Without the money to pay foran advanced education,Mesafent, 21, could only dreamabout attending college as heeked out a living shining shoesfor a few dollars a day. Workingin cooperation with the EthiopianOrthodox Church-Developmentand Inter-Church AidCommission (EOC-DICAC),IOCC recruited Mesafent andfive other street vendors into a training program that tookthem off the streets and into aworkshop making sturdy customleather boots for thousands of impoverished Ethiopians

recovering from podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease that affects the feet.

The current staff of six shoe-makers, ages 21-35, cut, stitchand sole a dozen pairs of boots a day, and are earning enough to support themselves and theirfamilies. “I am twice blessed,”says Mesafent. He explains thathis new shoemaking skills notonly help podoconiosis sufferersrealize their dreams of pain-freewalking, but also provides himwith sufficient income to pursuehis own dream of earning a college degree.

Mesafent and co-worker Meneychel trim leather into custom-made boots.Through your support of IOCC, this shoe-maker training provides much neededfootwear to podoconiosis sufferers andmuch needed skills for these young mento earn a steady income.

INTERNATIONAL ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHARITIES

NEWS NEEDSS H A R I N G G O O D S U M M E R 2 0 1 2

Inside News & NeedsGeorgian Youth Transform Troubled Pasts ............................ pg. 2

From The Board Chairman ........ pg. 2

IOCC Micro-Credit Program........ pg. 3

Reflection by Father Leonid Kishkovsky .......... pg. 4

FROM STRUGGLING STREET VENDORS TO VALUED SHOEMAKERS

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International Orthodox Christian Charities, Inc. (IOCC) is the official humanitarian aid agency of the Assembly ofCanonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America and a member of the ACT Alliance, a global coalitionof churches and agencies engaged in development, humanitarian assistance and advocacy.

IOCC, in the spirit of Christ’s love, offers emergency relief and development programs to those in need worldwide, withoutdiscrimination, and strengthens the capacity of the Orthodox Church to so respond.

Published four times a year by IOCC, News & Needs is edited by Mark Hodde and Rada Tierney.

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IMMUNIZATIONS FOR GREECE’S MOST VULNERABLE CHILDREN

No shots, no school is the policy in Greece for schooladmittance. For unemployed and uninsured parents,the price tag for their children’s immunizations may betoo steep to pay, leaving young children out of schooland in jeopardy of contracting serious illnesses. IOCC is providing immunizations for underprivilegedchildren at a clinic in Thessaloniki. The series of immunizations will ensure that come fall, these children will join their friends at school to continuetheir learning. The immunizations are part of a larger response by IOCC to provide healthcare to vulnerable children and elderly in Greece.

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I N T E R N A T I O N A L O R T H O D O X C H R I S T I A N C H A R I T I E S

NEWS NEEDS

Over the past 20 years, theunderlying goal of our workaround the world has been toprovide God’s most vulnerablechildren with the tools they need

to lead better lives and ensure abetter life for their families.

Together, we have accom-plished much towards helpingthose in need, thanks to the

foresight of the visionaries andhierarchs who founded IOCC in1992, and the leadership of aBoard of Trustees guided by mypredecessors. As IOCC movesforward, it will be through thecompassionate hand of our supporters that homeless familieswill find safe shelter, that smallchildren will have enough foodto grow healthy and strong, andthat elderly will live their senioryears with dignity. So I call onyou, brothers and sisters inChrist, to move forward with us and build on this legacy ofservice to help our neighborsnear and far.

Michael S. “Mickey” HomseyIOCC Board Chairman

HELPING OUR NEIGHBORS NEAR AND FAR

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(right) Through your support, Greek schoolchildren like this young boywill receive the immunizations he needs to protect his health and hisaccess to school come September.

IOCC Board Chairmen, past and present: (l to r) Charles Ajalat, Bert Moyar, Alex Machaskee,

Michael “Mickey” Homsey (John Rangos and Andrew Athens not pictured)

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BOSNIAN ENTREPRENEURS NURTURE POST-WAR PROSPERITY

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Radinka’s rented workshop hums with activity each morning as sheand her employee, Jelena, cut and stitch leather and textiles into custommade belts, slippers and clothing. She’s come a long way from sellinghandmade clothes from her cramped Banja Luka apartment, using hersewing skills to support a husband and two sons during the BosnianWar in the 1990s.

For the past ten years, IOCC has helped nurture the entrepreneurialspirit of more than 2,000 enterprising people like Radinka with loansaveraging $1,700 to help them grow their businesses and make a strongpositive impact on the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The economic success of the loan recipients has translated into an impressiverepayment rate of 97% and in turn, creates sustainability for IOCC’s program tocontinue to offer new opportunities to entrepreneurs wishing to build businessesin agriculture, services, trade and small-scale production. Says the grateful entre-preneur, ”IOCC was there for me and my family when there was no one else toturn to, and helped me create financial stability and security during the mostcritical period of my sons’ lives, their childhood and the teenage period.”

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NEWS NEEDS

The three micro-loans Radinka receivedand repaid helped her buy new equipmentand hire a worker to keep up with thegrowing demand for her custom handiwork.

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They came together sharing acommon thread…92 young menand women on probation for troubled pasts filled with anti-social behavior, petty crime andsubstance abuse. Left on theirown, young men like Levan, 20,

seemed destined for alife outside the law.When he was selected to participate in a newrehabilitation projectoffered by IOCC in part-nership with the Anti-Drug Center of thePatriarchate of Georgia,Levan saw it as a wasteof time. “In the begin-ning I did not expectanything good at all, I saw distrust and skepticism in almost

every participant’s eyes. I couldnot tell what I was doing here.”

Antisocial behavior amongyoung people is one of the biggestproblems facing Georgian societytoday. The IOCC project includedat-risk juveniles as well as young

probationers over 18 who were inmore critical need of rehabilitation.During a month of intensivegroup counseling sessions withpsychologists and a GeorgianOrthodox priest, Levan and hisfellow probationers learned newcommunication and coping skillsneeded to help transform theirrebelliousness into constructivelife skills. “I learned a lot here, anddecided to become a successfulman,” said Levan. “I became more communicative, I saw that other probationers too areordinary normal people. The rehabilitation really exceeded myexpectations.” For 23-year-oldmom, Aleona, it inspired a newcareer path. “This training hasreally helped me. Now I want tobecome a psychologist myself.”

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Rehabilitation classes included team building exercisesthat helped them practice patience and develop skillsto become more adaptable to change.

GEORGIAN YOUTH TRADE TROUBLED PASTS FOR PROMISING FUTURES

22,000 family members supported

$1.5 million loan fund

$13.2 million disbursed since 2002

6,700 workers

hired

2,000 businesses

started•

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I N T E R N A T I O N A L O R T H O D O X C H R I S T I A N C H A R I T I E S

NEWS NEEDSI

St. Seraphim of Sarov (in 19thCentury Russia) used to greet allwho came to him with the words“Christ is Risen, my joy!” He didnot confine this greeting to thePaschal season. Welcoming allwho came to him to seek hiscounsel and his prayers, bringingtheir troubles and their sins tohim, St. Seraphim saw the Risen

Christ in their faces. He regardedthe distraught and anxious menand women not as a burden, butas joy. In this way of living theChristian life, St. Seraphim givesus the antidote to the poison ofpopular 20th Century philoso-phy. A French philosopher summarized his worldview withthe words “Hell is other people.”

St. Seraphim insists that otherpeople are the joy of Heaven.Christ is Risen, my joy!

International Orthodox ChristianCharities defines its task in themission statement:

IOCC, in the spirit of Christ’s love,offers emergency relief and develop-ment programs to those in needworldwide, without discriminationand strengthens the capacity of theOrthodox Church to so respond.

This mission statement givespractical expression to the proclamation “the light of Christillumines all.” We revere theimage and likeness of God, thevery face of Christ, in thosewhom we serve in their need.And we perform our ministrybecause the light of Christ has illumined our lives. Our programs to help those in needare expressions of living faith.And we meet those who are inneed not as burdens, but as thejoy of the presence of the RisenChrist. Christ is Risen, my joy!

THE LIGHT OF CHRIST ILLUMINES ALLFr. Leonid Kishkovsky

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LEAVE A LEGACY THROUGHIOCC’S ST. BASIL SOCIETY

IOCC Prayer Journal C O M I N G S O O N

IOCC’s “St. Basil Society” honorsand recognizes the generosity andvision of those who, like St. Basil,have chosen to leave a legacy ofcompassion to the world throughIOCC. If you have included IOCC inyour estate, please contact WilliamBrown, Director of Development, toll-free at 1-877-803-4622.

My Prayer Journal,a free publication created by IOCC forOrthodox children, will soon be available.Find out how to get your copy atiocc.org/prayerjournal

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