Verity FurneauxPaediatric Physiotherapist providing Home Based Care for children with physical disabilities in Sierra LeoneSent by Church Mission Society and Bognor Vineyard Church     
       
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news on the mountains, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation.”  Isaiah 52 : 7, and Romans 10 : 15  

Since April 2007 I have been pioneering a new programme in Sierra Leone to be providing support in the communities to families with children who have disabilities.   Having worked in Sierra Leone on and off between 2004 and 2006, with Mercy Ships New Steps, a rehabilitation centre on the outskirts of Freetown, I had identified that this was a real need as these families could not afford to regularly attend for treatment, and even if they did it was in a unfamiliar environment using unfamiliar equipment. Sierra Leone is still listed as the poorest country in the world by the UN.  Medical facilities are far and few between and that is in the capital city Freetown, in the villages there are even less.  Birthing facilities are so poor that many women die giving birth, and many more end up with a dead or disabled child.  Once a child is born, it has a 2 in 5 chance of reaching aged 5 years.  There is now only 1 organisation working in rehabilitation.  Currently I am one of 5 physios in the country.  
  
Physiotherapy looks very different in Sierra Leone, there are no treatment couches but a mat on the floor hopefully in the shade, no equipment but your hands and your clinical skills, no standing frames, supportive seating and few mobility devices but imagination and the partnership with local carpenters allows us to create all sorts of solutions.  I also have a local assistant, Abu, who I am training up to work independently and maybe one day lead the programme. I'm so pleased that God has literally been taking me to the places where the most disabled kids are being hidden.  One by one these little treasures are coming to the surface and I get so excited when another one is found.  It feels like I'm opening this huge treasure chest of these precious children.  I see some kids that I need to refer to other places, or advise regarding Polio, bony probs, infections, amputees. 
But the ones I'm really after are the kids with severe developmental delay (Cerebral Palsy) – caused by problems both at birth and after birth, and sometimes lead to them being abandoned, being tied up, half buried, trafficked and abused, or being used in ceremonial rituals.  These children are often seen as cursed or demon possessed.  It's a crazy and unfair world we live in, but in my eyes, these are children loved by God and so precious to me.  Finding a way to encourage them in their homes whether that be with their own family, in orphanages or in 'foster' type families, it's a challenge but a very deserving one.   

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Those wanting to find out more...

read my Blog www.vez-in-sierraleone.blogspot.com or email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Thank you kindly for your support and prayers

Verity Furneaux

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Rosemary Pavey in Kenya with Barnabas Training Consortium.

There are two organisations I go with – Barnabas Training Consortium, which provides counselling training free of charge for Kenyans. The other one is Amptex Ltd (so called after Allan’s initials) a company that provides help in many ways for street kids in Nairobi and Nakuru and generally supports those in need. We also help to set up initiatives – small independent businesses that go on to be self supporting. The church has supplied some of these funds for the projects. In the future we are buying land in order to build a training centre, a school and a guest house which in turn will support the other projects.

Melissa Lee in North Carolina with Christian Training Centre International.

I help to save an ‘Endangered Species’ from extinction. Not the dolphin, tree frogs or rare birds but the Family. The Family, as God intended it – is under attack in today’s world – many forces are arrayed against it. The ministry I am part of helps to bring families back to a place of reality – living lives that will please the Lord and being examples of how the Lord intends families to be.

I welcome Jesus – as I work with children. Matthew 18: 5 – ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes Me’. This is such a privilege and I enjoy being with children in the local community, in churches and with the children of the families who come to be with us. My desire is that children enter into a life changing relationship with the Lord now, and have firm biblical principles established in their lives.

Sponsor a child in China with International China Concern

Founded in 1993 by David Gotts when he visited some of the orphanages run by the government and witnessed the conditions the children were living in. ICC is based in Nan Ning at Living Stones Village, which is for children from local welfare centres who can experience a family type of environment, and also in Changsha where Oasis House and Hope House are based. Hope House is for children who are newborn to 7 years of age and Oasis House is for children aged 7 and over all of which have a disability or special need of some kind. The vision of ICC is to give these children a chance to experience God’s love and gain practical skills that will help them to be part of the community, as they become young adults.

ICC also runs training courses to teach Chinese medical professionals how to care for children with special needs which they hope will have a positive impact. ICC is staffed by long-term volunteers who are committed to being part of the community and learning the language and there are opportunities for short-term volunteers that last 2 weeks and medium term which is six months. This gives opportunities to people who are trained nurses or physiotherapists etc. to use their skills but also for those who just feel they can help by showing love and affection to the children.

ICC is funded by donations from individuals and churches all over the world but their main source of finance is through the child sponsorship programme ‘Hand in Hand’. The ‘Hand in Hand’ programme is where you can sponsor a child and the money given each month goes towards the child’s accommodation, food and other physical needs.
Finally the most important part of ICC is prayer!

Vineyard member in Bosnia, who prays and works for reconciliation