His family crossed the border into Uganda to pursue the specialized treatment that CURE Uganda and the CURE Hydrocephalus program provide. For those who have never seen African television or who are interested in this issue, it’s a real treat to have this available on YouTube.

April 1, 2012, Lemoyne, PA: Today, CURE Founder and CEO, Scott Harrison, announced the initiation of a new 30-bed surgical facility that will be built on the surface of the moon: the CURE Lunar Children’s Hospital. Among the services of this new facility will be an expansion of the CURE Hydrocephalus training program, three operating theaters, oxygen-rich clinic facilities, CUREkids, and long-term housing for ex-patriote staff. CURE hopes to begin construction at the end of 2012 and projects the facility will be operational in the earth summer of 2015.

VP of International Operations, Stephen Miller, surveys the moon surface for potential sites for the CURE Lunar Children's Hospital

Why the moon?

“The consideration wasn’t obvious at first, else we would have already been there,” said Dr. Harrison. “But when we realized that there were no Christian organizations serving the moon coupled with the fact that there is no sustainable surgical healthcare in space, the decision was an easy one.”

Blasting off

“We’ve faced plenty of challenges in hospital construction in the past,” said VP of International Operations Stephen Miller, “But I think we really have our work cut out for us this time. For one thing, we’ve never had to worry about breathable air in one of our hospitals. But that’s just how things go here at CURE. We’ll figure it out.” Stephen and the rest of the operational staff are confident that they can find sustainable solutions – now outside of earth’s atmosphere.

Each aspect of CURE’s work will need to be modified to support this new, remote location – from short-term teams to staff recruiting to supply shipping to technology – all aspects will need to be ready to endure the multi-day travel to the lunar surface and the complications of space ministry. Chief Medical Director, Dr. Chris Lavy, is already researching the effects of zero-gravity and oxygen-poor environments on neglected clubfoot and hopes to publish his findings before the hospital opens. Newly appointed CURE President, Dale Brantner, is already planning a 3-day intensive training course at the famed Texas “Space Camp” to prepare to lead trips to the new facility. “We’re excited to advance the mission of CURE to the most unreached people in the universe – moon men, moon women, and whatever other moon nationals live up there.” said Brantner. Adding, “We are already pursuing options to expand infant clubfoot treatment into Mars before 2020.”

Space issues

The new expansion is not without its downsides. For one thing, CURE CFO Mark Knecht has concerns. “Before we can really commit to a CURE facility on the Moon, we need to address travel costs,” said Knecht. “We’re not going to be able to make this happen until we can find a flight between Pennsylvania and the Sea of Tranquility that costs less than one million dollars.”

Stay tuned to cure.org in the months ahead as we broadcast live construction footage from the lunar surface. Also look for a more formal fundraising campaign this fall, including the sale of moon rocks on the CURE Store to support mobile clinics.

Happy April Fools.

Instead, I recommend that you read this post on CURE Afghanistan or check out CUREkids and follow the story of a child’s life-changing surgery.

The Most Awesome Contract Job Ever!

Still with me? Great, because if you are or know someone who fits this description, we want to talk. CURE is looking for a web developer interested in six months of contract work as part of the CURE.org team. Here are the qualifications:

• You know and love WordPress
• You are proficient in (obviously) PHP, JQuery/JS, MySQL, HTML, SVN, and CSS
• You play well with others
• You have demonstrable work (i.e. you’re a part of something that we can see on the web)
• You are used to working with a web designer on consumer-focused, web-based products
• Ideally, you have built and contributed a plugin to the WordPress community
• Important: You want to be a part of CURE’s mission and would love to do awesome work that will help heal a bunch of kids… because it absolutely will
• You’d like a paid opportunity to contribute a plugin back to the WordPress community, designed to help non-profits connect with their supporters
• You can work within our modest but manageable budget constraints

CURE ♥ WordPress

CURE International loves the WordPress platform. We intentionally built cure.org on WordPress because we believe in the WordPress community, we believe in being open and social in the way we operate as an organization and communicate with our fans and supporters, and we want to encourage other non-profits to move to WordPress as their website and publishing platform. In 2011, we released (and I can say this because I didn’t author it), one-of-if-not-the finest WordPress plugins for non-profits that has ever been published, Personal Fundraiser.

Personal Fundraiser, a WordPress plugin for non-profits from CURE International

Now, we want to meet you

We’re looking to make our next contribution to the WordPress community and develop a relationship with the right person to help bolster our website and marketing efforts throughout 2012. We’re looking for six months of steady support from a WordPress developer, and as part of that work, you’ll be the primary author of CURE’s next contribution to the WordPress community to support non-profits.

If that’s you, apply here with your resume, links to projects that you’ve been a part of, your GitHub account, etc. Send us information that demonstrates you know how to design software and want to be a part of something more important than helping sell hamburgers (No offense intended to Five Guys, In-And-Out, or any other reputable burger joint. You make awesome hamburgers, but we’re looking for someone who thinks that healing kids is more important).

We can’t wait to hear from you. If you have questions, email our Director of Technology Development, John Kleinschmidt, at jk@cure.org.

One last point, and I can’t stress this enough…

No Recruiters!

We’re only interested in talking to people with the initiative and technical chops to do this work. If you broker the time of someone else, neither you nor they are a good candidate to work with CURE. So please don’t waste our time or yours.

CURE Afghanistan in March 2012. There's a lot of snow on the ground.

A Primer on CURE Afghanistan

In 2005, CURE took responsibility for a hospital complex on Darulaman Road in Kabul, Afghanistan. As with all CURE hospitals, we brought in skilled and experienced western ex-pats to work alongside of national professionals – bolstering the skills, training, and standards of the hospital.

This past week, I was privileged to visit that hospital. Led by a mixture of ex-pat and national professionals, CURE Afghanistan employs hundreds of doctors, nurses, and staff and serves the needs of thousands of pregnant mothers, premature babies, and women and children with surgically treatable conditions. As is the case throughout CURE, many of our Afghan doctors are national leaders in their respective specialty, sacrificing safety and material opportunity to serve their people with an excellence and reputation that is unrivaled. It is truly an honor for me to call them colleagues.

Afghanistan is not what it seems on the news. It is a hard place to serve and a difficult place to live; but the Afghan people are warm and hospitable, and it is clear that the CURE hospital is making a huge difference in a country that is still very broken after years of totalitarian rule and continued tribal warfare.

As I reflect on CURE’s mission in Afghanistan, one question has occupied my thoughts:

What does “healing the sick and proclaiming the kingdom of God” look like in Afghanistan?

To answer that question, I was drawn to an example Jesus gave his disciples about the nature of the kingdom of God. Jesus used a common phrase and an uncommon circumstance to describe the overwhelming influence that the kingdom of God – this present and yet coming kingdom, this redemptive work by God to renew His Creation – has on everything it touches.

Everybody Eats Bread

Here’s what Jesus had to say in Matthew 13:33.

He [Jesus] told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

To His first century audience, Jesus offers the example of yeast and the effect that even a little amount has on dough. This example is not unique in the New Testament. Both Jesus and Paul make multiple references to yeast, and each repeats (without the need for explanation) what one might well assume is a common axiom of the day, “a little yeast leavens the whole batch.”

(Sidenote: As I prepared this post, I reached out to my sister, a forensic chemist, to try to understand what’s going on chemically as yeast interacts with the sugars in flour. It’s complicated, but if you’re interested, check out these links: How Glycolysis Works, Fermentation, and a video on the topic.)

This is a lot of naan (a type of bread made in Afghanistan), but its not 100lbs of it!

In the first century Middle East and even today in Afghanistan, bread is and was a staple of life. Every household had bread at each meal, every home knew how to mix water, flour, and yeast to bake bread, and everyone knew that a tiny amount of yeast had the capability to leaven a whole batch of dough.

So how is yeast like the kingdom of God?

Some commentators draw the conclusion that yeast in the Bible is primarily a picture of sin or evil, but I’m not convinced that is completely accurate. Instead, I think Jesus and Paul both referenced yeast as a pervasive and influential agent… almost an “infection” that ideas or behavior can have on circumstances or society. Some influences, some “yeast” – like the religiosity of the Pharisees (Mark 8) – can influence people away from right relationship with God. Some – like the example in Matthew 13:33 – can influence society towards the true shalom of God – life as God intended it in the beginning.

A Notably Huge Amount of Flour

1 pound of flour (4 cups) = 14 servings of bread
60 pounds of flour (240 cups) = 840 servings of bread

But if the example of yeast was well known, the amount Jesus references, “about sixty pounds of flour,” was anything but common. That amount of dough would feed hundreds of people, and most common people would not have made that much bread on a daily or even weekly basis. The amount must have grabbed people’s attention and underscored the effect of the kingdom of God on society.

Yeast is initially small and unnoticeable, but a small amount of yeast is overpoweringly influential, even on 60 pounds of flour. So, it seems, is the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God was near in the 1st century…

The first century Roman world seemed to dwarf the influence of this tiny group of disciples that had rallied around the young rabbi from Nazareth, but Christ wanted his followers to see life from God’s perspective. Despite the outward circumstances of the day and the seemingly small influence of the kingdom of God, God’s redemptive purposes in the world were being fulfilled. In fact, if we are to take Jesus’ teaching as truth, it is impossible for a circumstance, a setting, or even a culture to avoid the influence of the kingdom of God. Like a tiny amount of yeast can leaven a meal great enough to feed an army, so was the kingdom of God redeeming this world. All of life is being brought in alignment with God’s ultimate intentions and will, and we are each privileged to participate in that story.

Put simply, the kingdom of God changes… everything.

…and the same is true in 21st century Afghanistan

The Afghan people have experienced the kind of oppression and suffering that few in the western world can comprehend. The darkness of its “sixty pounds of flour” seems to dwarf the tiny influence of the kingdom of God in that region of the world. But I’ve been there and seen it with my own eyes, and when I think about CURE Afghanistan, Jesus’ teaching rings true.

Talented ex-pats work alongside our dedicated national staff to serve the needs of the vulnerable and sick throughout the country, receiving patients from every province in Afghanistan. The hospital has trained and sent out dozens of surgeons and general practitioners from its residency program, slowly raising the national quality of care. It has established one of the finest NICU units in the country, saving the lives of hundreds of children a year. It has provided life-changing surgery to thousands of women and children who would otherwise have suffered or died from their conditions. It has restored thousands of families. Relationships are being built. Lives are being changed. All of this has been done because of CURE’s commitment to serve the people of Afghanistan in a way that glorifies God. The seemingly small influence of the kingdom of God is having its intended effect. If we take Jesus at His word, we shouldn’t be surprised; it can’t help but be a pervasive influence.

The Proof is in the (Bread)pudding

CURE Afghanistan made a forever difference in Ali Sina's life

So if you ask me what “healing the sick and proclaiming the kingdom of God” looks like in Afghanistan, I’ll tell you about brilliant Afghan surgeons, I’ll show you the faces of the lives we’ve touched, I’ll share some amazing stories of how God is working in that part of the world, and I’ll ask you if you’ve ever seen 100 pounds of naan… because it looks a lot like that.

Ceciliah at her identification appointment at CURE Kenya

A few weeks ago, a little girl named Ceciliah Nyanusi missed her followup appointment at CURE Kenya. Ceciliah received a surgery to repair her clubfoot condition at our hospital this past September, and her treatment was supported by a group of donors through CUREkids.

Families miss their followup appointments for all sorts of legitimate reasons, and part of our communication process with CUREkids is to followup with those families and determine if we can expect them at their next appointment. So we followed up with Ceciliah’s family.

Then last week, we received some sad news. Two weeks prior, Ceciliah had passed away in her home village from cerebral malaria.

While we know Ceciliah’s death was not related to the care she received at our hospital in Kenya (we saw Ceciliah in a followup clinic in November and her clubfoot condition was healing nicely), for those of us at CURE, Ceciliah was a sad and inevitable first: the first child reported on through CUREkids to pass away.

The Real World

Parents in developing countries live in a constant awareness of the thin line between death and life; and Ceciliah’s parents, like many in rural parts of Kenya (and most of the places CURE serves), experience the consequences of disease far more often than I can comprehend (as a parent to an 8-month-old little girl, I have a hard time understanding what it would be like to lose my daughter to something like meningitis). For a family with very little materially, the loss of a child is devastating emotionally, spiritually, and even financially.

So now we know that a family in Kenya is grieving the loss of their daughter, and we here at CURE are left determining how to lovingly, respectfully, and authentically share this news with the community of people who have been praying for and supporting Ceciliah since her parents came to CURE for help this past summer.

Doing what we say

Since we started CUREkids a little more than a year ago, we’ve been committed to authentic communication; CUREkids is not a prepackaged, cookie-cutter experience. We have a mission, we’re committed to quality, and we pray for positive outcomes; but this is real medicine with real consequences and that comes with the real messiness of real life. That commitment to “real-ness” became even more intense with the sad news of Ceciliah’s death, and we were left answering the question, “How should we – as the community of CURE – respond?”

To seek answers, we turned our attention to God’s word to see how another community of faith was called to respond to the messiness of real life.

Being the Body

In Romans chapter 12, Paul addresses the persecuted church in Rome, admonishing them to live a life of true love for one another, love that flows out of their relationship with and devotion to God. Paul calls this their “true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1). He goes on to explain what sincere love looks like when he offers these words that we often hear at funerals:

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. – Romans 12:15

As a part of CURE, we have the incredible opportunity to see – through the stories we follow in CUREkids – the life-changing impact in a family when a child is healed. We can rejoice with those who rejoice, and through the thoughts and prayers expressed in the get well messages that many of you have sent to our patients and the updates you’ve received during and after surgery, we’ve done just that. Over this last year we’ve seen the journey to healing begin for hundreds of children and the Gospel has been preached to the poor; everyday, there is much to rejoice over.

Now, we have the privilege and responsibility to mourn with those who mourn.

Sending our Condolences

If someone who lived next door to you lost their daughter due to illness, what would you do? If you’re like me, you’d probably send your condolences and let them know your family is praying for them. Without diminishing their sorrow, you’d offer them your ear; and if they allowed you, you’d sit with them, pray with them, and pray for them. Ideally, you’d be with them, just like God is with us in our times of sorrow.

And that’s exactly what we’ve invited Ceciliah’s community to do. Distance and circumstance separate us, but we want to express our empathy to one grieving family from dozens of others… and hopefully show what it means to be the Church.

So this week, we’ve asked Ceciliah’s community of supporters to email their thoughts and prayers to our CUREkids team in Kenya, and our CUREkids team has committed to getting those messages to Ceciliah’s parents. Together, we’re offering our condolences to people we will never meet but with whom we’ve shared a very real experience.

Technology can’t replicate human touch, but we’re honored to be the conduits for your respectful condolences to Ceciliah’s family. Even over the web, I know God’s grace and comfort will be present.

Thank you for being a part of CURE.

Read the article here.

If you can say yes to some of those questions, are hard working, and ready for the opportunity of a life-time, then have I got a job for you…

We’re Recruiting CUREkids Coordinators

CURE is recruiting young adults who have qualifications as bloggers and photographers to serve in our hospitals as CUREkids Coordinators. A CUREkids Coordinator is a compensated position within CURE International that serves on a one year term overseas. They live and work at (or near) a CURE hospital in one of the countries in which we serve as a full-time blogger and story-teller, connecting people in the US with the kids we treat in our hospitals through words, pictures, and videos using the tools we’ve built at cure.org/curekids. CURE provides for your housing, living expenses, training, and the tools you need to tell the stories of our CUREkids.

We’re always on the lookout for candidates for the future, but we’re urgently seeking a person to replace our CUREkids Coordinator in Kenya for the beginning of April. If that’s you, click the button below to get more information and start the process or send your resume and references to curekids@cure.org.

I Want Info!

CURE won a Pixel Award!

I’m pleased to announce that CURE.org won the judges choice as best non-profit website. We’re thankful to receive this award, and we congratulate the other nominees that we were up against. There have been some pretty awesome winning sites in the Pixel Awards’s 6-year history, and we’re grateful to now be on that list of recipients.

But that’s not all…

Thanks to you, CURE won both awards!

Thanks to our fans, we also won the people’s choice award in the same category. That’s both awards in the non-profit category! Thank you to everyone who voted. We’re glad to be able to celebrate with you.

We don’t do what we do to win awards, but we’re thankful for the recognition – especially as it raises the profile of the kids and families we serve, and we’re grateful that you were a part of that through your voting.

Recognition

The CURE.org team proving why we would never make it in modeling

The standing prayer of the CURE.org team is that God would do things through our work that only He can take credit for. We saw precisely that in 2011, and I pray that He continues to bless our efforts in 2012.

Thanks for being a part of CURE!

Join the CURE.org Team as the Volunteer CURE Store Coordinator

We’re looking for a volunteer to help organize and run the online CURE Store. If you don’t know already, the CURE Store has items designed by CURE or made in the countries in which we serve for sale online at http://store.cure.org. The money from those gifts is used to support the work of CURE to provide life-changing surgeries for the kids we serve.

To get involved, you need to be organized, enjoy working as a part of a small team, and be willing to come into the CURE headquarters twice a week for a few hours (or organize people who will) to fulfill orders and coordinate with the marketing team (including exploring new product ideas).

Interested? Email us at info@cure.org today. We’re praying that God brings us the right person. Maybe that’s you.

PS – If you don’t live in the Harrisburg, PA, area, I’ll be back with some great ways you can volunteer next week.

If you Google Wilson Patton, you’ll see that this 17-year-old is the world record holder for longest time spent on a balance board. But that’s not why we’re mentioning him on the CURE blog.

Wilson has another first that we think is even more impressive; he’s the first person to create a iPhone App whose profits are being donated to heal kids through CUREkids!

A few months ago, Wilson emailed CURE with an idea. He wanted to build an iPhone game and donate the money he earned from the game to help kids through CUREkids. As a software guy, I was intrigued by the concept, and as a part of CURE, I was ecstatic to see such an innovative idea to Do for Kids Who Can’t. The result is Flying Meatballs.

Flying Meatballs

From the Apple iTunes App Store’s description of Flying Meatballs:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flying-meatballs/id476808103?mt=8

Flying Meatballs supports CURE International (http://cure.org) to provide life-changing surgeries to kids in Africa and Latin America. Learn more about CURE and follow the specific kids who are healed because of this app at http://cure.org/flyingmeatballs.

Your flimsy, plastic fork is in danger of being broken by a huge field of flying meatballs in space! Lead your fork for as long as possible through the danger of balled-up, Italian meat to get a high score, and feel good about yourself along the way because you helped a child receive life-changing surgery! Did we mention that the awesome plastic fork you are guiding through space can pick up aliens and then shoot them at meatballs whenever your pronged eating utensil is in peril of a fiery, ground-meat-filled death? Changing an impoverished and disabled child’s life, helping a plastic fork lost in space, destroying flying balls of meat with tiny green aliens… a game just can’t get any better than Flying Meatballs!

Already, Flying Meatballs has donated $112 for life-changing surgeries through CUREkids! You can follow the fundraising progress of Flying Meatballs at Wilson’s personal fundraising page at http://cure.org/my/flyingmeatballs

What about you?

Wilson is 17, and he built an iPhone game to heal kids through CUREkids! What can you do?

Start your own fundraiser for your birthday or your upcoming race, hold a Dance For Kids Who Can’t, or find your own idea to help kids through CUREkids. If you’d like help or have an innovative new idea you’d like to use to partner with CURE, email us!