Hi, I'm Jim Rennie,
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CEO of Child
Impact International.
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Our ministry
operates in India, Bangladesh,
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Myanmar, Sri
Lanka, Nepal and Zambia.
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In these countries,
the situation is grim.
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The virus is spreading quickly
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in densely
populated poor villages
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where there is no testing,
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no medical help, and
little government support.
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Mission schools who
were on a financial edge
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before the
pandemic now have no income.
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Some staff are on reduced wages,
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but many have not been
paid for two months or longer.
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Things are pretty tough.
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We've had to look at
our sponsorship program
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to see how we can help
the thousands we sponsor
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who are at
their homes right now.
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If you sponsor a
child with Child Impact,
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please look for a
letter in your mailbox
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in the next few
days, or go to our website
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and see what we're doing
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for the sponsored
children in this time of crisis.
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We have had to extend
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the Coronavirus Emergency
Rice and Health Appeal.
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This appeal was
originally to help
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Adventist
Mission boarding schools
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in India and Bangladesh
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as rice costs were rising.
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When the pandemic struck,
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we extended it to
provide rice for mission schools
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when they open and also
soap and health education.
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Now that the
situation has got much worse,
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with schools having no income,
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some teachers
and local ministers
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are simply not being paid.
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So from now on,
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we want to tell you what
the special fund will do.
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It will ensure
unpaid mission teachers
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have food in
this time of crisis.
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We will do our
best to send food relief
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to our students at their homes.
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We will ensure that
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there are
six-months supply of rice
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for all mission boarding schools
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when the schools open.
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And likewise, we'll
supply hand sanitizer
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and health education
when the schools open.
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And if the appeal is successful,
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we'll extend it to
other schools in need,
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and help unpaid pastors.
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We're just so
grateful for your support.
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It's been
overwhelming and I thank you.
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But unfortunately,
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we're being
overwhelmed with requests.
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So if you can help with
one of these two appeals,
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the first one, the
Rice and Health Appeal,
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that's the Rice
and Health Appeal
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or the Where Needed Most Fund,
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that's the Where
Needed Most Fund.
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Please go to our
website, childimpact.org.
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We are very grateful.
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I'm Jim Rennie, CEO of
Child Impact International.
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And I'm really
excited that today,
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we're able to sit down
and talk to Stephanie Dawn.
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Stephanie is a renowned singer.
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Stephanie is blind,
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but she is a great advocate
of those with disability.
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And more importantly,
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so she's an
ambassador for Child Impact.
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She has been doing concerts
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and fundraising
and sharing the message
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of our blind school in India.
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So, Stephanie,
welcome today. Thank you.
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It's so good to be here. Yeah.
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Tell us about
yourself as a child?
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Tell us about your blindness?
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I was born totally blind
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due to detached
retina in both eyes.
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And from a very
young age, I loved music.
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My mother, I had,
when I was a toddler,
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I had a little
tiny cassette player
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that I carried around with me
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and listen to
music on all the time
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and my mom always made sure,
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I had plenty of
good music to listen to.
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And I started singing at
a very young age as well.
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Music has been
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a very, very
crucial part of my life
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for as long as I can remember.
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And I received a very
good education as well.
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I knew what Braille
was from toddlerhood on.
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And I had all
the Braille I needed
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and all the
technology I needed to,
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to complete my studies
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and to keep up
with my sighted peers
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all through the year.
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So I was very blessed that way.
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So you have formed a ministry,
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Dawn of Hope Ministries
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and you travel
all over the country.
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I'm amazed how much
driving your family does.
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So you travel
with your family? Yes.
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So tell us what role,
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who they are and
what role they play?
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My stepfather is my pianist.
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He has been my
pianist since 1991.
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So a very long time.
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My mother
travels with us as well.
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She just helps me
with anything I need.
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She's an incredible,
incredible source of support
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just in any aspect
that I need assistance with.
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She's been there as
a rock-solid support.
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My grandmother is now
traveling with us as well.
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So the four of
us travel together
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around the United
States presenting programs.
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And we are just truly privileged
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to now be
presenting benefit programs
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for the Child Impact
International Blind School.
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So you travel
around the US? Yes.
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You visit concert schools?
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Tell me about what
where you go and what you do?
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Churches, camp meetings,
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any venue where God
has opened the door.
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We've done
women's ministries things.
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In the past, we
have also done things
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for Lions Clubs and so forth.
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We've done disability
awareness programs at public
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and Adventist
schools over the years,
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which have always
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that the children
absolutely love it.
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I give them an opportunity.
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Of course I sing,
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but I give them
an opportunity to,
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to ask questions
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and of course
in a public school,
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you know, just 50
hands up in the air
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whenever I give
them that opportunity.
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And I like to give
them that opportunity
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because I want
children to understand that
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people with
disabilities are approachable.
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I will never forget one day
when a child started to ask me
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about my blindness,
and his mother immediately
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went shush and I understand that
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parents don't
want their children
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to offend someone
but at the same time,
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when you do that,
that's one of the worst things
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you can possibly do, you know,
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they develop this
fear because of that,
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oh, what if I
say the wrong thing.
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And, you know, I
just really want children
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to understand that
disabled people are like them
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that they have
the same interest,
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the same
passions, the same goals,
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the same desires in life
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and that they are approachable
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that you can talk with them
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and develop
relationships with them that
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you don't have to
have, have a fear of that.
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You mentioned about Braille.
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I guess you're seeing
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a change in
technology for blind people
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those that it must
be exciting to be alive.
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I've seen you using your phone.
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So technology must be
changing for the blind.
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In a very good way.
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Yes, technology is
even more necessary
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for the visually
impaired community
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than even for sighted people.
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When special
technology came along,
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it just threw open
the doors of learning
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for visually impaired
people because now they had
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all of the
information at their fingertips
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that sighted
people had over the years.
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I know at the blind
school, we're exploring
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some new
technologies there right now.
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Yes, that's one of the reasons
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why it's so
important for me to try
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and raise money for the school
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because of how
crucial technology
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is for blind people,
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but also how expensive it is.
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I mean, I
received the technology
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I needed over the
years due to financial help.
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But, of course, I
grew up in a country
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that is much more advanced
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when it comes to
their views of disabilities.
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And so, of
course, in this country,
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people with disabilities
are much more integrated.
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There is not nearly as
much of a stigma in that regard.
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And schools are
able or strive to,
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to promote or
provide the technology
00:09:01.87\00:09:04.87
that blind people need,
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blind children need in
order to succeed in school.
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And I am very
aware that other children
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who are blind in
other parts of the world
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do not receive that.
00:09:15.82\00:09:17.15
In fact, I
remember talking to someone
00:09:17.19\00:09:18.55
in Africa on Facebook
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and he said to me,
"You know, in my country,
00:09:20.52\00:09:23.02
people like you don't
make it to their Promised Land,
00:09:23.06\00:09:26.56
they end up
begging on the streets."
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And, so that's why
the school in India
00:09:28.96\00:09:30.83
is so important to me
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because it just
thrills me to see them.
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The communities
that they have come from,
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and being able to
receive spiritually
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and academically what I received
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and I want to do everything
I can to, for that to,
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to continue
happening in their lives,
00:09:52.39\00:09:53.96
because, you know,
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when I look back
at my life, sure,
00:09:55.36\00:09:56.69
there were challenges,
00:09:56.73\00:09:58.39
but when I started doing
fundraisers for the school
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and I learned more
00:10:02.36\00:10:03.70
about the conditions
00:10:03.73\00:10:05.10
that these children
are in the difficult
00:10:05.13\00:10:08.67
and often horrific experiences
00:10:08.70\00:10:10.71
they have been through
because of their blindness.
00:10:10.74\00:10:13.21
It really makes the challenges
00:10:13.24\00:10:14.94
that I've
experienced quite small.
00:10:14.98\00:10:17.48
It's tough growing up as
a child in these villages,
00:10:17.51\00:10:22.08
but if you're visually impaired
00:10:22.12\00:10:23.82
or you're deaf, or you've got
00:10:23.85\00:10:25.95
any other disability challenge,
00:10:25.99\00:10:29.86
they simply don't
know how to deal with it.
00:10:29.89\00:10:34.46
The parents, there
is stigma attached.
00:10:34.50\00:10:38.20
And so, we give hope,
00:10:38.23\00:10:43.71
and there's some amazing stories
00:10:43.74\00:10:48.31
at that school...
00:10:48.34\00:10:52.91
So for you to be able
to do what is your passion,
00:10:52.95\00:10:58.59
singing and to be
able to be helping a school
00:10:58.62\00:11:04.13
with very poor,
visually impaired children
00:11:04.16\00:11:09.33
must give you an
element of satisfaction.
00:11:09.36\00:11:11.57
It truly does.
It just gives me...
00:11:11.60\00:11:15.07
I've always had
God's calling in my life.
00:11:15.10\00:11:18.34
There was never a point
in my life where I decided,
00:11:18.37\00:11:20.88
"Oh, I want to be a singer."
00:11:20.91\00:11:22.34
Singing has been all
I've known from day one.
00:11:22.38\00:11:27.12
And I know this is what
God is calling me to do.
00:11:27.15\00:11:30.89
And so raising
money for the school
00:11:30.92\00:11:33.25
has just given me
another layer of purpose.
00:11:33.29\00:11:35.96
Right.
00:11:35.99\00:11:37.33
So we just want to outline
00:11:37.36\00:11:39.16
to our
supporters of Child Impact
00:11:39.19\00:11:42.16
and those watching this program
00:11:42.20\00:11:44.50
that Stephanie is
traveling the USA,
00:11:44.53\00:11:49.64
and we are constantly
00:11:49.67\00:11:51.44
looking for
concert opportunities
00:11:51.47\00:11:55.98
in your church and your school.
00:11:56.01\00:11:58.68
And, Stephanie,
just tell us about that?
00:11:58.71\00:12:02.05
Well, as many
programs that we can present,
00:12:02.08\00:12:06.65
the better for the school,
00:12:06.69\00:12:09.19
and so we are
available everywhere in the US.
00:12:09.22\00:12:13.03
And if there is an
interest in a certain location,
00:12:13.06\00:12:16.60
we build a tour around that.
00:12:16.63\00:12:20.00
And bring other
churches on board.
00:12:20.04\00:12:22.70
And God has
really opened the doors
00:12:22.74\00:12:24.67
for this in a mighty way
00:12:24.71\00:12:26.04
and He always
provides for our means.
00:12:26.07\00:12:28.11
As you have experienced as well
00:12:28.14\00:12:29.54
with Child Impact International,
00:12:29.58\00:12:30.95
God always, God always steps in.
00:12:30.98\00:12:33.55
And, so if they
want to contact us,
00:12:33.58\00:12:39.49
they can either email us
00:12:39.52\00:12:41.69
at dohminc@gmail.com
00:12:41.72\00:12:47.60
or they can call 218-340-1000.
00:12:47.63\00:12:52.23
And they can
contact us that way as well.
00:12:52.27\00:12:54.37
Or, of course,
they can contact you,
00:12:54.40\00:12:56.10
so there are different options.
00:12:56.14\00:12:57.47
Or you can contact
00:12:57.51\00:12:59.37
Child Impact
through our website,
00:12:59.41\00:13:01.84
or call our office,
and then Stephanie's team
00:13:01.88\00:13:06.45
will come back to you
00:13:06.48\00:13:07.82
and see where
there's an opportunity.
00:13:07.85\00:13:10.29
This is a very important
promotional opportunity.
00:13:10.32\00:13:15.19
Yes, it's fundraising.
00:13:15.22\00:13:17.19
Got to be honest,
but Stephanie gives
00:13:17.23\00:13:19.79
a unique
perspective on the school.
00:13:19.83\00:13:24.87
I have to say that the school
00:13:24.90\00:13:27.00
is very
important to Child Impact
00:13:27.04\00:13:29.47
and its donors.
00:13:29.50\00:13:32.07
We now fund the school 100%.
00:13:32.11\00:13:36.34
It is
administrated by the church.
00:13:36.38\00:13:39.48
But we are the funding agency.
00:13:39.51\00:13:42.48
And we really want to
take the school to a new level.
00:13:42.52\00:13:47.06
Yes, I would love to see
this school filled to capacity
00:13:47.09\00:13:52.13
because there's so many children
00:13:52.16\00:13:54.00
who are blind, who are at risk
00:13:54.03\00:13:55.73
that need the intervention
that the school can provide.
00:13:55.76\00:13:59.40
Well, Stephanie,
00:13:59.43\00:14:00.77
we want to thank
you for your ministry.
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We want to thank
you for your service.
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We want to thank you
for what you and your family
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do for promoting Child Impact,
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and the blind
school in Bobbili, India,
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and our prayers are with you.
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And once again, I
just say to our viewers,
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that if you could have Stephanie
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to visit your church
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or you're
interested in a concert,
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please contact Stephanie or us.
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So thanks very much, Stephanie.
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Our pleasure. Thank you.
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