International (MNN) — Author Kay Strom recently released her book Harvest of Hope. It documents her travels to the projects that people have donated to through Partners International's Harvest of Hope Catalog.
"I was very, very pleasantly surprised because I had expected less than I actually found to be the case. I was excited to see how much difference it makes even with a very tiny donation," said Strom. She visited everywhere from Cambodia to Africa, to Indonesia, to China to see, for example, women's business, sponsored children, medical clinics and water projects.
Some of the projects were expensive gifts, while others were very small. "I think the thing that amazed me the most was to see how much a 25 or a 40 dollar gift can do when an animal is gifted to a family and a whole new life is started for that family," Strom said.
Strom said these gifts not only change people's quality of life but they allow Christians to "spread the love of Christ to people who would normally never, never listen to what
was said. But when they see the love in action, they are receptive. So it not
only is changing lives here and now, but it's changing eternity for these people."
In southern China, Strom met a six year-old girl named Ding who walked 6 hours with all the food
she needed for two weeks just to go to school. "Someone was supporting this little girl for 25 dollars a month,, and I said how in the world can a little child walk all this way and they said, ‘It's not quite so bad now because her sponsor bought her shoes.' She was doing this with no shoes for a while, but her sponsor bought her shoes. And I
think so little, so little changes a whole future for a child."
To help, go here to browse the Harvest of Hope Catalog. You can also find the book here.
During Strom's time in Sudan, she asked the people she met what they needed more than
anything. " ‘More than anything we need you to pray for us. Do you even know we exist? Does anybody even care about us?' they said. ‘If you would pray for us, then God would work here.'"
