore, a professor of physical therapy, and Motivation, an organization helping disabled people achieve mobility. This fully adjustable chair costs about $70—a fraction of the cost of regular wheelchairs. That savings is possible, in part, because the chair does not need to collapse. Intended beneficiaries seldom stow their wheelchairs in vehicles. So the chair is cheaper, stronger, and less prone to failure.

This year, World Vision began distributing about 6,000 chairs for free in Africa and Central America. Don says the partnership with World Vision is a good one because of the organization’s long-term commitment to the communities it serves. It means there are trained World Vision staff nearby to properly adjust and maintain the chairs.

For Don, it was an emotional experience attending the first distributions in Zambia, where children often suffer from cerebral palsy or polio—conditions that often can be prevented with better medical care. Most had to be physically carried off buses to attend the distributions. As they sat in their new wheelchairs, Don says, you could almost see the burden lifted from the shoulders of watching family members. For most beneficiaries, it was the first time in their lives that they had been able to move independently.

Nancy Conant created a painting based on a World Vision magazine cover. (Mei-Chun Jau/Genesis Photos)

Take a look at a Nancy Conant painting, and you might find it surprising—given the skilful execution—that she only took up art seriously about three years ago. Moreover, she developed her talent while suffering the effects of multiple sclerosis, a disease that at times has put her in a wheelchair and causes regular bouts of chronic fatigue.

MS forced Nancy, 48, of Grand Prairie, Texas, to give up her job as financial controller of an advertising agency. But she wasn’t about to give up on life. She began painting to satisfy a lifelong ambition to become an artist.

A short while later, Nancy happened to join a study group reading The Hole in Our Gospel, written by World Vision U.S. President Rich Stearns.

At first, she was overwhelmed by the book’s challenge to Christians to address the plight of the poor—particularly when Rich outlined statistics highlighting world poverty. But Nancy came to the conclusion that everyone is responsible for doing what he or she can. That helped lessen her feelings “of absolute futility” in the face of such tremendous need.

Given the state of Nancy’s health, her ability to respond might seem limited. Nancy, however, was inspired by the cover of the Summer 2009 World Vision magazine, featuring 8-year-old Ekidor—a Kenyan girl who struggles every day to get enough food to eat. “I could not get that beautiful little face out of my mind,” Nancy says.

Like any good artist, she paints the subjects she loves. Nancy titled the work “Haunted by Hunger,” the same headline used on the magazine cover, and is auctioning the work online to raise money for the work of World Vision. “Up until now,” Nancy says, “my part has been sponsoring children. But I had an epiphany and realized that as an artist, I can do more.”

The auction is now CLOSED.

Winning Bid: $1,800

Number of bids: 4

(updated 12/5/2011)

"Haunted by Hunger"

Painting Details:

• Size: 14×11
• Nancy Conant’s blog post about this painting

Auction Details:

• This site will be updated with the amount of the current high bid shortly after each bid is received.
• Auction will close on December 5, 5:00 pm PST. The winner will be notified by email shortly after.
• The fair market value of this painting is $1,000, based on the value of the artist’s other works and sales. Any amount donated greater than this amount is tax-deductible.
• To make a bid or ask questions about this painting, please email wvmagazineauction@worldvision.org.

The world’s poor can seem faceless and faraway, lost in confounding numbers and dry facts. The chronic nature of their suffering, the geographic reach of it, can leave us feeling helpless. But God has named the poor and brought them close. They are our neighbors with a universal ZIP code, and he asks us to love them as we love ourselves.

We start, as always, with prayer. For those geographically distant, our thoughtful prayers can bring them closer—to ourselves, and to God. Pray through the following photographs. Take a first glance at the people and circumstances, noting emotions and relationships. Then, look deeper, asking questions, letting your heart be touched and your prayers be amplified.

Take heart: With God’s grace, no loving step you take is too small to have a lasting and limitless impact.

D.R. CONGO

Mothers, each with a record of her child’s medical history, gather to weigh their young children as part of a community health program in Lume, Democratic Republic of Congo. Low weight is one of the first signs of malnutrition. Hunger is an ongoing challenge in communities disrupted by violence—such as Lume, which for years has been under attack from the Lord’s Resistance Army. According to the World Health Organization, 31 percent of children under age 5 in the DRC are underweight.

At First Glance

• Consider each person in the photo. The mothers might be anxious that their babies’ weights will be low, signaling that they are not healthy. What might the community health worker (in the green shirt) or small boy at lower left be feeling?
• The babies’ clean booties and the medical history cards seem to indicate a diligent attention to health, despite a precarious community life. What more do these young children need to thrive in Lume?

Look Deeper:

• This event is taking place outside, rather than in an indoor clinic. Pray for adequate shelter for the families and protection from violence.
• Do you remember the emotions of taking your children to the doctor? How might you pray for these women?

BOLIVIA

Asteria helps her daughters—Nathaly, 3 (left), and Aracely, 5—read Easter cards sent to Tiraque, Bolivia, from their sponsors in the United States. The girls love the letters and cards they receive, Asteria says. “[They] just want to play with them and show them to everybody.” Both girls attend the World Vision Early Stimulation Program, a preschool where children eat a nutritious meal and learn to read, write, and count. Asteria was only able to attend school through 7^th grade, but she hopes that her daughters will complete their education and become professionals—perhaps doctors.

At First Glance:

• Notice the concentration on Aracely’s face. She is just starting school and learning to read. Imagine a loving card from your sponsor being one of your first “primers.”
• Pray for Aracely’s continued education and that of all children in her community.

Look Deeper:

• Thank God that these children are sponsored, and pray for your own sponsored child.
• Imagine Asteria’s thoughts as she reads the cards. How would you feel to have a person from across the globe praying for your children?

THAILAND

Som Muangprom, 14, and her brother, Boy, 10, survey the polluted Khlong Prem Canal that flows sluggishly alongside their home in Bangkok, Thailand. Its waters—once crystal clear and teeming with fish—are an oily black, filled with both industrial and human waste. Each month, a group of young people and World Vision staff travel by motorboat down this smelly waterway to broadcast anti-pollution messages to those living and working on its banks. Som, sponsored by a couple in Canada, is often the voice behind the microphone. World Vision is also pioneering several projects with Som’s family, to organically filter the water.

At First Glance:

• Look at the juxtaposition of the healthy children and the polluted canal. Pray that the trash and waste in the canal do not cause health problems for Som and Boy—and everyone else in the community.
• Notice the buildings packed one after another alongside the canal. With such density, where would children play?

Look Deeper:

• With businesses contributing to the pollution, the problem seems too large for local residents to solve, let alone young people. Pray for the resources that Som and Boy need to change their community.
• What problems in your community need to be addressed? Pray for boldness to speak out and seek a solution.

How will you pray for these photos?

ZAMBIA

KENYA

The Power Behind Our Prayers

May our prayers not stop at these vibrant photos. Each issue of World Vision magazine introduces readers to people in different corners of the world—all of whom are touched by the work of World Vision, all of whom need fervent prayer.

Each face we gaze at, each smile we encounter, is a person of great value—someone who may also have great needs: for sufficient food, better shelter, and medical services; for educational opportunities, sustainable livelihoods, and spiritual peace.

God, you say that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (James 5:16). We do not feel righteous, but we long for powerful prayers for the people we have met on these pages. So forgive us our sins, especially our indifference. Thank you for your great love for us and your desire to work through us to touch others you love, in other parts of the world. Amen.