Picture Post - CHE TOT 1

We told you about the Training of Trainers and the Coordination team last week. This time we wanted to post some pictures from the week.

The CHE coordination team meeting before the TOT began.

The TOT in progress.

One of the participants receiving his certificate for completing the TOT.

The whole group proudly displaying their certificates!

The 1Mission team having dinner with the trainers Dr. Hugo Gomez and Pastor Jacob Sotelo.

Jacob Sotelo will be back in early September to finish the TOT and recruit a few trainers to begin developing the CHE program. We are almost literally on the edge of our seats waiting for Christ-centered community-led development to transform Peñasco!

Training of Trainers

Right now in Rocky Point something big is happening. One Mission has partnered with multiple churches and organizations working in Rocky Point to host a CHE training of trainers seminar. Almost every major church and organization is represented in hosting the seminar. Its the first time that this many different entities have worked together in any venture that we know of. Its a huge win for the entire community.

Dr. Hugo Gomez traveled all the way from Guatemala to facilitate the seminar. Dr. Gomez is the president of Global CHE Enterprises. He is a specialist in community led development with more than 20 years of experience training leaders with CHE principles. Also assisting with the training is Jacob Sotelo, who is the Mexico area director for CHE.

After the week long seminar the CHE coordination team (which consists of multiple local churches/organizations) will hire 2-5 full time trainers. These men/women will be responsible for spreading the message of Christ-centered community development throughout the barrios of Rocky Point.

You can learn more about Dr. Hugo and Jacob here. You can learn more about CHE here.

This event has been three years in the making so it goes without saying that we are excited about it. We are extremely proud of our Mexico team for pulling this off with absolute excellence.

We also have to thank all of our donors and supporters. Your support and encouragement make all of this possible. Thank you.

Why do we exist?

We believe in mobilizing people to be the change they want to see in their communities.

We don't exist to solve their problems. We don't exist to provide for people.

Currently in Rocky Point there are more than 80 people earning better lives for themselves and their families through the One Mission house program.

That means in the next 6-8 months more than 16,000 hours of community service hours will be served in the community by the community.

People serving together, praying together, eating together, and sharing their lives with each other. This is starting to sound familiar.

Thats why we exist.

The answer is dignity, not stuff.

Poverty is not a lack of stuff, have you heard us say that before? If it is not a lack of stuff, but we are called to help, what can we do? The answer cannot be to make other people's lives look like ours. We need to empower them to make their own lives what they want their lives to be. They need to own their own development and futures. This builds dignity which empowers communities, over the long term, to solve their own problems and not rely on outside resources. Nothing stifles dignity faster than dependency.

Some of our staff just got back from a trip to the Mathare slums of Nairobi, Kenya. They were visiting an organization there that has been doing development for more than 10 years. The picture above is outside one of the schools this organization runs.

Dependency kills development. If you haven't read the book, When Helping Hurts, now is the time.