We’re starting a new weekly blog post – This week! One frequently asked question we receive is what do you do when the international practicum isn’t going on or it isn’t the summer. We want to give you some insight into what happens all during the year at SIFAT, so on Mondays, we’ll post what’s going on our international campus in Alabama, what short-term mission teams are on international trips, where SIFAT staff are speaking and other items of interest.

So…this week:

Wisconsin UMVIM team – We have a work team on campus all week renovating and repairing the duplex, education building and possibly more. We’re so thankful they made the trip south to help us.

Monday, March 28: CARES event in our Global Village

Tuesday, March 29: Executive Director Tom Corson speaks at the Anniston Noon Rotary meeting in Anniston, Ala.

Wednesday, March 30: SIFAT representative participates in a missions event at Western Heights Baptist Church in LaGrange, Ga.

Friday, April 1: CARES event in our Global Village.

Friday, April 1 – Saturday, April 2: Learn & Serve Retreat – Liberty Crossings UMC

Friday, April 1 – Sunday, April 3: International Training Director Kathy Bryson is attending the Global Health & Humanitarian Summit at Emory University.
Sunday, April 3: SIFAT founders Ken and Sarah Corson are speaking at Union Church for UMW Day.

Please pray for the Corson and Murphree families this week. SIFAT cofounder Sarah Corson’s mother, Mrs. Winnie Murphree, passed away Monday afternoon at the age of 100. Mrs. Winnie, or Granny as she was known around SIFAT, was a retired schoolteacher and United Methodist pastor. She blessed the lives of many people in Randolph County and seemed to have a positive impact in everything she did. For years, Granny was active at SIFAT, even traveling to Bolivia when she was in her 70s! She will be missed by all of us.

Visitation will be Thursday, Jan. 27 from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Benefield Funeral Home in Wedowee, Ala. The funeral will be on Friday, Jan. 28 at 2 p.m. at Wedowee First United Methodist Church. A graveside service will follow at the cemetery in Wedowee.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to SIFAT or the Wedowee First United Methodist Church.

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti. One year later, SIFAT continues to install water purification systems to provide clean, safe drinking water to a country torn apart by the devastating earthquake, hurricane and cholera outbreak.

Can you imagine being thirsty, but knowing the water you drink may be contaminated with cholera? SIFAT teams are making a difference by installing purification systems and training local Haitians how to do maintenance and upkeep. Now, they have hope! Hope that life is looking up…hope that they will not only survive, but also thrive!

In 2011, Bahamas Habitat will provide air transportation for 12 SIFAT teams. As I write, SIFAT graduate Trey Reed is in Cape Haitian, which is now the area with the highest cholera outbreak in Haiti. SIFAT is working with medical clinics, partnership organizations and SIFAT graduates to install water systems where they are most needed.

In May 2010, SIFAT taught 15 Haitian community leaders at our Alabama campus during a three-week intensive session on practical skills, such as food production and water purification. We have made a 3-year training commitment with approximately 70 Haitian community leaders to hold seminars and provide technical support. To accomplish this, Dr. Byron Morales from Ecuador has joined our staff to conduct seminars periodic training sessions in Haiti with these community leaders.

Your continued prayers and support are needed now! To donate to our work in Haiti, please designate “Haiti” on your check. If you are donating online, e-mail hurttc@sifat.org with the subject online donation for Haiti, and we will make sure your donation is applied to our Haiti fund.

By 2011, one-sixth of the people alive will be living in an urban slum. By 2030, that number is expected to double. Imagine, a third of our world living in a slum village somewhere around the world.

As more people move from rural villages of our world into dense cityscapes, they face many challenges while seeking the life-giving opportunities that a city can afford them. Where will they find work? Where will they find food? Where will they sleep?

SIFAT invites you to experience how millions in the world are living today. They have names. They have faces. They are real. Their stories are much like ours…we are just in different places…until now.

Your youth or college group can spend 48 hours in our urban slum on Jan. 15-17, 2011 (MLK, Jr. holiday weekend). The retreat costs $48 per person and includes a t-shirt. For more information or to register your group, please e-mail Mary MacInnis at learnandserve@sifat.org.

Connect with Comments: Did you attend 48: A Slum Experience last year? If so, how did it impact you? What parts of the experience stood out the most?