Child Impact International
is an organization giving hope,
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previously called Asian Aid.
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Child Impact
International is an organization
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fostering
permanent positive change
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in the lives of
disadvantaged children
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and their communities.
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Child Impact is
committed to making a difference
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in the lives of children
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and those who are in need.
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Serving communities in India,
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Nepal, Bangladesh,
Sri Lanka, Myanmar,
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and will soon
expand to other countries.
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For the last 50 years,
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Child Impact has invested
in the futures of people
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and their investment
has proven infinite returns.
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Driven by the dedication
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to helping those
who have the least,
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Child Impact is an organization
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focused on the
welfare of children,
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implementing
diverse development projects
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and sponsoring
thousands of children.
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Their outreach spans
from child rescue operations
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to providing an
education for orphans, deaf,
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and the blind children,
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giving them a
sense of place, a home.
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But above all,
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Child Impact is an
organization giving hope,
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giving hope to children,
giving hope to communities,
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giving hope to the
ones who needed the most.
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This is Hope in Motion.
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I've been in this
position over eight years now,
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and the privilege
that I have in my role
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is being able to
visit the children
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that you, the donors, support.
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And as I meet them,
I see the difference
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that you make in their lives,
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the difference you make
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in where they
live in their village,
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the difference you
make with their education.
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And then finally
when they get a job...
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Just the other day in
India, we met a bank manager.
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He was brought up
as a sponsored child
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from a very poor village
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and now he has a successful job,
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he has a family,
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and he is impacting
the lives of others.
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And, in fact,
the amazing thing is
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he is now
sponsoring two children
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in one of our programs.
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Early when we were married,
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Nick and I spent
time over in India,
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and were working for a mission,
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or another mission organization
for about six months.
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And one of the
opportunities we had was to be
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in one of the schools
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where children
were being sponsored
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by Child Impact International
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in receiving education there
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as well as
clothing, food, shelter.
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And at that time we were given
the opportunity to meet kids
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that still needed
sponsors, and have...
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We were able to
meet and pick a kid
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that we wanted to
sponsor personally at that time.
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So we got to meet
him, I think play a little,
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maybe a little cricket with him,
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gave him a little bit of a gift,
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and even though...
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Since then the child that
we're sponsoring has changed.
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That's how we started,
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and have decided to
continue to sponsor a child
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through Child
Impact International.
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I'd say that if
you are interested
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in sponsoring a child,
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I think it's a
great opportunity so
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and you certainly should.
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There's so many
mission fields in the world,
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you know, the kid who lives
just down the street from you,
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that's a mission field,
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your own
children, your own family,
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that's a mission field
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but, you know,
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we were called to
go into all nations
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and make disciples.
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And when you sponsor a
child for a Christian education,
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you know, it's more than
just giving them education,
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teaching them also about Christ,
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and the plan of salvation.
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And so, you know, it's
gonna benefit that child,
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it's gonna benefit
that child's community and,
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you know, the money
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that we spend every
month to support this child,
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it's an easy sacrifice for us
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but it makes just the world
of difference in their lives.
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Sponsoring
children in activities like
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these mission
schools and opportunities
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is a tremendous way to help
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form the
character of young people
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as they look to the future.
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They will never forget
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their association in
a Christian environment.
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And by God's grace,
many of them will become
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members of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church.
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It is absolutely
a powerful witness
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to sponsor a
child in Child Impact
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and so many other organizations
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that help young
people to find Jesus.
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Sponsoring a child not
only has short-term effects,
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but it has a long-term effect.
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Sponsoring a child is
investing in the character
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of a young person for eternity.
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We're taping this
right here in Myanmar,
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at the Myanmar
Union Adventist Seminary,
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and about
one-third of the students
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or one quarter of the students
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are being
sponsored by Child Impact.
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People who become
workers in God's church,
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people who make an
impact in the community
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have been people
who have been sponsored.
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Your sponsorship is
absolutely an investment
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in the future of the church.
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On my trip to India,
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one of the
highlights was the visit
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to the blind school
in a town called Bobbili.
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The school is an
Adventist church school,
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but it is 100%
funded by Child Impact
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and Asian Aid Australia.
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It was build just
over 12 years ago,
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thanks to the generosity
of the McNeilus family.
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And it is in the rural setting
surrounded by lots of farms.
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The school has over 160 students
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from grade 1 to grade 12.
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The students are either
partially blind or fully blind,
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and come mainly from poor
farming communities all around.
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When we arrived,
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they gave us an amazing welcome.
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They lined up on both sides,
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they threw flowers on the road
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and we walked through,
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and then we had
to shake the hand
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of every single student.
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They asked us
questions, they touched us,
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because they wanted to
know what we were all about.
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I was really
moved by the excitement
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that I saw in them.
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They were
genuinely interested in us.
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We shared a
beautiful evening that night,
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we had a concert.
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Some of them played instruments
and then I did a part for them.
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I talked to them
and I played my violin.
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I don't think
many or most of them
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had ever heard a violin before.
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So it was really exciting.
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There were two things
that I remember in particular.
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Number one, they
listened intently
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and then when
they knew the songs,
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they sang at the
top of their lungs.
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Number two,
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they clapped so hard
when every song was over.
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It was a beautiful experience.
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It is a marvelous place.
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The facilities are great.
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The classrooms are
expansive and they are large,
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but there are
still some serious needs.
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I'm delighted
to have Jim Rennie,
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the CEO of Child
Impact here again today.
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Jim, why is this
school so important?
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Well, first of all, Jaime,
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it's one of my favorite
schools to visit in India.
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The kids just are so
hungry to talk to you to,
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to find out about you
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and they touch you, of course,
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because of they can't see...
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They want to feel you, yes.
They want to feel and see you.
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This school is important
because it fulfills a need
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that no one else is delivering
in that region of India.
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First of all, these kids
come from very, very poor,
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mainly farming families.
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And when you're
born blind in a village
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in that part of India,
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there's no way to go.
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The parents have
no idea what to do.
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There's an element of
shame in having a blind child.
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And so, this
school fulfills the need,
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and I've seen so
many of the parents
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of the blind
children are so proud
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that their child is
getting an education.
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And I went to the
blind school one day
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and there was a
seven-year-old girl there,
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and she had just
come to the school
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and to be honest,
it was distressing.
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She couldn't
talk, her head was down,
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she would sit in the corner,
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it was just terrible.
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And they had
found her at her house
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and she had been
locked in her room
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for three to four years.
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The parents were
just so embarrassed
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and didn't know what to do.
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But the exciting thing was,
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when I went back
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to the blind
school a year later,
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I just about came to tears
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because here she was...
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She was playing
with the children.
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I saw her
singing, I saw her praying,
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just amazing change.
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It was all there,
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but she had no
way of letting it out.
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So this school
makes a huge difference
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with blind children,
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but the need is
just overpowering
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from the
environment in which they come.
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Yes.
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And even though it
is a beautiful facility
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as I've mentioned,
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what are the needs that
we currently have there?
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Well, we always have
special needs children,
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blind children
that need sponsorship,
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but if you
can't sponsor a child,
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you can make a
donation to the blind school,
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it has a separate fund.
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It's very costly
to run the school.
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Yes.
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And these children have exactly
what it says special needs.
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So you can
either sponsor a child,
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or you can support
the blind school fund.
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Okay.
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Now Child Impact also operates
and funds a deaf school.
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Can you tell me a
little bit about that
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because I haven't been there?
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Yes.
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Well, this is
located in southern India,
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south of the city of Bangalore,
in a city called Kollegal,
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it has just over 95 students.
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Once again, it's
a boarding school.
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It's an Adventist mission school
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and the children come
from similar backgrounds
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to the children
at the blind school,
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very rural community.
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And once again, when
a child is born deaf,
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the parents simply
don't know what to do.
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They don't know
what sign language is?
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It's an embarrassment
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and so these
children are given hope.
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And once again, you go there
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and you see them
singing with sign language,
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and it's just a school
that's having a huge impact.
00:11:06.73\00:11:13.44
One hundred and
sixty blind children
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and over 95 deaf children
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are getting
opportunities to do things
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that they'll never do otherwise
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and that's thanks
to your generosity.
00:11:23.41\00:11:25.91
We thank you
00:11:25.95\00:11:27.28
and we ask for you to continue
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to be a part of
Child Impact to reach these
00:11:29.82\00:11:32.95
and many other
young people in need.
00:11:32.99\00:11:37.16
Imagine with me for a moment
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that you're a small child
living on the streets of India,
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the sandals on your feet
lost their comfort weeks ago,
00:11:42.26\00:11:46.00
your favorite shirt
just got another hole.
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It's sad, mommy died last year
00:11:48.97\00:11:51.01
but what makes
you feel even worse
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is that your dad
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chose not to be
your dad anymore.
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Hey, I'm Shawn Boonstra,
00:11:57.38\00:11:58.75
Honorary Ambassador for
Child Impact International,
00:11:58.78\00:12:02.15
an organization that
is a supportive ministry
00:12:02.18\00:12:04.49
of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church.
00:12:04.52\00:12:06.86
You know,
previously called Asian Aid,
00:12:06.89\00:12:09.32
they're making
an exciting change
00:12:09.36\00:12:10.96
to Child Impact
International in order to grow.
00:12:10.99\00:12:14.83
Something like 15 to 25 million
little girls and boys in India
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share similar stories
to the one I just told you.
00:12:19.20\00:12:22.30
Many are orphaned at a young age
00:12:22.34\00:12:24.01
with little food
to eat and no hope.
00:12:24.04\00:12:27.11
Child Impact
serves to bridge the gap
00:12:27.14\00:12:29.11
between hardship and education.
00:12:29.14\00:12:32.61
It's a unique ministry
that serves children in poverty
00:12:32.65\00:12:35.65
in Bangladesh, India,
Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
00:12:35.68\00:12:40.62
Over three and a
half thousand children
00:12:40.66\00:12:43.53
are provided an
Adventist education
00:12:43.56\00:12:45.69
and lives are changed
00:12:45.73\00:12:47.20
through the numerous
development projects.
00:12:47.23\00:12:49.83
Working in these countries,
00:12:49.86\00:12:51.70
Child Impact has
come face to face
00:12:51.73\00:12:53.94
with issues like child slavery,
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poor or no
education, child trafficking,
00:12:56.50\00:12:59.87
abandoned babies,
lack of clean water,
00:12:59.91\00:13:03.38
and a high number of orphans.
00:13:03.41\00:13:05.28
This list is not
short on challenges,
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yet the needs are being met.
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You know, my
family sponsors Sheila,
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a young lady at the
Sunrise Orphanage in India.
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For the past couple of years,
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I'm proud of how my family
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has been able to impact
her life for the better.
00:13:19.29\00:13:22.53
Word has it, she
just started college.
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What I've come to understand
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is that the children
Child Impact supports
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are more than just
names, or faces on a screen,
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or a flyer,
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they're people with a story,
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a story whose ending
has not been written,
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instead another
chapter is being composed.
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It reminds me of
something that Jesus once said,
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"Whatever you do for the least
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of these brothers
and sisters of Mine,
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you do for Me."
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Join me and others
like me throughout the world
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who are
sponsoring a child monthly
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to provide like Jesus did,
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to support like Jesus
did, to love like Jesus did.
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You too can make
a lifelong impact
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on the life of
someone who is waiting for you
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to say yes.
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Yes, today you will
consider sponsorship
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right now with Child Impact
or one of our other projects.
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Yes, to give hope to
a precious child today.
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