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?

Our current intern in Ixiamas, Bolivia, is 2008 Practicum graduate Becky Forrest. Becky served on short-term mission trips in 2007 and 2008 in Ixiamas. She is now in her second year as an intern.

Much has happened since my last post. First of all, I am now home, and I will not be returning to work at the internado next year. Leaving was very hard and emotional since the staff and kids had become my family. However I feel God is leading me somewhere else yet to be revealed. The last two years have been a remarkable experience for me. I went to Ixiamas thinking I was going to help the children of the Internado, but as with most missions experiences, I have received so much more than I gave. There is no better way to increase your faith than to step out of the box — living in Ixiamas for two years was a giant leap for me. I just can’t thank God enough for giving me the courage even though there have been moments when I cried, “Lord what am I doing here?”. Now, I will try to highlight some of the events since my last post.

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This week is going to be busy for our SIFAT staff, but you have several opportunities to get involved. Check out the schedule below to see what’s happening!

Tuesday, 4-6 p.m.: Sarah Corson will be at His Place Christian Resources in Lineville, Ala., for a book signing as part of His Place’s Christmas Open House. For more information, click here.
Wednesday, 6-8 p.m.: Alpha Kappa Lambda and the employees of AU Photo Services are offering Christmas photos in front of Samford Hall on Auburn’s campus. For a $25 donation, you’ll receive two 5×7 photos and a CD with digital copies that you can have reprinted or use for Christmas card photos. For more information, click here.

Sunday, 2 p.m.: Sarah Corson will have a book signing at Wedowee FUMC in Wedowee, Ala. The event will start with Sarah reading an excerpt from Risking Everything. For more information, click here.

*Don’t forget to use igive.com or goodshop.com when you’re shopping online for Cyber Monday deals and Christmas shopping! Both of these sites allow SIFAT to receive a percentage of your total purchase. It’s free money for us, and a way for you to donate without realizing it! See our past posts about iGive and Goodshop to learn more.

Risking Everything Arrives at SIFAT!

SIFAT cofounder Sarah Corson’s latest book, Risking Everything, chronicles the Corsons years as missionaries in the jungle of Bolivia. Drawing from articles she wrote with vivid detail at the time they happened, Sarah takes the reader into the reality of the world we live in…both then and still today. God’s call to mission rings out on every page of this book as she takes us into the hearts and lives of the people of Bolivia.

Just in time for Christmas: Risking Everything costs $15 per book. Books can be purchased at the SIFAT Village Store or can be shipped to you for a small fee ($3 for the first copy, add $.50 for each additional copy). To order your copy, please call the SIFAT office at 256.396.2015 or e-mail info@sifat.org. Large quantity discounts are available.

Photo caption: Sarah and Ken Corson unload the first case of books off the truck. Sarah shared that she began writing the book in 1977 on a typewriter, and now it’s finally published!