From immigrants to entrepreneurs, SDOP partners are working to overcome life’s obstacles
Congregations are encouraged to celebrate SDOP Sunday on Feb. 8
LOUISVILLE — Immigrants, refugees and other marginalized people in southwest California are receiving help to rebound from trauma thanks to a project supported by the Presbyterian Committee on the Self Development of People (SDOP).
Based in Gardena, California, Mustard Seed Impact International is a faith-based nonprofit that serves “a diverse population of immigrant families, with a particular focus on African diaspora women,” said Rene Anita Chombeng, founder and executive director.
The organization, founded in 2023, endeavors to provide trauma-informed, culturally sensitive support services, knowing that many of its clients have been affected by war, violence and displacement.
“Our trauma-informed care model has directly helped immigrant and refugee women navigate grief, displacement and cultural adjustment,” Chombeng said. “We aim to facilitate healing, restore dignity, and empower individuals to rebuild their lives through counseling, leadership training and community-based initiatives.”
It’s one of the projects highlighted in “Surviving the Struggle,” SDOP’s latest yearbook and tool kit, which is available to read and share in advance of SDOP Sunday (Feb. 8). The online publication also can be used year-round. The Spanish-language version is here.
“The SDOP Sunday Yearbook and Tool Kit is an annual booklet highlighting how SDOP engages with communities and the church to eradicate systemic poverty and its intersectional social and economic justice issues,” the publication notes. “This work is carried out locally, nationally and internationally through SDOP’s national and mid council committees partnering with low-income community-based groups on long-term projects that community residents will initiate and lead.”
Partnering with SDOP has helped Mustard Seed to build credibility, expand outreach and launch healing-centered programs despite limited resources.
Also, SDOP’s “follow-up and encouragement have made us feel part of a larger network of justice-seeking organizations,” Chombeng said.
Fruit bar operation
Another inspiring project highlighted in the yearbook is by the Doña Cheva Frozen Fruit Bars Community Group of Panama. That initiative got going in 2024, earning money for six families and making it possible to overcome community hurdles, with SDOP’s help.
“Doña Cheva not only offers a quality artisanal product but also represents a collective effort born from and for the community,” said Irving Torres, coordinator. “We are driven by the desire to generate a positive social impact, address real needs and create opportunities where none existed before.”
The venture was started to buy water storage tanks to help area communities and “to expand our product sales to other communities and eventually to the city center, thus generating employment opportunities,” Torres said.
Now, the group “is reaching different corners of the country, and our goal is to continue growing, positioning ourselves in mini-supermarkets, stores, and even in local establishments or restaurants,” Torres said. “ However, we keep in mind that it's not our will that defines our path but God's will. He is in absolute control of everything we do, and every time we go out to sell or prepare our delicious duros, we entrust ourselves to him, trusting that his plans will always be perfect.”
The Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson, who manages SDOP, encourages Presbyterians to support SDOP partners by giving to One Great Hour of Sharing and by working to help people live lives of wholeness, access and self-determination.
“As you engage in this resource, we invite you to recognize the ways that the Lord is inviting us to be in relationship with our communities to battle poverty’s many oppressive impediments,” Johnson wrote in the introduction. “Self-development is about strengthening relationships, cultivating hope and supporting human thriving and equity.”
Find more information about SDOP Sunday, the Presbyterian Committee on the Self- Development of People and its new yearbook here. You can use the QR code on SDOP’s website to provide feedback on the yearbook.
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