Prayer and Praise

Prayer Request - May 2005

Prayer: For more than ten years, International Child Care's Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) program has succeeded in helping children with disabilities and their families to reclaim lost levels of developmental function and recapture a sense of self-respect, dignity, and hope for the future. Recently, however, the program has faced a financial crisis due to the marked devaluation of the Dominican Republic peso against the U.S. dollar. The exchange rate has been increasing steadily since 2001, and in 2004 was double the 2003 rate, meaning that the purchasing power of the peso was cut in half. While the Community Based Rehabilitation program continued to receive the same amount of support from ICC/USA and other funders, on average those dollars only went half as far toward meeting program expenses in 2004. Though the rate has improved somewhat in 2005, the Community Based Rehabilitation program still faces a shortfall of approximately $50,000 from the previous year. In addition to problems with currency inflation, ICC/DR is subject to a recent mandate imposed by the Dominican government for a significant increase in all staff salaries. At present, ICC/DR is unable to meet this requirement due to lack of sufficient funds, and as a result, has already lost several valuable Dominican staff members who took better-paying jobs elsewhere in order to support their families.

We would appreciate your prayers as International Child Care seeks new sources of financial support to help fill this funding gap.

Trudy Bekker

National Director, Dominican Republic (CID)