Tent of Oliver Foundation Partners with ERDO on Three Overseas Projects

The Tent of Oliver Foundation is pleased to announce its financial partnership on three overseas projects managed by ERDO (Emergency Relief and Development Overseas), the humanitarian agency of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC), whose mission is: “to passionately respond to the practical needs of people living in poverty and crisis around the world.”

The three projects that we have earmarked funding for are featured below. If you are interested in helping us support one of these projects, please click here to donate (and when prompted, select Project “International Outreach”).

The following are direct testimonials from ERDO for these three projects.

Crisis Response Food for Sudan

ERDO partners with a local organization to bring food assistance to refugees from Sudan, to provide them with a continued source of nutrition. Amna received monthly food baskets containing 40 kilograms of sorghum, 5 kilograms of lentils, 1 kilogram of salt and 2 liters of oil. These baskets reach families who are starving, who have no other source of food.

“I felt so relieved,” Amna said. “For the first time in a long while, I was able to prepare proper meals for my children. Seeing them eat and sleep with full stomachs made me very happy.”

For Amna and many other displaced families, the food basket brought more than just meals; it brought hope, dignity, and a sense of care during a very difficult time.

Burundi Microfinance Project

Francine lives in Burundi with her husband and five children. She sold cassava loaves for just a few pennies each, but she could not earn enough to support her family.

In Burundi, our local partner supports women like Francine. They first give financial literacy and business training to women, then offer them a series of increasingly larger loans. As they pay off the loans, they can grow and diversify their small businesses.

Francine is now on her sixth loan. Her business has grown from selling cassava from her home to managing a large shop that offers a variety of products. She now earns $24 a day, which is more than three times the amount she made before we met her.

Each year, 1,800 women just like Francine are empowered to earn their own income and support their families. But the real gift is seeing women help one another. After the loans are finished, women form savings groups to help one another continue expanding their work and ensuring each one succeeds.

Zimbabwe Agricultural Project

Living in a quiet, rural village in Zimbabwe, Mosillia is a single mother raising three children and two grandchildren. For her, life was always a struggle, but when she was given chickens, her life started to change. When she first started the program, our partners brought seven chickens. With ongoing training and support, she learned how to care for her flock. Soon the hens began laying every day! Some eggs were hatched into new chicks, others were sold for income and the rest became a nourishing breakfast for her family — a rare treat in her community.

Her small flock grew from 7 to over 60 chickens! Mosillia used the sale of her eggs and chickens to thatch her bedroom roof, lay a new floor in the family’s kitchen and buy books for her grandchildren. “Now, my children are guaranteed eggs for breakfast,” Mosillia says. “We can sell the extras to buy food, soap and other things we need. God has been so good.”