INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS OF COMPASSION

2008 PRAISE REPORT

We can again give thanks to everyone of you for your support and prayers. We have seen another year of advances in our Indonesia work. It has been five years since most of the people in Halmahera started returning to their homes and villages to begin rebuilding their lives. I will never forget walking through refugee camps full of people with uncertain futures. They did not know when they were going home and even if they had a future. It is now five years later and they are rebuilding their villages and lives. When I drive the roads of Halmahera I can see the progress. Five years ago the power poles had no wires on them, there were few shops open in the communities, most of the houses were destroyed and the churches and mosques were demolished. It was a sad sight but the people began to return home.

We purchased 75 acres of land over four years ago and began developing this property. We have been serving the former refugee and poor in this region by helping them rebuild their lives. Thank you for being a part of this effort. Sometimes I just marvel at what has happened in these few years.

I want to give a special thanks to Peter and Esther Scarborough who are leading the work as they live on the base and the work day-to-day operations. Peter has led the development and guides the staff while Esther is in charge of the medical work.

Here are some of the highlights of 2008.

• This year we added three new vehicles—two minivans and a small truck. These wheels are greatly appreciated and desperately needed. Thanks to everyone who gave to make this possible.

• The children who needed expert medical care are being treated by professionals in America and Australia. Yulce is in L.A. finishing her last two surgeries—one to repair her curved spine and the other to finish the plastic surgery. She has had over 15 surgeries. Vino will have one last surgery and he will be finished. He is 11 years old and improved so much from the time he came with severe burn injuries to the Grossman Burn Center. Vino and Yulce were given a future due to the help of the Children’s Burn Foundation and the Grossman Burn Center. Then Kasih (see photo) who had a severe double cleft pallet went to Australia with the help of Dr. Nicole Anderson and Lisa Robinson.

• The Leper Treatment Center is full to capacity. I was there in November and saw for myself how many were filling the eight rooms available to them. There is Hendrik who was the first to reside there. He is just an amazing man--following 15 years of living like a dog in the jungle he was now like a mayor of the Tamariska (Leper Center). I saw a young man (in photo) gazing downward he who would not look at me—I put my hand out and shook his. He was suffering from a form of skin leprosy. The good news is he can be cured. We will be building the third building this year. This is a place of hope for these who are cast away and rejected.

• We started the year with nearly 20 children in our care and we end the year with 28. The most recent child was little Anastasia. She was born at our clinic and abandoned by her mother. Her father has died and the mother told the staff she would just let her die—we now have a beautiful little girl who is a delight to us. She gets lots of attention with hugs and kisses. The new children join Caleb, Moses, Joshua, Natalia, Naomi and Johannes—sounds like a Bible Trivia list of names. They are all loved and well cared for—they especially love to go to the beach and play on the veranda.

• Hohidiai (a place to be healed) is the name of the clinic, it is in full operation. There have been more that 10,000 who have come to the doors of the clinic asking for help this year. We have medical, eye and dental care they can receive. The clinic was recently installed with a LAN computer system. The computers are linked together and now entering all patients’ information on the data base. This will make the work that much more efficient.

• A new Ward with 21 beds is now open. Thanks to Rotary Australia there will be many who will have a place to be treated and recover from their injuries. The ward is packed with emergency cases and burn victims. This is an in-patient facility where they get 24/7 care. There is also a birthing wing and an ambulance.

• There are many other projects we are developing. The coffee trees are producing beans and we are working on investigating the possibility of marketing the coffee. There are 1,100 fruiting trees on the base that were planted about four years ago—some of them are producing great fruit for our use. We feed over 120 people every day and the food we are growing on our base helps a lot. The bananas are awesome.

• IFC now have over 80 full-time Indonesian workers. There are more than 30 medical workers also a construction crew, security, cooks, drivers, children’s workers, mechanics, horticulture, community development teams, secretaries and more.

• We continue to work with mobile clinics that go to far away places to treat the sick. T. B. and H.I.V. are big problems to the health of the region. Medical workers are being trained every year and we have two in Medical School, two in dental training, two midwives, five in nursing and a pharmacist in training. These valuable staff members will return to help provide better care for the poor.

• This year 22 short-term teams visited our base in Halmahera. There were doctors, dentists, nurses, experts in leprosy, builders, engineers, children’s workers, computer techs, teachers, mechanics and much more. Think of all the hours and expertise that was invested in our work. These teams primarily came from the U.S. and Australia. It is hard to place a value on the investment of these teams. It is just a huge blessing to have them come and join the efforts of our staff. They only allow us to do a better job of serving the people of this region.

I have only a grateful heart to all of you who are reading this report. You have helped us extend a hand of hope and help to the needy. We have had a great year. I say thank you and thank you Lord for your faithfulness. I would ask that you stand with us for the coming year. It will be challenging for all of us—but hunger and abandoned children do not know we are having economic struggles. They look to us for help and love. Thanks for being a faithful partner.

Blessings—Carl Cady U.S. Director for IFC

International Friends of Compassion P.O. Box 81823 Fairbanks, Alaska 99708 www.ifcus.org