FROM INVISIBLE TO INFLUENTIAL
After witnessing her parents’ painful fight, Sitrakiniaina, 14, shut down emotionally — until she saw Jesus resting through a storm in Lumo Project Films. Now she leads with purpose, hope, and confidence in Christ. See how God’s Word transformed her story.
There was a time when 14-year-old Sitrakiniaina felt invisible.
Growing up in Madagascar, she witnessed a terrible altercation between her parents that left her shaken and afraid. The argument was so intense that it changed the way she viewed relationships and the future. “Inside, I felt that other people were always happy because they didn’t have the kind of problems I [did],” she explains. All she knew was pain.
To protect herself, Sitrakiniaina shut down her emotions. She tried not to care about anything. She went to school, came home, did her homework — on repeat. She had no dreams for the future — only the goal of surviving another day.
Everything began to change when she saw Lumo Project Films, our series about the life of Christ. One scene especially captured her heart: Jesus sleeping peacefully in a boat during a violent storm. While everyone around Him was afraid, Jesus rested confidently in His Father’s care.
Sitrakiniaina realized she wanted that same confidence — the assurance that her life was in God’s hands. That day, she chose to follow Jesus. “Something inside me came back to life again … I felt touched by God Himself!” she recalls.
Soon afterward, her school began using A World Without Sickness, a Scripture-engagement program that shares the Gospel while teaching practical lessons about hygiene, sanitation, and healthy living.
As she learned more about God’s love and His plan for her life, Sitrakiniaina embraced the lessons wholeheartedly …
She volunteered to lead a new cleanliness initiative … she’s taking better care of herself … and she’s active in church, reads the Word, and serves as an example to her peers.
The frightened girl who once tried to disappear now lives with purpose, hope, and confidence in Christ. Thank you for sending God’s Word that led to her transformation.
LETTER FROM ONEHOPE PRESIDENT
Who Takes Care of You?
Across Africa, millions of children face challenges that many of us rarely think about. Simple things like clean water, proper hygiene, and basic sanitation remain out of reach for far too many families. Those realities affect more than physical health. They shape a child’s confidence, opportunities, and daily life.
That’s why I’m so encouraged to see A World Without Sickness expanding across the continent.
What began as a practical response to one community’s need is now opening doors for children across Africa to experience both physical care and the hope found in Jesus. The story began several years ago in Cambodia.
One of our leaders noticed a group of children leaving their Buddhist school. She saw that these children were unkempt. Their fingernails were overgrown, their teeth were not brushed, and their hands were smeared with dirt. She stopped and asked a simple question: “Who takes care of you?”
Some named a grandparent. Others an older sibling. A few had no answer at all. Behind every answer was a child longing to be seen, cared for, and reminded that they mattered.
That question became the beginning of A World Without Sickness.
Today, together with local churches and ministry partners, that same model has been carefully contextualized for communities across Africa. Practical health education is opening doors that often would have remained closed, creating opportunities for children to encounter God’s Word and become connected to the local church.
I love how this reflects Jesus’ ministry. He cared for the whole person: met practical needs, restored dignity, and invited people into relationship with Him.
As you read the stories in this report, I hope you see more than the expansion of a program. I hope you see the Gospel at work through faithful churches, compassionate partners, and generous friends like you.
FEATURED PROGRAM : A World Without Sickness
A WORLD WITHOUT SICKNESS
Changing lives inside and out
For millions of children around the world, sickness and disease are an everyday reality — not because treatment is unavailable, but because basic hygiene practices are often unknown or difficult to maintain. Something as simple as hand washing, teeth brushing, using clean water, or proper food preparation can make a life-changing difference.
This is why we developed A World Without Sickness.
It began with a simple insight: meeting physical needs opens doors to spiritual ones. Born from the vision of Khantey Kim, OneHope’s Cambodia director, whose faith took root after receiving a childhood Book of Hope, the program answered her prayer to reach children in a predominantly Buddhist culture — using hygiene as the bridge.
A World Without Sickness works in even the most difficult-to-reach places because it reframes evangelism as service. In places where direct Gospel outreach is restricted, a hygiene curriculum solves a real, visible problem — disease, poor sanitation — and earns trust. Once the program is welcomed in, it pairs practical lessons with the Gospel, teaching kids that just as their bodies can be made clean, so can their hearts.
The result is a powerful combination of health education and Gospel engagement in communities that lead to connections with local churches and discipleship.
A World Without Sickness is helping children experience transformation both physically and spiritually — offering healthier lives today and the hope of eternal life through Christ.
HEALTH AND HOPE
for Africa’s next generation
Many children in Africa face significant challenges, including limited access to sanitation, clean water, and basic health education. Launched across the continent in 2024, A World Without Sickness is critical to helping youth build healthier futures and discover lasting hope in Christ.
One of these children is Benjamin, a 14-year-old living near a rural village in Zimbabwe.
Although he grew up in a Christian home, faith had always seemed more like a tradition than a personal reality. That began to change when he received an A World Without Sickness Book of Hope. As Benjamin learned about caring for his body and environment, he also discovered how Jesus could guide his everyday life.
“Personally, I did not know that it was important to God that we … keep our bodies clean,” he says. But the program, coupled with his studies at school, is making a real difference in his life!
And this impact doesn’t stop with him. Today, Benjamin is teaching his 5-year-old sister about hand washing and healthy habits, sharing what he has learned and the hope he has found.
That’s the power of God’s Word at work — transforming one child and then reaching an entire family. And across Africa, that story is being repeated again and again!
August Prayer Points
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OneHope Team
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