Our priority needs are known as “Gifts of Hope”. These are the projects, both new and ongoing, that are our most pressing point of need in this quarter. The links below will take you to a more detailed and printable version of these specific projects. If you feel led, please look over each item and pray about where God might use you to be a blessing to the people of North Korea.

Click Here :Gifts of Hope First Quarter 2012 / Gifts of Hope First Quarter 2012 (Korean Version)

Gifts of Hope

1.) Training Center Construction at the National TB Hospital. With all the new development surrounding the Pyongyang TB Hospital and the NTBRL that has come an expanded need for training to improve national TB prevention and treatment efforts has arisen. We have been asked to build a second story onto an already existing building to provide expanded classroom and other space needed to support training activities in subjects ranging from lab and TB treatment methods, to equipment use and maintenance, to anesthesia, ultrasound and surgery.

2.) Food Assistance-General Medicines. While we continue to work hard to build capacity at care facilities so that they can become more self-sufficient in food production over time, serious food shortages persist, and new patients continue to enter the system for treatment. All incoming patients also need soap, a toothbrush, a blanket, not to mention nutritious food, vitamins and medicine. In 3400 kilometers (2100 miles) of travel to 19 care facilities in the DPRK in November 2011, we heard that most places rely on CFK’s support for 60-70% of their protein needs and for 30% of their overall food needs.

3.) General Fund. While we typically try to raise specific funds for major projects, your gifts to our general fund help us keep our daily operations going, help to pay for shipping costs for medicine and medical supplies, and also pay for replacement parts, repairs or items too small for a specific earmark. General funds also give us flexibility to respond quickly to urgent needs that we couldn’t respond to in a timely way otherwise.

4.) CFK Warehouse Construction in Black Mountain, NC. As CFK’s work in the DPRK expands, we are constrained at our home office in North Carolina by a lack of efficient working space to help us send and receive shipments. We regularly need to receive, inventory, pack, palletize and ship materials needed for technical projects and this requires weather protected working space, room for storage and a loading dock. We often have to decline offers of partial containers work of in-kind donated goods that could be used very effectively in the DPRK because we don’t have a place to temporarily store things until we can fill and ship a full container.

5.) Water Projects. Having completed major water projects at six different locations so far, we clearly see the transformation in health and daily living that water projects make possible. Our plans for 2012 include water projects that are urgently needed at a TB rest home and hepatitis hospital in Kaesong and in other areas. These projects include drilling water wells using equipment provided by Wellspring, another Christian group active in DPRK, and installing tanks, solar panels, and a gravity feed water system. Water systems installed last year at rest homes greatly improved patient irrigation capability.

6.) Passive Solar Greenhouses. Greenhouses have proven successful in supplying fresh vegetables year round and in enhancing local food security for health care facilities. We are sending both half-round (8m x 20m) and quarter-round (8m x 23m) style greenhouses. The exact style sent will depend upon the local needs of each supported facility and available resources.

7.) Facilities Improvement Fund. With the sharply rising numbers of registered TB and hepatitis patients, care facilities must expand in order to house and care for sick or contagious patients. They can generally build the buildings themselves, but they need help with minimal finish materials such as windows and doors, roofing materials, basic electrical wiring and fixtures, tile, etc. Other facilities have 30-50 year old roofs that need to be replaced; or windows that have large gaps, making it very difficult to heat the rooms in the cold of winter. Your help will enable us to respond quickly to the highest priority needs we find on our regular visits.

8.) Doctor’s Kits. Over the past six years we have sent over 630 doctor’s kits to the physicians who serve in the hospitals and rest homes we support. These kits include the most basic diagnostic tools such as a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, thermometers, otoscope, solar lantern and other items in a bag marked with CFK’s logo. They are greatly valued by each doctor because they help them provide better care to each patient.

9.) Motorized Cargo Tricycles. Many rest homes are located in very remote areas, miles from the main hospital where they receive their supplies. The roads are very narrow, and often in poor repair. Cargo motorcycles provide an efficient and practical means for local rest homes to carry goods and patients longer distances while keeping them protected from the weather. A motorized cargo tricycle would be a great help to at least 20 rural care facilities.

10.) Hospital Bed Sets. Simple hand-crank beds, with mattresses and sheets, will make a sick patients recovery more comfortable, and help the staff provide better care to them. Many rest homes do not have big enough rooms to provide beds for every patient, and most non-surgical patients prefer to sleep on the floor Korean style. A mattress will cushion them from floors that are often unheated due to shortages of fuel, and sheets and blankets will keep bedding clean and patients more comfortable.