June Newsletter 2024 Read More »
Gardening and Savings Groups by Marilyn Kuepfer – Director’s wife Here in Detroit, MI, we are beginning to plant the first seeds and transplants in the ground. The frost free date isn’t until around the middle of May, but there are cold crop plants that we can put out and then cover when the temperature […]
June Newsletter 2024 Read More »
A Journey of Faith and Financial Literacy in East Africa Read More »
A Journey of Faith and Financial Literacy in East Africa By Thomas Amata, Director of Operations for East Africa It’s a chilly morning, but some children are braving the cold as they stream into a church building in Taveta town on the Kenyan coast. A few of them are carrying notebooks. They gather around, seated
A Journey of Faith and Financial Literacy in East Africa Read More »
June 2023 Newsletter Read More »
Progress in Mexico Early one Saturday morning at the end of April, I traveled to Los Mochis, Mexico to visit our program staff and savings groups in the area. We have programs in both Ahome and Choix. My day began with an early flight out of the Detroit Metro airport where I snagged some Chick-fil-A
June 2023 Newsletter Read More »
Chihuahua, Mexico Program Launch Read More »
The Chihuahua, Mexico program launch is just around the corner! At the end of May, we are planning a training after which we will launch a new savings group program in the Cuauhtémoc area of Chihuahua. We are excited to partner with Anabaptist Savings and Loans (ASAL). The savings group participants will have the opportunity
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March 2023 Newsletter Read More »
A Story Of Stewardship Some years ago when my family I were based in Kenya where we served with Open Hands, we traveled 7 hours from where we were living at the time in Nakuru to a small town to the northwest called Kapenguria. We were going to introduce the savings group program to a
March 2023 Newsletter Read More »
Expansion on the Horizon! Read More »
We are planning to expand the savings programs in order to help more people in developing countries. In the next fiscal year we hope to increase group numbers by several hundred. Some of the areas where we expect the most growth are in East Africa and Haiti. We also expect expansion in Asia and Latin
Expansion on the Horizon! Read More »
Administrative Transition Read More »
In January of 2022, we began an administrative transition where Merle Burkholder began training Joe Kuepfer as the Administrator of Open Hands. There was a phased transition from January to May. At the end of May, the transition was completed and Merle has now retired as Administrator and transitioned into the role of Staff Pastor.
Administrative Transition Read More »
Torkelson Family arrives in Kenya Read More »
In the beginning of May, the Verlin and Bethany Torkelson family settled into Nakuru, Kenya. Verlin now serves as the regional director for East Africa. The Torkelson’s are from Alberta, Canada. Bethany will assist with the accounting for the Nakuru office. She is also fluent in Hindi, and we expect for her language skills to
Torkelson Family arrives in Kenya Read More »
