What a disastrous difference a week’s passing makes.
A First Steps delegation returned from North Korea on July 31 after a week spent checking on its programs there. All was relatively well and a good harvest was shaping up in the fields. Then the rains came. From Aug. 7-12, North Korea was inundated by torrential rains, up to 26 inches in seven days. Hundreds of people died or went missing and at least 89,000 people have been left homeless. The deluge also struck a huge blow to agriculture. Vast areas of crops were lost or damaged by flooding and erosion.
Sometimes, it seems like it never gets better before it gets worse. North Korea needs much help and we invite you to pray for the people there, particularly the children, so small and so needy.
And so it is with a rather solemn tone that we welcome you to the Summer 2007 edition of the First Steps Newsletter. We’ve got plenty to report, but first we want to thank everyone who supports First Steps. Our programs are growing because they are working. Your gifts help provide nourishment to more than 45,000 children while thousands more pregnant and nursing women and babies benefit from the micro-nutrient Sprinkles – and none of this could be accomplished without all of you who join in trying to touch lives with the love of Jesus. God bless you for your support.
Since we last checked in (Spring ’07), First Steps has taken delivery of 100 tons of raw soybeans purchased in China. Shipments of 50 tons to Wonsan, 30 tons to Nampo and 20 tons to Hyongjesan were confirmed on our most recent trip, July 24-31. Thanks go to Grace Church in Vancouver, which funded the shipment to the Hyongjesan soymilk facility they adopted there two years ago. Thanks also to Susan Cox and the members of Eastminster United Church in Toronto for its gift of 500 kilograms of soybeans for a new VitaGoat installation at Tongchun, on the southeast coast.
For our last shipment of soybeans, First Steps paid $536 a ton. But with a poor spring harvest, the price is now about $560 a ton. With widespread flooding across east Asia this summer, our Beijing-based broker recently advised us the price will be even higher by the time winter rolls around.
That pricey prospect was creating a problem for First Steps since we knew we would have to buy more beans to see our operations through the winter. But God has blessed us once again. A recent generous donation from the Mennonite Central Committee has allowed First Steps to purchase 200 tons of soybeans now at a much lower price than we would likely be paying later in the year. We will deliver 100 tons in September and another 100 tons in November. First Steps is very grateful to MCC for its support and we look forward to building our relationship. Kathi Suderman, MCC’s northeast Asia representative, joined us for a first-hand look at FS operations on our latest trip to DPRK (see separate story).
First Steps’ Sprinkles program is progressing well. Last April, First Steps began distribution of an initial 1.5-million sachets of the acclaimed micro-nutrient to malnourished infants and toddlers, as well as pregnant and nursing women. An order for one million more sachets of Sprinkles was recently made with the Toronto-based Sprinkles Global Health Initiative to carry this program through the fall.
Meetings with the Institute of Child Nutrition and officials at two regional clinics indicated a two-year Sprinkles effectiveness study is going well. Clinic reports suggested some children had increased appetites after starting Sprinkles. Doctors in Nampo suggested that women with no anemia who started taking Sprinkles showed little change, but that there was an immediate improvement in anemic women. We know that between one-third to one-half of pregnant North Korean women are anemic so Sprinkles are directly helping a large percentage of the women.
The newly-designed VitaGoat continues to take shape at the plant in China. Still, there will be some period of testing and adjustments before production begins. First Steps has an order for 10 VitaGoats to begin with. We envision placing a VitaGoat at every one of some 2,500 co-operative farms in North Korea.
Our latest visit confirms again the positive changes being made in thousands of lives thanks to First Steps donors. Together, with God’s guidance and blessing, we are making a difference. Please continue to pray for the children of North Korea, a whole generation that is being marked by stunted growth and the effects of malnutrition.
