OPERATION BLESS ING INTERNATIONALAPRIL 2016

Blessingsoperationblessing.org

Facing Down Zika Innovative solutions to help

protect those most vulnerable { P A G E 8 }

2

A Message from THE PRESIDENT

When Hurricane Katrina tore into New Orleans in 2005 and the levees

burst, the city flooded. Over 1,000 residents, most of them elderly,

were desperate to escape rising waters and climbed into darkened

attics where they were trapped and drowned. Later, when levees were repaired

and the city pumped out, thousands of swimming pools remained full of sewage,

storm water and debris. These unattended pools became ideal breeding grounds

for swarms of hungry mosquitoes displaced from nearby bayous. Some of the mos-

quitoes carried West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis. Storm clouds of a looming

epidemic gathered over the beleaguered city and even the CDC didn't know how

to stop it. It was then that Operation Blessing’s BUG BUSTERS program was born.

At the request of the City of New Orleans Mosquito Board, we sourced, raised

and distributed hordes of tiny mosquito-eating fish called Gambusia. Working with

the Mosquito Control team, our staff and volunteers planted mosquito fish in over

5,500 swimming pools. The hardworking fish wiped out the mosquitoes breeding in

the pools and the epidemic was stopped cold.

We are now faced with Zika, a far more widespread mosquito-caused crisis.

Armed with lessons learned in New Orleans — we've launched Bug Busters II.

Zika is carried by Aedes aegypti, a particular type of tiny mosquito that lives in

and around the homes of the poor. OBI teams in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El

Salvador and Haiti are working to help vulnerable villagers by providing bed nets,

covers for water containers and tiny fish to gobble mosquito larvae and disrupt

their life cycle.

It is always the poor who are most vulnerable. Most of us are blessed and live

in air-conditioned homes with screens on our windows, but our neighbors in Latin

America languish at the mercy of diseased mosquitoes. Please help us help more of

them by joining the fight against Zika.

May God bless you,

2

3

A Message from THE PRESIDENT4 Waking Up on Dry Land

Rural development project helps keep boy’s home safe from intruding water

6 Food on the Table Operation Blessing partners bring hunger relief to a single mom and her son

12 A New Life of Sight A life-changing surgery restores vision for 8-month-old Maileen

14 Rest for the Weary OB Israel works with Holocaust survivors to help with basic needs

16 World Malaria Day Learn what OBI is doing worldwide to fight the threat of malaria

Inside this issue Cover PAGE 8

Facing Down Zika Innovative solutions to help protect those most vulnerable

PAGE 4

PAGE 14

PAGE 12

44

EL SALVADOR

Waking Up on Dry Land Rural development project helps keep boy’s home safe from intruding water

All 12-year-old Jonathan wanted was to wake up in the morning and put his feet on dry ground. Some mornings, this was the case. Other mornings, rising waters from a nearby swamp would

seep into his family’s home. “One day I practically woke up in water, and was scared and disoriented

because I felt like someone was throwing water on my face while I slept,” he said. “I began to grab things that were floating, like clothes or some dishes so that they wouldn’t get carried away.”

While the mattresses and floor dried out, Jonathan and his family slept sitting up in plastic chairs.

To help his family stay dry, Jonathan would miss school to walk 30 minutes each way to collect dirt so he could build a barrier that would stop

Jonathan and his parents are thankful to have a home protected against water.

5

the water from coming into his house. He would often have to stop and rest on his way home, for the weight of the dirt was too much.

Together with his mother, Jonathan would mix mud with bottles, sticks, plastic and other trash to help raise their home’s foundation. The soil he collected would then go on top of the mud. Finally, the makeshift foun-dation was flattened with rocks and their feet, with hopes it was elevated enough that the house was safe from water entering.

Jonathan’s father, Jose, wanted better for his family, too. Each day he would go fishing, rising at 2 a.m. and working until 6 p.m. Because it cost Jose six dollars each day to rent supplies, he fished for as long as possible, hoping it would be enough to feed his family.

“Sometimes when I’m at sea, after being in my canoe for more than 10 hours, I look at what I’ve fished and I want to cry when I think that I haven’t even earned enough to pay for the nets and canoe,” Jose said.

When OB El Salvador learned of Jonathan and his family, workers helped to repair Jonathan’s house by building a 3 foot high foundation made of concrete to prevent water from entering. OBI also provided his family with new fishing nets. Now, Jose can save his six dollars a day and still earn an income to feed his family.

Jonathan and his father thanked the OBI team for the support: “For us, it’s a huge blessing,” they said. ◆

Waking Up on Dry Land

Jose fishes in waters near his home, now with his own supplies.

6

TENNESSEE

Food on the TableOperation Blessing partners bring hunger

relief to a single mom and her son

Marlinda is grateful to OB partner Joseph’s Storehouse for help with groceries.

6

7

Two months into life without a job, Marlinda was having a hard time putting food on the table. Marlinda’s son, 20, brought in their only income, but it was barely enough to cover the rent,

let alone sustenance for the two of them. After reading the local newspaper, she learned about Joseph’s

Storehouse, a local Operation Blessing-supported food pantry that distributes food to about 600 families in need each month.

Marlinda reached out to the food pantry for help and received the groceries she needed to put food on the table.

She was happy to finally see her son eat well. “What I enjoy most about the food, is that I’ll be able to see my son eat!” she said.

Marlinda recently started a new job and is happy to help her son provide income for their home. And thanks to OBI partner Joseph’s Storehouse, Marlinda can rest easy knowing she and her son are well fed as they get back on their feet. ◆

The OBI-supported food pantry provides groceries to more than 600 families a month.

8

Hiding in closets, breeding in potted plants, water containers and puddles, mosquitoes can be more than just annoying pests. The Aedes aegypti mosquito, known to carry dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya, is also the carrier of the dangerous Zika virus

Innovative solutions to help protect those most vulnerable

Facing Down ZikaEL SALVADOR

Pregnant mothers and their unborn babies are at the greatest risk from Zika.

“Thank you…it really helps out [ families like myself,” Alishia

9

outbreak sweeping across Latin America and the Caribbean and recently declared an international emergency by the World Health Organization.

While not terribly dangerous to healthy adults, unborn babies are highly vulnerable to the Zika virus, which can cause severe birth defects. A pregnant mother’s infection with the Zika virus can result in a condi-tion known as microcephaly in her child, an abnormally small head with stunted brain development. With the number of Zika and microcephaly cases rising, the government in El Salvador has asked that women refrain

from getting pregnant for at least two years.

For those already with child, however, the answers are few and the fears many.

Twenty-one-year-old Tatiana is one of these mothers. Two of her neighbors were confirmed to have contracted Zika, and she herself had many symptoms of the virus. How-ever, tests were unable to confirm or deny that she had the disease. With-out access to an ultrasound machine, doctors are unable to determine

Facing Down Zika

OBI is planning to use these larvae-eating Sambo fish to help reduce the Zika-carrying mosquito population.

10

whether or not her baby has been affected. All Tatiana can do is pray.Operation Blessing has launched major multi-country efforts to

bring relief and hope to mothers like Tatiana through a comprehensive Zika fighting strategy. OBI is distributing thousands of mosquito nets and bug spray to pregnant women in El Salvador, Haiti and, soon, Peru.

In Honduras, community health workers are going door-to-door educating residents on how to eliminate Aedes aegypti mosquito breeding grounds in and around their homes.

In El Salvador, Operation Blessing is supporting govern-ment fumigation efforts in mosquito-infested areas and is working to provide Sambo fish for the biological eradication of

the disease-carrying mosquito larvae. Alongside El Salvador’s Ministry of Health, OBI is also working to establish a central Zika Maternity Center and has imported four portable ultrasound machines to give peace of mind to mothers who worry that Zika has harmed their unborn children.

With these measures, and more, Operation Blessing is helping protect the lives of the most vulnerable, and replacing fear with hope for mothers just like Tatiana. ◆

OBI teams are distributing nets and mosquito repel-lant to help protect mothers like Tatiana.

THE FISH SOLUTIONU sing expertise gained from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, OBI is partnering

with government agencies across Latin America to introduce mosquito-eating fish as a biological solution for eradicating the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Operation Blessing is working to determine which species of fish, be it tilapia, gambusia, Sambo or another variety, is best suited to the job in each particular country.

This innovative and effective solution will require massive quantities of fish to effectively interrupt the mosquitoes’ life cycle and slow the spread of Zika, and other mosquito-borne illnesses. Mosquito-eating fish may hold the key to bringing this ongoing world health crisis to an end. Watch a video on OBI’s efforts to use Sambo fish in El Salvador at: ob.org/sambofish

1111

REFUGEES ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE HUNGRY, HURTING

AND IN NEED OF HOPE.

Make a promise to help innocent children like these at

OperationBlessing/VouchersOfHope.

12

HONDURAS

A life-changing surgery restores vision for 8-month-old Maileen

A NEW LIFE OF SIGHT

12

“Operation Blessing has given me the greatest gift of my life, and my daughter's too,” says Kimberly pictured here with a happy and healthy Maileen.

13

Born with cataracts in both eyes, 8-month-old Maileen faced perma-nent blindness. Her mother, Kimberly, had first become concerned when Maileen’s eyes wouldn’t focus when she was a tiny infant, and

soon after, a doctor confirmed the need to fix her eyes as soon as possible.The surgery would cost more than Kimberly and her mother could

afford, as their combined income from temporary jobs barely provided enough each week to feed the two of them and little Maileen.

“My first thought was, ‘How will I be able to afford this? My God, help me please. Help my daughter’,” Kimberly said.

With Maileen being ridiculed by other children and facing a life-long disability, her mother’s heart was broken yet determined to find a way for Maileen to receive a surgery that would change her life. No matter that others laughed, Kimberly proclaimed that God would heal, believing He would provide a way.

Each year, Operation Blessing’s Life-Changing Surgeries program works to provide aid to poor families who feel a sense of hopelessness at their medical situation. A happenstance meeting with a friend brought Kimberly the news of what Operation Blessing could do for Maileen. Kimberly was able to connect with OBI staff, and after a visit and an evaluation, Kimberly and her daughter found themselves on the receiving end of such a gift.

Maileen’s examinations, surgery and follow-up care have been taken care of thanks to Operation Blessing partners, and today Maileen is a completely healthy baby with eyes that now can see the world around her. She still wears glasses so her brain can adapt to the stimuli her eyes now process, but hopes for Maileen’s future are bright.

“Operation Blessing came when I could not believe it,” Kimberly said. “I give thanks to God that He has heard my prayers. … Operation Blessing has given me the greatest gift of my life, and my daughter's too. We have no way to pay, and so I ask God to bless them greatly.” ◆

13

A doctor examines 8-month-old Maileen’s eyes after a life-changing surgery prevented the threat of blindness.

1414

ISRAEL

OB Israel works with Holocaust survivors to help with basic needs

Maria was only 12 years old when Nazi Germany invaded her home country of Ukraine during World War II. But the war brought more than just the threats of bullets and

bombs. Being Jewish, Maria and her family were also in danger of becoming victims of the Holocaust.

Maria, along with her parents and two sisters, tried fleeing from one Ukrainian city to another in order to escape persecution. On their way to a new city, the fighting was too intense, so they stayed put until the Germans arrived and began “purifying” the city by getting rid of any adult registered as a Jewish person. Maria and her family buried their paperwork identifying them as Jewish and hid until it was safe to continue their escape.

They eventually found refuge at a lady’s home, but the war would touch their lives again when German officers spotted one of Maria’s sisters. The family was apprehended and forced to live in a basement prison. Fortunately, they managed to escape and make

REST FOR THE WEARY

Maria is one of many Holocaust survivors living in poverty.

1515

their way on foot back to the village where they had made a home– roughly 15 miles away. By then the Red Army, one of the German forces’ greatest threats during the war, was there to protect them until the war was over and the Jewish population safe.

Maria eventually returned with her fam-ily to their home in Donetsk. In the ensuing years, Maria earned a medical degree, which she used to teach and practice medicine at clinics and hospitals.

In 1996, Maria wanted to go home, truly home, to Israel. She migrated to Beit Shemesh with her sister and brother-in-law when Israel was opened up to Eastern European Jews. Today, though, she is alone and the last surviv-ing member of her family.

According to the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel, approxi-mately 50,000 of the country’s 193,000 survivors, or about 25 percent, live in poverty. Of the general survivor population, 45 per-cent indicated during the foundation’s recent study that they felt alone, and 60 percent were worried about their financial situation.

That’s where Operation Blessing comes in with its Adopt a Holocaust Victim program. OB Israel provides assistance with grocer-

ies, medical bills, and other basic neces-sities to Holocaust survivors who face financial difficulty. Sometimes, too, all a survivor needs is a companion, which is another need the program meets.

At 86 years old, Maria is getting the

help she needs to be comfortable. OB Israel has provided her with groceries, a new washing machine and winter bedding to keep her warm. Thanks to the program, there is truly rest for the weary for Maria and survivors like her. ◆

Maria escaped German perse-cution more than once, thanks to her family’s determination to stay alive.

OB Israel provides assistance to Holocaust survivors with groceries, medical bills, and other basic necessities.

16

WORLD MALARIA DAY

Around half of the world’s population lives under the constant threat of malaria, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. In 2015 there were approximately 214 million cases worldwide resulting in 438,000* deaths. Yet in spite of these sobering statistics, there is hope.

Operation Blessing is working in many of the places around the globe where malaria poses the greatest risk: distributing mosquito nets, offering free medical care, facilitating free health clinics and malaria education and, most importantly, providing access to lifesaving medicine for those already infected.

On World Malaria Day (April 25) we stop to pray for those still facing this deadly disease and to thank you for your partnership that allows Operation Blessing to continue fighting for those most vulnerable.

*World Health Organization

Copyright © 2016 by Operation Blessing International, P.O. Box 2636, Virginia Beach, VA 23450. For more information, call (800) 730-2537 or visit our website at operationblessing.org