Co-founder Camille Melki says Heart for Lebanon began its medical clinic in the Bekaa Valley 18 years ago.

“Heart for Lebanon started doing ministry in October 2006 as a response to the Hezbollah and Israeli war that summer. Hosting medical teams started a few months after, realizing that medical services are scarce, especially during conflicts,” Melki explains.

“We continue to serve, from that day till now, locally displaced families and Syrian and Iraqi refugees.”

In 2019, the ministry expanded its clinic to meet ever-rising needs, building a permanent location and hiring residential staff. “We are 20 miles from the border with Syria,” Melki says.

“The Bekaa Valley is the largest host of refugees who have crossed from Syria to Lebanon, and our center serves thousands of individuals on a weekly basis.”

Every interaction is a Gospel opportunity. “When someone goes to a doctor, they expect the doctor to know what they’re talking about and to prescribe the best medicine,” Melki says.

“That’s very true, but in our cases, the patients [also] feel they’re important in the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Are you a medical professional? Volunteer by connecting with Heart for Lebanon on Facebook. Plus, “we would urge listeners to continue to pray for open doors to share the love of Jesus Christ,” Melki requests.

“Also, we urge you to pray for the resources needed because maintaining a clinic is not a small task.”

Header image courtesy of Heart for Lebanon.

“Usually when we talk about our ministry there, I have to kind of explain where Burkina Faso is. They’ve not heard of it. It’s not been in the news,” says Greg Yoder with Christian World Outreach (CWO). 

Islamic militant groups entered Burkina Faso from neighboring Mali nearly a decade ago. They’ve been fighting each other and the government ever since. One city in the north has been under a blockade by Islamic militants for two years. 

Civilians are caught in the crossfire. Today, two million people are displaced within Burkina Faso. In 2023, one quarter of all terrorism-related deaths reported in the world were in Burkina Faso, surpassing Afghanistan. (Source: Institute for Economics & Peace, Global Terrorism Index 2024 report.) Just this past August, up to 600 men, women and children were shot within a few hours in an eastern town by jihadists.

Yet for the number of people caught in this crisis, the humanitarian aid, media coverage, and political and diplomatic efforts to intervene are incredibly low, as the report from the NRC points out.

In the midst of these deep-seated problems, CWO’s medical clinic and its vocational training school for young women have felt the pressure.

Village of Opportunity graduation in Burkina Faso 2023. (Photo courtesy of Christian World Outreach)

“We’ve had our girls from the Village of Opportunity come back early — some of them — just because of the safety [concerns], but that puts a strain on our budget because we’ve got girls coming back early and need to feed them,” Yoder says. 

“[Some of them] came back about a month early. It’s a blessing to be able to help them that way. God’s been good and supplied what we’ve needed.”

Would you consider becoming part of CWO’s financial support for ministry to the people of Burkina Faso? What the team is doing is making a difference for eternity.

“You know, if people are are fleeing their homes and they’re hungry, just sharing the gospel with them is not going to do much. Being able to to love on them and supply some of those physical needs gives the opportunity to share the gospel,” Yoder says. 

And of course, pray! Pray that the right people in the world will see and stir themselves to take action on behalf of Burkina Faso. 

“Pray for our leadership staff as they make discerning decisions on who to help and how to help,” Yoder says. 

“Pray for the safety of the Village of Opportunity. Pray for the mobile clinic as they go out. They’re going into the villages, and so they’re risking their safety sometimes.”

Learn more about CWO’s ministry here. 

Header photo of women in Burkina Faso is a representative stock photo courtesy of AFRIQUE AYELE-Y via Pexels.

More refugees are spilling over the border from Burkina Faso into Niger as they escape the rising violence from jihadist-linked insurgents, according to the UNHCR.

Greg Yoder with Christian World Outreach (CWO) says, “The extremist groups have been coming into the country, trying to take over from the north and the east, from what our understanding is.”

Humanitarian and ministry efforts in Burkina Faso are feeling the impact of deteriorating security.

One of CWO’s critical initiatives, a mobile clinic that provides medical care to remote villages, has been suspended due to safety concerns.

“It’s too dangerous,” Yoder says, emphasizing the heightened risk to their staff and volunteers. “But I have heard that the military has started to take some mobile clinics to some of the areas that are being attacked through these extremists.”

Village of Opportunity graduation in Burkina Faso 2023. (Photo courtesy of Christian World Outreach)

The violence has also impacted CWO’s educational programs, particularly the Village of Opportunity, a boarding school for young women. Yoder expressed concern about the potential drop in student attendance this fall, as travel restrictions may prevent many from reaching the school.

Despite the challenges, CWO remains committed to its Gospel mission. “People are going to be searching for answers and in ways that only God can answer.”

Yoder says, “We haven’t had any direct impact with any of our staff. But it’s always a concern of ours to know that they are safe and that they take care of themselves and be careful as they do travel out.

“They have a heart for ministry, and they’re not going to let this stop them from sharing the Gospel. So we just ask people to pray for our staff that they have wisdom when they can go out, when they should go out, and for their safety as they do.”

Learn more about CWO’s ministry here.

Header photo of children in Burkina Faso, courtesy of Pixabay.

“The population is saying that they’re not going to stop until the Prime Minister leaves Haiti,” DeHart says.

“Every time he (Prime Minister Ariel Henry) goes on the radio to address the nation, things get substantially worse.”

Store shelves are bare because delivery trucks cannot reach the city. “Many Haitians live hand to mouth; they’re out trying to get enough food for their families for that day,” DeHart says.

“This (unrest) is making it even harder because now sometimes they can’t find anything, even if they have money.”

(Photo courtesy of For Haiti with Love)

For Haiti With Love operates one of the few medical clinics in Cap Haïtien. More about that here. “We were on the verge of closing because [we were] running out of supplies, but the plane got in and got us everything we needed,” DeHart says.

“[Our partners brought] everything that they had in their hangar for us, so they totally resupplied the clinic. Now, we can patch them (citizens) up when they get shot or cut on the streets.”

Believers share Christ daily in word and deed at the clinic. “The fact that we are still open in the midst of all of this is a big testimony. God gets all the credit for that,” DeHart says.

Donate here to help For Haiti With Love keep its medical clinic open and stocked.

Meanwhile, here’s how you can pray alongside a five-year-old Haitian boy: “His prayer was, ‘Dear God, Haiti is in trouble. Please help Haiti,’” DeHart says.

“‘Please make the people change so they will love You. If they love You, they won’t do the bad things. And, I want to go to school. Please make the streets safer again.’”

Header image courtesy of For Haiti With Love.

Greg Yoder with Christian World Outreach says, “One thing this does is restrict the travel of anybody that would need to come to our ministry. I think the bigger picture is it just hurts the poor, the common people that are not involved in big business and in politics, that kind of thing.”

CWO’s work in Burkina Faso

Yoder says the coup shut down the internet, but communication with CWO staff has since returned. The ministry runs a mobile medical clinic in Burkina Faso, providing care for those who otherwise couldn’t afford it.

They also provide education for young women, something often lacking in the country. Learn more about CWO projects in Burkina Faso here. Local staff operate all programs, so CWO hasn’t stopped any programming during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the threat of extremist violence looms large in Burkina Faso. Recently, CWO staff at the school went through risk management training to help protect the students. Yoder says, “When the girls went back to their villages for Christmas break, we had 12 students who could not return because of those actions of extremists. It’s just not safe for them to travel. Many of our girls, their families are displaced. They’ve left their villages. In some ways, these girls look at the Village of Opportunity is as a home.”

“Again, that just opens the door for us to share Christ’s love with these ladies.”

Pray many people would encounter the love of Jesus through CWO’s ministry.

The header photo shows Burkinabe soldiers patrolling after the coup. Photo courtesy of VOA News, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

(Photo courtesy For Haiti With Love)

Yet, Haiti is in real trouble. Two-and-a-half million Haitians live in extreme poverty as Haiti is the poorest country in the northern hemisphere, according to the World Food Program.

The government is in chaos. The United Nations is “deeply concerned” that the agreed-upon date for holding elections in Haiti was not met over the weekend. Lawmakers have offered no alternate electoral calendar, either, following the cancellation of January’s elections.

January was followed by weeks of heavy rains and flooding in the North in February and March, and now flooding this month in the West. Yet, few of these stories remain on the global consciousness. The only way details are getting out is through word-of-mouth communications from Haitians working to be part of the solution.

For Haiti With Love co-founder Eva DeHart says that the government hasn’t paid its doctors in so long, they’ve gone on strike, effectively closing the main hospital. But, life goes on, and when people get hurt or burned, there are few choices — except for the privately-run medical clinics, like the one For Haiti With Love runs.

DeHart recently shared a picture on the ministry’s Facebook group with the following caption:

“This man went first to the hospital and then to FHL – he had a major cut – dreadlocks had to go, shaved the area and still have difficult time getting the bleeding stopped. Got him stitched up and will see him tomorrow.”

She goes on to note that there is a lot of illness, because people don’t have the money to see doctors or buy medications. The exchange rate (on money) makes food too expensive. “There are vendor strikes because the food is too expensive for them to buy, let alone be able to resell it.”

(Photo courtesy For Haiti With Love)

But in this case too, For Haiti with Love is there, with a feeding program, with a medical clinic that has already had more burn patients in 2016 than ever before. DeHart writes, “There are more seizure patients. Whether it is increasing from stress, or we are seeing them now because they don’t have money for medications they were previously buying on their own, the numbers are climbing.”

People are desperate just to find a way to survive. Haiti faces big challenges, with problems that run an endless loop of bigger problems.

For Haiti With Love is doing what it can to meet the physical, spiritual and emotional needs. They show God’s love by following the Lord’s commands in Matthew 25:35-40 to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, and shelter the homeless. When their team meets the physical needs, it often gives them an opportunity to answer the question, “Why are you helping me?” The Gospel is the natural answer.  Giving freely of God’s love and gifts opens the door to hope in a way that they’ve never known before.

(Photo courtesy HCJB Global)

International (HCJB) — You can easily spend $50 a month on fast food or Starbucks. Wouldn’t it be great to commit that same amount and see it result in lives transformed by the power of the gospel?

HCJB Global’s passion is making disciples of Jesus Christ. Through the practical tools of media, healthcare, and leadership development, we serve with Christians around the globe to reach the least-reached with the Good News.

People are hearing the gospel for the first time in their heart language in countries like Thailand, Sierra Leone, Peru and Croatia. Lives are being transformed in North Africa and the Middle East through programming on shortwave and satellite radio. Communities in Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Nepal and Haiti are being transformed as clean-water projects and rural healthcare outreaches touch lives.

One radio listener wrote, “A few weeks ago, I was getting ready to commit suicide. Then I had an urge to turn on the radio. Someone was speaking about the hope we have in Jesus. Now I listen to your station because the programming inspires me to live and have hope.”

As a Power Partner, you can rejoice when an individual comes to Christ through our local partner’s radio ministry in Indonesia that your gift helped launch. When a village elder in Ghana reports that since the clean-water well was installed no one in the community has died, you can know that you played a part.

When believers in Central Asia secretly meet and “have church” as they listen to the songs and preaching and read the Bible they downloaded from a website in their language, you can praise God for the powerful way in which your gift made it possible.

Will you become a Power Partner so that people all over the world can hear the Good news and experience God’s Love? Click here to get involved.

Needed for 2013: $291,000

HCJB Global's passion is making disciples of Jesus Christ. Through the practical tools of media, healthcare, and leadership development, HCJB serves with Christians around the globe to reach the least-reached with the Good News.

People are hearing the gospel for the first time in their heart language in countries like Thailand, Sierra Leone, Peru, and Croatia. Lives are being transformed in North Africa and the Middle East through programming on shortwave and satellite radio. Communities in Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Nepal, and Haiti are being transformed as clean-water projects and rural healthcare outreaches touch lives.

One radio listener wrote, "A few weeks ago, I was getting ready to commit suicide. Then I had an urge to turn on the radio. Someone was speaking about the hope we have in Jesus. Now I listen to your station because the programming inspires me to live and have hope."

As a Power Partner, you can rejoice when an individual comes to Christ through HCJB's local partner's radio ministry in Indonesia that your gift helped launch. When a village elder in Ghana reports that since the clean-water well was installed, no one in the community has died, you can know that you played a part.

When believers in Central Asia secretly meet and "have church" as they listen to the songs and preaching and read the Bible they downloaded from a Web site in their language, you can praise God for the powerful way in which your gift made it possible.

Will you become a Power Partner so that people all over the world can hear the Good news and experience God's Love? Click here to get involved.

Needed for 2013: $291,000

The food came from Minnesota, so they had to pay for the transportation of the container for over 2000 miles. It ended up costing $10,000. The benefits outweighed the cost. They are able to feed 200,000 children with the food that was donated in that container.

With the $10,000 being spent on food, For Haiti has a new pressing need. Just recently Eva DeHart says they have run into a problem in their medical clinic. "The silver sulfadiazine that we use for the burns has silver in it, so it has gone from $10.00 for a 400 gram jar, up to $42.00."

This $32.00 jump came as a shock to them. When burn victims come into the clinic, depending on their burn, they can use a large amount of burn cream–sometimes using a whole jar for one person. For Haiti has found a solution, but they need your help to accomplish it.

DeHart explains, "I have the opportunity with Blessings International to get into one of their bulk orders from out of country. If I can come up with $4,000, I can get an entire year's supply of silver sulfadiazine."

After spending money on the food, $4,000 seems like an impossible task, but they know that with the Lord, all things are possible. The clinic provides a way that For Haiti can share Christ's name with those who come for help.

DeHart said, "A lot of our burns are a result of voodoo rituals. When you talk to those people and explain to them that God doesn't expect that kind of stuff–that we have a loving God that doesn't want you to go through those rituals, you can get their attention in a hurry because they don't have to do that anymore."

Continuing to treat burns is a top priority for them. The short-term goal is to raise $2,000 in the next 30 days. That will ensure that the burn cream will be shipped. Then the other half will be due when the container is received a few months later.

If you can help For Haiti with this current need, click here. Pray that they will receive funds for the shipping container. Ask God to continue to give For Haiti opportunities to share the Gospel to those they treat.

"The drought continues to be a challenge," Ragan stated. "Most of the people there are subsistence farmers. In other words, they live off the land. Because of the incredible droughts that they're having–and continue to have, it really affects their lifestyle."

But the challenges of widespread hunger aren't stopping people from satisfying their spiritual hunger. GAIN USA partners with Campus Crusade for Christ in Zimbabwe, and Ragan said a crusade took place during their trip. Thousands attended the open-air service, and when Christian workers gave an opportunity for attendants to accept Jesus as their Savior, many responded.

"We saw over 500 people come forward," said Ragan. "It's just phenomenal."

Ragan added that actions speak louder than words in Zimbabwe.

"Sometimes it's a little difficult for us to understand on the U.S. side," explained Ragan, "but in most countries, community transformation is the most important thing.

"They hear the Gospel, but they want to see it as well."

Ragah said that entering a community with the attitude of a humble servant spurs unbelievers to ask two questions: Who are you and why are you here?

"And that opens up a tremendous door for our staff on the ground to share the full Gospel message of Jesus Christ," Ragan said.

But daily ministry in a crisis zone can be wearisome.

"They get their encouragement from knowing that believers around the world are praying for them," said Ragan. Ask the Lord to strengthen GAIN USA workers and encourage them to persevere.

Campus Crusade and GAIN USA ministers to a village with approximately 130,000 citizens. One need they saw on this trip, Ragan explained, was the need for local medical care. Right now, sick or injured villagers must trek over 6 miles for medical attention.

Ragan said GAIN USA has found an area of land on which to build the clinic, but they need your help to move forward with this project.

"We are asking our donors and friends and partners to sponsor a square foot," he said. "We've got it broken down to about $31 per square foot to build a fully-functional medical clinic."

You can support this project by clicking here.