When we first met Sakina, she was sitting in her home, a tiny, primitive structure made of sticks and mud, with one small window. She was sitting in the dark on a piece of slate, curious but wary, as her family looked on. Sakina's mother explained to us that she is 20yrs old and has been paralyzed and mute since the age of 2yrs, when she contracted the measles. She smiled shyly as Bp. Baji spoke to her in Swahili, then reacted with excitement as we gave her a mosquito net to protect her from malaria.
Sakina spends her days in a hut no longer. Thanks to the generosity of donors like you, Jubilee partnered with diocesan staff to bring her into the light. We provided a wheelchair, mattress and bedpan. The diocese provided bed linens and some new clothes. As you can see, Sakina is happy to be out in the sunshine with her family.
--The Rev. Maggie Geller
Following a recent journey to our sister Anglican Diocese of Tanga in Tanzania, a group led by Brother Curtis Almquist, Superior of the Monastery of Saint John the Evangelist in Cambridge, has raised $15,780 to support the completion of a village dispensary/primary health care center in the village of Kizara.
Construction began several years ago with funds provided from a Japanese donor. However, construction stopped when the government of Tanzania was unable to provide matching funds, and has resumed in fits and starts as the villagers were able to save small amounts of money from among themselves; the building is less than half completed.
Pledges came from Grace Episcopal Parish in North Attleboro, All Saints Parish in Brookline, and the families and friends of the SSJE mission group. The grant to the village of Kizara will be administered by the Anglican Diocese of Tanga and funds will be transferred through the Jubilee Ministry of our own diocese.
At present, the Kizara villagers must travel 6-8 hours on foot to reach the closest medical facility to obtain primary health care services. Those with chronic diseases, requiring constant medication, must obtain their medicines from a traveling health care worker who visits Kizara only intermittently; but when her supplies run out they must go without or make the long journey to the nearest facility. Upon completion, the new dispensary will be staffed and supplied by the government of Tanzania.
This much needed facility will provide basic medical services to 9,000 people within a 3 Kilometer radius of Kizara. The dispensary will also allow the people of Kizara to participate more fully in the HIV/AIDS counseling, testing and treatment program funded by our Jubilee Ministry.
The members of the group who traveled to Tanga were Br Curtis, SSJE, Br. Timothy Solverson, SSJE, Dr. Colin Johnstone (All Saints Church, Brookline and Jubilee Ministry), Dr. Robert Lambe (Grace Church, North Attleboro), Mike and Peggy Stevens (Friends of St. John), James Meeks (California), Dianne Moss (St Michael's Church, Dallas, Texas) and Elisabeth Keller (Jubilee Ministry co-chair).
--Colin Johnstone
Do you believe in miracles?
From January to March, 2008, the Mother's Union Orphan Feeding program served 57,492 meals. That represents 4,791 children fed per Saturday at the 15 parishes being sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and others.
Missionary Nancy Hardison reminds us that 2008 "began tragically for Kenya." Because of the post-election violence we suspended cash payments and food delivery to programs, until February 23, when we deemed it safe to resume. Then food prices soared. Even with the suspension of food delivery, we were in financial difficulties. We stopped buying rice for the programs, so that every Saturday the meal is githeri - maize and beans. However, it is important to note that programs continued to meet even during January and February. The mothers provided what they could for food, and taught the classes as usual.
Through all of the struggles of this year, the women of the Mother's Union would not give up on the needy children in their midst. In witness of God's love they continued to do what they could. It is a miracle of God's power and love.
Micro-loans - The Road to Self Sufficiency
The difficulties of the winter and spring of 2008 caused the women of the Mother's Union (MU) to seriously re-evaluate their program. They have grown dramatically.
Besides the 15 parishes in the Diocese of Maseno North with financial sponsorship another 23 have begun feeding programs. Thirty-eight of the 42 parishes of the diocese are involved. The size of the program as well as the inequities of some being funded and others not have caused them to propose a bold new direction. They are committed to making all of the orphan feeding program self sufficient.
The MU has asked the Diocese of Massachusetts Jubilee Ministries to shift our money from directly paying for the food to funding micro-loans so that the women can begin to fund the programs themselves. Professor Nancy Hardison, a retired business professor, is working with them to provide business enterprise training, including budgeting, record keeping and break even analysis. Jubilee Ministries approved a $68,000 one year grant beginning in July, 2008 for the Mothers Union Orphan Feeding Program.
Please keep the children and women in your prayers, as well as Nancy and Garry Hardison.
--The Rev. Tom Barrington
Courtesy Jubilee Ministry
Dianne Smith
After returning from a diocesan mission trip to El Salvador last year, Dianne applied to Mission Personnel and contacted Jubilee to explore a call to mission work in Africa. Within a few weeks, she was off to Maseno, Kenya, where she worked alongside the Hardisons for the month of December. Upon her return, Dianne was accepted as a missioner of The Episcopal Church and will return this fall to Maseno for a longer assignment."Dianne is a Godsend, and we are thrilled she will be returning to Maseno as amissioner," said Nan Hardison on her recent visit to Jubilee.
In her own words, Dianne reports, "My mission assignment is as nurse administrator for Maseno Hospital, but I will do anything Gerry and Nan need me to do. I think our best work is always done side-by-side, hand-in-hand. I expect to be in Maseno by mid-October.
"I have been doing some night-time private duty nursing here on the Vineyard, but my primary position has been as the office manager for Seven Gates Farm Corporation for several years. Friends, family and employers have been very supportive of my call to mission, for which I'm grateful. I moved to the island in 1971 and have three grown children and six grandchildren.
"I enjoy an active church life at St. Andrew's, Edgartown, as parish nurse, labyrinth facilitator, Fair Trade coffee coordinator, mission trip leader, lay leader and LEM. We all wear lots of hats in small-town America, and I expect to wear lots of them in Kenya, as well. It is a gift to be invited back to work with the Hardisons and the people of Maseno."
Follow Dianne's story on her blog.
This spring, Jubilee member Dr. Christiana Russ, of Children's Hospital, made an extended visit to the Bishop Masereka Christian Foundation (BMCF), offering support at the foundation's medical center.
Christiana speaks enthusiastically of the very good - and kind - medical care provided at the center led by Dr. Daniel Sambili. Her own contributions included pediatric training for staff and direct care to patients. In the months since her return, Christiana is sharing with other Jubilee members, and local churches, her insights on growth and development of Jubilee's commitments in Uganda.
We have received the wonderful news that three Jubilee-funded high school students will attend university in Uganda on government scholarships. This is quite an achievement, and we applaud their years of dedicated study. In this way and many others, Jubilee's commitment to the Bishop Masereka Christian Foundation in Uganda continues to bear important fruit.
Finally, the Bishop Masereka Christian Foundation has a new and improved website.
--Kate Cress