Dr. Gene Smith and his wife Arlene, medical missionaries working for World Challenge, recently returned from holding medical clinics with Doctors For Life in KwaZula-Natal, South Africa. Below is a report from Dr. Smith.

The Caiazzo's, a missionary family we help support in Nicaragua, recently sent us an update about celebrating Christmas with the children of Rancho Grande and Cerro Verde, feeding centers in the mountains of Nicaragua.

We recently received an update from Dr. Ruby of Jeevan Jyoti Clinic and Community Centre in India, a ministry World Challenge helps support. She has established a balwadi and is beginning to teach the children English.

A charitable organization established by a Finnish woman received the President’s Export Award. Caring Hands was established by a Fida International missionary, a Finnish-Canadian woman named Milla Happonen. The paper jewelry Caring Hands produces bring self esteem and creates a source of income for HIV positive women. The award was presented by Uganda’s president, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on Friday, October 3, 2008 in Kampala.

An update we received from Milla Happonen of Caring Hands in Uganda:

I just returned from a short trip to Medellin, Colombia and I am blown away at God’s faithfulness to those who co-labor with him in his field.

An e-mail we received from Milla Happonen of Caring Hands in Kampala, Uganda

This is coming to you from Kampala, Uganda where Maureen, Charles and I have returned after a week’s community development meetings in the northern city of Lira, population 60,000. We have been fostering relationships with many of the locals through the Pentecostal Church of Uganda (PCU).