TEARS - Nias Island, Indonesia
T.E.A.R.S. International began as a small Christian non-profit specifically designed to meet the physical, medical, and spiritual needs of the people of South Nias after the devastating Tsunami and subsequent earthquakes.
After years of medical clinics, cataract surgeries, burn surgeries, and children’s feeding stations, T.E.A.R.S. is launching a nutritional program designed to meet the long terms needs of the area better. T.E.A.R.S. has discovered gaps in the nutrition of the children, their knowledge of growth and development, their education of it in school, and record keeping of all these things between the schools and local clinics.
To help fill these gaps T.E.A.R.S. is cooperating with the local South Nias Health Department. Together, a project is underway to combine vegetable gardens on school grounds that will be maintained by students with education on those vegetables and their effect on the body. Meals will be prepared using those vegetables and general health records of each child including their growth progress, their illnesses, and their vaccinations will be kept. Records will then be shared with local health clinics so that the children can be followed more closely.
Vegetable seeds will also be available to send home and help foster gardening at home with families as the children and their families learn more. All of this will be conducted by competent and caring Christians who wish to share their gifts, time, and stories with those they are working with.