MormonNewsroom.org features stories from its international Newsroom websites to share what leaders and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world are doing to better the communities in which they live.
Pacific: Improved Oral Hygiene Helps Solomon Islands Communities
Mormon missionary couple David and Theresa Nish, while serving in the Pacific islands, discovered a community need in which they could assist, oral hygiene. “We found they [some residents] weren’t brushing their teeth,” David remarked. “They didn’t know about toothbrushes or toothpaste and that they should brush their teeth.”
The Nishs engaged Church Welfare Services, the Solomon Islands government and local school administrators in educating the children about dental care. LDS Charities provided the funds to purchase 3,000 toothbrushes, 3,000 tubes of toothpaste and 3,000 plastic cups for the children.
Go to the Pacific Mormon Newsroom website to read more about the “Dental Hygiene Project.”
Cambodia: Lives Changed by Wheelchairs
Many smiles and grateful hearts have welcomed the life-changing gift of a wheelchair. LDS Charities has partnered with Veterans International Cambodia and the Association for Aid and Relief, Wheelchair for Development to provide mobility and hope to young and old.
LDS Charities has helped more than 57,000 people improve their mobility and provided health and educational and economic opportunities for those with physical disabilities.
The happy faces tell the story. Read how people’s lives have been touched on the Cambodia Mormon Newsroom website.
India: Clean Water Helps Thousands in India
Celebration became the activity of the day when villagers outside of Hyderabad, India, received clean water.
LDS Charities provided the way to receive water by installing reverse osmosis units in 27 villages, blessing the lives of 60,000 people.
Go to the India Mormon Newsroom website to read more.
Malaysia: Service Organization Benefits From Mormon Helping Hands
The Pure Life Society, which focuses on the needs of displaced families and orphaned children, received help from 60 Latter-day Saint volunteers through the Mormon Helping Hands program. Rocks, limbs, brush and debris were cleared from the organization’s facilities in preparation for a commemorative event at the Pure Life Society headquarters.
Pure Life president Mother Mangalam personally met and thanked each Mormon Helping Hands participant. She praised the members of the Church who gave up their holiday to assist those they did not know. She said, “You Mormons give me hope. Just look at all you young people doing work for others. You don't just talk Christianity; you live it.”
Pictures on the Malaysia Mormon Newsroom website tell the story of the work accomplished.
Ghana: Church Leaders Meet With African Royalty
The King of Asante, His Majesty Otumfo Osei Tutu II, known for his kindness, met with Church leaders at the palace in Kumasi in Ghana in September to discuss the importance of strong families. Other issues of mutual interest included the preservation of historical documents and ancestral records.
Elders Allan F. Packer and Terence M. Vinson of the Seventy, along with local Church leaders, were also given a tour of the palace film library and Manhyia Archives.
Go to the Ghana Mormon Newsroom website to get more insight concerning the meeting.
Pacific: Mayor and Church Leaders Discuss Ways of Strengthening Families
The mayor of Bora Bora in French Polynesia met with local leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to explore ways of helping the youth and the community to be more educated in life’s important values.
Mayor Gaston Tong Sang (second person from left) expressed his desire to help families and youth in Bora Bora embrace values that will help them become good citizens, have happy families and ultimately lead to success and happiness in life.
Read more about the Church open house where this discussion took place on the Pacific Mormon Newsroom website.