Wow! Another whole year has passed and it has been a very good and productive year for Beacon of Hope. It is our pleasure to give you, our valued supporters, an update on the great work being done by our African teams, and the new milestone we just reached this year.
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Here is a short report on the activities of one of our more productive and best managed teams.
Seabird, Jabulani, Sibusisiwe, Trudy and Welcome
On our mission trip in September we spent one day with one of our new teams that has been active in Johannesburg, South Africa, since last year. We visited three schools and spoke to the vice principal, social studies teacher and two students from each school. Jabulani and Sibusisiwe are the two students we spoke to from the New Model College. The others are three of the five Smart Choices facilitators. The students and teaching staff representatives from all three schools were very appreciative of the Smart Choices team, for their professionalism, their message, and for the way the students responded to the program.
“The presentations by the Smart Choices to our learners were very informative and educative. The learners enjoyed the presentation as this was revealed through their active participation in the discussions. Above all, these presentations equip our learners to grow up being responsible citizens, knowing that there are some things that can shortcut their future plans if they don’t make right choices in life.”
SCSAP Johannesburg team leader, Welcome Ndlovu, is the area coordinator for one of our 8 geographic areas of operation in four countries. The Johannesburg and Soshanguve teams both managed by Welcome trained 8219 students, which is over a third of the students trained by all of the teams in 2015.
Our Mission
To bring the message of hope and salvation to the African people who face daily the realities of the HIV/AIDS pandemic that has swept the continent by:
- Education of high school students about how the virus is spread and how it can be avoided.
- Education on how to effectively care for those infected.
- Promote abstinence from sex before marriage as well as faithfulness to spouse
- Promote positive behavioral changes, to embrace sexual purity to stop the spread of the virus.
Exciting 2015 Smart Choices Milestone
Late this year we exceeded one hundred thousand students trained. We started out this project in 2004 by training 100 students at two schools. The total is actually 102,846.
2015 Accomplishments
- This year 22,817 students heard the Gospel and AIDS prevention program.
- 5,768 of these made new commitments to follow Jesus.
- 15,451 committed to abstain from sex until they get married.
- Trained 17 new Smart Choices facilitators for Scripture Union in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
Long-term Accomplishments
- Since 2004, 102,846 students have been touched by the Smart Choices message of hope.
- Beacon of Hope sponsors 15 teams in 8 geographic areas in 4 countries, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Zambia.
Future Plans
We are poised to grow but the limiting factor is our ability to fund the expansion. With our current teams we could probably increase the students we reach by 50% or more. Our 2015 Smart Choices expenditure was $24,658 so we will be praying for God to provide $40,000 or more in 2016.
“UPS employee makes his most important delivery.” Bryan Watanabe is planning on a leave of absence in 2016 from his job with UPS to take his family to Africa and help establish a discipleship program for students that have been through the Smart Choices program. Read more about the Watanabe 2016 mission plan at watanabemission.blogspot.com and give to their mission at beaconint.org/watanabe.
Thanks to our valued supporters
The Beacon of Hope board is so eternally grateful to all of our friends who have supported us so faithfully with financial donations, garage sale contributions, and for supporting our other fundraising activities. If you are one of our highly coveted monthly donors we thank you for your faithful contribution. Will you pray about and consider increasing your monthly contribution?
If you have been following our progress and making regular donations, will you consider becoming a monthly donor and help us move our monthly income from $800 to $2400. Can you afford a monthly gift of $25, $50, or $100? If you believe in what we do, can you help us to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to another 20,000 or more students in 2016? If you can't be a monthly contributor will you consider making a generous tax-exempt year-end gift to get 2016 started on a solid financial footing?
- You can give online at beaconint.org/give.
- You can mail your check to Beacon of Hope, 24851 Costeau St, Laguna Hills, CA 92653
We wish you all the love, joy, and happiness that come from the knowledge of the great gift we have received through the baby born in Bethlehem. Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our friends and partners.
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