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My name is Eric Malave and I first experienced the Project New Hope Internationals plan in July of 2006, when I came down on a short mission trip with Hope 4 Kids International. The barrio director’s had been working in the Barrio’s about 30 days, so it was near the beginning. After seeing the vision of the project, I knew I had to be involved in some way or another. This mission touched my heart at the right time as I was really trying to piece together what God’s will for my life was. I had just helped plant a church in my community, serving as a part-time Children’s Pastor, and while that was fulfilling, it still didn’t seem like I was either being used to my full potential, or that I was really fully passionate about what I was doing. John Hendee and Project New Hope was about to change all of that. After many discussions over the last few years with John, I came on board as the Assistant to the Executive Director in April of 2009.I work directly with John on many different projects. The first project I started on was to change our website look and content, with a goal of really telling the story of what is happening in Trujillo. I am also currently in production of new videos for our website and for promotion of different areas of the project. I am also working on new brochures for the project as well.
Another area that I have begun work on is connecting new organizations and churches to the project. In October, I will be hosting our first Vision Trip in Trujillo, Peru. The idea is to take a few days to show other churches and organizations everything our team is working on in Trujillo and then help them figure out how they may fit in as a partner to the project. Our first trip will include a group from Young Life from Arizona and a Young Life Team from Lima. I will also be hosting a few other individuals that are looking to be more involved including Jim Rhodes from El Centro California and David Myers from Fellowship Church in Anthem, Arizona. We will also, be doing a dedication of a water well that our partner Water for the World helped us complete in a local school.
After traveling to different parts of the world and seeing many friends doing great things around the world, I had never seen a project of this magnitude until traveling to Peru. I truly believe this project can change the way things are being done around the world. There is a saying, “You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or you can teach a man to fish and feed him for a life”. Our team is teaching! They are teaching people how to help themselves as communities and to rise up leaders from within their own barrios and not just to rely on relief organizations, but to rely on God and each other. It is amazing to see the growth of the people. And I am proud to be a part of this organization.
Eric Malave
