Not Just Tourists
2023: BREATH OF HEAVEN PARTNERS WITH “NOT JUST TOURISTS”
So many wonderful things have been happening in and around Breath of Heaven (BOH) in 2023. Some mighty big things and other smaller day-to-day things.
We want to bring attention to a big blessing that has come to Hope Clinic. Early in 2023 we were approached by one of our child sponsors, Jim Tanksley. He had just begun to work with a non-profit organization based out of Canada. His local contacts are based in Orange County, California. The group is called Not Just Tourists (NJT). Do not let their name fool you. NJT works with hospitals and clinics to obtain unopened medical supplies and gets them to clinics in third-world countries all over the globe. They do so by having travelers bring medical supplies with them as they travel to foreign countries. In our case, to Hope Clinic.
The following are excerpts from the NJT website that further explain what they are all about.
“Our project is about love. Through the work of volunteers, we aspire to:
Change the way people travel and start the journey for ordinary tourists to become humanitarians
Prevent the waste of usable medical supplies and get them to those in most need
Not Just Tourists was founded with the purpose of getting medical supplies to those who can’t afford them. Ordinary tourists are given the means to change the lives of the locals they visit. After seeing first-hand the serious lack of medical supplies in Cuba in 1990, Dr. Ken Taylor and his wife Denise—from St. Catharines, Ontario—started taking medical supplies to remote areas in Cuba. Soon others who were traveling to Cuba began approaching them to take medical supplies too, and the Not Just Tourists phenomenon started.
Since it’s inception 30 years ago, NJT has spread to chapters across the world, with over 10,000 suitcases and 1,000,000+ lbs of medical supplies and equipment delivered to 82 countries.”
In March we began talking with NJT and in April we started our partnership. We took two, fully packed suitcases of medical supplies to BOH in Zambia, Africa. We are a perfect fit for NJT: Zambia is a third-world country, Breath of Heaven operates a medical clinic, and we have teams of volunteers going over to BOH on a regular basis. After that first team, three more teams brought suitcases full of medical supplies to Hope Clinic this summer. In total, volunteers traveling to Breath of Heaven brought over 20 suitcases in 2023. Teams are lined up to visit BOH in 2024. They will be bringing more suitcases to Hope Clinic.
Breath of Heaven and Not Just Tourists is a perfect fit. We help each other achieve our goals. We come from different directions, meet in the middle and help get medical supplies to those in need. It is, indeed, a partnership birthed from heaven.
