December 2010

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

December marks a wondrous time on our Christian calendar: the celebration of the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. It’s a time when we reflect upon God’s greatest gift to us, and we symbolically honor this gift by sharing presents with those we love.

I don’t know about you, but in recent years, I’ve become overwhelmed with Christmas gift-giving. It seems that each year, retailers begin advertising Christmas specials even earlier than the year before. Everywhere you go, retailers proclaim that they have the biggest, best gift. It just seems that somewhere along the way, we’ve forgotten why we really celebrate Christmas in the first place.

That’s why this year, I’m determined to honor the real meaning of Christmas and the spirit of selfless giving. And, I’d like to ask you to do the same by making a gift  to CBM.

Believe me, I know that you, too, are receiving pleas for help from a variety of organizations in need. And while they are all worthy causes, I truly believe that the needs of those CBM serves are the greatest. You see CBM reaches out to the poorest of the poor around the world—people with disabilities living in developing countries. These folks are society’s forgotten. They have limited—and most often—no access to the basic necessities of life including adequate healthcare, livelihood, or education. Sadly, many also struggle to find enough food to eat. For these people, help is nowhere to be found. There are no social service programs. No free clinics or food banks. They live each day on the edge of survival.

This Christmas, you have the wonderful chance to make a remarkable difference for the millions of people with disabilities living in crushing poverty. Now, you can ensure that they have the opportunity to be fully included in society. That a single mother receives a micro-credit loan to start a business to support her child with a disability. That a child’s future isn’t over simply because of a broken leg.

I’d like to share Shibre’s story with you because it illustrates just how vital your gifts to CBM really are. Shibre, 8, lives in Adama, Ethiopia. Like children everywhere, she loved to use her imagination to explore and discover. Her favorite activity was climbing trees and rocks. But in the poorest parts of the world, a child’s imagination can also mean disaster.

When she was just three, Shibre slipped and fell, wedging her foot between two rocks. In a split second, her tiny leg cracked below the knee and the bone splintered through her skin.

Though her grandmother, Bissa, wanted to help her, with no money, she did the unthinkable: nothing.

That’s how quickly a life can change. A simple childhood accident can lead to a lifetime of disability and poverty.

Shibre never received any treatment for her injury, and her wounds “healed” to leave her leg horribly deformed. The girl who once enjoyed the freedom of playing and running around was now forced to crawl on her hands and knees. She wasn’t able to go to school. Children in her village cruelly taunted her.

Desperate to help, Bissa sold everything she could to pay for treatment, but it seemed no one could help…until CBM. Workers found Shibre on a routine outreach visit, and she was referred to a specialist hospital where she had surgery. Shibre received in-home therapy and is now in school again. With education, she has a real chance to escape poverty.

Though Shibre is grateful for CBM’s help, it’s Bissa who is overwhelmingly thankful for CBM’s priceless gift. Elated, she told us, “I am happy and joyful. I can say that you are my granddaughter’s savior.”

This is the impact your gift this Christmas can have. Just as God gave us the greatest gift through Jesus, I pray that you’ll give a child like Shibre the greatest gift: new life.

May you and yours experience God’s richest blessings this Christmas season, and best wishes for a joyous new year.

 

In Christ,

 

Loretta Dodgen
Chairman of the Board, CBM-US

 

October 2010

Countdown to 10 Million Now Seeing, Hoping, and Dreaming

By Ron Nabors, CEO, CBM-US  

As I write to you this month, I’d like to ask that you join with us as we prepare to celebrate a remarkable milestone: the performance of the 10 millionth CBM-supported cataract surgery! Made possible by the generous ongoing support of CBM donors, this is an unprecedented accomplishment by any other organization in the world.

Together with our CBM partners around the world, we’re keeping a close watch as we move ever closer to the 10 millionth surgery. In fact, the more than 675,000 surgeries we performed last year  combined with those we’ve performed already in 2010 have put us right on track to reach 10 million by the end of October.

Since the first CBM-supported cataract surgery in Afghanistan in 1966, we have become a leader in the global fight to end preventable blindness. What’s even more amazing is that this fight, which helps millions of people around the world who are blind from cataracts, begins with as little as $35—the average cost of a cataract surgery for an adult in the developing world. Surgery for children with cataracts may cost as much as $200 due to general anesthesia needs. Yet the impact this surgery has is truly priceless.

Each year, more than a million people will go blind as the result of cataracts. For people who are already living in extreme poverty, cataracts drastically affect their quality of life. Now, these people who are on the edge of survival, face the loss of education, the ability to support themselves, and lack of acceptance within their communities. What’s more, their life expectancy drops substantially.

Bahati, a little boy in Tanzania, could have been just another statistic if not for CBM’s help.

His mother, Evelyn, first noticed that he had a problem when he began spending much of his time in the shade. Whenever Bahati went out into the sunlight, he had difficulty seeing. It was only when he started attending school, however, that Evelyn learned the terrible truth: Bahati was almost completely blind.

Often, he would return home from school covered in cuts from thorn bushes because he couldn’t see well enough to walk by himself. Soon, he was forced to quit school entirely. To make matters worse, Bahati couldn’t see well enough to help his family in the fields either. Once, he even threatened their meager livelihood when he cut the good maize, having mistaken it for weeds.

Thankfully, Evelyn heard about a small health station close to her village. The clinic referred Bahati to the CBM-supported Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) hospital in Dar es Salaam. CCBRT arranged for Bahati and his mother to travel to the hospital where he would have sight-restoring cataract surgery.

Today, Bahati’s life has been completely transformed. Evelyn tells us, “Bahati is behaving much differently now. He’s much happier playing. Now, he can go back to school and can help out in the fields.”

CBM-supported surgery freed Bahati from a lifetime of hardship and provided him with the opportunity to achieve an education. This is one vitally important step in helping Bahati, his village, and his country break the poverty/disability cycle. Poverty and disability are intrinsic in the developing world. People with disabilities and their families are more likely to live in extreme poverty. Likewise, people who live in poverty are much more likely to become disabled.

That’s why I’d like you to know that your gift does more than restore vision. It actually restores lives and helps to break the devastating cycle of disability and poverty.

On behalf of Bahati, the almost 10 million people who’ve received sight-restoring cataract surgery, and the millions more whose lives have been changed for the better as a result, I’d like to ask you to Join CBM  (www.cbmus.org)in counting down to this remarkable milestone and in the fight against preventable blindness.

In the developing world, more than

half the children who go blind will

die within two years.

- World Health Organization.

  

                            

 

August 2010

In July, CBM’s Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Ijeoma Obidegwu, traveled to Vienna for the 18^th Annual International HIV/AIDS Conference and to attend the Disability Networking Space. The space was designed to highlight the devastating impact of HIV on persons with disabilities around the world and the need for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in all HIV outreach efforts. She spent time helping Specioza Mwankina, an HIV-positive Tanzanian woman who also has a disability, present her story to the international community. Specioza formed the Network for Disabled People Living with HIV/AIDS (NEDIPHA+) and is now a powerful advocate for HIV/AIDS education for people with disabilities. Her organization has benefited from CBM’s services through a joint partnership with the CBM-supported Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT). She sat on a panel discussion focused on AIDS and Disability at the country level with government representatives and academics to share her personal story.

Here, in her words, is Specioza’s story…

 

My name is Specioza Joseph Mwankina, and I am an HIV-positive physically disabled Tanzanian woman and a rape survivor. I have been living with HIV since 2003. When I was two years old, I became very sick, and my mother thought I had malaria. She took me to the hospital and I received two injections. After receiving these injections, I was not able to crawl or sit properly. At twenty-four, I went to Kenya to get an operation on my right leg. The doctor told me that I had polio when I was younger and that, not malaria, was the cause of my disability.

I came home to recover from my surgery, and I had very little physical mobility. It was during that time that I was raped by a family friend. I did not alert the authorities. In 2001, I started noticing that I would get bouts of malaria before and after my period. In 2002, I found out that I had fibroids and needed to get an operation to have them removed. In 2003, I scheduled an operation to have them removed. During this time I was working for a telecom company selling phone cards and other services. Before getting the operation, I went with a co-worker to a VCT clinic to get an HIV test. It was there I discovered I was HIV positive.

I found out later that I was infected through the family friend who raped me.

I disclosed my status to a fellow staff member. The staff member disclosed my status to other staff members without my permission. Within a short time, a lot of people in my workplace knew that I was HIV positive because they started mocking me and saying that people who are HIV positive need to be excluded from other people and be kept in their own separate place. I was not allowed to touch papers from other people’s desk. Often, I was suspended from work without pay without much notice.

With this type of stigmatization, I resigned from working in the telecom company to work as a full-time staff member with a Disabled Person Organization (DPO) because I thought I would get love and peace by working with my fellow disabled people. But when the director of this other organization realized that I was HIV positive, he started discriminating against me. He took all my working files out of my office. He started outsourcing my work to other people within the organization. Then I was idle once again. This situation went on for six months, and I fell in and out of various illnesses.

I was given sick leave, but by the third month I was terminated on medical grounds. They promised to give me a small amount of money to start a small business upon my recovery. However, they did not fulfill their promise nor was I given any severance pay. I wanted to commit suicide, but my parents helped me pull through. My younger sister came to live with me to offer care and support.

After I left the DPO, I joined Mbagala Positive club, but there was no person with a disability who was a member. I started searching, and I met three people who are HIV positive. I encouraged these individuals to join the Mbagala Positive Club.

With these three people, I started the Network for Disabled People Living with HIV/AIDS (NEDIPHA+).  The goal of this organization is to mobilize disabled persons to use counseling and testing services and to provide HIV awareness to people with disabilities. I am still continuing with my role as community worker and creating awareness in schools, offices and in public places about the prevention of HIV transmission as well as the care and support needed to address stigma and discrimination through radio and television ads. I am also working to create awareness about HIV/AIDS and disability.

Through my work as a community advocate, I was involved as a researcher on a document put together by the Tanzania Commission on HIV/AIDS called “The Forgotten,” which provided an analysis of HIV and Disability in Tanzania. This research provided the basis for a project implemented by CBM-US and the Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) called “Making HIV/AIDS Strategies Inclusive of People with Disabilities in Tanzania.” Our organization collaborates with this project by receiving referrals of HIV positive individuals and by using the education materials developed by them. Most recently, CBM-US and CCBRT sponsored my participation in the 18^th Annual International HIV/AIDS Conference in Vienna where I provided a Tanzanian perspective on AIDS and Disabilities.

Thank you,

Specioza Joseph Mwankina

 

July 2010

Every year, CBM compiles a comprehensive report of achievements from the previous 12 months. This year, as I read through this lengthy document, I could not help but be immensely proud of our work. In light of last year’s recession and financial uncertainty, we were challenged with the seemingly insurmountable task of providing critical services to more than 23.7 million people—a substantial increase from 2008. Yet despite the bad economic times facing our country last year, which resulted in lower income for CBM, we did not have to make the difficult decision to stop funding critical projects in the developing world. This was truly an amazing accomplishment—an accomplishment made possible through the ongoing generous support of investors like you, coupled with a short-term reduction in some of our own key infrastructure expenses, such as not filling open staff positions. Among our many successes in 2009 are:

· +920,000 eye operations were performed.

· +380,000 people received Vitamin A tablets.

· +1.1 million eyeglasses were dispensed.

· +165,000 people were enrolled in empowerment activities including self-help groups

· +64,000 children were enrolled in education programs.

· +675,000 people have had their sight restored through a cataract operation.

· +480,000 received medical treatment for hearing problems.

· +17,000 hearing aids were distributed.

· +96,000 people received support through CBM’s Community Mental Health programs.

· +66,000 people benefited from vocational training and employment programs.

· +2,600 doctors and more than 3,100 nurses/assistants received critical medical training.

· +16,000 teachers learned how to fully include children with disabilities in the classroom.

When we look at these statistics, we must not forget that behind these numbers are real people—men, women, and children who desperately need our help. Children like Hans.

Tucked deep inside the vast slums of northern Lima, Peru, amid endless rows of ramshackle houses, filth and trash, Hans lives with his family. Born with Cerebral Palsy, or CP, a group of chronic conditions affecting body movement, muscle coordination, and often mental capacity, Hans spent most of his days in isolation, lying in a simple plastic tub watching.

Having a child with a disability makes life for families already existing in extreme conditions of poverty even more difficult. With few resources, Hans’ parents did not know what to do to help him. The harsh truth is that people living with disabilities in the poorest countries of the world have little access to rehabilitation and other services. In fact, 98 percent of children with disabilities in the developing world do not attend school. The mortality rate for these children under the age of 5—like Hans—is as high as 80 percent.

Yet in just a short amount of time, Hans’ life has completely transformed. One of CBM’s Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) workers found him and began at-home physical therapy sessions. She enrolled him in a local preschool, and with the assistance of a special chair provided by CBM, Hans now sits upright at the table with the other school children. This child, who could once do little more than lie on the floor, now is considered the brightest in his class.

Hans is one of the more than 23 million people with disabilities annually whose lives have been changed for the better thanks to the generous gifts of CBM supporters. I’d like to ask you to take a few moments to review what we accomplished this year (LINK). Here, you’ll find other inspiring stories and view real evidence of the monumental impact your investment with CBM can make.

 

 

June 2010

Ron Nabors, CEO of CBM-US, recently was invited to speak at the Global Health and Innovation Summit, a conference with more than 2,000 attendees from 55 countries, held at Yale University. He presented on the subject “Sustainable Development of Persons with Disabilities Living in the Poorest Countries of the World.”

It was an honor to be a guest speaker at the Global Health and Innovation Summit this past spring. CBM’s inclusion on the agenda of this conference with such a wide-reaching audience was a significant step in our efforts to build an inclusive society by addressing the relationship between poverty and disability.

The World Bank (2002) estimates that one in six people living on less than a $1 a day has a disability. A disabled person is more likely to be poor due to lack of access to health care, education, livelihood and other opportunities. In turn, people living in abject poverty are more likely to develop disabilities as the result of lack of access to adequate sanitation, nutrition, health care and other vital resources.  It’s a Catch 22, and you can’t separate the two. Poverty can never be fully addressed until we address disability.

Providing disabled people with access to services is a major key to breaking this seemingly never-ending cycle of poverty and disability. Addressing poverty as a cause and consequence of disability is fundamental to CBM’s mission. Together with its global network of partners, CBM works to make comprehensive healthcare, education, and rehabilitation services available and accessible to people with disabilities in the poorest areas of the world.

I’m reminded of a clinic I visited in Zimbabwe several years ago. Each day, patients would line up to receive treatment. Yet at the end of each day, there sat a group of people, waiting, but never able to see a doctor. This particular clinic sat atop wooden stilts, and patients had to climb a steep set of stairs. For people with physical disabilities, this was an impossible task. Being unable to climb the stairs meant that they had no access to critical healthcare services. They were simply left out—forgotten.

Because disability is a topic that is often “forgotten” or hidden away, CBM recognizes it as a basic human rights issue. CBM advocates for the inclusion of disabled people into their societies. That’s why CBM is committed to empowering persons with disabilities to have a voice in all areas of society, especially in government. In addition to helping persons with disabilities become involved in their local governments, the legal framework provided by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2008), allows CBM and other international partners to ensure that disability remains on the international development agenda as well.

As we strive to build an inclusive society, we must continue our multi-pronged approach to providing access for people with disabilities. By doing so, we can begin to break the debilitating cycle of poverty and disability.

August 2009

Editor’s Note: This is the latest blog installment from CBM-US CEO Ron Nabors recounting his travels to CBM-funded projects in Africa. Here he shares highlights from visiting a support group meeting at a local Catholic Church in Mbagal.

BUILDING COMMUNITY WHILE  BREAKING THE “CURSE” OF DISABILITY

There’s something that people who live in a developing country accept and take for granted. Most of the mothers who have a child with a disability bear the burden of care and love alone. That’s because often the husband or partner abandons the pregnant woman when he finds out the child may be born with a disability.

Vulnerable and alone, the mother is left to raise the child. Most of the time, she is unable to work because she must care for a baby or child who needs constant attention. A family unit is broken and the person most likely to suffer is the innocent child who was rejected by his father and facing a very difficult life.

That, in a nutshell, is Graci’s story. During her pregnancy, Graci was struck with malaria and low blood pressure and nearly died. Her baby was born early but the father was long gone, abandoning his child while she was still in Graci’s womb. Rukia came into the world with some physical challenges, including cerebral palsy, epilepsy and some vision problems.

When I talked with Graci, she told me how alone and isolated she felt trying to take care of Rukia without the benefit of understanding how to help improve her daughter’s physical strength and helping her learn to use her arms and legs.

That changed once Graci was referred to a CBM project in a nearby town. This particular CBM project has a support group that meets every Thursday in a local Catholic Church. Mothers who have daughters facing obstacles like Rukia (and other disabilities as well) learn exercises to strengthen their children’s limbs, receive education about health topics such as HIV/AIDS, food hygiene and avoiding malaria and celebrate the bonds of friendship.

On the day I visited, the women broke into a spontaneous song. With their children cradled in their laps, the melody of hope and love spread through the facility and wrapped me in an embrace.

“I love coming to the support unit because when I come here, I meet other mothers and see children like mine so I don’t feel so alone compared to when I am home,” Graci told me.

That’s one of the other wonderful results from the support group environment. It takes these mothers out of isolation and darkness and brings them into the light. It gives them a sense of belonging and support that they’ve never had before.

I left realizing that while others had abandoned these women and precious children, God never did. And it is through His love that CBM continues to reach out to these little ones who need extra encouragement and care.

July 2009

Editor’s Note: This is the latest blog installment from CBM-US CEO Ron Nabors recounting his travels to CBM-funded projects in Africa. Here he shares highlights from visiting a primary school in Tanzania where students with disabilities are fully integrated into classes with other children.

DEVELOPING A SOFT SPOT FOR ABBAS

The entire time I spent with Abbas, I never saw him crack a smile. That stayed with me long after the journey back from Africa, and strikes me even now when I look at the photos taken during our time together. Even in front of the camera, his face is resolute— his brown eyes reflecting some of the challenges he’s faced in his 14 years.

Born with a congenital deformity that could not be corrected, Abbas stands just three and a half feet tall. His bones are too brittle for surgery and doctors predicted he would never be able to stand, much less walk.

When CBM found him at age two, Abbas could barely move his twisted arms and legs. After undergoing physiotherapy at a project funded by CBM, the little boy took his first steps two years later. Abbas’ therapy continues and today he can walk short distances, often leaning on the back of his wheelchair for support.

But, as you’ve heard me say before, CBM didn’t just hand an adult or child a wheelchair and walk away. CBM case workers continue to check on the boy, providing therapy and making sure his mobility device still fits and works for him. We also enrolled Abbas in a primary school near his home and now he studies with other students—some who have disabilities and others who don’t. The school is fully integrated.

The little boy may have arms and legs that were not properly formed, but his intellect is sharp and continuing to develop. “I want to be a doctor when I am older so I can help others like me,” Abbas told me. “I like studying math and science and English.”

As I talked with Abbas, another thing struck me…his shoes. I could tell by looking at them that they were several sizes too large for the boy—they nearly looked like clown shoes on his small feet. After talking with the interpreter, I learned that a charitable organization had provided the shoes for Abbas.

It was then that I had one of those moments of clarity. A charity had given Abbas shoes, which covered his feet. However, they didn’t take the time or have the resources to find out what size shoes the boy needed or to make sure the shoes fit. They filled a short-term need when they gave him the shoes, and I’m thankful that they did.  But even if the shoes had fit properly, they would eventually wear out and he would need another pair.

That is a wonderful parable that illustrates the difference between a charity and a development organization. A true development organization, like CBM, continues to reach out. For example, most of the people we help receive multiple services from us, and that can be a mix of medical services, education and training and community based rehabilitation. It’s not a single touch-point, like the pair of shoes — it’s sustainable, ongoing programs that offer real life change.

I’d like to ask you to think about the organizations you support, take the time to learn more about them and decide whether they are development organizations or charitable organizations. As Abbas could tell you, there’s a big difference.

April 2009

A few weeks ago, a door opened into a different world as I stepped outside the airport in Tanzania.

Up until that point, I had been shuffling between gates in various airports, grabbing sleep and coffee whenever possible.

But when I stepped out of the airport, I was overwhelmed by the sheer crushing humanity shuffling through the streets of Dar es Salaam. Thousands of people, many dressed in very little, are trudging through dirty, littered roads choked with others. Occasionally, you would see a blind man or woman sitting with a beggar's cup or a child with clubfoot on the side of the road. Otherwise, this massive crowd of people loaded down with few possessions just continued to move with no apparent destination and an uncertain purpose.

I came to Dar es Salaam to see firsthand the work being done on behalf of the blind men and women and children with clubfoot left sitting on the side of that dirt road. I came to experience the miracles being performed at one of CBM's flagship projects which offers comprehensive services for everything from surgery to community training and rehabilitation.

But I think it's important to describe the environment where this wonderful work is happening, because it makes the stories and the successes even more powerful.

Seeing a child with cleft lip having their face repaired, the gratitude in his parents' eyes and touch, meeting a young woman who had endured shame and humiliation because of obstetric fistula, spending time with a master wood craftsman who has learned to read Braille and a skill that support his family these are just a few of the snapshots that live in my heart and that came back with me from Tanzania.

Their stories and the impression they left upon me are bigger than any suitcase could ever hold. To do them justice, I will be sharing their remarkable stories with you in the coming months. Each of them represents a miracle--made possible by your donations to CBM, the loving and constant hands of our co-workers and a continuous stream of faith and hope.

Things looked rather bleak when those airport doors opened into the streets of Dar es Salaam into the overwhelming and crushing poverty and conditions. A week later, when I went back to the airport for my return to the United States, my heart was filled with joy and gratitude that despite the physical environment and its conditions, the work being done is transforming lives each day.

I want to share some amazing news!

During the fall of 2008, you and other CBM supporters personally changed the lives of 17,081 people. It’s hard to believe that a miracle—such as restoring someone’s vision with a gift of $45—is even possible.

But for each gift CBM received toward our “Miracles of Sight” campaign, we were able to do just that—perform a miracle of a cataract surgery, combat river blindness with MECTIZAN™ or even make eyeglasses for a child unable to read her text books.

Many of the people touched by our “Miracles of Sight” campaign had lost hope that they would ever be able to see again. And you restored that hope with your gift.

Donations came from across the country. We received sacrificial gifts from families and individuals who had already generously supported our ministry and had to stretch to make another gift as well as donors who gave multiple miracles because they wanted to impact a family or an entire community.

Going into our campaign we set an ambitious goal of 25,000 miracles and we didn’t quite get there.

As all of us have felt the impact of our nation’s economic struggles, with job losses and stock market losses creating fear and confusion over our own financial futures. As we planned our campaign, some people even questioned the timing of going forward with an ambitious fund-raising goal given those circumstances.

Julie Roe (right) on her trip to Ecuador with Holland Webb, Director of International Programs

But when you travel to a developing country and see the conditions that people are living in, or you meet a grandmother like Amelia Flores who had become homebound because cataracts had stolen her vision, you realize that these people cannot wait.

If we turn our backs on them, there is no one else there to help them. And so we are so grateful that we reached almost 70 percent of our Miracles goal.

Each and every single contribution is appreciated, and celebrated.

I recently read a report from the field about a medical outreach mission to the South Sudan region of Africa that underscored the importance of CBM’s Miracles campaign.

When the CBM team flew into the dirt airstrip in the middle of town, they were greeted by rows of tents. Inside they found hundreds of desperate people who had walked for days and camped there—just waiting with the hope they would be able to see an eye doctor. Or even better yet—the miracle of being able to see again.

The physician in charge of the mission realized he had two choices: approach the crowds with Christ-like compassion as Jesus did in the Book of Matthew or turn around and give up at the overwhelming and seemingly impossible task facing the team.

Local police helped restore order so that the medical team could work, and at the end of 12 round-the-clock days, there were 335 operations performed and 742 people were examined. Unfortunately, supplies ran out before another 200 people who needed cataract operations could be helped. However, another trip is planned in April to go back to the region and continue the work started there.

Through your stewardship and generosity, we are able to continue God’s work in South Sudan and so many other places around the world. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for your ongoing prayers, your faithful gifts and your support of CBM.

Julie Roe, Director of Development for CBM-US, lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and loves spending time meeting and getting to know CBM’s supporters and helping them find ways to fulfill their own philanthropic miracles.

It’s been almost two years since my life changed dramatically and I came to work at CBM. Sometimes it seems as if there aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that needs to happen, and that part of any job can be a source of frustration.

However, there’s something unique to CBM that is able to “fill my spiritual tank” and keep me going for months on end—and that’s traveling to one of the developing countries where we work and talking to the people who benefit from CBM’s mission.

I’ve talked and written many times about how it felt to go to Mombasa, Kenya to meet and talk with Rosemary and her son Michael—a young child with hydrocephalus who would have died without receiving surgical intervention at a CBM project.

Now I’m on my way to find more soul-nourishing stories as I prepare to visit one of CBM’s flagship projects called CCBRT.

CCBRT has it all—a wonderful surgical hospital that specializes in treating everything from cleft lip to club foot, a rehabilitation program that serves as a model for many other projects and programs aimed to prevent disabilities through outreach and education. CCBRT focuses on helping children and adults with disabilities as well as HIV/AIDS orphans.

CBM provides substantial financial support to CCBRT and has a wonderful partnership with the organization located in Tanzania.

I can hardly wait to get there and spend some time listening and learning so that I can share their stories with you. I’ll check back with you in February and see if I can’t “fill your tank” as well.

Ron Nabors
CEO, CBM-US