Why donate to Heart for Central Africa?
If you want details of how abusive and violent the Congo is today, you only have to Google the word “Congo” and you will see articles about women and children kidnapped, rebel groups, sex trafficking, forced labor, rape, mutilations, murders, mass graves, child soldiers forced to kill, and more.
We don’t pretend we have the power to change all of that, nor will we live in close proximity to the worst of what is going on, but we will have opportunities to minister to people who have lived with such atrocities, who have been forced from their homes or have been abused. We will see extreme poverty and lack. We will have one-on-one contact with families whose greatest desire is to simply have enough food for their children, get medicine for malaria, or pay for just one of their children to go to school.
Heart For Central Africa, has two major arms, Tracy’s Heart and The Sawmill Project. One works with women, the other with men.
Tracy’s Heart is a house where groups of mistreated, abused women come and learn that they are still valuable human beings, have their dignity returned, get basic needs met, learn how intimately they are loved by God, are trained with marketable skills so they don’t have to live on the streets, and are able to begin to have hope for the future.
The Sawmill Project provides men with a trade. They learn to turn trees into boards, use tools, and build carpentry skills as well as sensible business practices while earning a living wage that can feed and care for their families properly.
The opportunity: You can have direct impact on the lives of many Congolese by giving. We will be living on Social Security to take care of our personal needs and living expenses, but to do the work we are equipped to do and provide for the needs of those around us, we need to raise money. The mission board calls this account our “work funds.” The exciting part is that every dime of what you give goes directly to help the people of this troubled nation. There’s no middle man, no organization to take their cut for office supplies and board salaries. Our board of directors is voluntary, located in Terre Haute, IN, and fully licensed as a non-profit organization. All giving is tax deductible.
Most people cannot understand why we want to go to Congo or are glad we are and they don’t have to. That’s okay, because we love the people of Congo and deeply desire to give what we can to this small piece of a hurting world.
Both Ray and I can handle the spiritual needs, introduce them to a loving Father God, pray with them or teach new truths to help them mature. But the needs are also physical and immediate. They might need a hand up, start-up cash for a small business, milk for a child who’s not thriving, school fees, or help paying a hospital bill. We also need travel expenses, to go where the trees are or to teach and train at distant churches. For those things we need others to give, too. You can have a big impact on people without leaving home. Will you consider it?
Although we can’t fully change a country or meet the needs of the world, real people with very real needs can be touched, fed, housed, healed, and helped in physical ways as well as spiritual. And in the process, “we (together) are blessed to be a blessing.”
“The liberal person shall be enriched, and he who waters shall himself be watered.” (Proverbs 11:25 AMP)
Donations can be one-time, monthly, or as often as suits your lifestyle and the desire of your heart.
How to Give?
- Use the PayPal link below to pay by credit or debit card
- Send a check to:
HFCA
℅ The Harkemas
Box #355
Middleville, MI 49333