For the past 11 years, HopeShares has partnered with Seed of Hope in South Africa to provide support and mentoring. During this time we have had staff on location supporting the organization. A few years ago we were able to have our staff return to Canada and as of May 2020, Seed of Hope is run by a local Zulu women who has a passion and vision for her community. We believe our new mission clearly shares our passion to support organizations and their leaders who are working in their communities to make a difference. As we expand our work with other partner organizations, your continued support will be crucial. Around the world most community work is done by small organizations led by international workers supported by local staff who have compassion and vision. These leaders often have a limited skill set for leading and developing a growing team and the challenges they face are often overwhelming. As an international worker, you are in a cross-cultural situation, distanced from family and friends, lacking support and generally feeling alone. A sobering statistic is that 70% of international workers who return home early, do so for reasons that are preventable. These reasons include but are not limited to marriage challenges, family dynamics, interpersonal issues with other staff, cultural issues or spiritual burn out. When this happens, the leader’s lives, their kids, as well as the organization are deeply impacted. This is where HopeShares wants to make a difference. In the next few years we are looking to partner with more organization to help the leader of the organization to ensure they are healthy in all areas of their personal lives and leadership role.
