'HOLD the children is a Christian child advocacy and empowerment program. HOLD the children is a division of Mission Discovery, a short-term mission agency headquartered in Gallatin, Tennessee, USA. Don Schreier is the founder and director of HOLD the children. In the following story, he tells of how HOLD the children began.

"Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world..." This song played in my mind as I stood in the one-room church-school in northern Haiti in 1999. I watched as six different elementary school classes were conducted simultaneously in an area about the size of a Mc Donald's restaurant. Due to the stifling heat and humidity the large front double doors were opened to a busy city street. Many sounds outside begged for my attention. Large trucks belching smoke and blowing their horns scattered passing herds of beeping motor scooters trying to avoid deep mud pits and puddles. Women trudged by swatting donkeys that carried large bags of charcoal and thick stocks of green bananas. Girls and women chattered and bustled by while skillfully balancing buckets of water and baskets of fruit on their heads. Near the entrance a couple of pigs grunted and pushed pungent wet mud with their noses searching for food. How can these students concentrate I wondered? Inside the school children sat on old wooden benches worn smooth by much use. Teachers wrote with chalk the size of a dime on thin wooden paneling warped wavy from thick humidity. How can they teach under these conditions?

'God had my full attention. I believe that God is always talking. Unfortunately, I am not always listening. I have learned that when I listen only with my ears I miss much of what He is saying. This day God was communicating through all of my senses. What he had to say so moved my heart that words alone would not be a proper response - action would be necessary.

'Pastor Exanté Cherelus and I began to visit each class in the school. Dr. Cherelus is the founder and president of the New Haitian Mission Baptist Association that oversees more than thirty churches and schools in Haiti, the Bahamas and the USA. We stepped into the third grade class area where twenty children stood in unison, greeted us and recited a Bible memory verse. The students then sat down and focused on their work. I learned from the teacher that they were testing but I noticed that only ten of the children were writing. When I asked "why" she embarrassingly said they had only ten pencils for this class.

'The sound of rain began to clatter on the tin roof above. I hoped it would cool things down. Soon the rain began dripping through the roof and onto the students and teachers. This triggered a quick and practiced rearrangement of benches and chalkboards. I looked up at rotten rafters cracked and spliced, somehow defying gravity and supporting a rusty tin roof revealing constellations of light from outside.

'When classes ended a staff meeting began. Before long I knew there were problems. Pastor Exanté interpreted the Creole conversation for me and I learned the building lease might soon be terminated. The owner wanted more money but would not fix a thing. That explained the roof leak. But there was a bigger problem. The teachers had not received a paycheck for the past three months! Tuition at the school was low but the number of poor families was high. There was no money for teachers' salaries, schoolbooks and materials. And the children were hungry.

'As the meeting closed and we stood my heart remained kneeling before the Lord. He was talking and the message was clear. "Mission Discovery can make a difference here." From this seed thought Mission Discovery's child sponsorship program HOLD the children (His Outreach for Learning and Development) began in the fall of 2000.

'Why is a child sponsorship program needed? There is a world of great need just beyond the borders of the USA. "Three billion people - nearly half the world's population - struggle to live on less than two dollars a day."1 1 A ninety-minute plane ride from Miami takes one to the poorest country in the western hemisphere, Haiti. It is a "third world" or underdeveloped country. The government is struggling and focused on self-preservation, not its people. Life in Haiti is difficult. Haitians daily risk their lives on the open seas for a chance at a better life in the Bahamas and the USA. The economy is so bad that most of the country's 8.3 million people live on an average $370 per year. Haitians are good hardworking people. They are not looking for a handout but they do need help.

'Children need an education to help themselves and to improve their environment. Unfortunately too many Haitian children never have that opportunity. Haiti's National Department of Education acknowledges this problem. It has been reported "...more than 65% of the population over the age of ten had received no formal education at all, and only 8% of the population had received more than a primary education. Even though education is technically free in Haiti, it remains beyond the means of most Haitians who cannot afford the supplemental fees, school supplies, and uniforms required."2 The majority of children (80%) who receive an education in Haiti go to private church schools.

'HOLD the children (HTC) partners with national churches that participate with Mission Discovery in sharing God's love in Jesus Christ to a needy world. Htc seeks to help and encourage the work of local church-schools by connecting needy children with sponsors. Sponsorship for a child is $30 per month or $360 per year and provides the following: 1) tuition, 2) one school uniform, 3) daily school lunch and, 4) books and materials. A sponsor receives an information packet that includes their child's picture and brief biographical sketch, details on the school he/she attends, and regular monthly updates from Mission Discovery to help them pray more specifically for their child. Sponsorship payments are receipted and tax deductible. Sponsoring a child is a great way to change the world for good. Families, individuals, Sunday school classes, Bible study groups, and Christian school classes are sponsoring over 360 children. We thank God for this but there are many more children that need a sponsor.

'God is always talking. Are we listening? He told his people to, "...defend the rights of the poor and needy (Proverbs 31:9)." How can we make a difference? God said we are to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, and bring freedom to the oppressed (Isaiah 58:6-7). The Bible says, "... let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and truth (1 John 3:18)." Child sponsorship is a loving and powerful way to take action. Please call Mission Discovery at 1-800-767-8720 for your sponsorship packet today.

'1 Warren, Lynne. "Inhuman Profit." National Geographic 204.3 (2003): 26-29. 2 The Culture Orientation Project. "Haitians - Their History and Culture. Refugee Fact Sheet No. 10." 23 March 2000. http://www.culturalorientation.net/haiti/hedu.html.

&npsp;