Southern Institute for Appropriate Technology

Have you ever watched heart-wrenching documentaries of war-torn countries, of hungry children, of people suffering because of lack of clean water? Have you seen pictures of urban slums where disease and despair run rampant? Maybe you know the statistics that about 27,000 children less than five years old die of easily preventable causes every single day, that one out of five people on the planet lives on less than $1 a day, that millions are illiterate and have no job skills.

You can make a lasting difference in one community in the developing world. How? By investing in a Christian leader from a poor community to come to SIFAT and learn practical skills of how the poor can help themselves. These candidates have been selected by their own people to come and get training—how to have clean water, better gardens, prevent disease, build latrines, start a revolving village loan fund, develop micro-enterprises, vaccinate children, teach literacy and more. After the 10-week intensive training this fall, they return home to share all they have learned to benefit the entire community.
We believe this is the best way to make a lasting impact on poverty and to bring the light of hope that we have as Christians for a better life in Christ Jesus. We strive to follow Christ’s example of ministering to the whole person—meeting physical, mental, social and spiritual needs.

We have top caliber students—community leaders from Africa, Asia and Latin America—eager to come and learn how to help meet the basic human needs of their communities as a witness to God’s love. Most of them have salaries of less than $200 per month and depend upon scholarship funds to receive training. Many of these people are from places where you and I will likely never go. but we don’t have to. We can impact people around the globe by investing in training their leaders here in Alabama with the integrated Gospel!

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SIFAT offers community development training for pastors and other community leadres from developing countries, as well as for North Americans. We work with our graduates on long-term projects. Our short-term mission teams travel to Bolivia, Ecuador, Uganda and Zambia to partner with these graduates and serve alongside them. On our 176-acre campus in Lineville, Ala., we offer field trips for school-aged students, a youth summer camp and retreats for all ages. Work teams, tour groups and volunteers visit throughout the year. Our simulated Global Village and Urban Slums give visitors a realistic look at how a majority of the world lives.

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Key words: mission team, missions, training, Lineville, Wedowee, Christian, community development, summer camp, camp, retreats, volunteer,