Unfortunately, we tend to look at poverty in aggregate, worldwide terms. We are conditioned to statistics that tell us about the 1 billion people who do not have access to clean drinking water (which is the source of 80% of all disease and kills more people than violence and war).

These are important statistics. They illustrate the scope of the problems facing the world, and how far we have to go.

Sadly, the statistics also numb us to action.We doubt that one person can have an impact on a problem that is billions of people large.

But we can eradicate poverty when we take responsibility for a small community of people. 

What would happen if we rolled into poor communities like Ty Pennington and the crew from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition?

Extreme Makeover shows us what a committed group of people, focused on an important goal, can accomplish.  We can eradicate poverty when we work together like this for the benefit of communities like Mpaka–a poor community in rural Swaziland.

Swaziland is a land-locked African kingdom that sits almost entirely within South Africa. It is a small, autonomous country that boasts the highest HIV infection rate in the world. Given the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, many children are left without food, water, education, and healthcare.

They are ripe targets for the top 5 Child-Killers.

When we first visited Mpaka, the small church located there was feeding children out of a makeshift
stick and tin kitchen. To fund their feeding program, the church pastors sell CD’s of the local children’s
choir. This CarePoint is
very busy due to its close proximity to a school. It is very normal for
this location to serve well over 100 children on a daily basis.

Through the sponsorship of Heartwork and the Desperation Band the conditions at Mpaka have improved dramatically. 

Through the Heartwork/Desperation Band ministry we have completed a full CarePoint buildout at Mpaka. 

When we arrived at Mpaka the facilities were rough to say the least.  The church building was in disrepair, the kitchen was a rudimentary structure built of mud and stick, there was no water source, and the perimeter was not fenced. 

Today Mpaka looks very different.  We have a fence, a brand new kitchen, a water source, a playground, a pit latrine and the church has been completely refurbished. Mpaka is a source of light and hope in the community. 

Because of the tremendous blessing that we have received we have the opportunity to minister to over 100 orphaned and vulnerable children in the Mpaka community.

This transformation took place because a community with resources was connected to a community with needs. Children’s HopeChest introduced Heartwork & Desperation Band to the Mpaka community, and all three of us worked together on this Extreme Makeover project.

This photo shows you the difference. The large building in the foreground is the church building. The smaller building with the green water tank is the kitchen that feeds over 100 kids each day.

I know that Swaziland may seem like a world away, I know that challenges of the Swazi people are so different from the challenges you experience daily.

But know this: Eradicating poverty starts when one community takes responsibility for helping another community reach self-sufficiency.