‘If you want to go quick, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’ (Origin unknown) 

If COVID taught us nothing else, it taught us this: We need community. We rely on each other to function properly. 
 
The Bible describes Christian community as a body, an organic collection of arms, legs, hands, eyes and ears all belonging to one another. 

‘God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.  If they were all one part, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, but one body.’ (1 Cor 12:18-20)

In a healthy community, each member is a valued part of the whole group and all benefit from the gifts and contributions of others. 
 
The work we do at Baptist World Aid recognises the power of community, and our projects are designed to resource local groups so they can address challenges themselves. By equipping these talented people, funds donated by generous donors go further, and produce far reaching results in tackling poverty. That’s one of the reasons the Australian Government chooses to work with us in distributing Australia’s international aid budget. The programs mentioned below are all funded with support from the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).  

Greens In Kenya

Known as ‘miracle peas’, cow peas are a drought-resistant crop found in Kenya. They’re versatile in cooking and highly nutritious.   
  
After losing her husband, Zahi couldn’t feed her five children from the crops she grew. But she went from struggling to strong when she learned new farming techniques through our local Christian Partner. Zahi now grows cow peas, keeps livestock, and is saving towards a community bee farm. And now that she’s doing well, she’s helping other widows in her village find their strength and learn new skills so that they too can flourish. 

Bridges In Cambodia

When our local Christian Partner sat down with people from Stung Treng Province in Cambodia to find out what challenges their community faced, the leaders identified a decomposing bridge over a stream flowing from the river Mekong. It was dangerous, especially to students who were obliged to cross so they could get to class. With a small investment of resources from our local Partner, community members used their own time, skills and talent to build a strong and safe bridge so that nearly 500 people, including many school children, could safely cross the river.

Clean Water In Nepal

A community in Western Nepal have been working with our local Christian Partner to solve a big problem. With their village situated near a sugar mill, the only water available to the 257 residents was contaminated with iron and arsenic. But thankfully investigations revealed that drilling a deep bore of 100 metres would provide clean drinking water. To achieve their goals would be expensive and time consuming, but the community pulled together with our local Partner and the rural municipality to create the bore, tank and pipes needed to get fresh water into each home.

These communities are working together, with support from our generous donors combined with funds from the Australian Government, to achieve a great deal. It’s transformative work.  

Please consider making a gift today to see even more communities overcome the challenges that keep them in poverty. Your gift can help transform communities like these, so more families can thrive.