Hope 4 Women Art Show Preview

I hope you enjoy this preview video of our upcoming art show benefiting Hope 4 women International. These are photos of SOME of the art you will be able to purchase on October 24th. We'll be located at the West end of Main Street at the Shops at Norterra. You will find the Shops off of I-17 and Happy Valley Road in North Phoenix. The fun starts at 5PM.

Art 4 a cause. . . Blues 4 relief

The shops at Norterra
2460 W Happy Valley Rd
Phoenix, Arizona 85085
Phone: 623-979-5516

Hope 4 Women International of Hope 4 Kids International is holding an art show at the shops of Norterra. Artists from around the country have donated their work to be sold at this event. There will be raffle items--Ugandan art--and handcrafts created by the women of Uganda.

Blue Daddy band will be playing; information on Hope 4 Women International will be available. You will see photos of the women of Uganda whom we strive to raise from poverty to self sufficiency through skills training, education, business start-up capital, God's love and much more. All donations and purchased art will help empower the voiceless women of Africa.

Coming soon--a list of all the artists, their websites & details of the art! Check back soon!

For more information contact me: Rachel@h4ki.org

David Van Gorder--Artist

I met David Van Gorder yesterday. He was twenty-two years old when a construction accident paralyzed him leaving him without the use of his arms and legs. A determined young man studied until he received his doctorate in clinical psychology. He taught and established a respected clinical Psychotherapy practice.

In 1998 David began painting and drawing. David uses special tools that adapt to his arm and shoulder movements.

My friend Wendy talks about David all the time and when we decided to hold an art show to raise funds for Hope 4 Women she asked David to donate a piece of his art.

We went to his studio and I found myself in awe of David. Not because he’s in a wheelchair and is an incredible artist. Not because he has overcome many adversities to become a successful psychotherapist and motivational speaker. I saw his heart. I heard his quiet laughter. There was no self-centered arrogance--he was at ease with himself and I immediately felt at home with him.

In fact I was so drawn to him I didn’t realize I was shadowing him until he stopped and asked if I wanted to sit down.
I said, “No thanks. I’m just following you around.”
He pointed and said, “Okay. I’m going over there next.”

A young girl around eight or nine years old bounced into the studio. “Where’s David?” were the first words out of her mouth. When she saw him she ran to him, hugged him and talked animatedly with him. I thought, she sees his heart.

My husband Robert and I were so honored to meet David and when he presented his beautiful impressionistic painting of St Francis of Assisi to Hope 4 Women International I asked, “Why are you donating to Hope 4 Women?”

“Because Wendy told me too!”

I said, “We get a lot of funding that way.”

“Coercion?”

“Yes.”

See more of David's work click on the title of this article--it will take you to his website.

Victory Gardens from Uganda to Iowa

Victory gardens became popular during WWII when the president’s wife encouraged people to grow crops in order to feed their families. They once more became popular in the US as our economy seems to be suffering.
Hope 4 Women decided to try victory gardens in Uganda and provided funds to Smile Africa, one of our Ugandan partners, to purchase seeds and supplies. Pastor Ruth called together 300 women and discussed how to plant and care for the gardens. The women were then given seeds and sent out to plant their crops. An overseer visited the gardens offering advice, spraying, etc as the crops came into being.
Each woman has been instructed that at the harvest she is to bring in 5,000 shillings from her profits and set aside enough money to fund next season’s garden. The 5,000 shillings ($2.50) from each woman will be put into a fund to pay for the person who goes around to the garden spraying for bugs, etc. It will also pay for the spray. With each harvest Smile Africa will be able to front more women with seeds.
We are seeing the harvest coming in and the women are filled with joy as they show off their beautiful crops. One woman sold her vegetables and had enough money left over to pay back the ministry and to rent a larger plot of land for her next crops!
As they prepare for the next season of planting Smile Africa will have a walk-behind motorized plow to aid them in plowing bigger plots.
Hope 4 Women provided funds this season to Outreach to Africa in Western Uganda and are looking forward to seeing how the crops do in that part of the country.
Our goal is to have 1500 gardens in one year. The ultimate goal is for Uganda to feed its children.
My husband Robert promoted the idea of victory gardens in Uganda and was thrilled to see a community garden in Forest City, Iowa. We visited the garden and were told community members are free to come to the garden and take what they need for their families. I’d love to see more of these here at home as well as in Uganda!

A hero--a Ugandan widow

My friend, Wendy Stokes, is extremely involved in our projects at Hope 4 Women. When I am unable to travel to Uganda with our Hope 4 Kids' teams Wendy is right there and organizes our outreaches to the women of Uganda, checks on widows and tries to meet many of the overwhelming needs.
The following is one of her reports:
In May before the first team left for Uganda we learned from Pastor Ruth Kahawa at Smile Africa Ministries of a sick child named Diffasi. Pastor Ruth explained the plight of this young boy from the village whose bladder was malformed and coming through his abdominal wall. Both he and his mother have the smell of urine all the time. His mother is a destitute widow with 4 other children who was desperately looking for help for her young son. Generous donors provided Hope 4 Women with money to seek initial exams for this young child before we reached Uganda.


Diffasi and his Mom were among the first people Pastor Ruth took us to see upon arrival. When we visited we met a true hero. Another widow named Apio supporting and caring for 4 children (two are hers, two are her deceased brother’s children whom she has taken in). Apio lives in a shack with no income but she saw Diffasi’s mother's desperation for her child and took them in to live with her determined to help her find care for this boy. She touched us all deeply. A widow with nothing, offering so much to help another desperate widowed mother. We learned that this isn’t the first time she had done this, Apio has a history of helping widowed moms with sick children. She truly is our hero.


Through team member support we were able to raise money to help with the costly care, surgery and transportation to Kampala for the series of surgeries required to get Diffasi well. Pastor Ruth Kahawa met with representatives from many agencies requesting their help. Heart of God partnered with Hope 4 Kids to close the expensive gap on needed surgery costs and World Vision sent a representative to help Diffasi and his mom through the maze of medical care that lies ahead in the big city of Kampala.


We couldn’t forget about our hero Apio. Through team member support H4WI was able to honor this generous widow who took them in. Apio is being moved to a better home, She has the first bed she’s had in years, new sheets, blanket and mattress. She is stocked up with groceries, and funding and support have been provided to help her start a small business from home. Hope 4 Women donors, Hope 4 Kids team members, Heart of God, World Vision, Pastor Ruth and our hero Apio, God used them all to answer a widow’s prayer. God is good, all the time.

Thank you Wendy for being His hands and feet.

We just accepted Apio Beatrice into our women's sponsorship program. For $36 a month you can support her as she is trained in business management, Godly principals of business, and much more--she will even have a bank account for the first time in her life!

If you would like to sponsor Apio for one year contact me at Rachel@h4ki.org

Innocent of Uganda

I’d like you to meet Innocent. He was born with Hydrocephalus, a condition that is sometimes known as water on the brain. He has an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the cavities of his brain. He has an abnormally large head, excluding his face because the pressure of the fluid cause his skull bones—which have yet to fuse—to bulge outward at their juncture points.

If left untreated Innocent’s head may continue to enlarge and could lead to convulsions, mental disability and even death.

When Innocent was born and his mother saw his enlarged head she asked, “How can I take care of a baby with such a large head?” A few days later she ran away, leaving her baby with his father.

Innocent’s father has done his best to care for him but he has no money to pay for Innocent’s treatment. There is a hospital in Uganda that treats cases such as this. For a one-time enrollment fee of $500 they will drain the fluid and continue to treat Innocent for the rest of his life.

We have a choice. We can look the other way and let nature take its course or we can dig into our pockets and choose to save the life of this child.

My Friend Louaine

My friend Louaine is a talented artist who lives near Forest City, Iowa. She donated two paintings and a painted clay pot to our Hope 4 Women Art Show that will be held in the Phoenix area on October 24th.

Louaine and I have been friends for thirty-six years. We lived in Iowa and were pregnant with our daughters at the same time. We both wanted to name our daughters "Jennifer" and argued over who would use the name. I was due five weeks ahead of Louaine and thought that would give me the edge until Louaine said, "I don't care if you do name her Jennifer--I'm still going to name mine Jennifer." I gave in and named my daughter Lisa Marie. The funny thing was in those days we didn't find out the sex of the baby ahead of time but we were both convinced we were having girls. She had her Jennifer and we were delighted with our baby girls and had a great time dressing them up in frilly dresses. We loved to take them shopping, to Bible studies and out to lunch.

During this season my brother Tom Eggum lived in Lake Mills, Iowa--birthplace to Hope 4 Kids International. A group of local businessmen joined together forming “Forever Triumphant Foundation” and sent Tom out to preach the gospel throughout the country and to smuggle Bibles into Russia.
Thirty-six years later—the name has changed to Hope 4 Kids International and we are based in the Phoenix area—but the message remains the same—to reach out to the suffering with the love of Christ.

Louaine and her husband Loren have faithfully supported the efforts of Hope 4 Kids since conception. Louaine traveled with us to Uganda on two occasions. She is pictured above with just a few of those who fell in love with her. She and Loren sponsor orphans through Hope 4 Kids International and have liberally donated toward a number of our programs.


I'm so grateful for Louaine. Sometimes we can go for a year or so without seeing one another and we pick up as though we had never been apart. I thank God for her and treasure her friendship. I'm so proud of her and her artistic talent and honored that she contributed so generously to our Hope 4 Women Art Show.

For more information on donating or attending this fabulous art show which to date has over 20 artists committed to partnering with us, contact Rachel@h4ki.org.
We have paintings, drawings, enlarged professional photographs, and jewelry, as well as crafts created by the women of Uganda. All proceeds go to Hope 4 Women International which is a division of Hope 4 Kids Internationl.

Hope 4 Women strives to assist women who are sick, needy, rejected and voiceless—with no regard to race or religion. God loves these precious ladies and has a specific plan for their lives. We empower women living in poverty by providing job training to develop the skills needed to support themselves and their family.

Hope 4 Women/Hope 4 Kids Internationl in Uganda

On the third Thursday of each month Hope for Women International holds a conference call with those who are involved or want to become involved in the projects of Hope 4 Women. This past Thursday our conference call included a special treat. Wendy Stokes who is an active promoter of Hope 4 Women is in Uganda for a month with team members traveling with Hope 4 Kids International. She and Pastor Ruth of Uganda were able to call in and update all of us on what they are currently doing in Uganda.

Pastor Ruth gave us an update on the 300 Victory Gardens started by Smile Africa. Each woman who was given seeds & training on growing their gardens is now expected to continue growing each season and will bring 1000 shillings to Smile Africa when she harvests her first crop. That money will be used to start up other women in Gardens. Pastor Ruth tells us the gardens are doing beautifully and we look forward to seeing pictures soon.

She also told us the Bethel Medical Clinic is about finished. They need to hang some doors and finish the flush toilets. The clinic will serve the surrounding community as well as the 420 Karamojong children who come to Smile Africa each day. These children who once roamed the streets hoping to find a rotten potato or something else to eat amongst the trash now receive a nutritious meal daily and are taught the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. They are taught about God's love and to sing and worship. When you arrive on the property they are always ready to greet you in song.

Good Shepherd Lutheran church in Torrance, California held a seven-day bike tour to raise money for a water tower/system at Smile Africa. Their goal was to raise $10,000 toward this project--I'm not sure of the total amount raised but I do know they exceeded their goal. Dave Peters of Good Shepherd has been instrumental in this fundraiser is currently on the ground in Uganda and has been going over the specs of what is all needed to insure the water tower/system serves this community in the best & most efficient way.


Wendy shared of her witnessing the well dedications and brought us all to tears when she told about visiting the place where children found drinking water before we dug a well. They would find standing water covered with sludge--scrape the scum aside and drink the water beneath. In one village 19 babies died in a few month’s time because they didn't have access to clean water. We who only drink bottled water cannot even imagine the filth involved in the drinking sludge water. Pastor Ruth chimed in and said the children sat at the new well drinking clean water all day long.

The hope 4 kids team did a woman's outreach to a village that has been hit by the recent famine. Pastor Ruth said storms came through and washed away homes, etc. Then the hot sun came and scorched the crops. The pastor of that village said watching the people suffer and not being able to help was breaking his spirit. Our team came in and brought joy to the women by painting their nails, giving them lipstick and washing their feet and declaring God’s love. Pastor Ruth said these women—many for the first time in their lives--felt so special and cared for. The team also distributed desperately needed food to the women and others in the community. The pastor, overwhelmed by the love lavished upon his village declared Hope 4 Kids as "Hope for the hopeless"

A small boy was brought to Pastor Ruth a few months ago--his bladder was not formed properly and extends through his abdominal wall, causing urine to constantly leak from his abdomen. He has to wear a dress because of the leakage. An extremely poor widow has taken this boy and his mother into her humble home and has tried desperately to find help for this child. When she brought him to Pastor Ruth she could not turn him away and solicited funds where ever she could to insure this child will get the medical help he needs. The hope 4 kids team came forward to help and hope 4 women donated funds to start his mother in business as well as the faithful widow who reached out to them.
Pastor Ruth told us that the boy's mother is a widow and often the brothers of the deceased husband come in and say the woman is their "inheritance." This woman has been repeatedly raped and beaten by her husband's brothers. Pastor Ruth got the police involved and asked us to pray for this woman's safety as they strive to get help for her little boy and empower her to stand on her own. Pastor Ruth reminded us that widows are despised by society and need someone to protect them from such brutalities.

Wendy reported that Hope 4 Women was able to purchase 15 treadle sewing machines! Seven will go to the graduates of Smile Africa tailoring program. Once a widow or orphan successfully completes the program she is given her own sewing machine to start her own business. The other eight machines will be distributed to surrounding villages where women will gather and learn to sew. Pastor Ruth said she is sending two of the graduates to teach women in the village where the pastor was so discouraged.

We also discussed the upcoming art show we are holding in the Phoenix area in October. So far we have six artists who have committed to donating their work for this fundraiser for hope 4 women. Pastor Ruth and Wendy will be choosing art created by the women of Uganda as well as a couple of Ugandan artists and Wendy will bring those back to the States for our art show.

Wendy also has been teaching our partners and leaders in Uganda a course called "Mission Character". The response has been tremendous. This course consists of 40 Biblical Principles of: self-government, productivity, management and leadership. You can find all the information for this incredible program at http://www.lared.org

Thank you for your support of Hope 4 Kids/Hope 4 Women. Please keep these dear people in your prayers and continue to seek ways to be involved. It takes all of us working together to make a difference in this world. Hold Pastor Ruth and Wendy up in prayer as they continue to tirelessly work through the remainder of July to make a difference in the lives of women and their children.


Our next call will be August 19th so please mark your calendars and tell your friends! We will be giving you updates on what we are doing in Uganda as well in here in the United States.

If you would like to be included in this call contact Rachel@h4ki.org

Consider booking Rachel Eggum Cinader for your next conference, retreat, club meeting, worship service, women's ministry event, etc. Her mixture of humor and compassion makes for a delightful session as she encourages you to seek God's direction and purpose in their lives. Email Rachel: Rachel@h4ki.org