Hope and Healing International is a development organization working specifically with the world’s most vulnerable children and families – those trying to survive the double disadvantage of poverty and disability. And we’ve been doing this for over 110 years.

While blindness continues to be a key focus of our work, we’ve been bigger than blindness right from the get go, when our founder, Pastor Christoffel, opened the doors of his school to children who couldn’t see, couldn’t walk, couldn’t hear. Today, our vision hasn’t changed, it’s just grown in geographic scope. We’re committed to bringing hope and healing to children and families trapped in the cycle of poverty and disability in the poorest countries and communities of the world.

We believe all people have value. And it’s wrong that so many people are denied opportunities – to learn, work, marry, thrive – all because they’re poor and have a disability.

1 billion people have a disability. 80% live in the poorest countries of the world. Disability & poverty are inextricably linked…

We want to change that – to prevent and cure and eliminate the barriers that cause disability… until all people are valued as Jesus values them.

Yes, Hope and Healing International strives to follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ. Our faith informs our vision, decisions and actions, and it gives us the drive and courage to stay when things get tough.

Hope and Healing International works in the world’s poorest countries, primarily in east and southern Africa.

Hope and Healing International helps people with disabilities of every kind – blindness, hearing impairment, injuries, amputations, birth malformations, learning difficulties and mental health issues. Hope and Healing International works with people of all ages, though we have a particular heart for children, because they are especially vulnerable. With the right help early on, these kids can have bright futures.

Hope and Healing International evangelizes the way Jesus did when he was here on earth – through restorative acts of care. Our vision is to show Christ’s love in action, working in partnership with local churches and other Christian organizations wherever possible. We treat all people as equals and worthy of Jesus’ love, irrespective of their personal faith.

While we understand the desire to go and visit the child whose care you’re sponsoring, there are a number of reasons we’ve chosen not to offer this direct contact.

First, we need to get as much of every dollar you give straight over to your child’s specialized medical care. Organizing visits and hosting these trips takes administrative dollars. It also takes hosting time for our front-line field staff. We want to keep our community workers, doctors and physiotherapists focused on life-changing medical care and rehabilitation.

The second reason behind our decision to limit contact is our desire to respect the privacy of all our healinghugs children and their families. We’ve made the commitment to all children in our care to guard their safety, keeping their location untraceable.

Face-to-face fundraising is a great way to talk to Canadians about how you can transform lives with hope and healing. There’s nothing like seeing the pictures and hearing the stories of the kids and families we help. There’s nothing like having a conversation – hearing your questions and your thoughts about making the world a better place. You just can’t do that through the mail.

They will wear a t-shirt, coat or vest with the healinghugs logo on it. They’ll also wear a lanyard with a Hope and Healing International card containing an ID number. They’re some of the friendliest, most passionate and professional people on the street. We’ve chosen to partner with UpFundraising, 1:1 Fundraising and GiveBridge because we’ve been so impressed with their agents.

No, we don’t want our agents carrying around cash – for their own safety and for the safeguarding of your donation.

Absolutely. We wouldn’t be truly Christian if we didn’t. We serve people who are blind, disabled and at-risk throughout the developing world regardless of race, gender, age or religion. We strive to value everyone as Jesus does.

There are lots of ways to get involved. You can give a donation or throw a fundraiser – as we need financial support to keep our work running. We need people to share our cause with family and friends. We also need prayer. If you’d like to pray for us, why not order our latest prayer diary – a collection of daily prayer requests from our workers in the field.

I’d like to order my FREE Prayer Diary

Send us an email at [email protected] with your new info – and we’ll get those changes made for you. You can also call our friendly phone team for FREE at 1.800.567.2264.

Not only are children and moms and dads with a disability overlooked in most development programs, they’re also largely forgotten in relief efforts. When was the last time you saw someone on the nightly news in a wheelchair in an emergency food distribution line? We partner with other emergency relief organizations to ensure these people have access to life-saving aid. And we give disability-preventing and rehabilitating services to those injured in disaster situations.

We do our best to avoid reinventing wheels. We’d rather partner with other global development experts in distributing emergency food aid, in microfinance loans, in building accessible shelter. We are currently partnering with Habitat for Humanity, with the Malawi Microfinance Network, with University of Toronto, and we’re always looking for new opportunities to partner.

Hope and Healing International raises support – funds, prayers, endorsements – from more than 30,000 Canadians across the country. We let people know about ways to be involved with our life-changing work online, through the mail, on the radio and through face-to-face conversations – like this one.

While we understand the desire to send your care in words as well as through funding, there are a number of reasons why we’ve chosen not to offer this direct contact. First we need to get as much of every dollar you give straight over to your child’s specialized medical care. Getting notes sent, matched, and translated requires administrative dollars as well as administrative time for our front-line field staff. We want to keep our community workers, doctors and physiotherapists focused on life-changing medical care and rehabilitation.

We do encourage you to send a note of support and encouragement to the doctors, nurses and community workers at our amazing partner hospitals and community program offices. You can email us or send us a letter, and we would be more than happy to pass it on for you.

Yes, Hope and Healing International recognizes the importance of privacy to our donors and supporters. Our relationship is founded on trust and we are committed to maintaining that trust. We have a documented Privacy Policy that clearly lays out how we carefully store and guard your information. We commit to never renting, selling or trading any of our donors’ information.

Privacy Policy

82% of every dollar goes to our hope and healing work. In your case, 82% of your donation will go to your child’s healing treatment plan and their bear to hug.

Yes. We use a tablet that enters your personal information into a secure donor software, and processes your first donation using industry standard SSL encryption technology. SSL encrypts your data, including your credit card information, so that it cannot be read while being transferred over the internet.