Nothing whatever is deducted from your gifts for administrative expenses Operated and administered entirely by volunteers Using a network of ROPEHOLDERS, who are often local pastors, missionaries or Christian social workers, we seek out the poorest of the poor We give essential aid to widows and refugees, provide regular financial support for orphans and street children, and rescue girls in danger of prostitution By operating a carefully controlled interest-free revolving loans scheme we enable people to set up family businesses, giving them the dignity of work and self-sufficiency                   Before (below) and after above, the happy smiling face of a man who has been through the Shower-Haircut-New Clothes process and has regained some self respect.     This lady stayed up all night wrapping Christmas presents for the homeless.

CZECH REPUBLIC [6/02] A report follows: G family - We've used to help this family in the past. They are gipsies and their father is unemployed. In the last days they had serious financial problems and even did not have money to pay the flat-rent. Edita - She's also a Gipsy. Even though she's in serious financial problems, we are going to give her this amount of money in small parts, because she has to learn how to manage money. Marie - She's a widow with 3 children. We know that even this money will not solve all her problems. Roman - It's the last help for Roman. During summer holidays he's going to work (hopefully longterm). He sends You his warmest thanks for Your help. Marcela & Lucka - These two girls (16 and 10) go to church in Koprivnice. Their parents are alcoholics, so Marcela a Lucka are in very bad condition - they are underfed and dirty. We decided to buy them some clothes and school things. They don't even have basic school instruments, shoes or sport dress.  It makes no sense to give them money (not even mentioning their parents). [11/01] Amongst those being helped are an orphan whose only living relative recently died. We have helped him to complete high school. A recently married couple have been cheated out of the flat they rented and had no where to live. Our ROPEHOLDER found them a flat which they can sublease and helped them with the initial costs. [09/01] Poor gypsies in the Ukraine are amongst those being helped In August 2001 our team went to Ukraine to serve there in the gimpy villages. The money from the ROPE fund is going to be used only for those gypsies who are not supported by any other mission organization. Some young poor people have also been helped in their training. I send You warm greetings and wish You lot of God's blessing. [05/01] Rene is a young man mentally handicapped (retarded). He now lives in the Christian hostel for mentally handicapped youth. He's self-contained, diligent, laborious and likes to learn new things. He's very skillful and thorough. By this time he's got opportunity to buy a garconniere in the protected area where there are protected workshops for mentally handicapped people. He needs 60000,- Kc for that purpose (about 1000 GBP) and this is unreachable amount of money for him, so we decided to help him from the ROPE fund (and also from our own resources - offerings in our church and nearby churches). [03/01] A lady with small children has been helped, - we bought her a new washing machine when her old one failed. We have also helped a student and a man who works as a decorator but has found it very difficult to find commissions. [12/00] We read that the Czech ROPEHOLDERS have helped a pastor in Armenia who is so poor that he is without the basic necessities for life, a situation which created major problems for him last year. This year he has been given funds for heating his home. Another man who had been unemployed for some time at last found a job bunt in his second month the employer was not able to pay him anything so again he was without any resources. We read that employers not paying workers is not so unusual in this country. [06/00] We read that the unemployment rate is now in excess of 20% and there are many new needs. One such need is a family where the breadwinner father was seriously injured in an accident and will not walk again. They have 4 children and we have helped them. A young man has been able to graduate from medical school with our help. He was told he was not able to work in medicine because he has Jaundice 'C' type but God has completely healed him and he is able to work in medicine! One family had to be helped when their farther's employer refused to pay the workers! 04/00] A man has been sponsored to start a "rodent breeding" scheme as a small business. (We suspect these are Hamsters!). Starting the business included repairs to the building, the purchase of cages and the purchase of rodents and food. The first surplus is expected in June. Another man has a glass workshop which he inherited and he is struggling to revive the business here however the sharply increasing unemployment and escalating prices have made life difficult for all. [02/00] In a gypsy family of 5 the father is a long term unemployed person but despite their poverty they constantly help the poor and homeless and have very big hearts. ROPE has been able to help them. A poor girl who left school was unable to get a job and decided to apply for further education, ROPE has helped to make this possible. [12/99] The local ROPEHOLDERS met to decide how our aid could best be used. The have decided on the following: 1/ A very poor lady with four children has been helped. Her husband refuses to help her and she lives in great poverty. 2/ A very poor High School student will complete his diploma course in spring 2000. We help support him currently and he also hopes to go to university to study medicine. 3/ A lady who got in to serious debt through no fault of her own has been able to decrease the debt through great care. We have helped her at this difficult time. [8/99] Some men helped in the Czech republic include a man who is studying for exams but has been unable to pay his rent for 3 weeks. Another unemployed man was a drug addict before he was able to break the habit. A third man who was a stone mason had to stop work after a heart attack has also been helped. There is also work amongst street people which we are helping with.   MORE News!   Some printing and materials used in the printed publication 'News from ROPE' is kindly donated by: Maygray Graphics Ltd Graphics House Arundel Road Uxbridge Middx UB8 2JX UK tel: (44) 0 1895 812 525