Simply Scott: DAY 1- AMOR RETURNS TO SOUTH AFRICA

My Favorite Quote

If you have food in the refrigerator,
Clothes on your back,
A roof over your head,
And a place to sleep,
You are more wealthy than 75% of the world.
Just by having a house.

If you have money in the bank,
Or money in your wallet,
Or any spare change in your purse or pocket,
You are in the top 8% of the worlds most wealthy.

If you woke up this morning,
With more health than illness,
You are more blessed than the million that will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of a battle,
The loneliness of imprisonment,
The agony of torture,
Or the pains of starvation,
Then you are ahead of five hundred million people in the world.

If you attended church this week without harassment,
Arrest, torture or death,
You are more blessed than 3 billion people in the world.

Quote from a friend of Pastor Blackburn.

Poverty Information

"More than 1.4 billion people in the world make less than $1 a day, and 1 billion people go to bed hungry. About 1 billion have no access to clean water." Washington Times Daily- May 29, 2009

"32 [years is the] average lifespan of a man in Swaziland, the lowest in the world, according to the CIA's World Factbook. The problem, again, is average. Most adult males there live much longer- its the large infancy mortality rate that drags down the average." New York Post- Dec. 28, 2008

"South Africa faces a shortage of up to 94,000 teachers by 2015, thanks to poor government planning and the effects of Aids-related diseases." Sunday Times of Johannesburg- Nov. 23, 2008

"The United Nations says that almost half of remaining Zimbabweans (5.1 million of 11 million) will be dependent on international food donations by year-end. Currently, more than 80% of them are also umemployed. The long-term solution, according to the UN and others, would be to restore the country's agricultural industry to its former glory as soon as possibe." Finweek- October 2, 2008

"Ten million children die each year from preventable poverty-related diseases; there are 1.4 billion people in the world surviving on less than $1.25US a day and more than 70 million primary school age children are out of school." Mail & Guardian- September 26, 2008

"At least 35% of South African children are either chronically malnourished, underweight, or acutely malnourished."The Citizen- September 25, 2008

"An estimated 40% of of all the world's severely malnourished children younger than five live in [India]."The Los Angeles Times- August 25, 2008

"An estimated 40% of of all the world's severely malnourished children younger than five live in [India]."The Los Angeles Times- August 25, 2008

"Zimbabwe's soaring inflation now stands at a staggering 42 million percent, economists have said."The Zimbabwean- August 14-20, 2008

"According to a WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water and Sanitation, 62 perent of Africans do not have access to an improved sanitation facility, namely a proper toilet, which seperates human waste from human contact."The Business Day- July 29, 2008

"UNICEF executive director, Ann Veneman, maintains that "40 percent of the world's population lacks access to toilets, and the dignity and safety they provide."The Business Day- July 29, 2008

"Roughly 45 percent of South Africa's 47 million people, vastly black, are impoverished and unemployment stands at nearly 40 percent."Daily Nation- June 2, 2008

"According to the South African Development Committee, 45% of the total population lives on $1 a day."Mail and Guardian- May 30, 2008

"South Africa survey released in March revealed 10 percent of population earned more than 50 percent of the income while the poorest 40 percent accounted for less than 7 percent."Daily Nation- May 26, 2006

"Eighty-one percent of [South Africa's] children experience income and material deprivation, such as not having access to a fridge." Sunday Times of Johannesburg- March 2, 2008

"More than 50% of [South Africa's children] live in households where nobody in employed." Sunday Times of Johannsburg- March 2- 2008

"Seventy-seven percent [of South Africa's children] live in an environment without access to proper toilet facilities, electricity and piped water." Sunday Times of Johannesburg- March 2, 2008

"Twenty-five percent [of South Africa's children] live in households without both parents, or in child-headed households." Sunday Times of Johannesburg- March 2, 2008

"Twelve million children live in poverty in South Africa. Four million of these are starving and up to 40% of those aged under 5 could stuffer stunted growth." Sunday Times of Johannesburg- March 2, 2008

"More than a third of Mexicans live below the poverty line of about [one US dollar] a day." Saturday Nation- January 5, 2008

"More than 40% of the population in Southern Africa are living in abject poverty."
Mail & Guardian- October 26, 2007

"In 2001, 924 million people, or about 31 percent of the world’s urban population, were living in informal settlements or slums, 90 percent of which are located in the developing world. By 2030, the number of world-wide slum dwellers is projected to reach two billion. The East African (Kenya)- October 22, 2007

"A child dies every three seconds as a result of extreme poverty."
Daily Nation(Kenya)- October 17, 2007

"More than 1 billion people around the world live in abject poverty, on less than $1 a day."
Daily Nation(Kenya)- October 17, 2007

"About 800 million people go to bed hungry every night."
Daily Nation(Kenya)- October 17, 2007

"More than 6,000 people die from HIV/Aids everyday."
Daily Nation(Kenya)- October 17, 2007

"Out of the [Mexico's] population of 103 million, nearly 50 million are impoverished."
Baja Times- Feb. 1, 2007

"Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day." World Bank- Daily Nation(Kenya)- October 16,2007

"30% of South Africans don't even have pit latrines; they use buckets." Wall Street Journal -June 21, 2007

"A fifth of the country [Mexico] gets by on less than $2 a day." Wall Street Journal- August 4, 2007

Vital Stats on Amor Ministries (as of 2/5/2009)

Homes built since 1980: 15,588

Projects in 2008
Homes: 1001
Churches/Sunday Schools: 17
Schools: 7
Clinics: 2
Group Homes: 5 (in South Africa)
Rehab Centers: 2

Participants since 1980: 291,552
2008: 21,552
Trips since 1980: 7523
2008: 623

Participants have come from 38 states in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Korea, the U.K., Ireland, and South Africa.

6720 families benefited from the Food Bank in 2008.

1040 children have received school supplies from Amor's back-to-school program in 2007.

# of Amor Team Members: 44
# of Volunteers in 2008: 88
# of Mexico Planning Boards: 5
# of Pastors: 26
# of Amor Camps: 5
Average number of people per work site: 18

Years of ECFA Membership: 16
$$ Spent directly on Programs: 87%
Years as finalist in 50 Best Christian Work Places to Work: 3
# of Board Members: 11

Monday, March 30, 2009

DAY 1- AMOR RETURNS TO SOUTH AFRICA

DAY 1
Amor in South Africa
Steve Horrex, Forrest Fowler, Luke Makwakwa, and Scott Congdon

March 28, 2009

4:30am. Woke up before the alarm went off. Grabed some snacks from the refrigerator, let the dog out, and took my suitcases out to the curb in front of my house to wait for my ride.

5:15am. My ride arrives and we head to the San Diego airport. On the way down we get a call from onr of our traveling companions who is already at the airport and he says that the ticket counter line is out the door and onto the walk over bridge. "Check in at curbside", he says.

5:35am. We arrive at the airport for what I thougth was a 6am flight to Atlanta and then Johannesburg. Curbside checking was slow. I was getting nervous. Then just as we got to the front of the line the sky cab said they couldn't check us in for an international flight. We had two bags to check so we were told we had to go to the upstairs ticket counter after all. Not a good prospect at this time.

5:45. Some how the sky cab who volunteered to take our bags on a cart up the elevator to the ticket counter got us expidited. We were in the security line with minutes to spare and then we realized we had more time that we thought. Our departure was at 6:30am not 6:00am! Whew. Now you konw why I always like gettting to the airpoirt two hours early, foreign or domestic flights.

6:30am. Our flight departs San Diego with all four of us!: Steve Horrex, Forrest Fowler, Luke Makwakwa and myself, Scott.

10am. We land in Atlanta, Georgia for a two and a half layover. It time for an early lunch in the food court before we catch our plane. Panda Express seems to follow us where ever we travel.

3:00pm. After a hour delay of our plane at the gate with us on board we finally take off to fly across the Atlantic or the "pond" as our British friends call it.

Scott Congdon
Founder/CEO
Amor Ministries
1664 Precision Park Lane
San Diego, CA 92173
USA
619.662.1200 US Office x130
619.247.3113 US Cell
619.662.1295 US Fax

+27.11.461.3222 South Africa
+44.203.026.4006 UK
+52.335.350.0280 Mexico
scott.congdon- SKYPE

www.amor.org
www.simplyscott.org

Simply Scott

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Vital Stats on Amor Ministries (as of 2/5/2009)

Monday, March 30, 2009

DAY 1- AMOR RETURNS TO SOUTH AFRICA

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