Wishing you and yours the happiest of New Years! Thanks for all your support and encouragement of Extreme Response in 2009. We look forward to changing more lives in 2010!

It’s that time of year again - time for the annual Extreme Response Christmas parties. This year we’ll be holding parties in Quito, Ecuador and Cape Town, South Africa. The parties will run from Dec 2 - Dec 11th and we’re planning on celebrating with over 14,000 people between the two countries. Keep checking back for more updates!

The Woodside women - plus ER leaders Ed and Dawn

A team of 9 women from Woodside Bible Church in Troy, Michigan travelled to Cape Town, South Africa to work with ER partner Living Hope. The team worked with over 350 women (and a few men) from the Living Hope Support Groups. These support groups exist to support those dealing with HIV, AIDS and other illnesses. Each of the 4 support groups meet in various townships in the Fish Hoek area. Most of the women they worked with are HIV+. The team did a wonderful job empowering, encouraging and loving these women who have known so much sickness, poverty, death and abuse in their lives. (for more information on Living Hope go to: www.livinghopeusa.org)

They also had the opportunity to encourage the 25 women (and a couple men) at the New Beginnings Development Center in the Woodstock area of Cape Town (www.newbdc.com). These women are enrolled in a free training course for unemployed people. The goal is to train, educate and empower individuals in an effort to alleviate poverty. The Woodside ladies had a great time getting to know the New Beginnings students.

Thank you Woodside Ladies!

House in the Masiphumelele Township

Woodside team member Deb with 2 of the ladies

Meeting at New Beginnings

Red Hill Township

The meeting at Red Hill

Christina makes a new friend at Ocean View

Extreme Response welcomes Calvary Church of Pennsylvania to Quito this week! A team of 18 adults is here working in partnership with the El Inca Church. This group is building a 120-seat auditorium for a new church in the La Paz community, just north of Quito. Each day the team is busy mixing and pouring concrete as well as welding the steel roof trusses. A team of nationals will continue with the roof structure and corrugated panels once the team has finished their week. A special thanks to team leaders Steve Kirsch and Norm Emery, as well as each of the team members for serving in Ecuador!

Submitted by Bill Hedrick- Teams Coordinator

You would have enjoyed being with us on Friday afternoon! Nearly 200 kids gathered at Kindle with great anticipation. They knew what they had come for! A few weeks ago they had been promised new uniforms, and today was the day for the promise to be fulfilled. Every occasion is a chance for celebration and teaching, so we started with some songs. Then Mr Mbena, head of the Education Department who has been overseeing this project, gave a speech about the importance of taking care of the uniforms. Here are some of his comments: These uniforms are for wearing to SCHOOL! You do not wear them to dig for mice in the fields (boys like to eat these for snacks!) You do not wear them for going to market. You must not take them and sell them. These may sound like strange instructions, but all very appropriate! He also explained again how important it is for children to stay in school these days. Education will give them an opportunity for a future!

It took a few hours to get everyone outfitted, but finally the group changed from rather grubby looking kids to smart looking school boys and girls. I hope you enjoy the few photos I have attached. You will notice that there are 3 different uniforms as we have children in 3 different schools. Most of them are the blue and yellow. Some are maroon and white, and a few blue and white.

Finally, all of the children say thank you very much! Like this: “Zikomo kwambiri chifukwa cha mayunifomu atsopano. Mulungu akudalitseni!” (Thank you very much for the new uniforms. May God bless you!”)

On behalf of all the children at Kindle, I too say Thank You!

Sincerely,
Marilyn Barr
Kindle Orphan Outreach

Thanks so much to Ali Rubenstein and the Student to Student Malawi School Uniform Program!!!

For His Children is an orphanage which has been operating in Quito, Ecuador for 19 years with over 550 orphans having been cared for in the home. There are currently 45 children in the Quito home. A new home has been opened this year in the city of Latacunga, Ecuador, about 1 ½ hours from Quito, in order to help the orphans in that area of the country. Children are brought to the home by various means such as the police, who often find them abandoned in the parks, from hospitals, where the mothers give birth and leave the children, or from the court systems. Schooling is provided for all the children, including the many special-needs kids. While the new building is still under construction, the first floor is in use with 19 children. They expect to have 35 – 40 children eventually with room to increase up to about 70 children if needed. Work teams are coming from the US and Canada to help with the ongoing construction of the house. Extreme Response is offering to help them with the teams and short-term workers who desire to serve at the home. This will take a lot of the burden off the directors and give them more time to concentrate on the needs of the children. That’s what we do at Extreme Response.

by Mike Bishop

Student Home for Quichua Indian Students

Reaching out to the Quichua Indian communities of Ecuador, Casa Nicodemo provides a place for students (ages 13 through 18) to live while they attend school in the city of Ambato. The majority of the Quichua communities only provide school through grade six, and in order to continue their education the students have to leave their communities to study in the nearest major city of Ambato. Many of the Quichua villages are isolated with no transportation to and from the city so the students are forced to search for a place to live while studying. Casa Nicodemo provides a safe place to live with good meals and help with studies during the school week. Most of the students return to their communities on the weekends.

The director of Casa Nicodemo has left Ecuador and the work is undergoing some changes. At present there is a core group of young men who have already completed their studies and are continuing to work with Casa Nicodemo and the Quichua communities with humanitarian aid and support.

A new director for the work will soon be coming through Extreme Response to run Casa Nicodemo. This couple will once again organize and open a house for students who wish to continue their education. The most urgent need is for funding for the program and for a good location for the house. Casa Nicodemo depends solely on outside contributions to maintain the house and provide food for the children.

The effect of Casa Nicodemo on the lives of those who live there is very apparent as we spend time with them and see their hearts to serve their own Quichua communities providing hope and help. They are a great example of the partnerships of Extreme Response International as we seek to provide relief and support to people living in extreme, often life-threatening conditions.

On August 30, six people from the Extreme Response Quito office went to the coastal town of Manta, Ecuador to help with a fundraiser for the Montañita Verde Children’s Home run by our partner organization Por Amor. A favorite Ecuadorian dish called Fritada (fried pork) was served with hominy and a salad. It was truly a cooperative effort between the orphanage, Extreme Response, Mr. Chancho (providing the pork), about 30 students from a cooking school, the local Howard Johnson’s Hotel and a local TV station, Manavisión. Everyone worked together to raise funds for the orphanage which cares for about 25 children. Over $3,000 was raised.

We welcomed a team made up of three families from The Chapel in Akron and Green, Ohio, to serve with Extreme Response in Quito, Ecuador from July 22nd to August 6th. The team arrived in stages. Dr. Dave and Linda Hoff flew in on July 22. Dave and Linda are dear friends of ours from Akron, and having them here was like welcoming family. This was their sixth trip to Ecuador, and they handle it like pros! For six days we put them to work doctoring patients at the nursing home, working at the medical clinic at the dump.. On July 28th, the rest of the team arrived. The Lingenhoel and Miller families arrived prepared to conduct a Kids Program at Pan de Vida, a local soup kitchen serving about 1000 families in the Quito area.

The team was prepared for 100 children (Now where have we heard that before?) and we actually ended the week with 70 children in regular attendance. This was a good thing, as it allowed us to connect with the children (and maintain some semblance of control!). We ventured into new territory with this team, taking two field trips during the week. These are street children who would never have the opportunity to do anything like this. Both were to local museums…one of them was positively amazing. There is a new interactive “water museum” here in Quito. We arrived with 70 children and 15 adults. The guides were excited to see us. They talked to the children like they were real people. Our guide got down on her knees so that she could look our little ones in the eyes…at their level. Our kids were engaged from the moment we entered the building until we boarded the bus to go home. Throughout the rest of the week, the kids in my group chattered endlessly about how much fun they had at the water museum.
Many thanks, to The Chapel, for serving those in need here in Ecuador!
Submitted by Dan Maloy