The Family 1996 Annual Activity Report
January 1997 by The Family, Zurich, Switzerland
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Table of Contents:
The Family worldwide
1
Another year of expansion
2
Disaster relief
2
Earthquake, Ecuador
2
Floods, Thailand
2
Acute food shortage, North Korea
2
Port Arthur tragedy, Tasmania, Australia
2
Valujet plane crash, Florida
2
Alaska forest fires
2
Hurricane Hortense, Puerto Rico
3
Continued aid to victims of earlier disasters
3
Helping the homeless and others in need
3
Helping street children
4
Humanitarian aid to the former USSR
4
Other humanitarian and social welfare projects
4
Giving children -- and the world -- a brighter future!
5
Children's videos with a difference
5
Education opportunities for underprivileged children
5
Programs for tomorrow's leaders
6
Seminars for teachers and parents
6
Child awareness programs
6
Aid to orphanages and children's homes
6
Helping the sick and disabled
7
Hospital ministries
7
Working with the deaf
8
Ministries to the blind
8
Care and company for the elderly
8
Other programs for the handicapped
9
Drug prevention and rehabilitation programs
9
Programs in prisons, juvenile detention centers, and halfway houses
10
Programs for prostitutes
10
Aid to refugees and the war-torn
10
The war in Bosnia
11
Victims of the war in Chechnya
11
Colombia guerrilla warfare
11
Civil unrest, Northern Ireland
11
Karen refugees
11
Palestinian refugee camps
11
Hostages held by Kashmir separatists
11
Other aid projects
11
Conferences, seminars and studies
11
Spreading the Good News
12
You can be a part!
12
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Love finds a way!
"Love is not blind; it has an extra spiritual eye which sees the good and possibilities that others cannot see! Love has creative power, because God is love and He is the Creator! -- And with His help, our love can also create! His love within us will cause us to do the humanly impossible." -- David Brandt Berg (1919-1994), founder of The Family.
This is the goal of The Family, to help create a better world by rendering loving service to our fellowman. During 1996, The Family was engaged in hundreds of projects around the world which resulted in many thousands of lives being touched and transformed by the love of God. It would be impossible in these few pages to explain each of those projects in detail, but the following sampling of project summaries provide a glimpse into our lives and activities this past year. Most of these projects continue into 1997.
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The Family worldwide
Since our beginning in 1968, our primary goal has been to take the good news of God's love to all nations. From an original group of less than 50 teenagers in California, we have grown to nearly 13,000 full- and part-time members -- about 4,500 adults, 2,700 teenagers and 5,800 children. Our membership is comprised of 85 different nationalities, living in nearly 1,200 Family communities, and carrying out Christian volunteer work in 78 countries -- 10 more nations than a year ago and 26 more than two years ago!
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Another year of expansion
"You shall be witnesses unto Me ... unto the uttermost part of the Earth" (The Bible, Acts 1:8).
In 1996, The Family's outreach expanded into scores of countries, regions and cities where The Family either had never been, hadn't been for years, or did not have a resident work. Those new outreaches included: China, South Korea, Hong Kong and Bali, Indonesia, in central and eastern Asia; troubled and remote areas of the Indian subcontinent, including the state of Punjab in northern India and the northeastern states of Manipu, Mizoram, Nagaland and Assam; the African nations of Botswana, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Namibia and Uganda; Lebanon in the Middle East; Croatia and the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Lithuania, Moldova and Uzbekistan; and Kazan, Tatarstan and remote areas of Siberian Russia.
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Disaster relief
"To give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness" (Isaiah 61:3).
While The Family itself has very limited material resources to provide physical aid in disaster-stricken areas, our missionaries are instrumental in helping to organize relief efforts and solicit needed supplies and donations from sponsors, which are then distributed to the needy. Most importantly, we help provide moral and spiritual support to those who have lost home or loved ones, as well as to the other relief workers who labor under stressful conditions. We've found that this inspirational assistance is often what is most appreciated, as it fills a vital need which few other relief organizations are equipped to meet.
Earthquake, Ecuador
Family volunteers in Ecuador joined relief efforts after a March 29 earthquake struck the central provinces of Tungurahua and Cotopaxi. Teenage Family members traveled with medical teams high into the mountains to treat the injured and distribute relief supplies.
Floods, Thailand
Following major flooding in southern Thailand's Phang-gna district, members of the Family community in Phuket collected donations of rice and other food, which they then distributed, often by boat, to many of the families worst affected by the floods.
Acute food shortage, North Korea
Floods during the summer of 1995, combined with other economic problems, pushed North Korea to the brink of famine six months later. The Family community in Seoul, South Korea, responded by raising enough money through local and international donors to purchase two tons of rice. The food aid was then personally delivered to villages suffering acute food shortages by a Western friend who had been granted special access to the region by North Korean officials.
Port Arthur tragedy, Tasmania, Australia
On April 29, a crazed gunman killed 35 people and injured 18 others in the small town of Port Arthur, Tasmania. Two Family members traveled to Port Arthur and worked as grief counselors among the townspeople.
Valujet plane crash, Florida
When Valujet Flight 592 crashed into the Florida Everglades on May 11, a public service official who had heard reports of the help young Family members had provided in other emergencies contacted the nearest Family community. In response, a group of teens assisted at a base that was set up for the media and officials near the crash site.
Alaska forest fires
June wildfires -- the largest in Alaskan history -- raged sporadically and unpredictably for over a week. More than 3,000 people were evacuated from their homes. An adult Family member and a group of Family teens volunteered their services at the Refugee Relief and Information Center, which was set up in the high school of the town of Wasila. They helped to organize and distribute the influx of donated food and clothing, and helped care for children at the daycare center.
Hurricane Hortense, Puerto Rico
After Hurricane Hortense ravaged the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico in September, Family members served for two weeks as volunteers at a Red Cross shelter.
Continued aid to victims of earlier disasters
Two years after the Great Hanshin earthquake leveled much of Kobe, Japan, the local Family community continues to offer counseling and support to the still traumatized populace -- in part via their "Heart Care" hotline. Hyogo Prefecture officials also appointed all five adult members of the community to a select group of volunteers to coordinate relief work in the event of future disasters, the first such committee ever appointed by the Japanese government. In addition to their counseling services, the Family volunteers attended training classes and planning meetings.
Devastating eruptions of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 and 1992 left hundreds dead and hundreds of thousands homeless in the Philippines. Five years later, surviving families still live in resettlement camps under primitive conditions. Family relief workers visit them regularly to offer comfort, prayer and encouragement. With the support of Manila businessmen, they also collect and distribute food and other basic necessities to the Pinatubo victims.
On May 28, 1995, the tiny town of Neftegorsk on Sakhalin Island, Far Eastern Russia, grabbed the world's attention when more than 2,000 of its 3,200 inhabitants perished overnight in a devastating earthquake that leveled the entire town. At that time, six Family volunteers traveled the length of Russia to deliver three-and-a-half tons of food and medical aid, and to offer comfort to the survivors. This year another team of six returned with more aid, which they distributed to about 40 families in the eight villages they visited.
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Helping the homeless and others in need
"Blessed is he who considers the poor" (Psalm 41:1).
Family members in many countries work with homeless shelters and food kitchens, churches and other civic organizations to provide food, clothing and other basic necessities to the poor and homeless. Many Family communities also conduct independent programs to help meet this need. In most cases, Family members involved serve as links between civic-minded businesses and individuals, and the needy situations. They recognize the need, solicit help from those who have the means and motivation to help others less fortunate, and then personally distribute or deliver the donated items.
The following examples reflect the scope and diversity of The Family's many projects to help feed, clothe and care for the poor in 1996:
The Family community in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, opened and operated a drop-in center for homeless people, drug addicts and prostitutes, where they offered free food, clothing, spiritual guidance and prayer.
Members in Warsaw, Poland, assisted regularly at a homeless shelter run by the Missionaries of Charity, the Catholic order founded by Mother Teresa.
Through puppet shows performed in schools, Family members in Salvador, Brazil, have helped feed 600 children from extremely poor families, while increasing the social awareness of the more fortunate in that city.
Family communities in a number of US cities, including Denver, Colorado; Boston, Massachusetts; and Paramus, New Jersey, assisted homeless shelters, missions and needy families by delivering regular donations of food and clothing.
Family members in Tacoma, Washington, operated a program which provided unwed teenage mothers and other hardship cases with baby clothes and equipment. Each day they received five to ten phone calls, asking for help.
Repartir o Pao (Sharing the Bread), a food distribution program run by Family members and sponsored by a local businessman in Brasilia, Brazil, supplied three tons of beans to about 400 poor families and 15 needy institutions each month.
Members in Sao Paulo, Brazil, instituted a sponsorship program to help provide staples and medicine to families in the favelas (slums). They organized a council of residents to help determine which families are most needy and deserving. At present the program provides about 20 families each month with rice, beans, oil, milk powder and sugar, and medicine as needed.
Last winter, "Cardboard Village" in the busy Shinjuku subway station in the heart of Tokyo, Japan, housed several hundred homeless people. During their regular visits to the squatter area, Family members distributed blankets, mattresses, clothing, food and toiletries. Posters and other literature with a message of God's love were received just as eagerly. A Family community in Osaka conducted a similar program for the thousands of homeless people in that city.
Throughout 1996, members in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia, provided a helping hand to many of the thousands of homeless who live in and around major train stations in these two cities.
Helping street children
Street children -- numbering as many as 100 million worldwide -- can be found in nearly every major city of the world. These orphans and runaway children are at high risk of malnutrition, infectious diseases -- including HIV/AIDS -- and criminal and sexual exploitation. In 1996, The Family's efforts to help rescue these young lives included:
Members of The Family in Brazil continued to operate a home which provides housing, schooling and rehabilitation courses for over 100 former street children.
At the Center of Social Development (CDS), members in Brasilia, Brazil, used group sessions, theater, videos and personal attention to help street children feel cared for and integrate back into normal society. In another ongoing program dubbed "Teach Me to Fish," they provided job training and helped find work for street children, delinquents and young people getting out of prison.
Members in Calcutta, India provided regular assistance to "Helpline," an organization that helps street children in one of the city's worst slums.
Members in Kenya provided and continue to provide -- tutoring, counseling, practical life instruction, recreational activities and friendship at seven centers for street children in Nairobi and Mombasa.
Family members in Cambodia, Colombia, Bolivia, England, Indonesia, Mexico, Nepal, the Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Spain, USA and Vietnam also worked with street children, or assisted homes for street children run by other organizations.
Humanitarian aid to the former USSR
Project Aid Siberia, a relief organization spearheaded by Faith Berg, the daughter of The Family's founder, secured and shipped 300 tons of humanitarian aid from the US to several struggling cities in Siberia.
Members of The Family in Sweden and Denmark arranged the donation and transport of nearly $100,000 worth of hospital equipment, clothing and shoes, which other members then distributed to hospitals, orphanages and needy families in Latvia.
When a Family volunteer working in St. Petersburg, Russia, traveled to Finland, he brought the needs of St. Petersburg's under-financed Red Cross hospital to the attention of sympathetic hospital administrators. As a result, the Finnish hospital donated fifteen hospital beds, examination tables, an operating table, an operating microscope and other specialized medical equipment worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Over a period of months, Family members in Bratislava, Slovakia collected one ton of good quality clothing, shoes, toys, household goods and equipment, personally transported them to the Ukraine, and assisted members of a local Family community in distributing the goods to needy institutions.
A 20-year-old Family volunteer on furlough from her mission in Russia, and her hosts, long-time friends of The Family in Kagoshima, Japan, organized an aid shipment to needy Russian institutions. Five articles in a local newspaper and a radio interview promoting the project drew tremendous public support. Four-and-a-half tons of clothing and other items were gathered, carefully sorted and packed by friends and Family members. The Lions Club gave a large donation to cover the cost of shipping the goods to Russia. Half of the aid was divided between 20 orphanages in and around Vladivostok, Far Eastern Russia, and the other half was distributed to the needy in Yekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains.
Other humanitarian and social welfare projects
Representatives from The Family in Colombia were appointed to a government panel to promote respect for life and human rights, and to help counter the violence and terrorism which are rife in that country. Family members were also appointed advisors to the legal department of the Office of Human Rights (OPDH), and conducted a seminar and workshop for 25 OPDH lawyers, took part in a district-wide "Abuse and Values" campaign in public schools, and served as a support group for families in which child abuse had taken place.
Lima, Peru-based members assisted volunteer doctors in providing medical attention to 1,200 people living in a remote area of northern Peru which is without electricity, clean water, proper drainage and regular health services. The Family members also arranged for various Lima clinics to donate the medicines and supplies needed for the project.
Members in Nigeria assisted doctors on a week-long trip to bring medical aid to villagers in the bush. During the project, about 2,500 patients were treated, free of charge. Family members ran the pharmacy and provided spiritual support to the patients.
During regular visits to a sea-gypsy village at Rawai Bay, southern Thailand, volunteers from The Family handed out donated shoes and clothing, taught English classes to the children, held a clean-up campaign, and gave instruction on cleanliness and hygiene.
Members held training seminars in churches in crime- and drug-infested areas of New York City to help parishioners turn their communities around by teaching them to more effectively reach their neighbors with the Gospel.
Forty-six Family members -- many of them teenagers -- assisted the police, fire department and other local government agencies in conducting a job fair to help find work for the unemployed in Miami, Florida. Over 3,500 people were interviewed for jobs during the one-day fair. For three months prior to the event, two young Family members attended weekly planning meetings. Many of the ideas that they presented were used in the Miami program, and some were published in a Job Fair Handbook sent to 300 US cities planning similar programs.
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Giving children -- and the world -- a brighter future
"Jesus said, `Let the little children come to Me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven'" (Matthew 19:14).
Children's videos with a difference
During the past eight years, The Family has produced three series of video programs for children and preteens (Kiddie Viddie, Treasure Attic and Fantastic Friends). All three series feature Family children and teens performing original songs which teach social skills, moral values and practical lessons in a fun, fast-moving way that kids around the world enjoy and emulate. The Family's videos have received widespread acclaim from parents and educators alike, and are now available in 24 languages.
Worldwide, The Family distributed over 136,000 children's videos in 1996, bringing the eight-year total to over 1 million. Concerned individuals, businesses and civic associations, by way of Family sponsorship programs, have donated many sets of those videos to schools, orphanages, hospitals and other institutions for disadvantaged or handicapped children.
A governmental body responsible for the developmental needs of Bolivia's children included selections from the Kiddie Viddie, Treasure Attic and Fantastic Friends video series in their 1996 social welfare program.
Department of Education officials in Colombia placed a 12-video set in each of 120 government schools.
All 149 primary schools in Samut Prakarn province, Thailand, have now received sets of Kiddie Viddie and Treasure Attic videos -- most through sponsors, the rest from the Department of Education. The Family community involved also conducted four district-wide seminars to instruct the teachers on how they might incorporate the videos in their curriculums. Hundreds of other schools throughout Thailand also received and now use the videos.
These Family-produced children's videos also played a part in educational programs or were broadcast on television in the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Estonia, Hungary, India, Japan, Pakistan, Peru, Puerto Rico, Russia, Ukraine, and the USA.
Education opportunities for underprivileged children
A Family couple in Mauritius provided free tutoring to a group of children, teenagers and young adults from extremely poor backgrounds, whose literacy level was so low that no schools would accept them.
Through their PalBrazil project, teachers from The Family taught reading, writing and social skills to preschool children in a slum area outside Brasilia, Brazil. The project has had a tremendous impact on the entire community.
In Katmandu, Nepal, members assisted a large school for disabled children by teaching music and English classes twice a week. They also found sponsors for many of the institution's most urgent needs: wheelchairs, crutches, maintenance materials and school uniforms.
Free English conversation classes were taught in many schools in impoverished areas of Thailand by Family volunteers. A young Australian Family member who is fluent in Thai also hosted a 48-lesson English course for children on cable TV, assisted by a cat puppet operated and voiced by a Thai member. The broadcasts reached children throughout the country.
Members in Bangalore, India, set up a school for 100 mostly illiterate children of impoverished construction workers. With the help of qualified teachers fluent in the local languages -- hired through a Family sponsorship program -- they developed a special program to teach basic elementary subjects and hygiene. Most important, the children gained confidence that they could learn, and their parents were affected in a very positive way when they saw their children happy and learning.
Programs for tomorrow's leaders
Responding to the need for more character-building programs in Indian schools, Family teenagers formed a group called The Heartstrings and conducted 51 seminars and musical and theatrical programs in schools in and around New Delhi, India. Ten other Family teens in Bangalore formed the Harvest Moon band and dance group, and performed similar programs for students in nine of the city's colleges.
Members in Australia taught weekly Scripture and values classes in a number of public schools.
Seven members -- six under the age of 21 -- performed 35 concerts with a theme of faith and hope for over 3,000 young people attending Pioneer (Russian Boy Scouts) camps in Far Eastern Russia.
Seventeen Family members conducted three-day English camps for students from four Bangkok, Thailand area schools. The camp programs included games and activities to teach personal integrity and develop social skills. Watching Fantastic Friends and Treasure Attic videos and learning some of the songs and dances proved to be a highlight for the students.
Karachi, Pakistan: A Family member gave a series of lectures on effective leadership to some of the country's future civic leaders at Washington University, Pakistan Campus.
Seminars for teachers and parents
Islamabad, Pakistan: Family volunteers who demonstrated early-learning techniques before the Prime Minister's Literacy Commission were later asked to help launch a new nationwide literacy program.
Family members in Karachi, Pakistan, conducted seminars for the parents of handicapped children, to help them find solutions to the many frustrating obstacles to their children's learning and emotional development.
Family volunteers conducted numerous motivational seminars for teachers in Bombay, India. One of the Family members reported: "Every school is crying out for the positive input we have to offer. We cannot possibly keep up with the demand."
Members in Bogota, Colombia, conducted "Ethics and Values" seminars and workshops for teachers and parents.
Family volunteers in Bangkok, Thailand, taught preschool children from broken or troubled homes at a daycare center in the slum area of Surayai. News of their work spread, and they were asked to hold seminars on early- learning techniques for teachers from daycare centers in five other slum areas.
Child awareness programs
Family members contributed to child-awareness events in a number of countries. For example:
Brazil: Family children performed ten times and The Family's children's videos were featured in scheduled workshops in Month of the Child festivities in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Mexico: Members held a special event for low-income families on the Day of the Child. Each of the nearly 1,000 people who attended was fed a free meal, and each child received a bag of toys, fruit and clothing -- all provided by local sponsors and friends of The Family. Children and teenagers from The Family then performed a musical show.
Thailand: As they have for the past several years, Family children performed for 10,000 underprivileged children at the National Stadium during Children's Day celebrations.
Turkey: Two performances by Family children during the National Children's Day Festival were aired on nationwide TV.
Aid to orphanages and children's homes
The Family paid regular visits to orphanages and children's homes in nearly 40 countries, as part of our ongoing efforts to help children in need. Most of those institutions receive insufficient support, so The Family helped arrange sponsorship, as well as donations of food, clothing, shoes, school supplies and toys. They also brightened the children's days with musical shows, activities and personal attention. In many cases, The Family also held classes for the children's caregivers, which included practical, motivational, and teaching tips.
The director of one orphanage in Russia summed up The Family's contribution this way: "These children face a difficult life. Some of them will probably end up in jail. But no matter where any of them go, they will never forget the love you have shown them. It helps them believe that there is a God and that He cares for them."
Another orphanage director in Colombia commented, "You give the children what we can't and don't know how to give them -- food for the spirit."
Some of the most needy orphanages which The Family assisted in 1996 were:
Russia: Seven Family volunteers -- all in their teens and early twenties -- assisted orphanages in Perm and ten other cities and towns near the Ural Mountains. Their work attracted TV coverage and donations of goods and funds to the cash-strapped institutions from 34 local companies.
Family volunteers helped provide vocational and leadership training to teenagers in orphanages in and around Bombay, India. They also helped the institutions with donated shoes, clothing, food and play equipment, and raised funds which enabled several of the orphanages to repair weaving, welding and carpentry equipment used in vocational training programs, and to equip another with its first infirmary.
Members in Bangkok, Thailand continued their monthly visits to the large orphanage attached to the Buddhist temple Wat Boht, in Ang Tong province. This year their efforts expanded to finding local and international sponsors.
Orphanages and homes for handicapped children all across Slovakia shared two tons of cheese that Family members in Switzerland collected for the needy institutions. Family members in Slovakia assisted many of these children's homes throughout the year.
Members in Sweden collected and transported truckloads of aid to Slovenia, where it was distributed between a number of needy orphanages.
A Family community in Budapest, Hungary, held a 10-day summer camp for 13 orphans, ages 8-12, whose parents had died as a result of the 1986 Chernobyl accident.
Programs were also conducted in other orphanages in Albania, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mexico, the Middle East, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, Venezuela and Vietnam.
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Helping the sick and disabled
"He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds" (Psalm 147:3).
Hospital ministries
The following thumbnail reports exemplify programs conducted by The Family in hospitals in at least 32 countries worldwide:
Members in Caracas, Venezuela, visited patients and encouraged the staff of several hospitals. At one poorly funded hospital that treats patients from an impoverished district -- including many gunshot victims -- they also helped materially: In cases where neither the patients nor hospital could afford the medicine or supplies needed for proper treatment, Family volunteers arranged donations from pharmacies.
For the past several years, members in San Jose, California, have counseled patients -- mostly Vietnam War vets -- at the drug and alcohol center of a Veterans Administration hospital.
In connection with Brazil's Association of Support to Children with Cancer (AACC), Family members brought cheer and hope to young cancer patients and provided counseling to their parents.
Members in Karachi, Pakistan helped two institutions for mentally handicapped children. They have worked with the Dar ul Sukun home for the past five years, the Ujala school for three. Through a sponsorship program, they have provided a variety of educational video materials and school equipment, as well as monthly donations of food, clothing and other needs. Family children, ages nine to 13, have played a big part in these projects: They accompany their parents, help teach the classes, participate in the activities, and give the handicapped children wonder-working love and acceptance.
In Szeged, Hungary, regular visits to the children's wards of a cancer hospital included clown and puppet shows, donations of food, toys and other needed items, and lots of personal attention.
"Music therapy" -- meaningful, uplifting songs mixed with loving personal attention -- has long been a part of The Family's work in hospitals around the world. Now its potential to assist the recovery process is being studied by the medical profession. Members who work side by side with physiotherapists in the government Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, were guest speakers at a university seminar for doctors and nurses, where the technique was discussed.
A Family missionary doctor in Lima, Peru gave a seminar on music therapy in childbirth to a group of psychologists, gynecologists and obstetricians.
Programs were also conducted in other hospitals in Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Middle East, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela and Vietnam.
Working with the deaf
Members in Madras, India, teach weekly motivational classes to a group of over 60 deaf young people, ages 17 to 29. In June, they held a two-day motivational seminar for this group, who then conducted similar seminars themselves in five schools for the deaf, inspiring hundreds of their peers that they too can lead active, productive lives in spite of their handicap. They also held seminars for companies that hire deaf employees.
Deaf associate members of The Family in India represented their country in several international conferences and sporting events for the deaf, providing can-do role models for millions in India who are deaf or hearing impaired.
In order to help the local deaf community, two young members in Katmandu, Nepal took a course in Nepali sign language. One of their first projects was teaching weekly English classes to deaf teenage girls at a vocational school. Most of the girls had little or no knowledge of English when the course began, but within four months they were able to read simple English books. As they become more proficient, their job opportunities will be greatly increased.
For the past five years, members in Karachi, Pakistan, have taught weekly classes on communication, life skills and leadership to a group of deaf boys and men, ages 16 to 30, some of whom had never attended school before. These Family members have helped some of their students find jobs. This year they also began teaching weekly English and life skills classes at the Ida Rieu School for the Deaf and Blind, Karachi's largest school for the deaf. In both programs, Family teenagers fluent in sign language help plan and conduct the classes.
Family members assisted organizers at the Asia-Pacific Games for the Deaf, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Family communities in Brazil, Hungary, Thailand and Hyderabad, India also conducted programs for the deaf.
Ministries to the blind
Family members in Chile and Ecuador taught blind children and adults English and gave special classes designed not only to help them overcome the seeming limitations of their handicap, but challenge them to extend the help they received to others. They also offered counseling to the parents of blind children.
Care and company for the elderly
Around the world, many Family members visit lonely and needy senior citizens in nursing homes, retirement centers and at home. Their regular programs often feature singing groups made up of Family children and teens, individual or group readings, prayer, and the giving of small homemade gifts from the children.
Some Family communities also help supply local nursing homes with food and other material support, or help with routine chores and repairs.
Family volunteers also drive otherwise house-bound elderly people shopping and to and from appointments.
What these senior citizens seem to cherish most, however, is loving contact with our children and young people who take time to talk with and show a personal interest in them.
During regular visits to Ban Kon Chalah, a home for the aged in Phuket, Thailand, local Family members went room to room, offering sympathy, love, prayers and encouragement to the residents, many of whom were without families or just plain lonely. When asked if there was any more The Family could do to help them, the superintendent replied, "What you are giving our residents is just exactly what they need -- personal attention!"
Members who assisted at a home for the elderly in Montevideo, Uruguay, regularly spent time in the ward for the bedridden and terminally ill, conversing and reading to them. They also distributed donations of food and clothing, and Family teens and children gave several musical performances at the home.
Other programs for the elderly took place in: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, England, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, USA and Venezuela.
Other programs for the handicapped
Several years ago, a Family volunteer in Thailand was appointed to the Social Welfare Department's national council, which oversees the country's institutions for the blind, deaf, handicapped and underprivileged. For the fourth consecutive year, The Family was asked to contribute to the annual National Disabled Day program, which highlights outstanding groups of handicapped people from centers throughout the country. This year they were given the task of organizing the program.
Members from Kiev, Ukraine held programs for the handicapped children of Ivankov -- many of whom are victims of the 1986 Chernobyl accident. Family volunteers based in Kazakhstan did the same in Semipalatinsk, a former nuclear testing ground where half of the children are retarded or deformed. The Family also performed for 4,000 handicapped athletes at a CIS-wide Special Games, which was held at Artek, the largest youth camp of the former Soviet Union.
Other programs for the handicapped were carried out in Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, the Middle East, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Slovakia, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey.
Drug prevention and rehabilitation programs
"Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you" (Psalm 50:15).
Family members -- mostly young people -- conducted drug awareness programs in 65 Bangkok, Thailand area schools. The programs featured songs and skits to educate children and teenagers about the dangers of drugs and how to overcome peer pressure to take them. Local sponsors made it possible to give each of the nearly 15,000 students attending a free motivational song tape. Other Family communities throughout Thailand also assisted governmental organizations in local, regional and national anti-narcotics campaigns.
A song with an anti-narcotic message, written by a Family member and sung by Family young people, was repeatedly aired on radio stations throughout Thailand. Two large public concerts -- one done in conjunction with Interpol -- and an anti-narcotics skit scripted and acted by Family young people were also broadcast by many national and local TV stations.
A Family drug awareness program entitled "What's Better than Drugs, Sex and Rock `n' Roll?" was a hit in high schools throughout Brasilia, Brazil. It featured a Family member who was formerly the drummer of a top Brazilian heavy metal band, and an eighteen-year-old girl whom The Family helped off of drugs after numerous rehabilitation programs had failed to end her five-year addiction.
Members in New Delhi, India, held a series of theater workshops for recovering addicts at a drug rehab center where Family volunteers have served for the past three years. The result: several simple dramas with an anti-drug message which a group of former addicts now performs in schools and on street corners in slum areas where drug abuse is rampant.
At the Kripa Drug Center in Bombay, India, in addition to a weekly motivational program, Family members arranged donations of construction materials, plumbing fixtures and labor to give the aging facility a much-needed face lift.
Members in Katmandu, Nepal, counseled young travelers from the West, many of whom set out in search of a true spiritual experience, but wound up thousands of miles from home, dependent on drugs and more disillusioned than ever.
Family members in San Francisco, California did street counseling with Deadheads (followers of the Grateful Dead rock band) and other counterculture youth who continue to frequent that city's Haight-Ashbury district, a center of the `60s drug culture.
Countries in which The Family conducted other drug prevention and rehabilitation programs include: Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Peru, the Philippines, Spain, Thailand and the USA.
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Programs in prisions, juvenile detention centers, and halfway houses
"I was in prison and you came to Me" (Matthew 25:36).
Family communities in many countries conduct programs in men's and women's prisons, and homes for juvenile offenders.
During their visits, Family members often give simple musical or theatrical performances. More than entertainment, these shows are specifically designed to motivate the prisoners to change their lives for the better.
Family members also offer individual counseling geared at restoring a sense of personal worth to the inmates, helping them to come to terms with their past, and imparting to them a personal knowledge of God's love and forgiveness.
In addition, Christian literature, Bible studies, prayer and follow-up via mail are made available to those interested in finding spiritual solutions to their problems. The underlying message is that a happy, worthwhile life is still within each inmate's reach.
Conditions in these prisons and detention centers vary considerably. Where conditions are substandard, Family members sometimes help by arranging donations of paint and building supplies from local companies.
The Family's mission in some penal institutions extends to the staff, who often are in need of recognition and encouragement.
In some situations, The Family also helps ex-prisoners and former delinquents integrate back into society.
In New Delhi, India, members paid regular visits to Tihar Jail, India's largest maximum security prison, where, for the third consecutive year, they gave classes and conducted workshops with a group of mostly teenage inmates on such topics as: resolving conflicts, peer pressure, overcoming depression, regaining lost optimism and helping others.
In a long-term program, teen and young adult members in Augusta, Georgia, counseled young offenders at two area juvenile detention centers.
Two members in Bogota, Colombia assisted two prison psychologists in a counseling program for 1,000 prisoners in the city's largest prison.
Members of a Family community in Hungary corresponded regularly with prison inmates throughout Eastern Europe and the CIS. Some of the convicts have had remarkable personal changes, and are now leading small Christian study groups in their prisons.
Programs for prostitutes
For several years, members in Bangkok, Thailand, have assisted at Bahn Gretagahn, a home for former prostitutes and delinquent girls. Weekly visits include personal counseling and English classes. Special projects in 1996 included a motivational show, locating sponsors to cover repair costs following severe flooding, and donations of clothing for the home's nursery.
Members in Natal, Brazil, assisted at the government-sponsored FUNDAC Home for juvenile former prostitutes.
Members assisted the Daughters of Abraham Foundation, a home for former prostitutes in Abuja, Nigeria.
Other Family projects in penal institutions and halfway houses took place in Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, England, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine and the USA.
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Aid to refugees and the war-torn
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Matthew 5:9).
Family members who have worked on relief programs for refugees and victims of war have all come to the same conclusion: Although many of these people have been through horrific experiences, their physical wounds often heal before their deep psychological and spiritual trauma. In addition to providing material assistance, Family volunteers offer comfort and counsel, hope and faith. From God's Word, they help these broken people find answers to their many questions about God, life and why these things have happened to them. In many cases they also lead them to personally experience the recreative power of God's love.
(Please note that the following projects do not necessarily reflect the political sympathies of The Family at large or those members directly involved. Given the opportunity, The Family would extend the same humanitarian aid and offer the same Gospel to victims on either side of any armed conflict, regardless of race, religion or ethnic background.)
The war in Bosnia
Throughout the year, a seven-member team living in Croatia distributed humanitarian aid and offered comfort and counseling to many of the 35,000 Bosnian and Croatian refugees at various camps in the area.
Teams from Family communities in other European countries traveled to Bosnia- Herzegovina for periods of one or two weeks to several months, and carried out relief projects. Family members from Ljubljana, Slovenia, for example, made 16 trips to Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as numerous trips to Croatia. They transported and distributed 12 truckloads of humanitarian aid (food, clothing, shoes, toys, medicine, surgical equipment, vitamins, school supplies, toiletries, and household items), and performed over 50 musical programs -- 35 in schools, nine for entire towns, and ten for IFOR (NATO) troops and IPTF (UN police) personnel.
Family volunteers found that many IFOR and IPTF personnel stationed in Bosnia were in need of encouragement and counseling, as they had suffered psychologically and emotionally from months of witnessing firsthand the toll this atrocious war has taken on people on all sides.
Programs were also conducted in camps for Bosnian refugees in Hungary, Romania and Slovenia.
Family communities in the USA "adopted" Bosnian refugee families resettling in the States. They helped them find housing, taught them English, and arranged and delivered donations of food and clothing.
Family communities in the following countries also contributed to Bosnia relief efforts either by collecting and transporting humanitarian aid, and/or by sending members to help with relief projects: Austria, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.
Victims of the war in Chechnya
Family volunteers in Moscow continued to regularly visit patients at a hospital for disabled veterans. They went room-to-room, counseling the soldiers, praying for their healing, and distributing Russian Bibles, Christian literature and inspirational cassette tapes.
Colombia guerrilla warfare
Volunteers from a Family community in Colombia traveled to a remote area of the country to take toys and a message of God's love to children caught in a long-running war between national security forces and leftist guerrillas.
Civil unrest, Northern Ireland
Members in Northern Ireland counseled and comforted police and civilians who had lost family members or colleagues in the decades of political violence.
Karen refugees
Family members continued to send food, clothing, educational materials and other donated items to the camps for Karen refugees near the border town of Mae Sot, in northwestern Thailand.
Palestinian refugee camps
Family members continued to teach and do activities with kindergarten and handicapped children at two Palestinian refugee camps.
Hostages held by Kashmir separatists
A teenage Family member in India corresponded with five foreigners taken hostage by militant separatists in Kashmir, northern India, and their families throughout their ordeal. Her work was later commended by the British High Commissioner in New Delhi.
Other aid projects
Family volunteers also assisted refugees and victims of war in Cambodia, Pakistan and Vietnam.
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Conferences, seminars and studies
"We speak what we know and testify what we have seen" (John 3:11).
Family members engage in a constant exchange of ideas and information with social academics, other religious movements and governmental and non-governmental organizations. Representatives from The Family took part in many conferences and seminars during 1996, some of which are listed below:
Muslim/Christian Understanding Seminar; Georgetown University, Washington, DC; March 26; attendees.
American Academy of Religion (AAR) Regional Conference; Baltimore, Maryland; March 29; attendees.
Fourth Latin American Congress of Religion and Ethnicity; Bogota, Colombia; June; attendees.
American Psychological Association (APA) Conference; Toronto, Canada; August 9-11; attendees.
Annual meeting of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR); Montreal, Canada; August 13-16; guest speakers.
Association for the Sociology of Religion (ASR) Conference; New York City, New York; August 15-17; attendees.
Religious Newswriters Association (RNA) Annual Conference; Chicago, Illinois; August 30-Sept.1; guest speakers.
NGO Conference on Custodial Justice and Post-release Programs; organized by the Prison Department of Maharashtra State; Bombay, India; August; guest speakers.
Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) Conference; Nashville, Tennessee; November 8-10; attendees.
American Academy of Religion (AAR) Conference; New Orleans, Louisiana; November 23-26; attendees.
Rural Education Conference; sponsored by the Ministry of Education; Karachi, Pakistan; guest speakers.
The academic community continues to find The Family of great interest for their studies of new religious movements (NRMs). During 1996, one historical and several sociological studies were begun, the results of which are expected to be published in 1997, either as academic papers, books for the general public or textbooks for university students. These studies involved visits by the authors to many of our communities around the world, at which time they interviewed hundreds of Family members and observed the inner workings of our communities and ministries to a needy world.
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Spreading the Good News
Through all of our efforts to help those in need -- whatever their plight, social position, ethnic or religious background may be -- runs a common thread: our endeavor to be living examples of God's love, and to convey, in word and in deed, the message of that great, personal love to the individual.
In only 28 years, Family members have worked in over 170 of the world's approximately 200 nations and principalities, where we have spoken personally with people about the Gospel over 214 million times -- or an average of over 20,000 a day. Of those we talked with personally, 19.7 million have prayed with us to receive God's love, through Jesus, into their lives.
In 1996 alone, The Family worldwide talked with about 7 million people about God and His love for them, distributed nearly 16 million pieces of Christian literature, and prayed with 888,658 people to receive Jesus as their Savior.
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You can be a part!
The Family is a volunteer organization. Each of the activities described above were made possible by donations from concerned businesses, associations and individuals. Most of those projects are ongoing, and new projects are being undertaken almost every day. In nearly every case, our greatest limitations are financial. If you would like to work with or sponsor The Family in your country or community, or if you would like more information, please contact us at one of the addresses below:
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Visit the Family on the Internet:
http://www.thefamily.org/family
E-mail: family@thefamily.org
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Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family