Spring Newsletter - Global Teen Challenge

A LIFE RESTORED
Natt’s Story
A FAMILY RESCUED

Natt is a caring and loving mother of two sons and two daughters in Cambodia. But even Natt’s love for her children couldn’t save her from the shackles of addiction once her husband was sent to prison and the stress of providing for her family overwhelmed her.

“Life got extremely difficult,” Natt says. “All the responsibilities fell on me — to earn money to feed my children and send them to school… I couldn’t do it all myself.”

To make ends meet, Natt collected trash off of the streets to sell for recycling. Day after day, the pressure to provide grew worse. She began using drugs to cope with her hardship. Before long, addiction took over her life.

When Natt’s husband finally returned from prison, it wasn’t the homecoming she had hoped and prayed for. “It was a nightmare, he was jealous, and in his anger, he beat me and violated me,” she said.

Thankfully, local social workers became worried when Natt’s children were no longer in school. They went to her home and discovered the domestic abuse. She says, “They asked me if I wanted help with my addiction in order to care for my children. I said, ‘yes’, and they introduced me to Teen Challenge.”

AN INTERVENTION. THEN SALVATION.

Natt arrived at Teen Challenge Cambodia with her children and entered the program. She instantly felt that her family was safe and would receive care. As part of her rehabilitation, she learned to sew. It’s a skill she now uses to provide for her family.

Even more importantly, she discovered the love of Jesus. “When I got saved, I felt the warm love of Christ,” Natt says. “There is
no judgment with God, He just shows me His love.”

Today, Natt has completed the Teen Challenge program and is building a loving home with her children. She is happy with her sewing job and has become the mom she always wanted to be. “How I care for my children would be very different without Teen Challenge. I’ve been truly blessed by the Lord.”

HEALING.
Recovery Meets the Needs of Women with Children Worldwide

When it comes to recovery, the needs of women are unique — particularly for women with children. More women are likely to enroll in a recovery program if they don’t have to choose between leaving their children and getting well. Unfortunately, most wait until they hit rock bottom to seek help, after their children are taken away from them.

Global Teen Challenge is committed to leading the way in women’s recovery and developing successful curriculum for our growing
number of Teen Challenge women with children programs around
the world.

Thanks to your support, hope is available for more women with children around the world.

AUSTRALIA
A Global Teen Challenge women and children’s center recently opened in Sydney after a three-year process.

LAOS
A new Global Teen Challenge center for women with children is scheduled to open this spring.

TASMANIA
Property has been purchased for a new women with children’s program while awaiting permission from the local government to open a recovery facility.

HARVEST.
New Sawmill Helping Build
Sustainable Strong Futures

Global Teen Challenge, with assistance of donor funds, purchased a new portable sawmill for the Teen Challenge affiliate in Papaua New Guinea. Timber is being harvested and cut into planks by students for the construction of the new 25-bed men’s residential center.

After completion of the center, the sawmill will be utilized as part of their sustainable business income for the center, providing lumber for sale to local communities. The process is also teaching new business and job skills for students’ futures after they graduate.

HOPE.
Building Hope In
The Golden Triangle

The Golden Triangle, made up by the countries of Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand, is considered the world-wide gateway for opium and other illegal drugs like methamphetamines.

A new Teen Challenge center will soon open in Chiang Rai, Thailand, to combat the drug problem in this region. The property for the center was generously donated to Teen Challenge. The land has already been cleared for construction and the new front entrance gate has been built. Phase I includes building a home for adolescent boys. Phase II will include building a center for women and children.

Golden Triangle Teen Challenge new entrance shown below.

Celebrating 61 Years...
IT WAS FEBRUARY 28, 1958

David Wilkerson, a 26-year-old Pennsylvania preacher, made the eight-hour drive to downtown Manhattan for one simple reason... to speak to the seven accused gang members on trial for murder. The judge, however, refused his request which inspired him to start an outreach ministry to drug addicts and gang members. In the years and months that followed, Wilkerson authored the best-selling book, The Cross and the Switchblade, and founded the first Teen Challenge center to serve troubled youth and adults struggling with life-controlling addictions. Today, the book has been translated into more than 30 languages and Global Teen Challenge still uses this book to reach thousands of people in more than 125 nations.

REPORT: THE ROOT OF
THE OPIOID CRISIS

The current opioid crisis in the United States has deep roots in Southeast Asia. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that global opium production increased in 2018 by 65 percent, a record high of 10,500 tons.

Lives & families are transformed thanks to your gift of hope.

Just as spring brings new life and restoration, your prayers and support are doing the same for those who come to us in their time of need.

One way your partnership helps our students is to teach them a trade, like working a sawmill or becoming a seamstress which helped Natt to reintegrate back into society as a productive, self-sufficient, contributing member of the community.

Being able to provide for themselves and a family is a vital part of a complete recovery.

Thank you for coming alongside us to help restore lives, reunite families, and rebuild communities.