Just a heads up that in just a short while this blog will cease to exist – and in its’ place will be our new website with a blog feature. We are getting stories ready as we speak – and there is some great stuff going on behind the scenes, that you’re going to love hearing about…
So – get ready for liftoff!
D
care to guess where this is?
For the first time – the Life Campaign blog is coming to you from India… that’s right India! So only have a few seconds and will add more later – but am thrilled to announce that the Life Campaign has gone global! A church in HK in Czech has decided to take on a well in Mozambique!
I will add a bunch of details later – but Lukas – the leader got rocked by the campaign and is in! He is already facebooking with our guy on the ground in Mozambique and we are just pumped about the potential of this.
Watch for an updated website in the next month or so – we’re on it and getting ready to expand the dream!
from Calcutta – Darcy
This past weekend I was in Regina to speak at a preteen convention with 130 students ages 10-13. When you get that many kids together it can hover on the edge of organized chaos! During the last session I was asked to share about the Life Campaign and in particular about the well initiative in Ghana where kids are going blind because of the unclean water. The room went silent and still as I talked about making a difference now for kids their age on the other side of the planet. Their attention and hearts were caught – and then they stepped up to the plate and did something great. Those students raised well over $500 for the Life Campaign. It rocked. And I am believing that in that room there will be lives that were sparked to become world changers. We may have to wait a little bit to find out but Saskatchewan has done great things before!
Have a great Easter weekend! Darcy
About to speak to students about dreams & destiny
A crazy group of students
Just had to show you and tell you what is going on with the Life Campaign… First off – here’s some pics from our Life Campaign well in Mozambique!
Gotta say that I am thrilled with the fact that we are able to show you something that is completed… and there will only be more as we make our way through the year!
We are also starting to move on 2 wells in Malawi that were sponsored by a number of Cree women in Northern Quebec and YC Newfoundland!
In Ghana – there is a village that is in the Sahara desert that we are desparate to put a well in. At present the people dig for water – and the water that they are able to get carries infectious water borne disease. As a result a number of the children in the village are going blind. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH – simple – let’s put a well in. When we spoke to ERDO who are doing our wells – their representitive said – we can’t wait any longer, I just can’t stand the thought of any more kids going blind. The well that we put in will have a cement trough and spill catcher so that any excess water can be used for livestock and so that nothing is wasted.
One of our next wells that we’ll put in as funds come in is in Senegal. There is a Muslim village in need – and we want to go in with the message that followers of Jesus do care. Ok – I am starting to get excited… and there’s more!
Watch for it…
Don’t just dream of making a difference. Step up and into the dream with action. Darcy
We are excited to announce that we are gearing up for a great year here at the Life Campaign…
There will be exciting news about wells in Guatemala, Burkhina Faso, Mozambique, Ghana and Malawi all in the coming weeks. The well in Guatemala is about to start – and it will be drilled through 600 feet of rock so we can get to clean water. The deposit has been sent and the contract is being drawn up. WE CAN’T WAIT TO BE CELEBRATING THIS ONE.
Maritimers are essentially crazy people. Not sure if you knew that – but we have met one who has a bit of a crazy idea… his name is Scott Girvan and he has a graphic design company.
He sent me an email that went something like this:
My name is Scott Girvan. I live in Bouctouche, NB. I know Jim Molloy and my business (day job) does work for the Maritime PAOC District including the design of their district website and camp promo.
Last fall I spent some time thinking of how I could combine scale modeling building, movie making and drilling wells in Africa. The Lord has led me to produce youTube videos of just that…me being and uber geek, making models and selling merchandise. He has instructed me to donate 100% of everything I raise in 2009 to the Life Campaign.
It’s been since Jan 01 and so far I have around $500 to donate. T-shirts and posters take a while to add up in profit but it’s moving along. I have over 230 subscribers to my show and along with raising money, the Lord is leading me to talk about Him too.
I just thought I’d let you guys know what I’m up too and if there are any channels of promotion that you could point me to I’d greatly appreciate it.
Thanks, God bless, and oh here’s the link to my channel:
http://www.youtube.com/scalemodeladdict
Scott.
<http://www.scalemodeladdict.com/>
Love the creativity Scott! And go for it… your generosity makes a difference!
Darcy and the Life Team
What do Cree women from Quebec and teenagers from Ontario have in common? Both have raised significant dollars towards the Life Just Add Water campaign. In fact between the two groups just under $10000 was raised!
wow.
Here is an excerpt from the email I received around New Years!
Just wanted to let you know that a few youth ministries here in the Windsor, ON area teamed up to put on an all-nighter with all the profit and offering from the event going to the campaign. 200 students came out in support and together we were able to raise $3,750. I’ve forwarded the money your way (online giving) and just wanted you to know that this is from the following churches:
Amherstburg Community Church – Corey Parish
Essex Gospel Community Church – Nathan Hill
FGT Family Church (Leamington) – Nathan Albrecht
New Life Pentecostal Assembly (Belle River) – Mitch Horner
Parkwood Gospel Temple (Windsor) – Daniel Gray
We believe in the cause and are excited to be a part of it!
Isn’t that amazing?
Then – heard from a group called Mission Canada Women through the Pentecostal churches – that a ladies group of Cree women had raised a bunch of money and were thrilled to make a difference in the lives of women, children and families in a community.
I love how lives are being changed!
FYI – we slowed down over Christmas for a break but will be giving regular updates on what is going on with the Life Campaign… We were on TV on Christmas Eve or December 23 – and wondering if anyone saw it! Let us know…
Hey – we’ve been talking for a while about having Life gear available online… and it’s finally here! Just in time for Christmas. We’re working with Indie Merchandise company Mercheh to have t-shirts and hoodies available.
Check it out! http://mercheh.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=2
The finances from shirt sales will go towards us keeping this campaign alive and running! We’re working hard already with ideas for 2009… and we’ll keep you posted!
Darcy
Here is a great update on our first started well location! We are so incredibly excited to beginning with this well!
William Cornelius Vocational Training Centre
www.wcvtc.com
The William Cornelius Vocational Training Centre is a place where students are able to study
in a safe, beautiful and peaceful atmosphere. The building itself is essentially finished. The
labs are being used, though not yet complete. This is simply a tangible picture of what is taking place
in the lives of the students.
It opened with one class of students and over the next few years the student body will increase to its capacity of around 450 students. The school began with just one specialty, Computer Science. We now teach Dental Hygiene also. These are taught concurrently with all the usual high school subjects providing three years of study and career preparation. The plan is to add two vocational specialties per year depending on funding and approval from the local Education Authority.
Growth will occur however in the heart and minds of the young men and women who will come to the W.C.V.T.C. It is the desire and vision of the leadership to provide these young people with new dreams and opportunities for life. This will allow them not only to be efficient and successful in the career they choose but to also go on to become leaders in their field.
The William Cornelius Vocational Training Centre is different from the various other existing technical schools in Guatemala in that it is an establishment operating from a Christian worldview in regards to education.
They also have in place an international student sponsorship programme. This programme allows promising, bright young people, who are otherwise trapped in the sad cycle of poverty, to be enabled to surmount these daunting obstacles. This allows them to compete in Guatemala’s ever expanding market place.
The well that you are so generously helping us with is a necessary addition at the school for a variety of reasons; A) Consistent availability of clean water is essential to the running of the technical school. B) Piping it in is very expensive and not always available. C) Trucking it in is expensive and not necessarily clean, definitely not drinkable. We are teaching our students to be givers, not takers. You are showing them a great example of this in a practical way. The cost of drilling this well is extremely high but will be impacting the lives of generations of our young adult students for many years to come. There is also a strong possibility that should this God given well be able to yield a higher capacity of water than needed for the school, we should
be able to help the community in which the school is situated.
A few weeks ago a girl walked into her pastor’s office. She had $88 in cash and she handed it to him. This is for wells – and when queried it came out that she had gotten the money for her birthday and decided to do something monumental with it! All of her birthday money for wells.
It was kind of wild to think about that. To think that a girl could make an investment like that – that would potentially save someone else’s life. It also sobered me as one of the coordinators – as I thought about the responsibility that we at the Life Campaign have in making sure those wells are put into place with excellence!
We are getting closer to the $150,000 mark for wells - and we’re looking forward to giving you info on all of the wells we start… but that’s for the next post!
Dream, Darcy
This water is filthy but used for drinking. Let
Our most expensive well is one in Guatemala – It is costing approx. $80,000 because we’ll be drilling through volcanic rock to get at the water. We are thrilled to be able to start this one – it is ready to go! So the money is being released and work will start shortly! The well is connected to a school – so we are thinking that we’ll be able to do a webcast of the work being done.
In the next week – we’ll publish full details of that one!
At the same time we are on the ground in one country in Africa making sure that it is safe enough to go ahead with a well. This particular country has seen some upheaval recently – so we are being careful with kickstarting a project there. If it is safe – this well will begin soon too!
Then in a second African nation – we are turning the actual village selection over to a group of national leaders. As North Americans – we don’t want to dictate where the well is going but instead – have the nation own it, choose the location of greatest need and then use nationals/local people to build the well – all in an effort to build up the community rather than just drop in be the ’saviors’.
It is a pretty cool process to work with ERDO and walk things out well!
A ton of people have asked if they can actually go and build the wells – and for the above reasons we are saying no. Now in the years to come we will focus in on education - and building schools is something that we can be a part of. Water is another story – just in how much it needs to be owned by the local community.
We are hearing some cool stories of groups across Canada saving their money for Life – Just Add Water.
Wouldn’t it be cool if Canadians took a percentage of what they spend on sometimes useless gifts – and instead used some of that to make a difference somewhere?
As a fam, we’re looking at some cool ideas that way.
Dream – Darcy
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