Growing up in Vietnam, Thoa rose every morning at 4 a.m. to open her family’s noodle shop. Still dark outside, she would ride her bicycle to the market to buy vegetables and then work until it was time to go to school.

Even on cold, rainy mornings, she woke up before dawn — and summoned her two younger siblings from where they slept to help prepare the shop for breakfast. They were especially sleepy on cold winter mornings.

“The whole time growing up, I did not understand why I could not sleep every night,” shares Thoa, now a petite mother of two in her 50s with neat shoulder-length hair and a warm and gentle but hardworking nature.

Thoa’s sister later told her that they couldn’t sleep because they were cold — they couldn’t afford warm blankets.

Once Thoa graduated college and began to earn money, she bought high-quality blankets imported from Japan for her mom and siblings.  “The first thing I did when I made money was to buy good blankets for everyone,” she says.

Thoa has lived in the U.S. with her family since 2008 — and now serves as Holt’s senior advisor for international programs — but her childhood in post-war Vietnam is never far from her mind. She was one of seven children — nine including two siblings who both died of malaria within five days of each other.

Her family lived a relatively comfortable life near Danang, in central Vietnam. But when her father died suddenly of a stroke, her mother struggled to run his business and care for her children on her own.

Thoa was 7. Her mother was pregnant with her youngest sister at the time.

Slowly, they used up all the resources her father had left them, and Thoa watched as her family’s possessions began to disappear from their home. The black and white TV. The nice speakers from Japan. The refrigerator.

To provide for her seven children, her mom was forced to sell their belongings.

But Thoa’s mom was smart, resourceful and determined.  She decided to open a shop selling homemade breakfast noodles — a business that she knew how to run, and that she could manage while caring for Thoa and her siblings.  But with no savings and no collateral, she was forced to take out a loan at 20% interest per month — or, as Thoa calls it, a “shark loan.”

Loan sharks prey on people living in poverty, offering money they desperately need to start a business or just to buy food for their family — and then harass them for payment, aggressively demanding they give up the daily wages that are often all they have to live on. 

“It gets people into deep poverty, and they cannot really get out,” Thoa says. “They tear families apart … I think that’s when I started to have the realization of what poverty really means.”

Looking back, more than 40 years later, Thoa gets emotional thinking of that time in her life — and of what her mom had to go through to provide for her and her siblings. 

“It’s hard, as children growing up and seeing… loan sharks getting into your home every day and then yelling and screaming at your mother, demanding payment,” she says, trailing off as tears well up in her eyes. “That’s why I really believe in what Holt is doing — because it does help a lot of people.”

But it’s not just what Holt is doing. It’s what Holt sponsors and donors are doing with their heartfelt gifts to help families earn income — and overcome poverty — in countries around the world.

Donor-Funded Microloans: A Viable Path From Poverty

In the countries where Holt works — from Ethiopia and Uganda to Cambodia, India and Vietnam — many parents feel helpless to support their children when jobs are scarce and stable work requires specialized skills or higher education that’s often inaccessible to families living in poverty.

Households headed by single parents — especially single mothers — are often the most vulnerable.

In some countries, such as Korea and the Philippines, Holt sponsors and donors help provide job skills training to single mothers facing stigma and discrimination. In most cases, Holt empowers women like Thoa’s mom — women who suddenly find themselves the sole providers for their children after their husband dies or leaves the family.

Sometimes it’s the gift of a sewing machine from Holt’s Gifts of Hope catalog that comes with small business training so a mother learns how to sew and sell clothing for profit. It may be gardening tools so a family can grow vegetables to eat, selling the surplus in a nearby marketplace. Or the gift of a goat, chickens or a cow — providing abundant milk and eggs for a family.

But quite often, it’s a small business microgrant or zero-interest loan that empowers a mother to start her own unique business — one that meets a need in her community and that provides enough stable and reliable income for her to provide for herself and her children.

The predatory lending practices to which Thoa’s mom fell prey are now banned in the U.S., but they are still rampant in developing countries around the world.

Had her mom had access to a zero-interest microloan to start her noodle shop, Thoa says she never would have endured abuse and harassment from loan sharks. Like the women in Holt microloan programs today, she would have saved all the money she earned to support her children — instead of falling deeper into debt.

“There was nothing like that — there was no Holt, for example, offering microloans at that time,” Thoa says.

Holt’s first income-generating program actually began in Vietnam, just before the end of the war in 1975. Like today, Holt supported care centers for children who had been orphaned or whose families couldn’t care for them. But our team in country soon recognized that in many cases, struggling families could in fact care for their children — given the support and resources they needed.

“They were seeing a lot of birth parents coming in saying they wanted to relinquish their child,” explains John Williams, who helped develop Holt’s first income-generating program in Vietnam and later served as Holt president and CEO. “If given an alternative to consider keeping their family together, that’s what they were looking for. They just were under so much stress — their child was suffering from malnutrition, health issues, etc.”

But when Holt offered help to support their child and keep their family together, they no longer wanted to relinquish their children. Within a few months, Holt’s first income-generating program was thriving.

“It was much like many of [Holt’s] family strengthening programs today,” John says. “The role of social workers and case workers was to determine what the interests, abilities and skills of the family were. … It was all about finding out what the interests of the community or village were and helping them develop that interest into an income-generating program that created independence, not dependency.”

Like today, families started small businesses like sewing or tailoring, or raised animals like ducks or chickens to provide sustainable food and income. The goal was to help each family get on their feet and provide for their children, keeping the family together.

“It was the first time that Holt began to broaden its services to children with a list of priorities — preserve the birth family, domestic adoption, international adoption …with no one being better than the other,” John says, describing the model of service that Holt has long ascribed to, and later advocated for when we sent delegates to help draft the Hague Convention on the Rights of the Child. “It’s based on the best interest of the child.”

But as the war ended, Holt left the country — and didn’t return until they could safely reestablish programs and fully serve children and families again, in 1989.

Thoa didn’t start working for Holt Vietnam until nine years later, in 1998. She later traveled to the U.S. on a Fulbright scholarship to earn a master’s degree in social work, and then began working with children and families living in other countries where Holt works — particularly in South and Southeast Asia. 

What she saw when she first traveled to these regions reminded her of what she’d seen growing up in Vietnam after the war — extreme poverty, and predators looking to exploit people in desperate situations.

“When I travel to Cambodia, India, and I see signs saying, ‘Hey, if you need loans, quick loans, call this number’ … that’s exactly how the poor people get into the trap … That’s why I really love the models of grants or microloans, or the self-help groups that we have in Cambodia,” Thoa says, referring to a model Holt developed in Cambodia where families collectively save their money and then provide low-interest loans to group members so they can start or grow small businesses.

After developing microloan programs in Cambodia and Vietnam, Thoa encouraged Holt’s partners in India to replicate the model.

“I said, ‘We don’t have the income-generating program in this country, but I see you have a lot of advertising for loans for poor people … and let me share with you what happens when these poor people keep tapping into that money,’” Thoa says she shared with Hepzibah Sharmila, who leads our partner organization, VCT, in Bangalore. Thoa traveled with Sharmila to Vietnam and other countries to show her how Holt’s income-generating model works — and to introduce her to families that had successfully graduated from the program.

“When we give them $200, $300, then that helps the mother start a small business and achieve financial independence. And from there, they can provide for the basic needs of their children,” Thoa says. “But if they don’t have these opportunities, they would go to the loan sharks. And they could never get out. Their children could never get out, and they could never escape poverty.”

Driven to Live a Different Life

Deep in debt to loan sharks, with seven children to support, Thoa’s mom continued to struggle well into Thoa’s teen years. She was so exhausted that she often fell asleep on the floor of their home.

“It was so tiring, you know, to raise seven different children all by yourself … All the children were so small and young and everybody needed education. Everybody needed food,” Thoa says.

But like so many hardworking mothers and fathers and grandparents in Holt programs today, Thoa’s mom could still hardly afford to feed her children.   

One time, when Thoa was sick, her mom was able to purchase a small portion of meat that she guarded from her other children — giving it to Thoa so that she could regain her strength.

“My mom pointed to it and said, ‘Hey, this is just for you because you’re sick’ and nobody should touch that because I needed nutrition … Like a small portion of meat. And I was the only one who could have that meat,” Thoa says.

Thoa’s older siblings gave up on the dream of further education. But from a young age, Thoa knew that completing her education was more than just a dream. It was her way out.

When Thoa’s mom opened the noodle shop, Thoa was by her mom’s side — opening and closing and running the business every day.

“I worked very hard to help her, just because I love her so much and I understood, you know, how it was,” she says.

But every night, when she finally finished food and business prep around 9-10 p.m., Thoa shifted her focus — studying until midnight or the early hours of the morning.  “I really had this drive … I had to get out … I just could not foresee the rest of my life being like this,” she says. “So I studied very hard.”

When Thoa passed the university entrance exams, news spread quickly.

“The neighbors were so proud because it was very rare to see a kid [from our community] pass the university exam,” Thoa says. “We were so poor.”

No one felt more pride than Thoa’s mom. “I was excited. She was so proud,” Thoa says.

But Thoa also knew that her mom couldn’t afford the tuition. “I said, ‘Hey, you know, you already have so many burdens. I don’t want another burden on you. I will not go to university,” she told her, promising instead to find a job to help support her family.  

But then her mom said something that surprised her.

“She said that all her life she did not have a chance for education and that’s why her life is hard,” Thoa says of her mother, who never finished elementary school. “She believed education could give me a different life.” As Thoa was the first child in the family to pass the university entrance exam, her mom was determined to give her that opportunity.

 “Whatever I have to do, I will send you to university,” she told Thoa.

So she raised chickens. She ran the noodle shop. She sold some more of her belongings. And she asked her extended family for help. Some contributed small amounts as gifts. Others loaned her the money. Eventually, she cobbled together the tuition for Thoa’s first semester.

Like always, Thoa worked incredibly hard in school and was always the top one or two in her class. She earned scholarships from her grades. A good singer, she performed on stage for the university to get some additional scholarships.  And she worked any job she could find to pay for her degree and support her family. She promoted shampoos for Proctor & Gamble. She provided English tutoring. And she continued helping her mom in the noodle shop. Some of her professors learned about her situation and they offered her an opportunity to teach evening classes as well as a part-time job at the university. 

“Basically, what I did was I did everything on Earth,” she says.

But she saved everything she earned to support her education, and to support her mother and her family.

Later, once she graduated, she helped her mom get out of debt, and buy back all the appliances and furniture she had sold to support her and her siblings. She even helped her mom pay for her two younger siblings go to university, too. “Both are quite successful now in their lives,” Thoa says of her younger siblings. One went into economics, the other studied English.

Thoa says the mindset of helping your family and community is deeply rooted in her culture, as it is in many of the cultures and communities where Holt works around the world. “We don’t want to leave anyone behind,” Thoa says — offering Holt’s university program in Cambodia as an example. Through this program, donors provide full scholarships for high-performing students from impoverished backgrounds to attend university. 

Through our partner KBF in the Philippines, Holt also empowers youth aging out of orphanages to gain independent living skills and go to college. After they complete their degrees and begin earning money, they often go back and help their siblings. Many even return to their communities to volunteer or even work as social workers or teachers.

“Many graduates become self-reliant and just want to give back what they have received through the program by mentoring, sponsoring or working in NGOs,” Thoa explains.

It’s the same motivation that drew Thoa to a humanitarian career devoted to helping children and families escape a life of poverty and desperation.

“I understand their struggles,” she says. “I understand what they’re going through … I just want every one of them to get out and have a better life.”

Looking back on her own life story — and on the many lives transformed through Holt programs around the world — Thoa says she profoundly believes in two of Holt’s donor-funded programs in particular to help children and families lift themselves a life of poverty: educational sponsorship, and programs that empower families to generate income.  

“To see these women who started to make money after they set up their shops, and then say, ‘Hey, I make good money’ … That’s how far small amounts of money can go when it goes to the right people in the right way at the right time. It changes people’s lives in a way that we cannot even imagine,” she says. “And we know they can now provide for their children’s medical, nutritional and educational needs.”

Thoa is especially thankful for the small donations she received from family members so that she could go to college — small donations that she compares to the microgrants Holt donors provide families in need today.

“[If not for those donations], I probably would have ended up quitting and become one of the sellers in the street like everybody else,” she says.

It All Traces Back to Her

Thoa’s mother passed away several years ago. But long before she passed, Thoa wrote her a letter. She had just left Vietnam and she wrote from the airplane, en route to her new life working for Holt in the U.S.

“’I just want you to know that without you and the sacrifice back in the day, there’s no way I could be where I am today,’” Thoa says she wrote. “I really wanted her to know that I knew it was a tremendous amount of sacrifice and undertaking and I wanted her to know that I was very grateful.”

Years later, at her daughter’s college graduation, Thoa again thought of her mother and the sacrifice she made. “I thought, ‘This is so profound. … At one point, I wanted to give up on my education because of thinking there was not enough money … And now, another generation of women — my daughter — can finish their college education. And it all traces back to her.”

Still today, Thoa always thinks of her mom whenever she visits families who have benefited from Holt’s income-generating programs — especially the single and widowed mothers who are caring for children on their own. 

“We visited this woman who was 76 years old, a grandma who was part of the income-generating program … I looked at her,” Thoa shares, “and I felt like, that’s my mother. And all these grandmothers and these mothers around the world who are struggling every day, but who are trying their best — every day — to provide for the basic needs of their children. They all hope and work hard for a better life for their children.”

Help a Mom in Cambodia Build a Brighter Future

With programs at risk, your gift of chickens, a garden or a sewing machine could be the only opportunity a mom has to lift her family out of poverty.

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The post Why I Believe in Holt appeared first on Holt International.

Kokebe, a determined and optimistic young woman, has faced many challenges. But she never lost sight of her dreams. With your support, she overcame financial barriers and pursued her education, achieving what once seemed impossible.

Her father’s job as a day laborer didn’t provide enough income for the family to make ends meet. Education seemed out of reach. But then, you helped provide a microloan and training for her mother to start a small business growing and selling fruits and vegetables at their local market in rural Ethiopia. This Gift of Hope helped stabilize her family’s financial situation, covering their basic needs.

Still, there wasn’t enough to pay for Kokebe’s schooling. That’s where you stepped in again with a Gift of Hope. Your equipped her with a school uniform, books, supplies and ongoing academic support. She participated in summer classes and educational celebrations like Literacy Day and Back to School Day, which have been sources of joy and learning for her.

After passing her grade 12 national exams, Kokebe went on to vocational and technical college, majoring in information and communication technology. You played such a pivotal role in helping her achieve her educational goals!

“I am very grateful for all the support throughout the years,” Kokebe says. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without [the] help and intervention for me and my family. In the future, I hope to give back and support other vulnerable children, just as I was supported.” As she steps into the next chapter of her life, she carries with her not only the knowledge and skills she has gained, but also the hope of one day giving back to others in the same way you helped her.

Give a Life-Changing Gift of Hope

Gifts of Hope come in all shapes and sizes and have the power to change a child and family’s life.

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The post She’s Taking Flight appeared first on Holt International.

A single mother in Vietnam receives a food cart and starts her own business. Women in rural Uganda learn to break the cycle of generational poverty by joining community savings groups. A mother and her family in Mongolia are gifted a life-changing herd of livestock. Mothers and children in Ethiopia gain access to lifesaving healthcare, thanks to a mother and child hospital Holt donors helped build and continue to support in an impoverished rural region.

Around the world, Holt sponsors and donors empower mothers to provide for their children, keeping them together despite poverty, conflict, migration and the stigma of single motherhood. One of the ways your generosity supports these women is through our life-changing Gifts of Hope. Whether it’s through food carts, small business microgrants, livestock, new mother baskets, pregnancy healthcare and more, your gifts help women become stronger, healthier and more self-reliant, allowing them and their children to thrive.

As we approach Mother’s Day this year, we’d like to highlight the stories of women in four countries who have benefited from your generosity and Gifts of Hope. With your support and compassion, these mothers and their families now face a brighter future!

Healthcare for Mothers and Children in Ethiopia

In 2015, Holt donors joined local leaders and community members to build a full-service, maternal-child hospital in Shinshicho, an impoverished rural region in southern Ethiopia. At the time, only 3 percent of births among women living in rural Ethiopia were attended by a health professional, and 25,000 women in Ethiopia died annually from complications during pregnancy and childbirth. In many cases, these women could not get to a hospital in time. When Holt committed to funding most of the construction costs for the Shinshicho Mother and Child Hospital, the local community responded with an outpouring of donations — often a precious few dollars from individuals whose income was just one or two dollars a day. With backing from the government, and significant involvement from the community — both in funding and labor — the health center first opened its doors to patients in 2015.

Today, the hospital has grown both in size and in the level of services it provides. It is now known as the Shinshicho Primary Hospital, and it serves more than 250,000 patients each year with emergency, surgical and outpatient services for children and adults. Although the mother-child hospital is run by the local government, Holt continues to fund much of the staffing, equipment and materials needed to operate the maternal and child health departments, which provide labor and delivery, family planning, ob-gyn and neonatal intensive care services. Holt also supports a child stabilization center for severely malnourished children. 

When two children, Anika and Kia, were found to be acutely malnourished, they along with their mother were immediately taken to the child stabilization center at the Holt-supported mother and child hospital, where they received the critical help they needed.

“In the rehab unit, the babies received a specialized low-protein, milk-based formula diet to help them stabilize,” says Emily DeLacey, Holt’s director of nutrition and health services. “Their sick, malnourished mother was also able to receive support at the hospital and began to get healthier so that her supply of breastmilk replenished and she was able to continue feeding her girls to ensure they were getting the vital nutrition they needed.”

It wasn’t long before Anika and Kia became stable. And not long after that, they returned home. In just a few short months, their transformation was incredible. They went from being terribly sick, skinny, malnourished infants to plump and happy babies. And that’s just their physical appearance. Now that they’re getting all the nutrients they need, their brains and bodies are able to grow and catch up in development. For the mothers and children in rural Ethiopia, the gift of maternal health and childhood nutrition is a blessing on Mother’s Day — and on every day throughout the year.

Empower a mother with the gift of pregnancy health care this Mother’s Day!

A Herd of Livestock in Mongolia

Five-year-old Erdene and her family live in Mongolia’s northernmost province, where herding families continue a traditional way of life — seasonally migrating with their cattle, sheep and goats across the vast plains. Life is hard on the land, not far from Siberia, and winters are especially harsh with temperatures that can dip to -60 degrees. Although the nomadic people of this region have existed here for generations and know how to survive the extreme climate, many live in poverty and struggle to provide enough food, warm clothing and other necessities for their children.

In 2019, Holt’s team in Mongolia began working in this remote province to help care for the region’s most vulnerable children, including children with disabilities, children growing up in orphanages and children living in poverty with their families, including the children of assistant herdsmen. Erdene and her siblings were among the over 80 children who Holt donors began to support through Holt’s family strengthening program. Holt provided emergency food for Erdene and her siblings. Erdene was also enrolled in Holt’s child sponsorship program, which provided ongoing support for her and her family.

Erdene’s family felt deep gratitude for the support of Holt sponsors and donors. But as traditional nomadic people who have chosen to stay and work the land like their families have for generations, Erdene’s parents are hard-working and skilled in raising livestock. Like many assistant herdsmen, they dreamt of owning their own herd, nourishing their children from what they produced and living by their own means.

“If they could own some livestock, they would be able to get wool and cashmere during springtime,” explains our team in Mongolia. “And in summer, they would be able to get dairy products — and the children would benefit from the milk.”

In March 2021, their dreams were realized when Holt presented Erdene’s family with an incredible, donor-funded Gift of Hope — a gift that would empower Erdene’s parents to work toward stability and self-reliance, and ultimately meet all of their children’s needs. They gave the family a herd of 20 goats and 28 sheep.

Over the past four years, Erdene’s parents have nearly doubled the size of their herd and added cattle as well — bringing in considerable profits for their family. In that time, Erdene and her siblings have also grown healthier and stronger because of the nourishing milk and cheese they regularly have in their diet.

“I am very happy as a mother to see my children growing, thriving, healthy and happy … Life has changed and we are very, very happy,” Erdine’s mother shared. “I would like to say thank you. Really, really thank you.”

Empower a mother with a life-changing gift of a goat!

A Food Cart in Vietnam

Thuong is a young single mother who lives with her son in a small city in Vietnam. In April 2021, Thuong learned that she was 13 weeks pregnant. But when she called her boyfriend to share the news, he refused to take responsibility for the baby. Heartbroken, and fearing a life of poverty and social stigma as a single mother, Thuong considered relinquishing her baby for adoption after giving birth.

But then something wonderful happened! When Thuong was 7 months pregnant, a friend introduced her to a local Holt social worker, who enrolled her in a program for single pregnant women supported by Holt donors. Through the program, Thuong received food and nutritional support for the remaining months of her pregnancy, as well as baby essentials such as clothes, diapers and formula — gifts for new mothers provided through Holt’s Gifts of Hope program. The costs of her pre- and post-natal doctor exams were also covered, as were her hospital fees for the birth of her child.

In November 2021, Thuong gave birth to a healthy baby boy she named Thanh. After leaving the hospital, she and her son returned to her family home, where her parents and grandparents helped care for them.

Then, when Thanh was 7 months old, Thuong began working at her mother’s food stall. With her baby at her side, Thuong washed vegetables, grilled pork paste and meat, and helped her mother sell food. Though the women worked long hours, they earned roughly 8 U.S. dollars a day. Although this amount stretches much further in Vietnam than it does in the U.S., it was still barely enough to feed the entire family.

That’s when Thuong decided to supplement the family income by learning to make Vietnamese-style “hot dog” cakes. She took orders for the hot dogs online, then delivered them herself to customers around the city. Lacking the funds to make large quantities of food, Thuong sold about 25 hot dogs a day. After deducting her expenses, Thuong earned less than 4 U.S. dollars per day — but this amount increased her income enough to meet some additional needs, and she began to grow excited about having her own business!

And that’s when the generosity of Holt donors came through again! This time, Thuong received a food cart through Holt’s Gifts of Hope, as well as funds to purchase baking ingredients.  

These days, Thuong operates her food cart in front of her grandparents’ house. It’s open from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Although her income is still modest, Thuong is now able to pay for her son’s preschool fees and meals at school, helping him get an early education and the nourishment he needs to thrive. Thanks to the generosity of Holt donors, Thuong has big dreams for her son — and for her own future!

Empower a mother to start her own business by providing her with a food cart!

Financial Literacy Training in Uganda

In the rural villages of Uganda where Holt sponsors and donors support children and families, women now have the opportunity to break the cycle of generational poverty. In these villages, Holt has been leading savings groups that teach parents, particularly mothers, how to earn money and save together. Through financial literacy training, these women learn as a community how to make and sell goods, grow crops, buy and raise livestock, and become businesswomen in the hopes of bettering themselves and supporting their families.

With a small initial investment from Holt donors, these groups of women pool their money together and are then able to take out loans from the group to grow their business or address an urgent need such as a home repair. They pay the money back on a schedule, thus replenishing the fund so other women can borrow as needed. Some Holt savings groups have existed for more than five years — helping the families weather the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without the savings and loan groups, many of their businesses would not have survived financially — and they would have struggled to afford food and other basic necessities for their children.

Beyond financial stability, the savings groups have offered women a sense of pride in their accomplishments. For example, in one rural community, the members of one group named themselves the “Group of Happy Parents.” That’s because their savings have gone towards buying livestock, starting microbusinesses, and paying for their children’s school fees and uniforms. When mothers are able to care for their children, they are happy parents indeed!

Empower a mother to break the cycle of generational poverty with job skills training!

Mother’s Day Gifts That Matter

Honor a mom you love with a Gift of Hope that changes the life of a mom across the world!

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The post So Their Children Can Thrive appeared first on Holt International.

Cambodia 

Holt Cambodia celebrated the recruitment of five more potential foster families in Phnom Penh in January. This is part of an initiative Holt began in 2016 in partnership with the Cambodian government and other child welfare agencies to help build a model of foster care, kinship care and domestic adoption in the country — an alternative to institutionalization for the thousands of children in Cambodia who are living in orphanages.  

China 

To help the children celebrate Chinese New Year across the various provinces where we work, Holt China staff prepared gifts and activities for children to enjoy. At the HIV Group Home, children made steam buns to celebrate the arrival of the new year — they were so happy and grateful!  

Colombia 

Holt’s partner organization in Colombia, Bambi, has a donor-supported program that empowers parents with the skills and training they need to create a better life for their children. This group of parents just completed lessons that focused on attachment styles and the prevention of abuse and neglect. Families were grateful to learn tools for healthy conflict resolution, discipline, and how to achieve healthy attachments with their children — with many parents saying that this training brought transformational change personally and within their family.  

Ethiopia 

After nearly four years in the economic empowerment program, 47 families in rural Ethiopia are preparing to graduate the program. These vulnerable families struggled to recover financially after the pandemic, but with continued support from Holt and our partner, KTZ-OVC, they now have successful small businesses — such as weaving businesses, selling produce and raising livestock — that are creating sustainable income, a way out of poverty and the means to independently provide for their children.  

Haiti 

In December, Holt Haiti — in partnership with the Haitian Central Authority — organized and presented a training on child rights and protection for about 50 orphanage administrators, caregivers and other professionals who work with children. Additionally, in the impoverished community of Bigarousse, a new cohort of 25 women have been enrolled in Holt’s economic empowerment program. These single moms are beginning their business training, and will soon receive microloans to begin small business of their own  — empowering them to earn an income and support their children.  

India  

Holt’s partner organization in Bangalore, Vathsalya Charitable Trust (VCT), trained 151 mothers and young women across the communities and centers in which they work, as well as women from government-run shelters for women and girls. They learned how to handle expenses, meet deadlines for their business orders, and earn income. VCT is also continuing its support groups for single mothers and mothers who have experienced domestic violence.  

Mongolia 

Through Mongolia’s brutal sub-zero temperatures in the winter, families typically stay warm with a coal burning stove in the middle of the dwelling. But this not only creates a burn hazard for children, but can also cause fire to the structure. Earlier this winter, we received an emergency request for assistance for a family whose ger caught fire — severely injuring their young son and resulting in a total loss of all the family’s possessions. Holt was able to respond immediately with generous support from a donor. With this help, we were able to provide medical care to the child who was burned, and help the family replace their home and many of their possessions.  

Philippines 

At the beginning of February, Holt Health and Nutrition staff and the staff of our partner agency, Kaisahang Buhay Foundation (KBF), presented at a five-day Child Nutrition Program Training of Trainers in the Philippines. With houseparents, nurses, and social workers from four local orphanages and child welfare organizations in attendance, they learned how to measure and track children’s nutrition and growth, feeding children with disabilities, and more. 
 

Thailand  

Holt’s local partner in Thailand, Holt Sahathai Foundation (HSF) has been busy with many group activities for the children and parents in their programs! First, they facilitated a support group activity for families to share their positive parenting experiences and lessons they’ve learned in raising their children. For the new year, HSF gathered 523 people (155 adults, 274 children and 94 volunteers) in their programs and the surrounding community for a celebration. Finally, 207 parents, children and staff from our daycare centers gathered for evaluations of children in the program and training for parents on proper health care and child development.  

Uganda 

The Ministry of Health in Uganda contacted Holt Uganda to support their efforts to reach communities in Mukono district, an impoverished and under-resourced district in Uganda. Through our partner, Vitamin Angels, we were able to provide Vitamin A supplements and deworming tablets to 37,000 children there — vital health and nutrition interventions that will prevent chronic malnutrition and illness.  

Learn more about Holt’s work and history!

At Holt International, we help children thrive in the love and stability of a family. But our services extend far beyond the adoption work we are known for.

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The post Notes From the Field: March 2023 appeared first on Holt International.

China

Holt China’s project staff recently attended a training entitled “Protection of Minors and Professional Construction of Children’s Social Work.” This training covered the history and construction of China‘s protection system for minors. Project staff gained a deep understanding of the training contents and how they may apply it to projects they oversee.  

Colombia

In Colombia, Holt works alongside local partner organization Bambi to help strengthen families at risk of separation. One way they help strengthen families is by helping them start a small business to generate income. Among the current group of families in this program, parents and caregivers have completed their entrepreneurship training and are now preparing to launch their micro-enterprises. Many of the participants at this stage have invested in bakery and confection professions. 

Haiti

In recent months, we’ve seen a gradual return to school for children in four of the five schools in Haiti that Holt sponsors and donors support with nutrition and educational resources. Elementary-grade children have been receiving tutoring from three teachers at the school until all schools reopen. Attendance is low at the reopened schools due to the fuel shortage and low access to transportation. However, children are gradually returning to class and the schools are starting to welcome their full numbers back to classrooms.

The Philippines

Kaisahang Buhay Foundation (KBF), Holt’s partner organization in the Philippines, has been busy distributing school supplies to 637 children and other school needs to 436 students in Holt’s educational sponsorship program. KBF also held a parenting training session on stress management for 234 parents, and conducted field visits to distribute food to children and monitor the Supplemental Feeding Services (SFS) — a program that aims to improve the nutrition in a child’s first 120 days, a critical time of physical and cognitive development.

South Korea

Holt International and our longstanding partner organization, Holt Children’s Services of Korea, held events in Korea to celebrate the Christmas season and deliver gifts to the residents and children at the Holt Ilsan Center for individuals with special needs, Jeonju Babies’ Home care center for children, and mother and child shelters in Daejeon. 

Thailand

Holt’s longstanding partner in Thailand, Holt Sahathai Foundation (HSF), continues to give timely responses to all individuals and families who express a need for emergency food supplies or counseling for unplanned pregnancies. HSF has also held many activity sessions over the last months. Some of these activities included teen group meetings and a children and families club, where the participants learned about child rights, the importance of child nutrition in the first three years, and how to be a capable and confident teen parent.  

Vietnam

As Holt’s previous country director, Hang Dam, joined Holt’s staff in the U.S., Holt’s Vietnam team has now completed the recruitment of a new country director to oversee all family strengthening and adoption programs in Vietnam! We were excited to welcome Ms. Huong Nguyen to the full-time role in January 2023.

Learn more about Holt’s work and history!

At Holt International, we help children thrive in the love and stability of a family. But our services extend far beyond the adoption work we are known for.

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The post Notes From the Field: January-February 2023 appeared first on Holt International.

When we met Nhat last June, the devasting third wave of COVID-19 had just spread through Vietnam, pushing hundreds of struggling families — including Nhat’s — even deeper into poverty.

Before the pandemic hit, Nhat’s father had a reliable job as a truck driver. But a traumatic accident left him with a debilitating head injury, and he was released from his job with no financial support or insurance.

For a while, the family relied on the income of Nhat’s mother, who operated a small hair salon at a local market and earned just enough to take care of their family. But in the midst of constant lockdowns, she had to close the salon for long periods of a time, cutting off the family’s only income. She began selling products from her salon online to get by… but didn’t make nearly enough to support her family’s needs.

Without a stable income, they began to fall behind on rent. Then, their supply of food began to run low. And Nhat was just 1 year old. He needed healthy, filling meals to grow and thrive. 

Nhat’s family desperately needed help, and fast.

Then, Nhat was referred to our child sponsorship program, and everything began to change!

Now, with the support of Nhat’s sponsor, Nhat has everything he needs to thrive. His mother has received a small business grant so she can sell a wider variety of products and grow her online business into a sustainable source of income. The family also receives emergency food bundles to help ensure they never go hungry again.

Today, Nhat is 2 years old and growing quickly! He is an active, talkative and independent child who learns quickly. He loves to play with cars and in the water, and his favorite thing is superheroes! Our Holt social workers periodically check on Nhat’s family to drop off supplies and encourage them — all thanks to Nhat’s generous monthly sponsor.

As a Holt supporter, thank you for your generous heart for children like Nhat. Your encouragement and compassion truly make a difference in the lives of children and families around the world.

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The post Helping Nhat’s Family Thrive in Vietnam appeared first on Holt International.

In the rural villages of Uganda where Holt sponsors and donors support children and families, Holt leads savings groups that teach parents, particularly mothers, how to earn money and save together. Through financial literacy training, these women are learning as a community how to make and sell goods, grow crops, buy and raise livestock, and become businesswomen in the hopes of bettering themselves and supporting their families.

With a small initial investment from Holt donors, these groups of women then pool their money together and are then able to take out loans from the group to grow their business or address an urgent need such as a home repair. They pay the money back on a schedule, thus replenishing the fund so other women can borrow as needed. Some Holt savings groups have existed for longer than three years and experienced the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without the savings and loan groups, many of their businesses would not have survived financially — and their families would have struggled to afford food and other basic necessities.

Learn more about Holt’s work in Uganda!

See how sponsors and donors create a brighter, more hopeful future for children and families in Uganda!

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The post Strengthening Families Through Financial Literacy Training in Uganda appeared first on Holt International.

“I want to share with you that we are going through a kind of an apocalypse environment which the world has never seen…”

This is how Jim De, director of Holt’s partner organization in Delhi, described India during their second deadly wave of COVID-19 in April 2021.

There weren’t enough hospital beds, ventilators or oxygen for the sick. Schools and workplaces shut down once again. Children and families locked down in their homes, wondering where their next meal would come from.

Half a world away, Holt donors in the U.S. wondered how they could possibly help with a crisis of this magnitude. In faith, they gave what they could — and within days raised over $147,000. Right away, our partner organizations in Delhi, Pune and Bengaluru used these funds to deliver emergency food and medicine.

“Without the support of Holt, we would never have been able to bring resources together,” says Jim. Within a few months, they helped an estimated 10,000 people. And this was just in Delhi.

Emergency COVID Response

In 2021, Holt donors, staff and partners responded to help children and families affected by second and third waves of COVID-19 across the globe.

One mother in Mongolia whose entire family was sick with COVID broke down in tears when a social worker handed her a bag full of medicine and food. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she repeated over and over.

In Haiti last summer, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake followed by a massive tropical storm devastated communities — and threatened to increase the spread of COVID among this already-vulnerable population. In addition to providing clean water and hot food to children and families, Holt Haiti delivered hygiene and COVID-19 prevention kits full of masks, soap and sanitizer to help curb the spread of the virus.

COVID affected every area of Holt’s work — from adoption to orphanage care to efforts to strengthen families. In this second year of the pandemic, the difficulties children and families faced also became larger and more complex. But Holt’s programs evolved to meet these new and increasing needs, in the end bringing lifesaving, life-changing help to over one million individuals.

“I think where we’ve been able to really shine over the course of the past two years is to insert some stability within the orphanages and the family units.”

Sarah Halfman, senior executive of international programs

“I think where we’ve been able to really shine over the course of the past two years,” says Sarah Halfman, Holt senior executive of international programs, “is to insert some stability within the orphanages and the family units.”

Caregivers & Supplies for Orphanages

Orphanages remained at varying degrees of lockdown this past year, with strict protocols in place to keep children safe. But Holt donors helped maintain a high standard of care for the 3,529 children in Holt-supported orphanages, foster families or group homes.

“One of the things that we do is increase the caregiver-to-child ratio so that there is more one-on-one and individualized care and support,” says Sarah. “We try to increase the number of children who are being cared for in foster families and decrease the number of children who are institutionalized, because developmentally it makes a big difference.”

For children waiting to be adopted, travel delays and more complicated processes meant a longer time waiting in orphanages — and more strain placed on orphanage facilities. Thankfully, Holt donors helped address this as well, providing the critical funds needed to buy food, diapers and other basic care items that became more expensive due to inflation.

While orphanages experienced the effects of lockdowns and inflation, these same factors took a toll on family units across the world.

Microgrants Stabilize Families

When the pandemic hit Cambodia, Mou and her husband couldn’t return to work and didn’t know how they would support their four children. Things got so bad, they considered placing them in an orphanage.

But through a donor-funded microgrant, Holt’s Cambodia staff was able to help Mou start a small business she could sustain during COVID — selling cakes and noodles in the local market. With this new and reliable income, their family stayed together.

This same story played out time and time again — through families in Vietnam who raised livestock, Thai families who planted vegetables to eat and sell, and mothers in India who received sewing machines to work as tailors. Whatever form it came in, this help empowered parents to feed and care for their children — ultimately keeping children out of orphanages and in the loving care of their families.

International Adoption in a COVID-World

One of the biggest and most dramatic instabilities Holt faced in 2021 was in the world of international adoption.

International adoption in 2021 was still “exponentially more challenging” than normal, says Sarah. But while the China adoption process remained paused due to travel restrictions, Holt’s 10 other regional programs made pathways for adoptions to move forward.

In Vietnam, our staff coordinated with the Vietnamese and U.S. governments and two other adoption agencies to ensure that all U.S. families arrived, quarantined and departed together in cohorts. While it was a great challenge for all involved, seeing children and families come together against so many odds made it all worth it. This outcome fueled each of Holt’s adoption programs this year, including in Korea.

Hannah and Paulo Lee’s adoption journey included months of delayed travel, one expedited visa, two weeks of quarantine and eight weeks in country before finally getting to travel home with their son. “It was surreal that we were here, and he was in my arms,” Hannah says about finally meeting Elliott in Korea. “The rest of the process went smoothly … Elliott has adjusted so well.”

In 2021, Holt helped to joyfully unite 143 children with their adoptive families in the U.S.

Responding to Unexpected Pandemic Outcomes

For many children and families in Holt programs, the stresses of the pandemic exacerbated issues they already faced. One issue was a significantly higher rate of domestic violence. As families struggled to feed their children and pay rent, family members were more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol — and more likely to commit acts of violence. As a result, Holt’s violence prevention and support programs for women and children became more important than ever.

In Mongolia, the number of cases reported to the National Center for Domestic Violence rose by 39 percent. One of the women represented by this number is Bolormaa, who arrived at a Holt-supported domestic violence shelter in Mongolia along with her three young children.

At the shelter, Bolormaa and her children received food, clothing and a warm, safe bed — all provided with support from Holt sponsors and donors. In 2021, mothers and their children across Holt’s programs received similar help, and the chance to start again in safety.

The True Champions

Around the world in 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically increased the needs of children and families. While the task at times felt insurmountable, the generous and tireless response of Holt donors, staff and partners made all the difference.

“They were the true champions last year,” says Sarah. “Their dedication, hard work and personal sacrifice allowed our programs to adjust to each new circumstance that arose.”

Children grew healthier and stronger as they continued school in class or at home, graduated, overcame malnutrition, received health care, found safety, and experienced the love and care of their permanent families.

It is with strength and resolve that we continue into 2022, striving for a better world for children, no matter the obstacles. “We can be an incredibly agile organization,” says Sarah. “And we have seen clearly over the course of the last two years that continuing in this manner will be critical to providing high quality care and support services to children and families in need.”

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Give emergency help to a child who is hungry, sick or living in dangerous conditions. Your gift will provide the critical food, medical care, safety and more they need when they need it the most.

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The post 2021 Annual Report: Helping Children & Families in Pandemic-Year Two appeared first on Holt International.

Five years ago, Pisey’s family was one of the poorest in her small village community in Cambodia.

Seven-year-old Pisey and her family were living in a tiny home with her grandparents. They harvested rice from their small piece of land, but it was never enough to feed Pisey, her brother and her parents, and it was definitely not enough to sell for income.

Searching for better jobs, Pisey’s mother and father left for the city, leaving Pisey and her brother behind with relatives. But her parents worked difficult jobs in construction and factories, and their meager income still wasn’t enough to support themselves and send money home to their children. Pisey and her brother never received enough food and were often sick due to malnutrition. As a result, Pisey missed school often, never going for more than two weeks per month — or just half of the school year.

Pisey’s mother knew this life wasn’t sustainable. One day, she hoped to raise pigs and other animals for income. She dreamt of working at home and caring for her children. She wanted to see Pisey and her brother going to school, receiving an education and going on to be successful and healthy. And then, their family could be together again, instead of miles apart.

And because someone cared, Pisey’s mother’s dreams came true.

A Reason for Hope

In 2015, one of the leaders in Pisey’s village referred the family to Holt’s sponsorship program, and their lives began to change.

With the support of Pisey’s sponsors, Holt Cambodia staff provided a small business loan to Pisey’s mother so she could move back home, purchase pigs and begin her small business! As she started building clients, Holt Cambodia provided more support through financial training and assistance. Soon, her business had grown successful enough for Pisey’s father to come home from the city and be with his family! Holt social workers even provided training for Pisey’s parents on nutrition, hygiene and other essential information and skills to help keep their family healthy.

Within just a few years, the family was together again, successfully raising chickens, ducks and pigs. They also learned to grow vegetables for themselves, selling the extra vegetables and animals for steady and reliable income.

And in 2021, finding themselves self-sufficient and independent, the family graduated from Holt’s sponsorship program!

Today, Pisey’s family still participates in the self-help groups in their village, sharing their new knowledge with other families in need. After five years of support from their sponsors, Pisey and her family are not only thriving on their own, they’re helping transform the lives of families like theirs in the village.

One of Pisey’s sponsors, recently shared how he felt when he learned that his sponsored child had graduated the program. He supported her for five years, from the time she first entered Holt sponsorship until her family grew self-sufficient and strong.

“Learning of the improving circumstances of the family … I can only point to God’s grace and, particularly, Romans 8:28,” he shared. “The spirit of God, moving through individuals and entities, blesses not only the receiver but also the provider.”

The spirit of God, moving through individuals and entities, blesses not only the receiver but also the provider.

Romans 8:28

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The post Because Someone Cared appeared first on Holt International.

Roughly the size of three square blocks, Escopa 3 is part of barangay — or slum neighborhood — home to 7,000 people in Manila, Philippines.

No one here owns the land, so the risk of eviction by the city is high. Escopa 3 residents live in such tight quarters, it’s not at all uncommon for families of 12 or more to live together in less than 200 square feet of rented space. Single room homes are literally stacked on top of one another, and built from any material families can find. Hanging laundry, dishes drying in racks and bags of recyclable plastic bottles fill the thin, dirt-and-concrete footpaths that cut through the barangay.

Jobs in Manila are scarce and many people survive on what they can scavenge, like plastic bottles or tin cans. Many families live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $1.25 per day. Some families have access to running water that may trickle in through a pipe or hose, but few are connected to sewage.

One of the biggest struggles families face is providing for their children. Many don’t make enough income to meet their kids’ basic needs, such as shoes, food, medical care or school costs. School is difficult to access and expensive. In Escopa 3, Holt sponsors and donors support children in need and provide support to families, helping them launch small businesses or learn new job skills.

View the slideshow above to hear voices from  Escopa 3  and learn how you are helping to change the lives of children and families in this community.

Billie Loewen | Former Holt Team Member

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The post Voices of Sponsored Children and Families in the Philippines appeared first on Holt International.