OUR VISION
We hope and pray for a future in which those we serve experience the freedom, dignity and fullness of life that comes when we enter into relationship with Jesus Christ.
EIN: 26-3359068
Our Office
51 W Monroe St
Franklin, IN 46131
(317) 494-6226
Monday – Friday:
Monday – Friday:
9:00 am – 5:00 pm
BYTAVI Boutique
51 W Monroe St
Franklin, IN 46131
(317) 494-6226
Tuesday & Wednesday:
Tuesday & Wednesday:
11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Thursday – Saturday:
Thursday – Saturday:
10:30 am – 5:00 pm
A Future of Hope
When I was at the workshop yesterday, Sokheng (the older woman seated on the left) asked if her two nieces and their cousin could be included in the byTavi program. I told her she should ask Nary, who had already sent her to me. This led to the three of us, plus Vibol, sitting down to talk. Apparently all three girls arrived from the countryside on Monday. They were sent to the city by family to stay with Sokheng and work in a factory. Both Sokheng and Nary fear that without a safe network these girls will be taken advantage of by factory supervisors. The girls are not here by their choice. They are petrified, and they do not want to work at the factory. The youngest is 16. Knowing the risk Sokheng and Nary asked if they could be a part of byTavi. Long story short, we now have three new seamstresses-in-training.
For Just One
While in Cambodia, I was reminded of the impact this country and its people can have on you. There is such great need everywhere you look. The needs can be overwhelming. However, I have to constantly remind myself that while we can’t help everyone, we can help some. So we do.
There’s a story told of a boy who is walking along a beach where thousands of starfish have washed up and are dying. The boy is picking up starfish and throwing them back in the ocean to save their lives. Someone comes to the boy and questions why he is even trying, he can’t come close to making a difference and saving all the starfish. The boy picks up a starfish and says, “I’m making a huge difference for this one” and he throws the starfish back in the ocean.
That story is most often told to show the impact of making a difference for just one life. But I think a better application for that story may be to ask – why are more people not out on that beach helping the boy to throw the starfish back in the ocean?
I’ve been wrestling with God a bit. . . He has been asking me what I am clinging to that is preventing me from fully giving myself to Him. What am I clinging to that is preventing me from being on that beach and fully devoting myself to throwing back those starfish? Philippians 2:6 tells me that Jesus did not cling to His equality with God but rather emptied himself and became a servant of all. I’m confident that the things I’m clinging to (pride, comfort, fear, etc.) pale in comparison to equality with God. Yet why do I seem cling so tightly?!?
I know I need to be on that beach fully engaged in ‘throwing back those starfish’ that God has called me to serve. How about you?
by Nathan Cecil, written January 2012
photo by Alex Overhiser, March 2012
When Farming Kills
Standing in line in South Korea I struck up a conversation with a fellow traveler. His passport told me that he was an American but his eyes told me that he was, like me, on the last leg of a very long journey. At that point on the trip conversation is one of the best ways just to stay awake so I jumped in. I asked if he was heading to Cambodia on business and he said that he was. His business, as it turns out, involves working with the government to reclaim land that is still filled with unexploded anti-personel and anti-tank mines. Imagine having that job! I remember years ago, on my first trip to Kosova, watching men with metal detectors (and not nearly enough protective gear!) demining the area around the airport! And you thought your job was bad! Then, this morning, I noticed that the lead article on the front page of the The Cambodia Daily was “Anti-Tank Mine Deaths Increase With Development”. The article detailed the deaths of six people just a few days ago. Two “mine moments” so close together led me to do a bit of research. I discovered that since 1979 over 16,000 people have lost their lives in incidents directly related to landmines. Another 40,000 people have had one or more limbs amputated. Few countries in the world share a similar statistic. Cambodia is still one of the most heavily mined countries in the world with legitimate estimates ranging between 4-6 million unexploded mines. The government currently spends $30 million a year just in demining activities and it is project at this level it will still take nearly two decades to clear the remaining mines.
The following are excerpts from Dr. Wade Roberts book entitled Landmines in Cambodia: Past, Present, and Future. Published by Cambria Press (June 2011). A Kindle version is now available. I share them because they articulate another reason why CGI is involved in empowering the poor.
“Cambodia is a land of contrast: astonishing temples and deficient aqueducts, elegant dance and pervasive disease, grandeur and genocide, plenty and poverty, landmarks and landmines. Every village has a story, every family a trial. Life is fragile and death is commonplace. Religious and cultural institutions give cognitive pacification when crops failures occur or new mothers die during child birth. The traditions here are strong and people have discovered ways to endure. While most survive, the majority do so in chronic and pervasive poverty. Economic need is profuse. My eyes are continually opened to the consequences of destitution. My heart hurts. How was I so lucky? If the situation were reversed would anyone be willing to come to my aid? It would be so easy to turn away. Perhaps with time I would forget these feelings of responsibility.
“Sarun Sot was standing in an open field outfitted with a worn sack dangling from his shoulder. On his other shoulder he had positioned a strap which was connected to the metal shaft of a metal detector. The strap helped to hold the weight of the device as he motioned it left and right in concentrically expanding semi-circle patterns. Alone, he was searching for metal. Sarun was 12 years old. His family relied on the income that he acquired selling the snippets and oddments of metal he unearthed. He would tote his daily find to his uncle’s home – less than a kilometer away from where he lived. After being paid the going rate for the weight of metal he had uncovered, he quickly instituted the return leg of his journey towards his home with cash in hand. A portion of his earnings were given to pay rent on the metal detector. The remainder was handed over to his father. Sarun was to continue this process the following day, and the next, and the next. No long-term escape plan was in place.”
“Situations of poverty and economic need often induced risky behavior involving explosive remnants of war. Most often this interaction was intentional in an effort to temporarily ameliorate the sting of poverty. It was the plight of so many like Sarun that motivated my research. Sarun died July 14th, 2008.”
Why is there dirt in the water daddy? Who would drink that?
At first glance, it looked like any other bottle of water sitting on a store display table. It only took Mackenzie and Zachary one closer look, though, to see that something was very wrong. Even as young children, they recognized that an unopened bottle of water should not be filled with dirt, sticks, and other debris.
Their sincere and troubled response was, “Why is there dirt in that water, Daddy? Who would drink that?” It was a powerful moment as they stared as pictures of little boys and girls around the world – who appeared to be the same ages as Mackenzie and Zachary – who are forced every day to drink water full of dirt and disease. At that moment a simple bottle of dirty water was transformed into a CGI Kids story.
Their decision to make an impact around the world would help provide children with clean water for drinking, cooking, and bathing. They began to do extra chores and set money aside until they finally had what they believed was enough.
Mackenzie and Zachary talked with CGI President Chris Alexander and learned he was getting ready to travel to Cambodia . He told them that he was going to visit little boys and girls that live on an island who have no access to clean water. This CGI Kids story resulted in three families being dramatically impacted. Two of those families live on an island half-way around the world and who now have clean water because two kids from central Indiana decided to make a difference. Mackenzie and Zachary’s decision to make a difference impacted our family, too. Now our family’s vision is to, “…help other people around the world and at home.”
Incredible things can be achieved when kids are empowered to use their creativity and passion to make a difference in the lives of other children. What are your talents and interests? Start writing your CGI Kids story today.