tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44122276310617652472024-03-06T22:03:37.555+02:00Steve and Diantha HodgesSteve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-66716889094509542742014-05-27T12:36:00.001+03:002014-05-27T12:36:15.602+03:00<b>The Last Hodges Mission Letter from South Sudan! ...and the next thing for the Hodges</b><br />
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Dear Friends and Supporters,<br />
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It is once again time for Steve and I to make a major mission transition. My time of four years with Individual Volunteers in Mission is ending the end of May (Steve's ended March, 2013). I will be moving to Kampala, Uganda, to seek what God has in store for me there. This will put Steve and I in the same location again!! Your continued prayers and financial support has enabled and upheld the mission here so far. Continued support through this transition will be appreciated (see details below).<br />
Situation in South Sudan: Please continue to pray for peace, as some steps have been taken both parties but conflict continues in places. There have not been any incidents in Yei since I have been here, and the road I will take leaving the country is expected to be secure.<br />
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Finishing my work in South Sudan: I have completed training of about 200 traditional birth attendants. It is amazing how everything has come together at the end. With Dr. Sharon Fogleman's help I have spearheaded creating a training program for women who have had little to no previous education. They have learned how to recognize pictures and use them as reminders (my last ah-ha was seeing I had to teach them how to use the papers as a memory tool. You can't assume anything).When I first came, they would hardly acknowledge the existence of the government health clinics. Now when I have them role play how to talk to a pregnant women with a risk factor or complication, they say “I can't do anything for you at home. You must go to the clinic. If your husband isn't here, I will take responsibility. Let's go”. They have been teaching their women in the churches about safe pregnancy and birth, with the pictorial manual I have written for them, and now have digital audio players, with a recording. I am hearing confirmation that more women calling the TBAs for birth, instead of giving birth alone. There are even some men who are more willing to send the woman to the clinic, than the woman themselves (this represents a big cultural change from just letting things happen at home, as has been done in the past). The TBAs are using the bulb syringes to help the babies breathe at birth (the greatest cause of infant death) and can demonstrate how to stop the mother bleeding too much after the birth (the greatest cause of maternal death). These techniques are often not even known in the rural health clinics. They receive the training as a blessing, with thanksgiving and gratitude. They have been organized into local TBA learning groups, and will be meeting regularly among themselves, and going to their local health clinics to reinforce their skills, learning and relationship for referral. Dr. Lynn and Dr. Sharon Fogleman will be following up on these groups, as the move into their new plan of supporting and mentoring staff at these health clinics. The Foglemans will continue working here also adding focus on malaria, HIV, and other common diseases. I have trained and been assisted by 5 different South Sudanese women and we have all become very close. This, too has been a blessing. It has been amazing how God has directed this hand over to be successful.<br />
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I have been encouraging and monitoring each church to build a pit latrine, using donations from Wytheville District (Holston Conference), private donations and Yei Community Based Health Advance Special. The money provides nails, metal roof and timbers, and the people build the rest with local materials. It has been a long process and will be completed before I leave (pray for the one church which hasn't organized itself to do this project yet). Latrines not only keep the surroundings cleaner but save lives especially of children, who suffer from diarrhea from lack of sanitation.<br />
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All of us here on the UMC team have started seeing more progress in all the programs, especially in some of the churches. It is rewarding to see, after so many years of dedicated effort.<br />
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How to support the ongoing work of UMC in South Sudan (to be carried out by the Foglemans after Diantha leaves): Make donations at www.umcmission.org to Advance Special South Sudan HEAL #33021298 by entering the number in the search bar. (when doing this, make sure the number and title match, don't confuse it with “South Sudan Health Clinic” which is not in Yei, and not our project.)<br />
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<b>Diantha and Steve Hodges' Emerging Ministries in Uganda: the next thing.</b><br />
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What does emerging ministry mean? During these four years Steve and I each have identified our calling for our contribution in this new African context. We know the gifts and vision that we can bring. Time and support is needed to allow each of our individual ministries to develop in a new location.<br />
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We have been led to serve in Uganda..Some conditions especially in the rural areas are very similar to South Sudan. Uganda also has a serious situation with lack of adequate health services, and extremely high infant and material mortality. Steve's work with Agricultural Risk Management is cutting edge there – no one else is doing it – and very much needed to help small scale farmers succeed and get the financing they need to grow their farming into a successful business.<br />
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Diantha's calling: My heart is in grassroots public health education, especially for birth. I believe in work which changes communities. My contributions in Uganda may be as a volunteer for some things, or I may find another organization for whom I can work, hopefully doing things similar to those I did in South Sudan. As I mentioned in my last newsletter, one thing I will do for a few months is help Africa ELI (Education Leadership Initiative, see www.africaeli.org____) explore starting a branch in Uganda in order to help more girls get a better education. Donations are needed to Africa ELI to cover travel expenses for Diantha plus 2 founders to visit potential partners, and for other start up costs (about $750).. ELI does not have any funds in their existing budget for these expenses.<br />
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Steve's calling: My heart is in helping small scale farmers succeed in growing their farming operation into a commercial agricultural business so they bring more income to their families and escape poverty. To do this, they need financing from banks and others; but farming is so risky that there is a need to look at all the risks that might threaten the success of an agricultural enterprise, and make a plan to reduce the most important risks. That's what my agricultural risk assessment, planning and management services do. Though I'm doing it as a business – a business with social purposes -- at times I've provided free or discounted work for farmer groups or universities who are interested in including this approach in education for agricultural and financial professionals. The banks, consulting firms and NGOs that hire me are paying full price. So far my social enterprise business is not quite covering expenses, but as it emerges eventually it will, since it is serving a valuable need that no one else is serving. My goals for my social enterprise business is (1) to help small scale farmers in Uganda (and after some years, in South Sudan) become commercially successful (2) to make enough money to cover expenses and support myself (3) to train a number of young Africans in the knowledge and methods of what I am doing so they can carry it on.<br />
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Accountability: We are forming an accountability committee of several people, to witness and help discern these new ministries. We are submitting a budget and will keep them informed. If you or your church is interested in taking this journey with us, please let Diantha know at dianthah@yahoo.com or in facebook message, so you can be updated as things develop.<br />
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We are asking for some of our supporters to take the leap of faith with us, to enable us to explore what new things God has for us to do in Uganda. In our experience, it is no surprise that the time for moving is almost here, and our funding is not yet defined. God has been leading and opening doors. But we have to trust and wait for the last minute!!<br />
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Finances: Our financial status for the next few months is not yet clear to us. Due to restricted funds, we will not be returning to the U.S. in June for Annual Conference, or visiting churches. We will need some help to transition into a new location for the next several months (we are projecting 3 to 6 months) until the next steps become clear. We will have moving expenses, monthly visas, new down payment for rent, and will need to buy furniture, etc. We have drafted a 6 month budget for $16,345.<br />
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How to donate: If you want to support us, do not send donations to IVIM (Advance Special #982465) as that chapter is finished. The chapter in South Sudan has closed, and a new one will open in Uganda. There are no other options available to us to receive mission support under the umbrella of GBGM of UMC, as we have done in various ways over the last 27 years. Ginghamsburg UMC in Ohio has offered the services of their finance office to help receive and pass on donations for this emerging ministry. It is not a ministry out of Ginghamsburg church, nor supported by their budget. We are very blessed to have this assistance.<br />
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Emerging Ministries: (tax exempt) Send Checks to Ginghamsburg UMC (memo: Hodges Emerging Ministries), 6759 S. County Road. 25A, Tipp City, Ohio 45377.<br />
Online: at www.ginghamsburg.org. Click “give on line” and set up your account. Choose one-time or recurring donation. Then click “support our missionary”. WRITE IN NOTES: Hodges Emerging Ministries.<br />
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Africa ELI: Please send tax exempt donations here if you want to support this part of Diantha's work. This includes a need for an expense account of about $750 including to travel, to visit potential partners. send a designated check or go online at www.africaeli.org to Uganda Outreach Project in the comments line to: Africa ELI, 1550 Centervue Crossing #107, Knoxville, TN 37932. For the rest of my work in public health education, maternal and child health and birth work, send it to the arrangement for our Emerging Ministries.<br />
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Thank you so much for everything that has been done for us, for prayers and support. Please inform your missions committee, and finance officers of these changes. Also please reply to this email to dianthah@yahoo.com if you wish to follow these developments and receive further emails.<br />
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Blessings,<br />
Diantha and Steve Hodges.Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-449497466280435882013-11-30T22:25:00.002+03:002013-11-30T22:25:45.195+03:00Diantha Hodges Mission Letter November/December 2013 South Sudan dianthah@yahoo.com<br />
Dear Friends and Supporters,<br />
There are many challenges to living and working here. I know that this work cannot be done by myself alone. Thank you for the support all have been giving me: the financial support, the prayer support and the personal support, and prayer for Steve's transition to his agricultural risk management work. As Partners in Mission, I want to alert you to a special opportunity through the United Methodist Church. Tuesday, December 3 is a special day of giving, called # Giving Tuesday (after good response last year to Thanksgiving time donations). All on-line gifts given to UMC Advance Special offerings on this day will be matched dollar for dollar. If you are able to help out, there are instructions below. Finances for my programs come from the Advance Special S Sudan HEAL, and My personal support also comes through Advance Special for Volunteers in Mission. Thank you!!<br />
Living here provides many examples of the stark reality of challenges and devastation within human lives: I have not met a person who does not have a story of struggle or tragedy, in the present or recent past. And many of them are not directly war related, but perhaps partly a result of disrupted families and communities. Besides the tragedies of families being broken up by death, multiple marriages that don't work out which leave children and women without support, there is poverty, the challenges of lack of access to education, terrible roads and communication systems, poor health care . Where are these people not vulnerable? <br />
The story of Jesus' birth is also a story of vulnerability: this baby was born to a young woman who became pregnant before marriage and a poor unnoticed carpenter; in a stable, at a time of political unrest. The first announcements were to traveling foreigners and to the shepherds, people who were most looked down on. During his life, Jesus reached out to and healed every kind of outcast or sick, suffering person. Consider the conditions of his death: abandonment, not being understood by those he discipled, little evidence of people understanding him at the time, and the most torturous death. Because of the great vulnerability in the story of Jesus birth, life and death, we know that we cannot have a story of greater vulnerability. God is really with us. There could be no greater story of God's love for us, of Jesus love for us. <br />
It is through the birth of a baby, that we experience the miracle of God creating life: that our love is stirred to care for vulnerable ones. Here in South Sudan, during birth, mothers and babies are the most vulnerable to dying. South Sudan has the some of the worst health statistics in the world, especially for the number of deaths of mothers and babies during birth, and children under 5. Most of the causes of these deaths are prevented in other countries, but there are so many challenges here to even get the basics. <br />
For 2 ½ years I have been training the local midwives (Traditional Birth Attendants or TBAs) who receive little to no compensation for attending births in the mud huts, sometimes called late to a birth after the family cannot cope with a complication. They tell stories of intervening at births when husband and mother-in-law refuse to get transport for emergency (their ancestors did not have these things). They enter the house with prayer. They receive the baby with praise to God for its life. They sing the songs of praise they have learned that so they can discern the pace of a healthy baby's heart and breathing. Is this not teaching and showing love? They bring UMCOR provided birth kits: with baby blanket to dry and keep the baby warm, plastic sheet, soap and gloves to protect from infection, cord tie and clean razor blade to protect the baby from dying of tetanus from a dirty cord. They bring the bulb syringe I have taught them to use which saves lives by suctioning mucous from the baby's mouth if it is born without breathing. They know how to screen for possible complications, to feel for the position of the unborn baby and listen to its heartbeat and to take the mother to the clinic or hospital for greater care. Because they now bring something visible to the birth (birth kits and equipment), people regard them with more respect. My nurse friend cared for a baby in Yei dying of tetanus in the hospital: the young mother lives near a clinic, but gave birth at home alone, and did not know that cutting the cord with a clean blade and not putting dung or other things on the cord could have saved its life. But now more women are listening to the TBAs and getting prenatal care, and asking them to attend the births and more lives are being saved. <br />
Through their actions the TBAs are calling the community to value their skills and leadership as women, and listen to their advice as birth attendants. They are demonstrating hope and valuing lives of mothers and babies. They are facilitating a relationship with the father, teaching the attitudes and actions needed to take the steps for improved health in the family. They are using the church and its community as a center for showing love, service to reach out to others who are isolated and at most risk. They are conducting the teachings in the church community (using the Birth Book I wrote, which they can also soon listen to on a digital player when there is no one to read). The men are being encouraged to support their wives with nutritious food, with access to prenatal care (providing appropriate clothing for them to wear), to provide resources to prepare for the birth, and support emergency transportation to the hospital if necessary. The mother-in-law, in whose home the couple are probably living is also learning about the importance of call a TBA and clean cord care. Church is the best place for people to look at their cultural beliefs together, open communication and find a new way towards improved health. The goal for next year is to strengthen TBA learning and support groups and connecting them to their nearest health units, so that they may continue improving their skills without relying on the missionary's teaching and guidance. <br />
To give you an idea of the impact, I am training 100 TBAs who conduct an average of 60 births per year, making a combined total 6,000 births per year. This training will last the TBAs life time, (plus she will also train others.) If each one practices another 10 years, the program could impact a potential 60,000 births. We are close to the end of our money to conduct our programs, so more is needed to carry this program on in 2014 (Through S Sudan HEAL).<br />
SANITATION AND HYGIENE: When people wash their hands, use a latrine (outhouse) and have clean water they can prevent many of the childhood deaths from severe diarrhea. This year, the communities have initiated digging pits to build latrines at most of the 18 church/nursery school sites (the majority of people do not have latrines). HEAL has a program to increase the strength (and longevity) of the mud/grass buildings by adding a metal roof, doors and cement floor. But the current donations are not enough to help each church. We will need help for 4 more at $600 each.<br />
New IMAGINE NO MALARIA Grant: Fighting malaria requires simultaneous actions throughout a community. We are hopeful that we can lower the spread of malaria in an area by making sure the government clinics have enough malaria medicine, by making sure everyone knows that mosquito bites cause malaria, how to prevent the disease and how to use the bed nets that UMCOR will be distributing. We are so thankful for the contributions and efforts of so many that have made this possible. Dr. Lynn and Sharon Fogleman, part of the UMC Health Team, are heading up this effort. <br />
STEVE'S WORK: He has been building his network of contacts for his consulting work in Agriculture Risk Management. There are several promising possibilities for next year in Uganda, including part-time teaching in 2 universities and working with an organization impacting several thousand farmers. He has done some work in South Sudan, but the economy and agriculture isn't at the level to be able to use his services yet so travels between the 2 countries, as I am based in S Sudan.<br />
GRACE HOME FOR CHILDREN: has been opened,(headed by Libby Dearing, with excellent management by Justus, housing 21 children, in 4 housing units. Some trees are being planted, a bit of gardening and the kids are being tutored until the new school semester and they can attend a nearby primary school.<br />
HOW TO HELP: Please continue to pray, and consider supporting this work. To give on-line for Dec 3 #Giving Day go to www.umcmission.org. Use the search bar at the top to enter #3021298 for S Sudan HEAL (health projects) or #982465 (Volunteers in Mission for my personal support but you HAVE to use the drop down box and click my name). Use the Give Now box. Of course you can give any time, or give by telephone or mail. <br />
THANKS SO MUCH. Please keep in touch with me by email (dianthah@yahoo.com) or facebook. It means a lot to me to receive words of encouragement. I will be putting up some photo highlights from this year on my facebook page. I recently put up a new photo album of TBA training October 2013 and some videos of using demonstrations to train the TBAs. Love, Diantha Hodges<br />
Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-57693214680285803592013-03-21T14:17:00.000+03:002013-03-21T14:17:01.468+03:00Paper: Agricultural Risk Management Services: A Key to Increasing Financial Inclusion of FarmersSome of you may be interested in this paper about Agricultural Risk Management (the focus of my new social business) which I presented recently at a workshop sponsored by the Makerere University Business School Microfinance Centre:<br />
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<b>Agricultural Risk Management Services: A Key to Increasing Financial Inclusion of Farmers</b><br />
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By Steve Hodges, African Agriculture Risk Management Services<br />
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25 February 2013<br />
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Abstract<br />
Agriculture is an economic activity involving many complex risks; thus most institutions providing financial services consider agriculture-related enterprises among the most risky and difficult target populations for loans and other financial services. Agriculture represents the largest segment of the Ugandan economy, yet farmers and operators of agriculture-related enterprises represent the largest segment of the population unreached by business loans and financial services. Government and NGO programs providing supplementary agricultural loan funds or partial guarantees of agricultural loans have been only modestly successful at best in overcoming the difficulties and risks of agricultural lending in Uganda. This paper proposes that a more comprehensive and strategic approach to assessing the risks of agricultural enterprises, followed by the development and implementation of an agricultural risk management plan to address the highest priority risks identified by such an assessment, provide an important market-based and sustainable response to this problem by increasing the chances of success of the agricultural enterprise, thereby increasing the likely loan repayment rate of agricultural enterprises and correspondingly the willingness of financial service providers to lend to this population which is as yet largely unserved by the banking system.<br />
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Introduction<br />
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Agricultural enterprises, and farming in particular – by farming I mean the primary production of crops and animals as distinguished from processing and other activities of the agricultural value chain – tend to have two major drawbacks that discourage provision of financial services and in particular, lending. One is that the payback period for loans is usually longer than lenders prefer since the borrower must wait until harvest to have the money to pay back the loan. And the second drawback is that farming is an enterprise with many risks, more risks than most enterprises lenders are accustomed to serving.<br />
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Types of Agricultural Risks<br />
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The risk issues of farming are commonly classified under several categoriesi:<br />
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Production Risks. These can include, in no particular order:<br />
- seed selection for pest and disease resistance, for drought/water resistance, for yield, for comparative advantage (unique crop to area, etc.)<br />
- raising crops/livestock appropriate to the local soil/environment<br />
- water availability and management, including erosion prevention<br />
- basic farming best practices: timing, cultivation, disease & pest prevention, maintaining soil fertility<br />
- diversification of farming operation including specialty crops, livestock<br />
- storage: facility of good construction, well managed (drying, monitoring) to reduce loss during storage<br />
- access to sufficient land of sufficient quality<br />
- access to and cost of machinery and other technology: fuel, repair, parts, sharing, rental/ownership<br />
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In other words, farming is riskier unless good production choices are made about seeds, about better farming practices, about water usage, about diversification or specialization, about storage, machinery and technology, and so on.<br />
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Price and Marketing Risks. These can include:<br />
- the farmer's lack of understanding of and lack of ability to analyze markets and pricing<br />
- inability to do a breakeven analysis of each crop<br />
- lack of access to group marketing<br />
- lack of arrangement with a purchasing partner (e.g. a pre-production sales contract)<br />
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In other words, farming is riskier if there is not good understanding of markets and pricing, if good marketing practices are not implemented, and access to marketing arrangements are not available or not utilized<br />
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Financial and Credit Risks. These can include:<br />
- not having adequate business/financial management planning of farm enterprise, including these planning elements:<br />
- overall financial analysis, including production costs<br />
- market analysis and pre-planning<br />
- strategic planning, including planning for crises<br />
- adequate record-keeping<br />
- asset accumulation, assessment and management, including land costs: rental, maintenance<br />
- analysis of credit and indebtedness including credit risk reduction planning<br />
- appropriate business organization<br />
- not having access to adequate and appropriate financing for farm enterprises<br />
- not having other income-producing enterprises besides farming enterprise<br />
- not having access to and use of savings groups, banks or other saving schemes, or not utilizing these savings opportunities<br />
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In other words, farming is riskier without adequate business planning, financial management, credit and asset management.<br />
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Human Risks. These can include:<br />
- adequate personnel management<br />
- adequate personnel skill/training opportunity<br />
- damage/theft of equipment<br />
- health of key operators of farm<br />
- family issues: conflict, understanding of farming operation, ownership<br />
- safety on farm<br />
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In other words, farming is riskier if there is not good personnel management, training of workers, safety practices on farm, health of key operators, and so on.<br />
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Legal Risks These can include:<br />
- understanding of contracts and leases, or and access to legal review of contracts and leases<br />
- contract default by other party<br />
- business structure defined well or poorly<br />
- bankruptcy<br />
- liability for on-farm accidents, for safety of food sold, for contract default if cannot deliver as agreed<br />
- tax issues<br />
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In other words, farming is riskier if there is not good understanding of or assistance with contracts and other legal matters<br />
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Policy Risks These might include:<br />
- policy and programs of government agricultural extension on-farm and marketing advice and help<br />
- price policies and subsidy programs<br />
- trade policies<br />
- government programs/subsidies for crop insurance including catastrophic insurance<br />
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In other words, farming is riskier if government policies don't help, or if government polices actually obstruct, farm success<br />
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To these categories already mentioned, I would add two categories that are worth special focus:<br />
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Catastrophic Risks This is mainly a recognition that weather risks place a very large part of agricultural risks, especially with the increasing unpredictability of weather. These risks include:<br />
- too little or too much rain or poorly timed rain, flood, wind<br />
- access to adequate and sufficient weather prediction information<br />
- access to on-farm extension assistance<br />
- access to crop insurance, including weather indexed insurance<br />
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In other words, farming is riskier if there is not some on-farm preparation or insurance or other risk-sharing for catastrophes of weather, pests, disease, and so on<br />
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Value-Chain Risks Even if everything goes well on the farm, that is, on the primary production level, if there are problems anywhere else in the whole chain of relationships necessary to put food on the table for consumers, it can affect the farmer. These risks include:<br />
- input cost/availability<br />
- markets beyond the one the farmer sells to (downstream)<br />
- transport constraints and costs, and other logistic risks including storage<br />
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In other words, farming is riskier if any actors on the value chain from input providers to markets beyond the immediate buyer are weak in any way<br />
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Basic Criteria for Evaluating and Managing Risks<br />
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Within the internationally recognized field of agricultural risk assessment and management, all of these risks of these many categories can be evaluated according to three basic criteriaii:<br />
1. Impact: In other words, how severe will the risk event be if it actually happens? Some risks can destroy the whole year's farm income and even destroy assets; other risks are milder in impact.<br />
2. Likelihood How likely is this risk to come about? Some risks are rare and unpredictable, others are more likely to happen.<br />
3. Manageability Independent of how severe or how likely a risk is, some risks are out of the control of the farmer, others can be handled to a large or small degree. It makes sense to prioritize scarce resources on risks which can actually be managed<br />
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In the actual process of prioritization, these criteria are combined to evaluate various risks in order to focus a risk management plan strategically. For example, in rural Uganda and South Sudan, fires set by neighbors to burn brush can threaten to destroy some or all crops planted. In some places, the likelihood of this happening is very high, and the severity of impact on loss of crops can also be high. But this risk is easily reduced by clearing a sufficiently large area around the field. So this risk ranks high in likelihood, severity, and manageability and thus would be a key part of a risk management plan. Likewise, if the farmer does not understand how markets work and how prices change, the risk of getting a disastrously low price for his or her crops or livestock, may also be likely and severe. However, this risk too is manageable if the farmer receives training in understanding markets and prices and in careful planning to reach markets at the right time that give the best price. Other risks, like unpredictable rainfall, may also be a risk of severe impact but of limited manageability; yet taking some action to mitigate this risk with conservation farming methods that retain water in the soil, or in irrigation schemes, or in production methods that can drain the excess water from too much rainfall may be worth including in a risk management plan depending on the cost of implementing them.<br />
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In the field of agricultural risk management, there are three basic approaches to managing riskiii: <br />
1. Mitigation Most agricultural risk management will happened my mitigating risks, that is, reducing the likelihood or impact of risk before it happens through practices by the individual farmer<br />
2. Transfer This reduces the impact of the risk if it happens by sharing risks with others. Until farmers have access to crop insurance of some kind, most transfer of risk will be by sharing it with other farmers such as in group transport and marketing schemes.<br />
3. Coping Farmers can cope with risks when they materialized, if they have the capacity to survive financially the impact of the risk because of savings, other sources of income such as other businesses, and so on. This can also mean they have the capacity to pay back agricultural loans using non-agricultural income.<br />
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Assessing Agricultural Risks<br />
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In order to develop an effective plan for agricultural risk management, including risk management education, the best possible assessment of risks should be done. Since few tools – much less quantitative tools – are available to assess these risks, until such tools are developed I suggest using something like the following process in the context of agriculture in Uganda and South Sudan to do agricultural risk assessment which is as comprehensive as possible.<br />
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1. Define clearly the target farmer population, or other agricultural related enterprise (ARE) population, which is the focus of the risk assessment process.<br />
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2. Decide for the sake of the risk assessment process what “failure” of agricultural activity means. For example, from the lender's perspective “failure” may be inability to repay a loan; from the farmer/ARE perspective “failure” may be a sufficiently poor result to their agricultural effort so that it discourages them from continuing agricultural activity. For the purpose of this risk assessment process it may end up being some combination of these and others factors, determined in part by the goals of the assessment as set by the party(s) sponsoring it. It may also be partly determined and quantified by the responses of actors surveyed during the comprehensive agricultural risk assessment – for example, from the farmer/ARE perspective, how bad must a poor agricultural result be before the farmer/ARE operator is discouraged from further agricultural activity?<br />
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3. Conduct a comprehensive agricultural risk assessment surveyiv (CARAS) which includes key informants like the ones listed below, to assess risk at both the farmer/ARE level and the value-chain level. In order to assess risk at the farmer/ARE level, it is important to have information from those providing financial services – whether banks, SACCOs, microfinance institutions – on the financial situation of the farmer/ARE including indebtedness, credit performance, and financial management capacity of the farmer/ARE. It is also important to have information from agricultural extension (NAADS), cooperatives or associations of farmers/AREs, and others on the agricultural production ability, capacity and situation of the farmer/ARE. In addition its important to have information from the target farmers themselves and their fellow farmers and neighbors; but good information from these latter sources will depend on building trust with farmers and their communities, so that the information gathered is as accurate and as complete as possible. It will never be possible to include all the informants listed below, but the best risk assessment resulting in the best risk management plan will include as many of these key informants as possible:<br />
a. farmers/operators of agriculture related enterprises<br />
b. officers/staff of groups of farmers/agriculture related enterprises<br />
c. neighbors of farmers/operators of agriculture related enterprises<br />
d. NAADS/extension staff<br />
e. bankers/SACCO staff/MFI staff<br />
f. traders, purchasing partners/companies, other buyers<br />
h. staff of CBOs, CSOs, national NGOs, international NGOs involved with the farmer/ARE<br />
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4. After the best possible comprehensive agricultural risk assessment survey is conducted, the information collected needs to be analyzed for accuracy, for truthfulness, for the perspective/bias of the informants, for gaps in information, and for gaps in understanding which key informants may have. In addition, there must be recognition of risks which have not been identified in the survey, for example weather/climate change risks. Also, in addition to market/prices risks, other value-chain risks that may not be mentioned in the survey should be identified and assessed by means of research, by observing market and price and other industry trends, by knowledge of potential or actual official policy developments, and by knowledge of potential or actual infrastructure developments.<br />
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6. Once all relevant risks have been assessed, for the purpose of developing a concrete risk management plan these risks should be prioritized according to three main considerations: the severity of the risks, the likelihood of risks, and the manageability of the risks. It may be possible to develop a quantitative rating of the priority of each relevant risk based on these considerations.<br />
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7. Once the relevant risks are prioritized, it is possible to identify the best responses to each of the prioritized risks, up to the limits of resources available for these responses. Clearly where risks can be mitigated by action taken prior to the risk becoming reality, there should be a plan to do that. Some risks can be transferred by sharing them with other farmers/AREs (e.g. marketing together with others), or by sharing them with insurance companies once crop insurance becomes available. And in some cases, the capacity of the farmer/ARE to cope with risks can be increased (e.g. by developing other income-generating activities or savings accounts) so that if the risks become reality they have more resources with which to cope. Some elements of this customized Risk Management Plan will inevitably include Risk Management Education (RME). RME could include, for example, education on improved production practices, eduction on markets and prices, and education on improved financial management practices. The Risk Management Plan could also include risk management responses other than education, such as increasing access to adequate storage. It is best if the Plan can be adjusted during the implementation period as the situation changes or becomes better understood.<br />
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Risk Management Education <br />
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Risk Management Education (RME) of farmers and other actors in agriculture-related enterprises plays the largest part of any risk management plan or strategy to mitigate, transfer, or increase the capacity to cope with the risks of, agricultural enterprises. To give a few of many possible examples: <br />
- Production risks related to drought and soil infertility can be mitigated through training farmers in conservation farming methods that retain more water in the soil and increase soil fertility gradually; or through training in use of mobile phone technology to access agricultural extension information and weather information<br />
- Production, price and marketing risks can be transferred by educating them on the possibility of sharing risks with other farmers through shared transport or marketing schemes, or with insurance companies by participating in crop insurance<br />
- The ability of farmers to cope with risks which actually take place can be increased by educating them on developing other non-farm enterprises or participation in savings schemes that they can rely on, in case of crop failure or other farming disasters<br />
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In summary, utilizing the agricultural risk management services of comprehensive assessment of risks, including analyzing and prioritizing risks; development of an agricultural risk management plan to address these priority risks; and risk management education as a primary strategy for implementing a risk management plan, provide a significant opportunity to increase the success of the farming operation. And if farming success is increased, so is the likelihood of farmers repaying loans and the corresponding likelihood of financial service providers being willing to provide more financial services to more farmers. This then could contribute not only to increasing financial inclusion among a segment of the population currently under-served by financial services, but also provide a market-driven solution to enabling more farmers to use increased financing and technical assistance to scale up their agricultural enterprises into commercial farming, thus accelerating the growth of a key sector of the economy of Uganda.<br />
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i.“Risk Management In Agriculture, A Holistic Approach”, from Jesús Antón , Managing Risk in Agriculture: A Holistic Approach , OECD, 2009, pp. 16ff<br />
ii.Carlos Enrique Arce, “Towards an Agricultural Risk Management Framework”, World Bank Agriculture and Rural Development Department, 2010, pp. 11-13<br />
iii.Ibid, p. 9<br />
iv.“Risk Management Checklist”, United States Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency (www.Farm-Risk-Plans.USDA.gov) and “Building a Risk Management Plan”, United States Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency, 1998Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-84905602729195202322013-02-17T19:11:00.002+03:002013-02-17T19:11:56.243+03:00IMPORTANT CHANGES, FEBRUARY 2013<b>MISSION LETTER</b> FROM STEVE AND DIANTHA HODGES, SOUTH SUDAN (Feb. 2013)<br />
Dear Friends and Supporters: It's been a long time since we took the time to write to you about our mission work in South Sudan; much has been happening, as we describe below! And there's about to be an important change in Steve's status (though not Diantha's) so please read this newsletter to the end to find out.<br />
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<b>DIANTHA'S WORK: SAVING LIVES AT BIRTH</b><br />
Diantha's work has continued to focus on saving lives of both mothers and babies at birth, as South Sudan has the greatest numbers of deaths in the world. Many if not most women prefer to give birth at home alone. If they seek help outside the family, they call the local untrained Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA). A few go to government clinics scattered throughout the region. People have little understanding of the causes of complications or what to do; if they seek help it is sometimes too late, or distances/road conditions/costs too much. Our efforts are trying to change this situation!! We now have a team including Joice and Monica, two South Sudanese, and Dr. Lynn and Dr. Sharon Fogleman (who joined the United Methodist team last March).<br />
We are focusing the ongoing training for the TBAs on life saving skills. In August volunteer Elizabeth Heft and her sister raised funds for training materials and the first equipment for the TBAs: fetascopes to listen to the baby's heart beat, (which is the same rate as their favorite praise song!!) and bulb syringes to suction the mucous out of the baby's mouth. They practiced their birth skills and how to stimulate the baby's breathing. The very next week we received the first of several reports: the baby was born and only began breathing after the TBA used the bulb syringe!! The TBAs are turning in birth reports to us, and receiving UMCOR's clean birth kits (helping to prevent deadly newborn tetanus). The TBAs gaining trust in their communities and turned to more often, as they have more training and new skills. We have received a praises from family members, and thanks from TBAs. One woman delivered the baby of a health department official, using her equipment and supplies. Now he is much more understanding of our work and supportive of training TBAs!!<br />
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<b>NEW BIRTH MANUAL</b><br />
All of the UMC churches are now using Diantha's newly printed training manual, “Learning Together About Safe and Healthy Birth” to hold their own classes several times a month in their communities. The manual is written in their local language and addresses key issues in an effort to save more lives. Some harmful cultural practices are addressed (such as putting dung on the baby's cord, which can cause the baby to die from tetanus). Child spacing is discussed so women don't suffer from the problems of having too many babies close together. Fathers also need to understand their role to help provide food, and allow her to avoid heavy labor and not prevent her from seeking health care. The classes which are held in the churches are the best way to bring the issues to everyone's attention to learn and discuss. This is the way cultural practices can be changed! Those mothers who have been to the clinic for prenatal care are given infant clothes (UMCOR layette kits).The response has been wonderful. We immediately began receiving reports of weekly classes with 20 pregnant women attending plus additional community members.<br />
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Next steps: Our next training will focus on saving the mothers, by controlling bleeding after the birth. We will be working to strengthen the connection to the rural government health clinics and to build an organization led by the TBAs that can be ongoing beyond the help of the missionaries. We have about 65 TBAs who have been coming regularly to our trainings, and new ones wanting to join at each training!! The Episcopal Church of S Sudan has raised some donations so we can also train some TBAs among their churches!<br />
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<b>PROGRESS IN OTHER HEALTH PROGRAMS:</b><br />
Drs. Lynn and Sharon Fogleman are taking major responsibility in heading up a 6 month HIV/AIDS awareness project in our churches (with South Sudanese managers and trainers, from Holston Conference HIV/AIDS grant), educating about malaria and distributing mosquito nets, starting a Community Health Evangelism project in one church (3-5 year program), and helping the Yei hospital with a new center for people with severe malnutrition. We have a new South Sudan District Health Board organized through UMCOR as an avenue with local ownership to be able to use Imagine No Malaria funds not only to fight malaria, but also other killer diseases.<br />
The health projects in the UMC churches need ongoing financial support through the Sudan HEAL Advance Special.<br />
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<b>STEVE'S WORK: CONSERVATION FARMING</b><br />
Steve and Libby Dearing, with the help of Alex Lupayi and 2 pastors, monitored the 256 farmers in 18 villages we had trained in Farming God's Way (conservation farming.) We were pleased that about 110 of them (43%) practiced the methods throughout the long rainy season, a larger percentage than most trainings done here. After evaluating the short rainy season too, we have targeted several village UMC churches where the people have successfully applied the principles we have already taught them, in order to move away from continued dependence on us. In these village churches we want to do refresher trainings; one is ready for a new pilot project in nutrition garden; and one or two might be ready by August to pilot a project in using a simple chisel plow (just makes a furrow) to try mechanizing larger plots but still keeping to the principles of conservation farming (not turning over soil, keeping the soil covered with mulch, etc.) Steve and Libby hope that 2 or 3 village plots might be good enough examples that there can be Field Days in July to bring farmers from other villages to see the successful results of faithfully following the methods. We have been splitting the cost of these efforts using funds from the South Sudan REAP Advance (Renewing Environment and Agriculture for People) and Seeds for Sprouts.<br />
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<b>WOMEN'S LITERACY AND SMALL BUSINESS TRAINING:</b><br />
When Steve and (his South Sudanese assistant) Joice Jaka began offering the same training in small business record-keeping and management to women in the UM churches that we offered to 34 pastors and assistant pastors, we discovered over 3/4 of the women could not read, write or use numbers, (as they had been denied education because of the war, poverty and culture which prefers to educate men) . So far we have trained 130 women from 15 churches in numeracy and small business and helped the women form group businesses with a business plan and small loan (for projects such as growing and selling vegetables, or reselling dried beans). Several of these group businesses are already paying back their loan, and as they successfully accomplish their business plan as a group and pay off their loan they will be eligible for a larger loan and bigger business project. We hope they continue to grow in their capacity for business and for functioning as a group, to take on larger and larger projects. Under Joice's supervision, Monica Ajonye is currently training 30 more women from 4 churches on the Congo Road, and plan to reach the final 3 churches in Lainya County by July. Six pastors have come back for second loans after successfully paying off their first loan.<br />
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<b>NEW PROJECT: VILLAGE SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION</b><br />
Steve and Joice have also started training the first UMC Village Savings and Loan Association at Ligitolo UMC (though it includes many of their village neighbors.) We are using a great model developed by World Vision that raises the loan capital from the people themselves, who also elect their own officers and make all the decisions about the savings and loan association. We are able to do this thanks to funding from the Sudan COME (Congregations Organized for Microfinance Empowerment) Advance. Now all three elements of reducing poverty have been started in our UM mission work: increasing income, improving the management of income, and saving income/creating wealth. Having conservation farming underway as the primary method for people to increase income (it multiplies maize yields by 3-4 times), and training in record-keeping as a method for people to manage this income better, now the village savings project will provide the ability to save some of this income for school and medical costs and larger business projects.<br />
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<b>BIG CHANGE IN STEVE'S STATUS:</b><br />
You may have noticed that in all the work Steve does, he has colleagues doing a great deal of the work. From the beginning he has had the goal of gradually turning his work over to others in a way that the work can be sustained without him. With God's help, the work has progressed to the point that this is the year it can be turned over, though with Steve close enough to be consulted when needed . The work will be carried on by others, and still receive funding from the COME and REAP Advance Specials. Meanwhile, he feels the next step in responding to God's call to mission is to establish a way of helping farmers increase success, and to do this as a project not dependent in the long run on donor or grant funds but with long-term financial sustainability. In other words, establishing a business with a social cause: reducing the risks of farming so that farmers can grow their income. Steve is starting a business in agricultural risk assessment and management; having to survive in the marketplace means it will have to be efficient and effective. There is already some demand for this business in South Sudan and Uganda. It also means Steve needs to end his official status as an Independent Volunteer in Mission (IVIM) with the UMC so there is no conflict of interest in running a business, though he plans to continue to being available on a volunteer basis to UMCOR and to respond as requested to those involved in the transition of his work with the South Sudan District UMC. To learn more, see www.africanagricultureriskmanagementservices.kbo.co.ke <a href="http://www.africanagricultureriskmanagementservices.kbo.co.ke"></a> or email Steve.<br />
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<b>WHAT THIS CHANGE MEANS FOR DIANTHA: </b><br />
We have discovered that this change will be happening February 28. IVIM will close our joint account for donations, and begin a new account for Diantha alone. Though Steve's part of our living expenses will no longer be covered through the IVIM system, we are hoping that many churches and individuals will continue supporting Diantha through IVIM so that her living expenses can be covered as she continues to carry out her mission work as she has been. Beginning March 1 donations to IVIM must carry Diantha's name alone, of course in addition to the IVIM Advance number #982465, otherwise IVIM will have to contact the donors and request them to redesignate their donation. If donors do not want to support Diantha alone, we would encourage you to consider donating money to the Advance Special projects: Sudan REAP #3021296 for agriculture, Sudan COME #3021289 for microfinance and savings programs, Sudan HEAL #3021298 for health programs. <br />
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<b>STAY IN TOUCH, PLEASE!</b><br />
Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support. Your prayers are part of what is helping us to keep moving forward and are especially needed for this period of transition. We also appreciate getting messages by email or Facebook from our supporters!! Contact Steve at shodgesjubilee@yahoo.com and Diantha at dianthah@yahoo.com or either one on Facebook.<br />
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In Christ, Steve and Diantha HodgesSteve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-25473042795407467682012-09-11T14:28:00.001+03:002012-09-11T14:28:15.492+03:00New farming, New literacyAugust 2012:
So based on actual visits to farms by my three extension colleagues, 83 (30%) of the 275 people we've trained in faith-based conservation farming (Farming God's Way) have kept practicing the methods we taught them throughout this growing season; I had hoped for more. But there are some outstanding examples among those who have done it right, and even shown initiative and experimentation like Pastor Faustino who grew beans using our methods, and worked out a way to dig ditches to drain the too-much-rain from his maize (corn) and later when the days are too dry to stop up the ditches and fill them with sand so that they keep the water but don't breed mosquitos. I praise God for him and many others like him!
Farmers in northern Uganda taught me a lot during my August trip there about the ins and outs of adding value to agricultural products through grain and cassava milling, rice hulling, and pressing oil seeds. Bankers told me about new things they're doing to help farmers get the money they need to move into more profitable farming, like beekeeping. I'm trying to figure out how to apply what I learned in South Sudan, and am hoping to learn more that can be applied to increasing the success of farming here as the farm economy keeps growing.
September 2012:
On September 7, 2012, the Government of the Republic of South Sudan launched its literacy campaign. But exactly 4 months earlier on May 8, we helped the UMC here launch its own effort to teach village women "numbers literacy": to read and write numbers and be able to do arithmetic; so that we could then teach them small business record-keeping and management. With God's help, by the end of January we will have taught about 200 women from 17 villages and Yei these skills.Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-89708886626368070792012-02-06T16:50:00.000+03:002012-02-06T16:52:53.085+03:00<span style="font-weight:bold;">Logo.</span><br /><br /> So the work is well underway in the village of Logo to prepare a ½ acre plot using the principles of conservation farming, known in 8 countries of Africa as Farming God's Way. Its exciting to see how the 19 farmers (9 members of Logo UMC and 10 of their village neighbors they invited) are working hard – and smart. They first cut a fire break around the plot, and back-burned it so that when (not if) the many fires that are set in the bush during the dry season reach the plot, it will not catch things on fire. Though there are not yet any crops to be damaged, and won't be until the March rains start, this fire break is still important since this method of farming surrounds the carefully spaced planting pits (maize) and furrows (groundnuts, sweet potatoes) with a 4-inch blanket of dried grass mulch that would flare up instantly. <br /><br /> But the progress I see is not just the fire break and straight rows of holes and furrows and the 3-pile compost system. It's also the willingness to defy the typical community-NGO relationship, and not demand everything be provided by the NGO. It's the willingness to undertake a development project as a spiritual covenant with explicit commitment for each side to partner by providing labor, materials, and prayer. It's the willingness to negotiate changes in the agreement, by offering to cut poles for fence posts in order to save money to be spent instead on extra tools and rubber boots. All this is possible because the project is based on a relationship in which there is trust, communication and flexibility. Because he trusted me, Pastor Simon tried a 6 x 7 meter plot of maize with this method, and it produced more than his neighbors. Because they heard him describe his success and they trust him, the members of his church agreed to let him organize them into a group to do this on a larger scale. Now as Alex Lupayi takes what I taught him and teaches them, he's developing a relationship in which the Logo farmers trust his teaching and advice. I've told them, and they've started to repeat it back, that when we use their demonstration plot as a teaching site for other villages it will be an inspiration and blessing to others who will trust that these village farmers, just like them, tried these methods and they worked.<br /><br /> In their own Kakwa language, their village name Logo means Strong.Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-71214708433023131292011-09-08T17:46:00.002+03:002011-09-08T17:49:05.177+03:00How do we start eliminating poverty?In August Diantha and I attended the Sudan Roundtable, held in Uganda, with 6 of our Sudanese colleagues (pastors, laypersons, women, youth) as well as representatives of every United Methodist interest doing substantial mission in Sudan: East Africa Annual Conference; UMCOR, Women's Division and others from GBGM; Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church. The idea was to listen to representatives of the Sudanese United Methodist Church speak of their priorities, and talk about how we might increase our coordination and cooperation to meet these needs. A new District Advisory Committee set up by the new District Superintendent Fred Dearing had after much discussion and discernment settled on Eliminating Poverty and Reducing Killer Diseases as their first and second priorities, respectively. After two intense days of discussion in Uganda, we hope and pray that the resulting work by all the partners in mission in Sudan will continue to act on these priorities. As we reflected on them ourselves out of our one short year of experience on the ground here (and several years of work in these areas in the US) we came up with suggestions for principles that might guide the work of eliminating poverty, and that we are trying to practice:<br /> 1. Support projects that work with people, not just for people. We are currently using the church/village planning approach: the church/village picks the project area, the District sets budget limits within funding available, village and District work together to make the project fit budget. Building the capacity of the local church/village to manage their own development is more important than any concrete outcome: strengthening the experience of owning the process, learning to approach a big task/far goal step by step, learning to realize and bring their own assets into the project (materials, labor) so that the process is genuinely a partnership between the church/village and the District, and becomes culturally sustainable with local leadership beyond our involvement. Pastors appreciate being clear and consistent about following Biblical principles for the way the outside resource-provider assists the church/village for the up-building of all the UM churches in South Sudan. These include:<br /> i. Equality (Acts 2:44-45) no one has too little or too much, and <br /> ii. Accountability (Matthew 25:14-29) what have you done with what was given?<br />Diantha and I continue to practice these principles as we hold churches accountable to the changes they have made in their project plans, especially when that means they run short of money! We gently remind them as we have from the beginning that we have the same amount of money to help each church (thank you, Holston Conference!) and that if they change the project from the plan and budget agreed upon, they need to also take responsibility to find the resources to finish the project.<br /> iii. Participation (Mark 6:35-44) start with what you have, even if it is small. We have been gratified to find how willing the church members and village neighbors have been to raise more money, to dig latrine holes, to make bricks and build school shelters, and find a variety of ways to contribute their part to the project benefiting their church and village.<br /> iv. Planning (Luke 14:28-30) count the cost before starting. One or two churches have led the way by planning ahead and saving some of their harvest to provide seed for the next season; we have copied their example in providing all the churches with seeds on the condition they make a commitment to do the same thing, as well as planning to use some of the harvest also to help the needs of widows and orphans that are in each church.<br /> <br /> 2. Increase wealth by building on the asset base: this means that the main emphasis for the Sudan District UMC is on sustainable agricultural development which multiplies amount of crops that can be grown in a given area and in a given time by using improved methods of conservation farming while still using hand tools and homemade inputs rather than purchased fertilizer, pesticide, etc. Recently we have given each church a moringa tree and several papaya trees after the pastors attended a workshop teaching them the nutritional benefits of moringa and the medicinal benefits of papaya.<br /> 3. Improve the capacity to manage, not just increase, wealth. Projects eventually must be financially sustainable beyond our involvement. Our Microenterprise Program (PUMMP) teaches this to pastors and church leaders; we just graduated the first class of 6 pastors and gave them loans. Pastor Faustino of Ligitolo said, “This is the training we have been needing to improve ourselves!” Now we have started training a second group of 9 pastors in business management, this time in the local language (Kakwa), and we plan to hold training for churches on managing projects; to seek funding for a village savings bank program that includes financial management; and to develop workshop on managing personal finances for pastors, women, youth and other church leaders.<br /> 4. Start now developing leaders who can take over the work. One way to do this is to strengthen local leaders to get out of poverty themselves so that they can help others to do so, beginning with pastors, who receive little to no salary. Local people are increasing their ability to manage church/village planning (Pastor Isaac Sebit), manage the Eden Teaching Farm (Alex Lupayi), and manage the PUMMP training and the personal financial management training (Joice Jaka). With the help of short-term volunteer Thomas Sherbakoff, we trained 3 key church leaders in Basic Fund Accounting so they can handle the larger amounts of funds coming in to various District programs. <br /> 5. Make training a priority over equipment/materials. Many NGOs and mission efforts in the past have provided tractors and other pieces of equipment that are now lying unused, broken or rusting because of problems such as: Who can repair it? Where do you get replacement parts and how do you afford them? Who can afford the fuel? Other problems include disputes over ownership and management of the equipment. In our Basic Farming Methods training for 31 village farmers we gave hoes, machetes, and seeds only after they completed training; the pastors received a Moringa tree seedling only after attending the Moringa training. Diantha just coordinated a training for Traditional Birth Attendants that significantly increased the skills of 46 village women, who then receive 10 UMCOR birth kits each to carry out their new knowledge. We are hoping to get funding for a program to build the capacity of United Methodist Women groups so they can develop the capacity to handle income-generating pieces of equipment.<br /> 6. Look for and use collaboration wherever possible and appropriate. Many more people can be helped with many more services, resources and knowledge to reduce poverty by cooperating with other mission groups and NGOs. So, we have started monthly roundtables of other NGOs and mission groups working in agriculture, and in health. Christian Reformed World Relief Committee has provided free training and materials for workshops on maize, cassava, and sweet potatoes for 130 farmers in 2 UM churches. UMCOR is planning for UM churches to benefit from their projects in fish farming, poultry raising, cassava growing, beekeeping, renovating a remote primary health care unit, and community health outreach. We are providing UMCOR with business training for 220 farmers.<br /> 7. Seek sustainability to make poverty reduction permanent. Besides cultural and financial sustainability, environmental sustainability is key so the land remains an asset producing wealth. I had resigned myself to a gradual, difficult process of persuading people that this is a long-range investment that may not show results now, but will in the future. So it was wonderful to receive this letter from the pastor of Logo United Methodist Church, after he actually applied the no-till/mulch method I taught the pastors, to growing maize (corn) on a small experimental plot near his home: “We are very happy for what you taught us about agriculture. The maize seeds which you gave us 198 seeds for 99 holes give us three buckets which is dry now. Next year we want to arrange ourselves in a group. Let God give you more ideas for helping us. Thanks, yours in Christ, Rev. Simon Duku”Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-24966484756718471612011-07-21T19:42:00.000+03:002011-07-21T19:43:52.799+03:00A New Sudan1. Independence Day in the New Sudan<br />The night before Independence Day, our new District Superintendent Fred Dearing received passes for us to sit in the bleachers to watch the official birth of the Republic of South Sudan. I was amazed at the diversity of the crowd gathered in Yei's Freedom Square to celebrate their first Independence day. It included not only the many Christian denominations that are here, but also local Muslims; not just South Sudanese from almost every state, but even Darfuris who sincerely celebrated the independence of their Southern brothers and sisters even while their home area in the western part of the North continues to suffer massacres of entire villages. It was great to witness that in the midst of their own celebration, South Sudanese pledged continued efforts for peace and freedom in Darfur. All the more amazing to realize that Independence is not just decades but centuries overdue for South Sudanese, who have been controlled, exploited and oppressed by others since ancient times without cease. In a sea of hundreds of banners, one summed it up in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King: “Free At Last.” People had walked to Yei from surrounding villages; some climbed trees to join the thousands enjoying marching and speeches in Yei's Freedom Square. Every local civic group and school had a banner and marched in a long parade; Salaam United Methodist School was there marching in their school uniforms. Sudanese women groups marched with banners proclaiming their commitment to playing a key role in the development of the new South Sudan. As we looked around us in the bleachers, we saw Sudanese young educated professionals listening intently to all the speeches, responding at times to commit themselves to the task of building a new nation. The highlight of the day was the simple act of lowering the flag of Sudan, and raising the new flag of the Republic of South Sudan. People cheered and ululated wildly, and that energy continued into the afternoon as dozens of tribal groups gathered in circles around Freedom Square into the evening to dance traditional tribal dances: Kakwa, Nuer, Dinka, Mandari, and many more. I hope and pray the peaceful, joyful spirit of those co-existing celebrations on Independence Day can be continued permanently into the complex process of becoming one nation of many tribes working together.<br /><br />2.Oil and Food in the New Sudan<br />Petrol (gasoline) prices in Yei have risen to about $6.80 per gallon, but farther north in Unity State they are over $10 per gallon, down from $12 per gallon during the height of the fuel shortage a few weeks ago. Even though 75% of the known oil is located in South Sudan, all the pipelines and processing are in the north, and the north stopped allowing shipments of oil after the vote to separate. Oil from other countries has slowed down, reportedly because Libyan oil production has been disrupted. South Sudan is working on arrangements to build a pipeline through Kenya to a seaport, but that is expected to take 8 years. Meanwhile, higher fuel prices mean higher food costs (over half the local food is still imported and trucked in.) Already food prices were rising independently of this crisis; according to the South Sudan Minister of Agriculture Anne Itto, maize (corn) prices in Kenya rose 130% in the first half of 2011. Adding to that the fuel crisis in South Sudan, Itto says maize prices have quadrupled here (Sudan Tribune 16 July 2011). The conservation farming methods we're teaching here are increasing yields by 6.5 times in Zimbabwe just using existing hand tools with no commercial fertilizers (Conservation Farming in Zimbabwe: Evaluation Report, January 2011, Canadian Food Grains Bank.) If we can show that these methods do even half as well in South Sudan, it could help increase food production here quickly and inexpensively. <br /><br />3. Training Leaders for the New Sudan<br />Elizabeth Heft, an Individual Volunteer in Mission from Ginghamsburg UMC in Ohio, is here for 6 weeks as an Individual Volunteer in Mission conducting training for youth leaders of the 17 United Methodist churches in South Sudan. It was exciting to see 35 Sudanese young adults, about 1/3 women, gathered for the 2-day retreat here in Yei. Elizabeth and Peter Lomorro, the Youth Coordinator for Sudan District, did a fantastic job of providing much appreciated training while the young adults provided joyful worship with drums, shakers, song and dance...and fervent commitments to the task of leading and teaching youth in the remote village churches. Looking over this group of energized young women and men gathered in Yei UMC as we celebrated communion on the final day of the retreat, I was moved with the knowledge that faith development among the youth of the village churches would take a major step forward, and astounded to realize that several of these young adults would be, in a few years, pastors of these and of new churches. What an incredible gift!Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-73827127557495679002011-05-11T14:56:00.001+03:002011-05-11T15:01:40.501+03:00Mission in South Sudan: May 11, 2011Hankins Leave Sudan<br />There were tears, prayers, singing and heartfelt thanks as Boo and Phyllis Hankins met one last time with the United Methodist pastors in Sudan District. After two years of mission service in Sudan Boo and Phyllis Hankins are leaving Sudan, to return to serve churches in Tennessee at the request of Bishop Swanson of Holston Conference. In fact, they left 3 days ago after preparing Diantha and I to respond to interim tasks such as unexpected medical needs of pastors and the ongoing support of several orphans and sponsored students. The Sudanese pastors thanked them for strengthening the churches and teaching them English and more. Their fellow missionaries thanked them for their example of teamwork and endurance as they persevered resolving crises in church and school. Diantha and I are grateful that God used them to do the difficult pioneering work in the development of the church here, work that not many others we know would be able or willing to do. Twenty-two years of the traumas of war and refugee camps leave deep wounds in peoples' hearts; in the case of the Sudanese United Methodists, these wounds have been exacerbated by the corrupt behavior of several former local church leaders which has deepened a prevailing sense of mistrust. The Hankins have worked step by step with these church members to build stability, continuity, and a sense of being part of a much large connection that will not let them be the victims of the whims of individuals any more.<br /><br />Women's Division Team Visits Sudan<br />Two staff (Marva Usher-Kerr, Carol Van Gorp) and a Board member (Ollie Pleggenkuhle) of the Women's Division of the General Board visited South Sudan in April. They held a workshop for the United Methodist Women leaders to help them develop come together as a district, and develop some goals. In preparation for their visit, Diantha researched the existing programs for women's literacy in South Sudan, and the effectiveness of different approaches. We are hoping for their continued support of agricultural training for women, and continue to explore with them a possible approach to increasing the literacy of women, and of beginning village micro-finance programs that would put management of credit in the hands of trained village committees controlled by women. <br /><br />Reducing Poverty: Our thinking advances...<br />For 9 months we have been thinking day and night about the issues of poverty we see daily: hunger, lack of money to pay for school fees or medicines. We can see now how the pieces might fit together to allow people to improve their life situations: now they have little income, so there are always more demands and urgent needs and their culture encourages them to help others rather than saving. If we could help them start micro-finance programs, in the future it would allow people to add up small savings in a village "bank" that they manage collectively, and learn to manage their money, which could be used to start income-generating activities or to pay for household needs such as school fees and medicines. There's another key piece of the puzzle: they need to improve their income, which in rural South Sudan mainly means improving agricultural yields and income so they can grow enough for their families, and have some left over to sell. Yet another piece: health is important. If they learn to improve their health and even to grow some of the medicinal plants they need, they are strong enough to contribute to the family income; but if they are sick, they deplete the family income.<br /><br />Collaboration Blossoms<br />"How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!" (Ps. 133:1) From the time we got here, we've tried to get to know the other groups and people at work in South Sudan, especially in health, agriculture, education and micro-finance. The result last fall was that Diantha was invited by an NGO to help create a manual for training community health workers, and I was asked to be part of interdenominational trainings for pastors youth. At our request, another mission group provided our UM nursery schools with digital players with a variety of teacher training lessons on them. In March we contracted with a Christian Reformed group to provide training for 31 farmers from United Methodist churches. We were concerned that there was no regular gatherings of people doing similar work, to share progress and consider working together; so Diantha and I played a key role in starting monthly informal "teas" around agriculture and another around health. Since then the cooperative work has exploded: the same Christian Reformed group has offered to train for free, two groups of 50 farmers on improved cassava and sweet potatoes from two different villages where there are UM churches; UMCOR is working with us to select one of our remote UM churches for a fish-farming project and is trying to set up a health project so that it benefits another of more remote villages where there is a UM church. While our budget is tiny compared to the other mission and NGO groups here, or perhaps partly because of it, a lot is happening to help the villages we focus on, because of the growing willingness to collaborate.Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-47355383631161450622011-04-02T09:51:00.002+03:002011-04-02T09:53:14.416+03:00Mission in South Sudan: April 1, 2011Farming God's Way (FGW) Moves Forward<br /> Small steps forward for this method of conservation agriculture in which soil fertility and scarce water is kept and increased both by not plowing and by covering the ground with a layer of mulch; and by adding natural fertilizers like composted grass and manure. FGW incorporates principles from observing Creation and from the Bible that works well to teach these methods in the villages of south Sudan. I held a workshop February 16 for 19 UM pastors and assistant pastors (I expected 10!) to introduce them to FGW; as a result, so far two pastors (from Logo and Mirodu villages) reporting to me that they have prepared a sample plot using these methods and are ready for me to supply them with maize (corn) seed so they can try it out! This makes me very happy. As of today I am proud to announce that Eden Teaching Farm of the Sudan District has officially begun what the new UN report on agroecology (conservation agriculture) calls "decentralized participatory research." <br /> Not only that, but these methods may help Darfur in the north of Sudan. I've had a couple detailed email exchanges with a colleague in Darfur who hopes to use these methods there, and have tried to help her figure out how to adapt the the FGW methods to that area which has drier climate and scarcer resources than we in the south. I'm eager to see what may work there.<br /> Steps forward on the global scene too: I've just discovered a new UN report (December 2010) advocating strongly for increasing the practice and scale of agroecology to increase food security and help small farmers worldwide; and a decision by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the U.N. in June 2010 to promote this "integrated holistic approach" for sustainable crop intensification. They even mention the importance of "learning by doing" and of partnering with non-governmental groups at the local level. So far the farming methods we are beginning here is not yet widely accepted or practiced in Sudan, but this tells me it will be promoted more and more. I'm encouraged in my work and thankful to be helping the villages and churches we work with to be involved at the beginning of an important movement.<br /><br />Steps Forward in Development Hearts and Minds, too<br /> We (mostly Diantha due to my limited mobility on motorcycles) have now completed basic strategic planning meetings in 13out of 17 villages, a process we began last September. We had no idea it would take so long! But we're excited by what's happening. We invite each church to choose an initial project that must meet 4 criteria: (1) It must address a top priority identified by the village during the planning meeting (2) It must involve investment by the village of labor, materials, or both (3) It must require no more than US $150 from us (4) It must be able to be started soon and completed in 4 months or less, so that the church and village have an immediate sense of succeeding in the long path to development. The results are interesting: Three churches have chosen an initial project in agricultural training because they reason that increased production will mean they have more food not only to eat but to sell to get money for school fees, medicines, and other crucial needs. Seven churches have chosen to build an additional school "building" (simply a thatched roof) so they can move more classes from under the trees and expand the number of village children who can be educated (for many of these children the church school is their only option as they cannot afford the higher fees of the government schools, which also may be too far away to walk to). And one church has chosen to build latrines so that their school children can improve their health. One church wants help to get culverts in the road to make it passable in the rainy season and allow their children to walk to school even in the rainy season. The reasoning behind their choices are gratifying. So are, increasingly, the comments made during the planning process. We always ask early on in the meeting for a list of things people are thankful for, as well as (inevitably) a list of what they need. During the first planning meetings last fall, the lists were predictable: they were thankful for their church and the local school the church had begun, the seeds and tools they have been given, the bore hole (deep well) dug with funds from US churches. But since the Referendum in January, the list of thanksgivings have been changing and deepening. We hear thanks for the Referendum, thanks for freedom and peace; and we often hear thanks for the improved life of women. Women are thankful for liberation from the fear that a harsh version of sharia (islamic) law could be imposed on them; thankful that the new government is making a commitment to the rights of women including making women 50% of all government leaders; thankful for a focus on decreasing gender based violence. While the villages and the churches, like the towns and the government, still have a long way to go to put all these changes into practice, its great to hear the excitement and hope in these comments. We feel privileged to be here, doing this, at this time.Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-64242455853001008152011-02-20T15:01:00.003+03:002011-02-20T15:05:46.622+03:00Mission in South Sudan February 20 2011<span style="font-weight:bold;">Apologies (Steve)</span><br />Sorry we've been gone from our blog for so long. It's not just that a lot has been happening, its also that we blog into space and don't get much sense of whether people are reading it. But in the last months several folks wrote us quite concerned that we haven't blogged and wondering how things are, how we are. So we're learning that this mostly one-way conversation in which we do the talking is the way blogs are. Sorry, we're new to this, and we'll try to do better.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Steve's Mom (Steve)</span><br />By the time I arrived in Pleasant Hill, Tennessee, my mother (Peg) was out of the hospital and making steady progress in being better hydrated and in alertness. Diantha and I took our turn after my sister Merri and brother Dan had done the same, in going to the nursing home daily for two weeks and helping feed Mom her pureed diet and nutritional supplement, spoonful by spoonful, about a 90 minute process each meal. And we talked to her and sometime she talked back and a few times it made sense; we hugged her, sang to her, joked with her. On the morning of the 11th day there, as I turned from Mom to greet one of the other nursing home residents, she looked at me and called my name for the first time. Later that afternoon, as I sat holding her hand, she said "I love you." and pulled my hand to her mouth and kissed it. Then I was absolutely sure the whole trip was worth it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Short-term Mission Team from Holston (Diantha)</span><br />We had a busy but successful time with a team here; they got here 3 days after we returned from our trip to the U.S. to see Steve's mom, and stayed for 10 days. They started working in the new demonstration plot next to the District Office, now called Eden Teaching Farm (for demonstrating and teaching agriculture and health practices). There were 6 Sudanese teachers from our UM-related nursery schools who were on break, who came and help make demonstration plots and build the posts for the latrine structure. Now we need to finish the wattle and daub walls and thatch the roof. That was a big project, as I had wanted to use an adapted design from Zimbabwe, and use Sudan's mud hut style, plus the pit was dug bigger than I had told the people the dig. So there was a lot to learn and figure out on my part, but it all worked out well!! We shall see how effective and desirable the design is. We also had chance to take breaks from working in the heat and do short educational pieces, about the Farming God's Way method that Steve was using to design the plots, and sanitation education they could replicate at home. Two or three members of the Holston team joined us, so it was good to get to know them, too. We had fun with the teachers, and they had great fellowship with the U.S. team members. <br /><br />One of the Sudanese teachers who worked with us, Amule, was from Ridya, one of the poorer, more remote areas. They are still trying to locate a good place to drill their bore hole, so they don't have the health advantage of clean water. Amule had a resurgence of his malaria the first night of our 4 day training, but I had some medicine on hand to give him. If he had been home in Ridya, he probably could not have gotten any medicine. He broke out in fever, sweat, chills, body ache, and was stumbling around. Also he had not made any arrangements to stay over night. We sent him to Yei UMC where his pastor and others were in pastors training, and church members found a place for him to sleep. I had expected him to be quite sick, so was thankful and surprised when he showed up the next day. He managed to work (and take some breaks; people here work in the heat when they are sick. It's amazing), and was a good bit better by the time he went home. Also, he showed me these deep painful cracks in his feet from walking barefoot so much. I gave him some of the salve I made at home and Vaseline jelly. He had flip flops, and no other shoes, and would have to farm barefoot. Cracks like that also need shoes to heal. Another member of the team had rubber boots here that fit him, and someone donated socks, which we gave him. I usually feel uncomfortable giving individual people a lot of things, but this seemed totally fitting, and would impact his life. I think it makes a difference when you have a relationship with the person you are giving something to. Amule also earned a week's laborer's wage by helping with the plots, and like the other teachers he got a certificate (which people really cherish) and materials to make a tippy tap handwashing station. We all wish him and the others well. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Referendum Results and a Tale of Two Bullets (Steve)</span><br />On February 7, the day the results of the Referendum were announced, the short-term team from Holston was still here. At about 8:50 pm it must have been announced on local radio stations that President Omar Al-Bashir had accepted the results of the Referendum that 99% of the voters in South Sudan had chosen separation from the north. Immediately cheering broke out in neighborhoods on all sides around the UMCOR compound where we stay, and within 5 minutes we heard repeated gunshots as well. The two UMCOR guards on duty, one who had served as a guard to John Garang, the former leader of the southern rebel army, came quickly to our guest apartment to reassure us that the gunshots were celebratory and we had nothing to fear. "It is an end to war! It is the beginning of peace!" they told us. They were very excited. I suggested we pray to inaugurate this new era, and with Diantha the four of us held hands and prayed that God would lead and bless the new South Sudan. The cheering, and celebratory shooting into the air, went on for another six hours without stopping.<br /><br />Four days earlier I had found a bullet. Or more exactly, one of the Sudanese teachers helping prepare a farm plot had unearthed an old rusty solid iron bullet about 2.5 inches long; the older teachers and compound guards told us that this was a bullet of the northern army that had overrun Yei at one point, a memento of the 40 years of war that had ravaged South Sudan. We celebrated that what had been a field of war, was now becoming a field of peace where people would learn how to grow more food and live healthier lives with less disease. Then the day after the February 7 spontaneous celebration of the Referendum results, I found a shell casing in the yard in front of our house from someone's jubilant shot into the air. I keep the two bullets, the bullet of war and the bullet of peace, on my desk beside my computer as I write.Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-72628058472144749522011-01-03T16:05:00.002+03:002011-01-03T16:10:30.483+03:00My mother, Peg Hodges has been in and out of the hospital in Crossville Tennessee this last week because of severe dehydration. She stopped eating and drinking while at the nursing home in Pleasant Hill, and by God's grace my sister Merri was there. After talking by phone with my brother Dan and via Skype with me, Merri got Mom admitted to the Crossville Hospital. She was unresponsive for a while. But once she was hydrated by IV, she gained responsiveness, her sodium levels are back down to near normal, and she is back in the nursing home as of Friday! We are thankful to God!<br /><br />The doctors at Crossville Medical Center did tell my sister that Mom has entered the end stage of Alzheimers, and that her ability to eat and drink -- and therefore her health -- will continue to be fragile. My sister left Sunday, and my brother arrived Saturday to take over from her and to be with Mom for a while. In the midst of the crisis last week Diantha and I spent some time in discernment, and decided to fly back the the U.S.; we'll arrive Jan. 5 and stay two weeks, taking our turn being with Mom and trying to get her to eat and drink. We'll stay with Diantha's parents who also live in Pleasant Hill. Folks that want to reach us can get us at 931-277-5951 or shodgesjubilee@yahoo.com.<br /><br />Pray for Sudan and the Referendum; and pray for my mother, Peg Hodges.<br /><br />Love, and Happy New Year,<br /><br />SteveSteve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-81167845101784310362011-01-03T16:01:00.001+03:002011-01-03T16:04:05.740+03:00Christmas ReflectionsIt is good to hear even short messages from family and friends, and we have heard from many at Christmas. We are having a nice break, as there is less business activity here during the holidays. Local people who had family out of town, and had money have gone to visit. A number of other missionaries are away for Christmas and the referendum for independence (for the week beginning Jan . 9). It is great to take a break, and catch up on some things at home. We are in the dry season, which is a bit hotter and much more dusty. But yesterday there was some rain, and a bit cooler temperature.<br /> We had a wonderful and meaningful time around Christmas, and keeping busy also helped not feeling lonely. We connected with people over the internet (emails and skypes with family) as well as many folks here, through church and missionary fellowship. We were able to celebrate Jesus birth and the love and gifts we have through other people. We had three gatherings with other missionaries, with international Christmas treats, singing, fellowship and children. We found some carols and music on the internet, and played some of the CD's we brought. We attended Christmas day and Dec 26 Christmas services at church. People were extremely joyful. There was lots of singing the favorite songs, lots of jumping and dancing, and people hollering. There were at least 100 children at Christmas (40 in the childrens choir, which is it's max) plus lots of adults, to fill the church. Many children received new clothes for Christmas. Some had plastic sunglasses, and beads in their hair. One of the women in the church invited several people from church to dinner at her house after services. She served us in her grass thatched mud hut (about 12x12 feet), which was considerably cooler than the heat of the compound. She had covered the ceiling and walls with beautiful cloths, brought a small table and a few chairs inside. She served us some fried bread/biscuits and juice first, then brought their typical foods, fried chicken, boiled eggs, stewed chicken in broth, beef stew with lots of cabbage, cabbage and tomato salad, rice and posho (boiled corn flour, like a thick mush). We usually don't have so much variety in one meal!<br /> We were able to do some small extra things for a few people near us. The guards at the compound where we stay had asked Steve for some gospel music a while back. He made a CD from some different CDs we brought with us. Also, Phyllis Hankins and Diantha visited one of the leaders in the church, Edina, and took more gifts for her twin babies: diapers and a front carrier. We have a policy not to give a lot of handouts as many people ask for many things and we are trying to break the stereotype of white people coming here to give lots of handouts. Also, through our work we are emphasizing how we can work together to help provide needs people have in the villages. It was nice to find some ways to give some simple gifts.<br /> Diantha and Phyllis have continued to help various people with medical concerns. One was one of the women leaders who attends the church in Yei. We were told she was very sick, and a number of church members were at her house visiting. She was no longer able to get up, not eating much and was in a lot of pain. Her whole face was very swollen. They had taken her to two different clinics in the past one and half weeks, each with different diagnoses, and she was still getting worse. Some of the family was advocating to take her to the witch doctor. Once Diantha saw her, she knew enough to realize she was misdiagnosed, and need help right away. Phyllis was able to drive the vehicle close enough to load her in the car. Phyllis was also able to pay the registration fee. We took her to a different clinic, which has good equipment and doctors, and beds for overnights. It turned out to be a bad tooth infection. She is now back home and recovering. Diantha thinks in this, and other similar situations, she is able to judge the conditions enough and help people get the medical care they need. By the time some people go for care, their situations are in a state of advanced need. We are both thankful these interventions are possible and helpful, and this woman did not have to die from a tooth infection.<br /> We have heard people partying in the nearby residences most of the night for several nights. There was somewhat of a repeat over New Year's. The referendum should be quite exciting. On Christmas day, Freedom Square, which is the town square was packed. We heard there was music and traditional dancing. We've heard they have scheduled different pastors and churches to be present until the referendum to pray and preach every day.<br /> God is good to us and our new Sudanese friends and neighbors!!Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-89897836469312172072010-12-13T17:19:00.001+03:002010-12-13T17:21:12.503+03:00Mission in Africa, Advent Dec. 13Our early "Christmas" with pastors<br /> The last regular pastor's meeting was also our last meeting before Christmas. Phyllis Hankins has been teaching English classes to the pastors weekly, and as it was an end of the semester, she handed out simple prizes (mostly pencils, rulers, some crayons in little baggies), for those who had the best attendance, the top three scores, and the most improved. The most improved was Mama Helena, an older evangelist who is pastoring a church, who has not had the opportunity for education before in her life. She has learned to hold a pencil and to write and to speak a bit. She said now she is proud to know the letters and can even say the letter "U". I have often helped her with her homework, which she finds quite difficult. She is the one who gave her African shout for Phyllis and I when we said we were now the drivers in our families, due to the injuries of Steve and Boo. When she got her award, I jumped up and shouted as best as I could and gave her a big hug. She was extra tickled. All the pastors were SO pleased to receive these simple things; their eyes shone. One special moment was watching them examine the rubber bands. The two women ended up taking the ones of the brightest colors and using them as bracelets.<br /> Phyllis also handed out, grab bag style, one article each of used clothes donated by visiting teams. It was also the time to give out the Christmas monetary donations to each pastor from Holston Conference. After all these gifts, and the obvious gratitude of the pastors, I stood and led a common expression of appreciation as we sometimes do in groups by all clapping together in a certain rhythmic clap. One pastor then stood and expressed thanks for these gifts, saying it is more than his mother, father, brother or sister can give him. The rest of the session turned into my Christmas; this became a spontaneous event, Sudanese style. Time was given for everyone who wanted to, to stand and say what was on their mind. One after one stood and expressed thanks. Several gave prayers. They are thankful for the English lessons they have had. Several mentioned (first was Mama Helena) that before they could not even speak much in front of others, and now they are speaking more, and some are able to speak to other people in English. They expressed appreciation to Holston Conference, for the water, and other things. They expressed that these gifts also tell then how much God also loves them. They appreciate the missionaries who have left home and family to "come suffer with us in Sudan". This was a real celebration. (we have had other sessions like this but with needs expressed). Steve shared that although we have left family and home to come here, we are humbled by the pastor's constant sacrifice by serving with little or no pay; that in itself is a gift to us. My "Christmas" this day was being in the midst of sharing, gifts (small but meaningful), thanks and celebration. God's love (and Christmas) can be shared in small but meaningful ways. Here, cultural reminders of the Christmas season are not all around us. The Churches don't celebrate advent. Christmas decorations and trappings feel out of place in the heat and tropics, as I am from a northern climate. Christmas presents even feel out of place. But small reminders of the grand generosity and love of God do seem very appropriate, and this is what I will remember as I find ways to celebrate this year.<br />DianthaSteve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-49630397648815938752010-12-07T12:27:00.002+03:002010-12-07T12:30:44.815+03:00Mission in Africa - December 7Village Visits<br />After much preparation, in November we have started going to the United Methodist Church in each village to have an all day planning session with all the local chiefs, leaders and people. Pastor Isaac Sebit rides his motorcycle and we ride ours, since the Hankins need to use their Landcruiser every day. Most of the rural roads are treacherous with ruts, mud holes and sandy spots, so we fall off the motorcycle now and then (at very low speeds with no serious injuries.) Usually Steve drives; but there is about 10 miles of the dirt road northeast of Yei that has been smoothed and hard-packed this year, and Diantha drove that stretch last Friday, her first trip driving the cycle. We switched drivers when it was time to go off the main road, and spent one hour going down a grassy lane, with mudholes and potholes, etc. Hard going, two falls despite new mud tires, but the meeting after we got there was very good. At the beginning of the planning meeting, Steve reminded folks of Jesus' teaching that if we have faith even the size of tiny mustard seeds (we held up sesame seeds), we can move the mountains represented by their huge problems. He also reminded them of the story of Jesus' feeding the 5,000 as a reminder that though the people may feel they have few resources in the face of the big task ahead, God wants us to make the commitment of offering it. Diantha had brought 5 small loaves and two dried fish, and gave them to some of the children to bring up front; of course the children started sharing it among themselves and eating before their part, but that's ok; the adults applauded and laughed as the children held up what was left of the object lesson. By the end of the meetings with the first three villages, we are as excited with the process of getting people to take ownership and action as we are of the selection of projects. Each of the 2 churches so far chose getting training to improve their farming production, wisely concluding that this might not only help them feed their families better but also give them more cash to solve other problems including paying school fees and for medicines. We're arranging for them to be trained by another nonprofit group here that does excellent training, and will help them reproduce that training back in their villages for other farmers. Since we'll go through this village planning process with 17 churches, it will take some months, and it will be slowed by the registration and campaigning for the important Referendum to be held January 9-16 on whether south Sudan should be independent from the north. <br /> <br />Hurt Arm<br />On November 8 Diantha and I were traveling to Kirikwa, a remote village about 2 hours from Yei. We worked it out that Diantha should ride on the back of Pastor Isaac Sebit's motorcycle, because he is a much more experienced motorcycle driver than I, and we decided it was safer for her. I drove our motorcycle, which I had spent a scant 2 months learning on since we got it. About an hour into the trip as we dodged huge potholes in the road, I was necessarily going slowly, less than 6 mph, but steered too tightly around a pothole and the motorbike fell. I put out my right arm to catch myself as I fell, and my weight and that of the bike pushed the arm into my shoulder. My arm and shoulder hurt badly at first, but after about 5 minutes it subsided enough that I decided to get back on the cycle and drive another hour to Kirikwa II United Methodist Church. I was able to help Diantha facilitate a 4-hour planning meeting with Kirikwa I and Kirikwa II UMCs, eat a leisurely meal with the churches, then drive 2 hours back home to Yei. For about two weeks after the incident I kept thinking it was just a strain and bruised muscle, but after 2 weeks when I couldn't raise my right arm past my shoulder, I talked with a friend Sunday after missionary fellowship, Dr. Constance Rossow (German doctor) advised me to see her husband Dr. Matthias Rossow right away about my shoulder, so Monday I did. He diagnosed a partial rotator cuff rupture and urged me to get an MRI right away to determine whether just physical therapy, or surgery plus physical therapy would be needed. According to Dr. Matthias, surgery of this kind would have meant going to the U.S. After several days of preparation (mainly hounding the insurance companies to pre-authorize the MRI; Blue Cross did, UMVIM did not) Diantha and I flew to Kampala on Thursday and got the MRI the same day. I appreciate all the prayer, because it was very difficult -- but important -- to have my shoulder stuck in an extremely painful position for the 1 hour it took for the 48 exposures the MRI took. Friday we picked up the results and took them to Dr. Norberto Orwotho, the same very excellent orthopaedic surgeon that operated on Boo! The way all this timing worked out was indeed God's doing. Dr. Norbeto's assessment is that I do indeed have a partially ruptured tendon, but it is not bad enough to need surgery. Diantha and I are deeply grateful to God for that! And we got to attend a most amazing worship service with the Congolese refugee United Methodist Church in Kampala, and Diantha and I had time to relax, and celebrate our 36th wedding anniversary with some great restaurant food! Who knew there was fantastic Italian, and even passable Korean food in Uganda! I saw an excellent Physical Therapist in Kampala who gave me some good exercises and a list of things not to do. I am not doing the things I'm not supposed to do, and doing about half an hour of exercises three times a day, and already seeing improvement as the other muscles and tendons in my right arm gain the ability to compensate for the torn tendon. The main limit I face is not being able to drive either the motorcycle or the land cruiser for several months. It means Diantha and Phyllis have to do all the driving. And it makes it harder to figure out how to travel to the village churches, but we are determined to work that out so we can go to at least 2 or 3 every month and continue our work.<br /> Some parts of dealing with injury have been surprisingly smooth for me: I got quick and excellent medical attention in Yei at a mission clinic, we were able to book an airplane flight to Uganda in a matter of days, the East Africa Annual Conference responded quickly with help by providing a driver in Uganda, the doctor and physical therapist in Uganda were extremely professional and helpful and gave me attention right away. But it is daunting to realize the distances to medical care that we had gotten used to having nearby: there is no ability to get certain tests, like an MRI, in south Sudan; and the closest physical therapist is a 5 hour drive away. The hardest part of the whole process was trying to communicate with insurance companies in the US who showed little flexibility to the difficulties of dealing with a health problem when overseas: the difficulty and prohibitive cost of communication by phone, the difficulty of finding a fax machine here, etc. And the most sobering part of the experience was reflecting on the reality that our Sudanese colleagues, pastors and lay people, have no access to the insurance and medical care that we are able to access. It was a powerful reminder of the enormous privilege we continue to carry as we live and work here. Readers can continue to pray for the Sudanese people who have so little access to medical help, and may consider making a contribution to the Sudan mission medical fund (at Holston Conference) toward the cost of medical expenses of Sudanese pastors, church leaders and their families. <br /><br />Safety<br />Many of you have asked about our safety as news stories focus on the tensions, threats and scenarios of conflict leading up to the January 9 Referendum on separation or unity. Voter registration for the referendum began November 15 and will last two weeks. We have noticed more rallies, trainings of registrars, posters and also wake up every morning to the sound of the UN training Sudanese police to prepare for these events. We have some very knowledgeable friends who will keep us informed, especially if there is potential danger for us. We live on a compound with a fence and a guard, which is very near the UNHCR office, which monitors the situation and also keeps us informed. As we look at the situation, we think we are blessed to be in one of the safest places in south Sudan, with less crime and more calm than most places. We'll keep you posted as national events and our mission work develop, but meanwhile, pray for Sudan, for the referendum, for the Sudanese people, for the United Methodist churches, and for us and the others here working to help people. <br /><br />Christmas<br />Seeing a Christmas tree in the hospital lobby in Kampala was the first reminder that it was two days before Advent. I realize how much I depend on cold weather and other cues to get me ready for Christmas. As we talk with mission and other expatriate colleagues here, we find that we are in a tiny minority staying in Yei for Christmas. We'll celebrate with a Christmas church service at Yei UMC, and probably a potluck Christmas dinner with Boo and Phyllis and a few other friends. We're all so busy we don't get to spend much time together. Meanwhile, we put Handel's Messiah on the the CD player, and look wistfully at snowy, cold emails and photos from friends.Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-50377851870243164672010-11-07T20:46:00.000+03:002010-11-07T20:47:53.745+03:00Mission in Africa: November 7We have had three U.S. doctors here for a week, in part so that two of them (husband and wife) could continue their discernment about whether God might be calling them to Sudan next year. Diantha and I really hope so. They are particularly interested in improving the rural health situation, including preventing sickness through improving health practices in the community, which is our focus as well, and it was greatly encouraging to us and especially to Diantha to think we might have colleagues to work with on this. Diantha and I urged that their schedule while they were here should include some meetings with women and others from the villages to ask them about the health situation in the villages, and to answer their questions about medical matters. The three such "hearings" (plus another with the United Methodist pastors) were great, though exhausting. One piece of good news we gleaned was that the WaSH --Water, Sanitation, Hygiene -- training Diantha has been doing is well accepted and appreciated. The bad news was the reminder that the cost of medicines, of getting to the clinics in the main city of Yei, and of the clinic fees is prohibitive to most people. Time and time again the doctors' answer to a medical question quite rightly was, "You need to go to a clinic and be seen." It really came home to me that the only way that this huge barrier will be overcome in the long run is to help people increase income so they can afford these costs; this is another way my agricultural and economic development work is connected to the crucial work of improving health. And another distressing bit of news was that almost no one in the villages we visited had bed nets! The exception was those pregnant women who went to prenatal appointments (not all did) and got one bed net. The NGO that was giving them out free last year has ended that program. Diantha and I will begin some fundraising right away to buy 5 or 10 bednets at least for each of the 17 villages we are working in. <br /><br />To relax last night, we watched a movie the Hankins brought with them, K-PAX. It was a powerful reminder of the huge impact of personal trauma (one character's wife and daughter are killed) on an individual's ability to cope and live in reality. My immediate thought during the movie was that we are living among a whole people under this kind of Post Traumatic Stress. So many here (estimates are about 50%) have experienced such a trauma, and it can't help affecting the way they live and relate to each other and to us. So many have seen family and friends brutally killed, seeing neighbors fight over resources in the refugee camps and the bush where they have been for 20+ years, so many have felt and still feel left behind or feel guilty for leaving someone behind, so many have been treated as less than human by not only by enemy soldiers but sometimes the host population around the refugee camps. While I know some of what surprises us here is a matter of a different cultural attitude toward money and relationships that we are learning to respect, still I wonder if widespread PTSD -- or something like it -- at least partly explains some of things we've noticed as we've gotten to know people here: the fear of being forgotten, mistrust of each other (and us), difficulty in accepting rules and authorities, and grabbing resources for oneself at the expense of others. I suspect that the implications for our life here include (1) be very patient with people even when they disappoint us (2) make it clear again and again that we are here for several years to devote time, knowledge and some resources into a series of developments they think are important (3) follow through on anything we promise to do and not promise anything we can't do (4) continue working hard at building friendships and relationships that are genuine and respectful. To do these things I think we'll have to make a serious commitment to listen, especially before we speak; a listening that includes learning about their culture, and a listening that includes trying to take into account the traumas of their lives.Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-33509708751129072842010-10-23T16:44:00.000+03:002010-10-23T16:45:05.229+03:00Mission in Africa Week 9On Monday, Oct 18 Edina Tumalu, one of the church leaders here, gave birth to twins!! Everyone is so thankful she is healthy and the babies are healthy!! She had some rough spots in her pregnancy; she recognizes God’s mercy and is thankful for the medical care she has received during her pregnancy and for the birth (in more common circumstances here she would have died). She is also thankful for the key support people from Holston have given her. Not everyone can access medical care. She has been going to the best obstetrician in town, Dr. Wole, who is an MD, has an ultrasound, and does surgery. The twins were just over 37 weeks gestational age, and though they are a bit small, they are fine and are now nursing well. The boy is 5 lb.7 oz. and is named Willfred Swanson (for God’s Will, Rev. Fred Dearing and Bishop Swanson); the girl is 4 lb 9 oz and is named Phyllis (for Phyllis Hankins) Desire. On her second day she was very lethargic due to some low blood sugar and an elevated temperature, but recovered the next day with some glucose and antibiotic and is now doing great (again, in the average situation in Sudan, the baby would have died). I feel blessed that I was able to be of some support and help during this past week. Edina called us Monday afternoon. She had some labor, and was admitted for a cesarean procedure , as the babies were not in good positions for vaginal birth. Boo, Phyllis and I went to the clinic right away, while Steve rallied prayer supporters by email and on Facebook. The clinic was waiting for the payment before starting, so Boo, through Holston Conference, was able to loan the money. We could peek through the curtain of the hallway which led to the operating room, and saw the babies as they were just born, and handed to the nurse to dry off! In Sudan, the family has to provide supplies and a lot of the care, so the babies were handed over to us and Edina's two aunts (see photo) to take care of (Edina’s husband was in Juba attending school). Edina came in the room soon. Her husband arrived this weekend; she should go home Monday. They keep mothers for 7 days in the hospital until their incision closes, as so many women return with infections if they are sent home earlier. I think this length of time will give Edina more rest and more chance to nurse the babies than if she were to go home. (She has a son 4 years old and daughter 7 years old, plus is taking care of 3 other orphans, and has a widow living with her who helps out.) She has several tukels (little one room houses) in a compound with a garden, next to her in-laws, and has needed the support that Holston has given her.<br /> The clinic rooms are small and have two beds. Fortunately they have mosquito nets, as the windows have no screens. The beds are about two feet apart, and the door does not close. The conditions are not as desperate as at Yei public hospital, but they are not anything like the clean hospitals we have in the US. I was happy to be able to come back several days this week to support Edina in getting breast feeding started for Phyllis Desire, and be of general support. It has been quite some time since I had the chance to be of service, and I wasn’t sure how much support from me Edina would want. She told me in Sudan many women do not breastfeed until their milk comes in, which can take a few days. I’m glad she was interested in feeding anyway, so the babies can get enough food and gain the incredible immunity that the colostrum gives in those first crucial days. Also, they do not wash the baby with water for the first one or two months, but scrub them with cassava flour. Edina, however, was OK with using water! Phyllis Hankins was able to buy some clothes for the babies, as Edina only had cloths for baby blankets and no clothes. You can buy used Western clothes in the market, and that is the best place for baby clothes. The new clothes here are few and more dresses than little shirts.<br /> Steve and I have both been working intensely to meet the November 1 deadline for applications for Advance Special Projects, which is how United Methodist Churches give designated money for specific projects. Once approved, churches may then donate to the project, and money is turned over as it is received. The application is similar to a four year grant application, but the approval of course does not guarantee a specific amount of funding. Actually it has been good to have this structure to project our workplans for the next four years. Steve wrote one for micro-finance (people can choose a village savings and loan program, or microenterprise start up help), and just finished a another for agriculture development. Now he and Boo are working on one to construct “permanent buildings” for churches (with concrete block walls and metal roofs). Buildings would double for the nursery/primary schools. All 17 of the Sudanese United Methodist congregations are asking for permanent buildings to replace the thatch roofed, wattle-and-daub structures that now serve as churches and schools.<br /> I have been working on a church/village health project. The challenge I've been struggling with is to make sure the final impact of the project is saving lives. South Sudan health indicators are some of the most desperate in the world, caused by a combination of poverty, poor transportation, lack of functioning clinics and hospitals, lack of clean water (most of our churches now have wells giving access to safe water), lack of soap, lack of latrines, and poor sanitation and hygiene practices in the homes, lack of education and poor or wrong information about disease and prevention. So much can be done with health education and promoting disease prevention. For example, diarrhea kills especially children under 5, because of the poor sanitation and lack of latrines. Actually the resulting dehydration kills them, which could be remedied with homemade oral rehydration fluid and some basic knowledge. If everyone in the village has clean water, latrines and good handwashing, 80% of diarrheal disease can be prevented. Well meaning people have gone into villages and built latrines before. The villagers then feel like the latrines are owned by the builders, who should have the responsibility to clean them and keep them up. If the people do not understand their importance, they may tear them down to use the parts. If they don’t understand how disease is spread, they will not take all the many steps needed for general cleanliness. Though the solution seems simple, there needs to be a lot of health education, starting at the most basic level, and very thorough community involvement, training of committees, training of individuals to go house to house, and some time for change. I think there is lots of misinformation about the causes of various diseases, how the body functions and how to prevention disease. The horrible maternal/infant death rate (among the worst in the world) has a complicated solution too. The government of South Sudan has a good plan to establish rural health centers with birthing rooms. The problem with these, currently, is that there is not enough money for staff and medicines (part of their long term problem is there is no way to transport a mother for higher level care because of impassible roads, no ambulances and few vehicles). There is a 6 month training program for midwives, but trained women would rather find a job that pays rather than work at the public centers, where there is also no money for equipment for the birthing rooms. The midwives at the centers are supposed to train the Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) in the villages, and give them supplies (which is unlikely). Most of the births occur in homes with or without a TBA. So I'm planning my work to complement this effort; I started with a simple plan to help distribute basic equipment and supplies to the midwives at the government health centers. That could save lives with a trained midwife. Steve encouraged me to keep working on a plan that could make that difference with TBAs as well, since they are on the "frontline" in the villages. Currently while there is a little training in south Sudan recently begun for midwives, there is no training program here now for TBA’s. By the end of the afternoon I had drafted a core curriculum and basic skills list with needed equipment. (It was exciting for me to get to use my midwifery knowledge again and love of teaching). With birth there can be an impact on improving infant and maternal health by making sure the mother has good nutrition, is healthy, and with some non-technical measures, but you have to have some knowledge of what to do. All these plans add up to more than can probably be accomplished in four years. We shall see! It eventually will take contracting with some trainers who are already here as well hiring a couple people part time to help me, which would be good also for preparing someone to continue the projects after we leave.<br /> We are all very excited that AROSS, a local Christian group, including our churches/schools in their educational program. In our photos this week you can see the “megavoice players” being given to the pastors to use with their congregations and schools (see photos). These players have 40 lessons for teacher training, 4 lessons on sanitation and hygiene, and 3 which narrate the story of the Bible in English and Bari (local language.) They can be set up for small groups to listen to. All the churches have been asking for teacher training, and now they can some help in this area!! It is a great example of appropriate technology. Lessons can be added later on other topics as they are developed. There will be more coming out on health as well. The pastors were quite intrigued, excited and appreciative. Some of them are not familiar with any level of technology.<br /> We have gotten some good feed back on the sanitation training I did a month ago. I passed out two additional handouts based on the training which were translated into the local language, with pictures so it can be used with those who can’t read the words. Several pastors said they have made “tippy taps” for handwashing.<br /> The government of south Sudan is making plans for the referendum. We don’t have any reason right now to be worried about our safety, and we have a good network of well informed people here who keep us updated as needed. Steve wrote a sample advocacy letter to be used in the US. If you are interested, you can find the link at www.holston.org/about/communications/the-call/volEE/num31/sudan-advocacy-letter/. <br /> A bit of personal news: the new house (Captain’s House) that Boo and Phyllis will live in is coming along. They should be ready to move in a few weeks. We have been gradually buying the things we will need for our household here at the UMCOR Guest House when they move out, including plates, silverware, bednets, and ordering furniture to be made (you can’t really buy ready made). I am thinking of Tennessee fall and seasonal foods. We can get some nice greens here (amaranth) and I cooked a local pumpkin, which is close to texture and flavor of acorn squash. We're blessed with access to a great variety of vegetables and fruit!Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-26575158933423669022010-10-18T17:05:00.000+03:002010-10-18T17:06:15.172+03:00Mission in Africa Week 8Frustration. I've been thinking about frustrations this week. The rainy seasons adds an element of unpredictability to each day. Boo and Phyllis and Diantha and I took a chance and planned a trip to Goli, mainly so that Faustino and Peter could check out the pastor training program and take an oral test of their English ability. But it rained especially heavily the day before, so the roads were even more of a muddy mess than usual (see photos.) We almost got stuck (that made the folks in our Landcruiser tense); and the doctor driving the Evangelical Presbyterian Church car did get stuck, we had to pull him out. My most frustrating time in Sudan so far was the Sunday before, when I slipped and fell twice in the mud while on the motorcycle. I wasn't physically hurt, but arrived at Morre UMC very muddy and feeling upset and humiliated. It was a gift of grace that the church members at Morre didn't seem to mind how I looked, and asked me to preach anyway. Then I spent a couple days inside with some kind of stomach flu. About midway through the week someone remarked on how much suffering the Sudanese people we know put up with, on a regular basis. We know so many with malaria, typhoid, serious injuries, who keep working right through because they have to. They routinely walk long distances, carry unbelievably heavy loads, and do hard physical labor in the hot climate (see photo of Nyoka). I started thinking about how insignificant my frustrations really are; and how much we who are here from outside Sudan need to do a better job of "getting over it", spending less time complaining and letting small things restrict our activities. When I get my attitude adjusted to the reality of the lives of people here and the bigger context of where God is at work and my place in that, many of the things I think matter turn out not to matter: being muddy doesn't matter; being embarrassed doesn't matter; and its not the end of the world to feel sick.<br /><br />Scale. I've spent most of the week at home, working on a couple funding applications that could help us address health, sustainable farming, and building churches and schools on a larger scale over several years. Writing proposals is a familiar activity for me, one I feel confident I can do, but I feel uneasy. I know from experience that it's so easy (especially for me) to be focused on large schemes to impact many people, that I'm not spending as much time being available for encounters with individuals, for building relationships. On the other hand, I see the real temptation as missionaries to be so caught up in responding to a string of crises that individuals have, one person after another, that we don't take the time to figure out and make the changes on a larger scale to remove the causes of these crises. It's like the hospitals in the Congo that Dr. Dan Fountain told us about (in the Health and Agriculture Workshop I took last April) that are so busy with treating patients with problems like roundworms, they don't think they have time to develop a community health outreach that would greatly reduce the roundworm problem by increasing handwashing and latrine usage. So is the answer to find a balance between the large scale and the small scale, some way of doing both? Do each of us here doing mission need to seek that balance in our own service, somehow? I worry if we settle for doing one or the other, because I know clearly for myself that I need to leave myself open to the personal encounters that make the work here real, and yet I would really hope that we missionaries would not miss the forest for the trees, that we would stretch our minds to seek what can be changed on a larger scale to make health and livelihoods better for these very people and many more like them that we may never encounter, but whom God loves too?<br /><br />Giving. The question for me is not whether to give; I/we have so much, and clearly God wants us to share it with those who have so little. But the questions are how much to give, how and when to give, for what purposes, and what does it do to the people we give to? I've read a whole book on this (African Friends and Money Matters) and been here two months and it seems like I ought to have a better handle on this, but I don't. After talking with two Sudanese colleagues who work for another NGO, I understand from them that many Sudanese formed their attitudes about getting money from foreigners in the refugee camp experience; it was an extremely lopsided relationship in which the NGOs were set up to give away stuff, and the refugees had nothing and little opportunity to earn/farm anything for themselves. For me the challenge is somehow to share the abundant resources I have in a way that doesn't simply reinforce this dynamic. A few ways that might work are (1) providing part but not all of the cost of something (tools, seeds, medicine, etc.) (2) investing in someone's training especially when they have a clear commitment to put it to work to benefit others. (3) providing the staffing that makes a beneficial development program possible, but expecting the participants to cover most or all of the other program costs. I'd like to figure out some more.Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-86259404948522236212010-10-12T14:25:00.002+03:002010-10-12T14:29:17.155+03:00Mission in Africa: Week 7This week I (Diantha) went a second time to Lasu near the Congo border with some colleagues from UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) who were going back to see the Congolese refugee camp and the UMCOR work there (a bumpy 1 ½ hour drive; a few weeks ago we were at the opening of the school). I wanted to go in order to see the government health center that UMCOR helped by improving the existing building and giving supplies for the midwife there. They have free care and medicines (not all centers actually have staff and medicines). This health center which is the only health facility for miles, is staffed by a medic who sees sick people, gives immunizations, dispenses from their simple pharmacy, and is in the future supposed to provide preventive health education in the community. They have one medical bed (see photo).The midwife does maternity education and care, including births for which UMCOR brought thermometers, a birthing bed (behind the screen in the maternity room in photo), BP cuff, simple supplies for births, fetascope, and otton cord to tie the baby's cord. They already had gloves. Many rural centers like these have little to no supplies for births. And even here in Yei, a city of over 200,000, women who go to the government hospital must bring gloves, a cord tie, and everything for the birth. The midwife at Lasu said the mother is only supposed to bring a blanket to clean the baby with and take it home, except even then she often has nothing, and the baby goes home naked, or she cuts one of her blankets or sheets to use. <br /> At the Lasu refugee camp we also saw the schools, with a metal roof supplied by Across, a Christian NGO, and bamboo half size wall built locally. UMCOR was pouring the concrete floors for the school. I am told the refugees have enough food for 2 to 3 meals a day (more than many Sudanese have). The children were dressed sometimes in shreds of clothes, but had a happy smile for us. They were growing rice (not the wet paddy kind) and other things in their gardens. Agencies are providing additional food, a medical center and schools for them, and uniforms, which are bright, new and whole garments. <br /> Yesterday we had a long service at Mirodu UMC, a rural church, for "Pastor's Forum", an event where all the Sudanese pastors are try to visit one different church a month, and have a special service. It was also World Communion Sunday, which for us was a nice connection. There were baptisms of 4 infants, and Boo and Phyllis were asked to serve communion (see photos). These are new practices for the pastors, so they do not yet seem to feel confident to do them on their own. Communion was an easily accessible cracker, with water in a tin cup. There is some bread here, but no grape juice. It was very moving. All the visitors were asked to introduce themselves, and I also mentioned it was World Communion Sunday and that my pastor brother Dave had talked to me just the day before asking how we celebrate communion, and for some ideas to share with his congregation. I told them many, many people would be praying for them that day!! Boo did a nice job in explaining communion and the about the New Covenant. He explained Passover, when the Israelites were freed from slavery, as the Old Covenant. There were some flowers on the alter table, in a reused plastic soap container. So he made a demonstration out of it, saying the use of this soap container is now made new, just as Jesus gave a new meaning to Passover when he began the Last Supper. They also had a time for prayers for those who need healing. Those who are ill or are representing sick family member come and stand or kneel in front. Others lay hands on them, pray and anoint them with oil. Usually Phyllis heads this up. The last team that visited gave anointing oil to all the pastors. So this time, Phyllis deliberately stepped back and the pastors did the praying. Progress!<br />While we were at the church, we brought 2 blackboards Holston Conference had provided for the church’s nursery/primary school made up of 5 classes (see photo). These are the only supplies for these schools (even the teachers do not have books to teach from). Schools here are operated out of school fees, but in the rural church schools, pupils do not have the fees, for the most part, so teachers are volunteers. Later in the week Steve and I rode our motorcycles, and Sebit, the Sudanese Assistant to the Superintendent and interpreter, accompanied us to visit Morre UMC, the newest rural United Methodist church. Steve was asked to preach once we arrived. On the spur of the moment he gave a great sermon based on Jesus feeding the five thousand, how Jesus needed the people to come up with the little they had, to step out in faith in spite of an overwhelming task. They have 5 classes covering 7 grade levels in their school, and are constructing a second thatch structure to use for school in addition to the church structure (see photo). We were also excited to see that at the school structure they had erected a “tippy tap” for hand washing, a simple device which we introduced at the health and sanitation workshop last month. Several pastors mentioned they have made them, and Pastor Mukasa of Morre showed us the one he had made (see photo.) It encourages hand washing (which isn’t practiced often, especially with soap) using very little water. The church had beautiful church gardens (see photo), using the tools and some seeds that were donated. We are encouraged by all of these signs of advancement.<br /> The 1 ½ hour motorcycle ride is a story in itself, especially since it was our first ride out of town. The main Kaya road had been worked on in spots, so we were able to reach a top speed of 25 miles an hour. We cut off that road and went about 4 miles down what you could call a lane with one or two tracks, with tall grasses on either side, rocks in the road and mud holes. The motor bike spilled only two times (we were unhurt, as the speed was about 2-3 mph, but got muddy). The scenery was beautiful, and we passed a few tall stone hills which just rise abruptly out of the ground. One time when we were stopped with the motors off, I heard about 5 kinds of birds at once (we see/hear just a few birds here in town). On the return trip it looked like the skies would open up with rain, and the drops were starting as we approached home and made our way carefully through the small herd of cattle taking up the road!! In addition, Steve got the stomach flu during the visit (he is almost better now), but had the ability to drive the motorcycle home. Our prayers were answered and we arrived safely. <br /> This is my one year anniversary of being diagnosed with breast cancer. I am celebrating with thanksgiving for healing and continued health, and putting the experience farther behind me. October is breast cancer awareness month, so I will add my voice to remind women to do self breast exams. Thirty minutes of exercise a day (or 2 ½ hours total per week), eating preventive foods, plenty of vitamin D (at least 30 min. a week of sunshine exposure; most people probably need supplements) are good preventive measures. Celebrate the health, family and friends that you have!! Many of us can be thankful for access to a cleaner immediate environment, health care and medicines, unlike the situation here in Sudan for so many.Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-17268125537072597932010-10-02T19:17:00.001+03:002010-10-02T19:41:24.629+03:00Mission in Africa Week 6<span style="font-weight:bold;">Affirmation: Several encouraging conversations: (1) When we describe our intent to facilitate a congregational/village planning process to lead to projects in health, agriculture, income-generating projects, Pastor John Kenyi says "we spoke and you listened; thank you for your sweet words" and Lasu Payam (sub-county district) Director says "You have the best plan" (2) When Diantha describes the regional women's trainings she wants to do with Methodist church women and the traditional birth attendents from their villages, Poppy Spens (UK missionary ) tells us she's been planning the exact same thing with Episcopal church women and suggests we collaborate (3) John Spens (also UK missionary) agrees that if I can come up with some additional funding, the Episcopal church's women's microenterprise program could be expanded to include women from the United Methodist churches as well. (4) We meet with the County heads of Health and Agriculture and they are genuinely happy for our presence and our plans.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">B</span>oda: This is the word for motorcycle locally. I've been riding it a lot more than Diantha, but am having trouble with it stalling almost every time I try to start it. When Diantha goes to practice, she has no trouble at all; she shows me how to give it more gas as I let the clutch out. So now that she's taught me how to start it, I'm teaching her how to think ahead about downshifting so she can stop it without stalling out. Boo just borrowed the boda to get familiar with it in case he needs to borrow it one day when we need to use the Land Cruiser.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />C</span>ulture: A couple fundamentals about Sudanese culture that shape our days: (1) Relationship, relationship, relationship. From something as simple as being sure to say good morning to every acquaintance, to understanding the importance of the handshake as an affirmation that you are focusing on the other person and acknowledging their worth. Even better if you ask about their family, or their crops, or something that shows you are putting your attention on them. I still remember a couple striking instances in which a church member has said that "You came and visited us and promised to come back and to help, and we felt we became somebody." Its hard to imagine how dehumanizing the 22-year war must have been. We who feel frustration with how slow cooperation, trust and maturity can be must keep remembering how deep this dehumanization has been. (2) Wealth is to be shared. A fundamentally different view of wealth and possession. Unlike the assumptions of westerners here like us that we have a right to our possessions, both our stuff and our "space", the conception here is that those who have wealth have a responsibility to share it with those who don't. Also the assumption that its more important for donated resources to be spent on the greatest need that presents itself even when that is not the intent of the donor. I think the African assumptions are far closer to Biblical teaching than our western assumptions, even though we tend to get bent out of shape and grumble when people don't exhibit the western assumptions. (3) Knowledge is highly prized. The book African Friends and Money Matters say the many Africans share resources more readily than knowledge. I haven't observed that yet, but when we visit a church we always hear clearly that they value the knowledge they believe we have to share with them and are excited and hopeful that it will make their life better. It makes me want to get back to the villages quicker than we seem to be able to do, thanks to the rainy season making roads difficult.<br /><br />Devotions: I've been re-reading Thomas Merton's first journal, Sign of Jonas; p. 82, "If You allow people to praise me, I shall not worry. If You let them blame me, I shall worry even less, but be glad. If You send me work I shall embrace it with joy and it will be rest to me, because it is Your will. And if You send me rest, I will rest in You. Only save me from myself. Save me from my own, private, poisonous urge to change everything, to act without reason, to move for movement's sake, to unsettle everything You have ordained. Let me rest in Your will and be silent. Then the light of Your joy will warm my life. Its fire will burn in my heart and shine for Your glory. This is what I live for."<br /><br />Education: What a week for learning. I'm learning about fish farming as a real possibility here and the pros and cons of using improved cassava varieties. Diantha is learning about how midwifery is and isn't practiced in the rural health centers run by the government, about community health committees and community health educations supposedly in every "boma" (like a township, a 10 mile x 10 mile area). We're both learning where there are and aren't functioning health clinics, some of them mobile clinics that come in one day a week, and sharing that information with the pastors of the 17 United Methodist churches so they can educate their member about it.<br /><br />Farming: Gradually five weeks of listening, reading and thinking are taking shape. There are several NGOs (=nonprofits) already doing some excellent agricultural work here. One of them (Christian Reformed World Relief Council) has conducted an excellent baseline survey, and just finished training 833 farmers in the area; I hope to be able to get some of the farmers in "my" villages into their program the next time, which will be the end of the dry season in February before the March/April rainy season begins. Their survey shows that the major barrier to growing enough food for their families, much less for commercial markets, is "labor". What this really means is that using hand tools (hoes, machetes, axes, spades) and traditional cultivation techniques (turning over the soil before planting, minimal irrigation) the typical family is not usually able to cultivate enough land to feed themselves and produce food for sale so they can meet their cash needs for buying other food, medicine, school fees. So the answer of the NGOs, the Government here, and of the new USAID grant to south Sudan is to provide more tractors which will be rented to farmers at a subsidized cost. As a short term strategy, I will probably promote this program with the farmers in the 17 villages I am working with (each of the villages where there is a United Methodist church.) But I have problems with it as a long-term strategy; both on the basis of financial sustainability (how will the impoverished farmers come up with the rental capital in 4-5 years when the program ends?) and environmental sustainability. I have been studying no-till and minimal-till agriculture and I think it could hold the future of sustainable farming for these folks: it retains much more of the fertility of the soil than plowing, or at least of inverting the soil when plowing. And pilot projects elsewhere in Africa show that once the no-till/minimal-till plot is established in one or two years, it decreases labor time by 40% for the same amount of acreage, while producing anywhere from 3-9 times as much yield per acre. To move to these methods will take time and persuasion, so I am thinking about establishing a demonstration garden that allows people to see plots side by side illustrating the different methods and yields, as a hands-on teaching tool. If this works, it might persuade a village to try this on a limited basis. There's a whole system of Limited Input Sustainable Agriculture (LISA) which combines minimum-till, near-organic conservation agriculture with an emphasis on perennials that allow food production during the dry season, animal confinement (almost all animals roam free almost all the time, wreaks havoc on gardens), etc. One mission organization has put this together in a way that I think will work with the predominantly Christian villages in our area of south Sudan; www.farming-gods-way.org/FGW.htm </span>Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-42233733207924116292010-09-26T19:50:00.001+03:002010-09-26T19:50:41.673+03:00Mission in Africa Week 5Here are the highlights for Diantha from the week:<br /> Sunday at Yei Church (see photo): Phyllis Hankins has been teaching people to bring offerings of food from their garden if they don’t have money, to help support the pastors and teachers for the church’s schools (who are all virtually unpaid). People are now starting to respond. Saturday at Diantha’s health workshop for 43 United Methodist women, we gave them each 8 bars of soap, sold in a row, and suggested they could give one bar each to the church and the school. Sunday, one of the women who had attended this workshop brought a big tub of her peanuts and a dozen ears of dried maize wrapped in a hand embroidered cloth. After church the pastor auctioned it off (which was a lively scene) for about 4 times their value. Apparently other churches do this as well. The only way the church’s schools here can pay their teachers is to charge school fees, and the people in the rural villages are subsistence farmers, without much cash. Money was donated so each school has a blackboard and chalk. They have little else (no books, etc.). Their determination is inspiring.<br /> Monday we had a chance to visit another health clinic, this one run by the Evangelical Presbyterian Church with German doctors. It is a secondary health center, and has one of the few dentists here. They are building a unit to house about 15 more patients overnight (they already have 4 beds.) The private clinics are very well run.<br /> Bishop Wandabula is our bishop from East Annual Conference (which includes 5 countries: Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi!), and he is based in Kampala Uganda. He came for a visit this week. It was very successful. The church at Yei held a great reception, with the children singing and processing. He was very supportive of the difficult work that Boo and Phyllis have been doing, of our proposed work, and also held a meeting with the local pastors where he answered their concerns point by point, firmly backing up Boo as the District Superintendent (see photos). Friday we traveled 26 miles to Lasu near the Congo border which houses 9,000 Congolese refugees for ribbon cutting celebration. United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the UN High Commission on Refugees, and other NGO’s had built several school buildings, latrines, drilled wells, and updated the government health center. Now it is the best equipped health center (many sit without money for staff or medicines), and includes a midwife and birthing center. They said the original water holes were shared with gorillas. That’s the closest we’ve come to wild animals here besides the tropical gecko that lurks outside our bathroom window snapping up mosquitos. On the way to Lasu we stopped in to see 2 very isolated Methodist churches. Mama Kamisa at Gwiria was so excited to see the Bishop and wanted us to come to her house up on the hill. She has helped start 4 churches, and is about 70 years old and very lively. She is raising her arms in joy in the photo. We also had a blessing of the bore hole which was made possible by Holston Conference offerings. Twenty six miles does not seem like much in the US. Here however, it is not an easy trip. It took over 2 hours in the land cruiser in a very lurching ride. There are places which have become impassible where people have made a little detour side road. A torrential downpour began just before we left, so parts of the road were like a river, (see photo) totally covered in water and Boo who was driving couldn’t tell where the ruts were. A few times the wake from the water splashed on the hood of the land cruiser (it is made to drive through water). We made it back safely, but very tired. <br /> Another highlight was Betty receiving her bicycle (see photo). She is about 17 years old, and in the 9th grade (the war or poverty disturbed many students’ education). A Holston Conference church is supporting her high school fees and her food as well. She is already an outstanding leader in her church. When her mother was ill, she took over her position as United Methodist Women’s leader.<br /> We are waiting for the roads to clear up before visiting more rural churches, and in the meantime are visiting some of the other NGO’s here who are doing similar kind of development in the villages, to learn from them and find out what the local resources are. <br />We really appreciate any little notes you send us, and updates on your lives.Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-40564590058355741622010-09-19T21:19:00.000+03:002010-09-19T21:20:13.920+03:00Mission in Africa: Week FourSunday 12<br />After the church service at Yei UMC, which includes three “hot songs” during which we dance (actually, jump), we walk across the soccer field to the two new school blocks, which form a U shape with the one old one that I remember from a year ago. Phyllis and Boo lead a dedication of the new school blocks, with Phyllis playing an adaptation of “Bless this House” and then going around to each of the classroom doors to anoint them and pray. In the late afternoon, we go to the weekly prayer group/Bible study on Mark, which this weeks focuses on going out in mission with a minimum of possessions and knowing when to persist and when to shake the dust off your feet and move on. I'm supposed to lead the study next week. <br /><br />Monday 13<br />With most of the visiting team we go the Logobero United Methodist Church, which had to relocate when a local tribal clan decided they wanted the land the church was on. Even Boo and Phyllis haven't been here; we go as far as we can get the Landcruiser, then Isaac Sebit leads us up a narrow path for a mile, over frequently wet ground, two streams spanned by wiggly logs, to a wood-and-thatch church they built in two months. Boo introduces each person and when its my turn to talk, I give my usual summary of what Diantha and I hope to do by working alongside each congregation/village to help them make a plan to address their biggest needs, and provide specific help in health, agriculture, and microenterprise. The pastor responds by thanking me for my “sweet words”, which I understand to mean our approach of listening and working beside them, as much as the concrete help we hope to bring. We worship by dance-jumping a second day in a row, and as the worship winds up we see dark clouds gathering and thunder. We stand up to go but are not allowed by the pastor, who shouts to the “kitchen” to hurry up: they have lunch planned for us, and by gosh we're going to eat it! So as the clouds burst and rain drips through the thatch down our necks, we accept their hospitality with a smile and eat the posho (corn mush) and chicken stew. The rain stops right before we start back down the mile-long path, which is much more slippery now and the puddles are bigger. The streams we have to cross are much bigger and the logs more slippery, so a couple of us visitors end up stepping into the water despite help from 2 or 3 Sudanese men. We make back to the Landcruiser, and home, a little wet but unhurt. <br /> <br />Meanwhile on Monday Diantha is spending the day at the Yei General Hospital as part of Africa ELI's community service day for students from Yei Girls Boarding School. She has been asked to do a training on the use of bed nets to prevent malaria; as part of that training, she leads the students in a skit to show hospital patients on how malaria is spread and the importance and means of preventing it. With the students, she helps present bed nets and soap to expectant mothers on the maternity ward. The contrast between this local government-run hospital and one of the exemplary clinics run by an Episcopal mission group that Diantha visits is like night and day. The Episcopal clinic has 12 or so beds for overnight admissions. They have just opened at new children’s ward, (there are no pediatricians here), and are preparing to open an eye clinic (the only one here; another clinic has just started the only dentistry clinic). They see sick patients for the equivalent of about $2. Many people in the villages cannot afford transportation to come, nor the fees and medicines, as they are struggling subsistence farmers. All of their staff are well trained, which actually is a novelty here. Plus the grounds and the buildings are clean. In contrast, the government does not have enough money for services, so the government hospital is abysmal. In fact most missionaries recommend people do not go there, as it is poorly staffed; sometimes people may wait, admitted, for 3 days before anyone sees them. To Diantha, it seems third world; families must cook, clean, do laundry for and care for their patients; some latrines are there for the several hundred people on campus, but are not always used, which is the predominant custom in the bush. While she is there it rains heavily; the children’s ward includes a screened-in veranda with no shutters, so all the mothers have to take up their children, mattresses and belongings and rush inside; there is an inch of water left on the rough unswept concrete floor. On the positive side, there is a nurse there on duty, who has gloves on and is administering medicine; there is a container of water outside for hand washing. Mothers in the maternity ward keep their babies and bedding clean. Inside are about 40 beds, up next to each other, with only 1 mosquito net. Diantha leads the students in carrying out a skit to show how best to keep mosquitoes out.<br /><br />Monday night my calves are really sore from two days of dance-jumping.<br /><br />Tuesday 14<br />Four of the six visiting team members fly to Uganda, while two stay a couple more days. I (Steve) attend the weekly security briefing at the compound of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR). This week there are reports of tribal conflicts over roads, about 30 miles away; an increasing problem with crashes between the “Boda-Boda” motorcycle taxis in town, and an unsuccessful attempt at robbery at another NGO compound foiled by a guard. I'm relieved there are no new reports of attacks in Sudan by the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group) though there is news that the second in command in the LRA has relocated from Darfur to Western Equatoria (the state just west of ours.)<br /><br />We get a call from David Muwaya saying that Bishop Wandabula is coming this Thursday instead of next Tuesday, so we call the Sudanese United Methodist pastors to alert them that he may come by their Thursday meeting at the end.<br /><br />Wednesday 15<br />Today is “International Democracy Day”, a day I didn't even realize existed while I lived in the U.S., though during the day-long speeches in the center of town there are many references to developing an accountable system of democratic government and a balance of powers like the U.S. I look around and realize I am the only U.S. citizen at the speeches. At suppertime we have a birthday party for David Muwaya, one of Bishop Wandabula's staff who happens to be in Yei, along with Fred and Libby Dearing from the team, and Pat Hipp who is hear helping with Africa ELI. We have a truly scrumptious meal with beef stew, rice, cabbage, green beans, fresh pineapple & bananas, chocolate brownies, and banana cake, <br /><br />Thursday 16<br />This is the day Phyllis teaches the pastors English, and after that Diantha is going to give them a brief workshop on handwashing, so Boo and I drop them at the Yei UMC compound across town. Diantha takes with her the “tippy-tap” I made the day before, from a 5-liter plastic juice container, string, a stick and and a bar of soap; you hang it by the handle from the tree, tie a 1-meter string to the (capped) spout and a stick to the other end , and make a hole in the side a little below the spout so that when you step on the stick it tips the whole thing enough for a small stream of water to come out the hole. And there is a bar of soap hanging by a string on the tippy-tap too. These can go near latrines and kitchens to promote handwashing.<br /><br />After we drop Phyllis and Diantha, Boo and I start toward the airport to take Fred and Libby Dearing to catch their flight. On the way to the airport we get a call from David Muwaya saying that Bishop Wandabula has missed his flight and will come next Tuesday instead. We say goodbye to Fred and Libby and head back to get Phyllis and Diantha only to find that a large dump truck is stuck in the only passable stream to get to the compound. So we walk in a half mile to get them and walk with them back out to Land Cruiser. <br /><br />In the evening Diantha continues her preparations for the Saturday workshop on health with the United Methodist Women, and after talking with Boo and Phyllis I write up a proposal for funding a series of trainings and meetings at the village churches, our work for the next 4-5 months. <br /><br />Friday 17<br />Di meets with 3 of the Yei UMC women to plan a special lunch for the Saturday health workshop that will illustrate balanced nutrition. I study Arabic, research an obnoxious weed that's a problem for farmers growing grains, prepare to lead the Sunday night Bible study, and try unsuccessfully to set up the brand new printer we bought in Uganda on our way here. Apparently, after several emails back and forth with tech support, there is a problem with the power supply. Too bad the only place I could possibly take it is Kampala, Uganda.<br /><br />Saturday 18<br />I go with Diantha to help her with the workshop she is leading; 43 women show up representing 14 of the 17 Sudanese United Methodist churches, an excellent turnout! About 8 women bring their nursing babies. Diantha is glad she had lots of experience planning for the county leadership program back in Tennessee, and also the WASH (WAter, Sanitation, Hygiene) local training she had her second week here with Sudanese community health workers. But still this workshop represents a big unknown for her, as communication is different here, and she is just getting familiar with how people think, and their customs. All in all the workshop seems to go well. The women report a lot of sanitation related diseases; many places do not have latrines; little access to clean water, and little use of handwashing especially with soap. Some of the challenges are that they can’t afford soap and have to carry water on their heads. At the end the women start asking questions about the causes of various diseases, and shared a few of their traditional beliefs. One was that leprosy is a curse on a family because the grandfather has committed murder. They also misname many diseases, so she will have to do research to find out exactly what diseases are prevalent, but they named diarrhea, vomiting, malaria, and polio, malnutrition. We have heard from other medical missionaries that there is some Vitamin A deficiency. The women ask for another workshop with a nurse or doctor who could explain more about the diseases and answer their many questions, and we tell them we hope to arrange this. Some of the churches they come from are 20 miles away; one young mother had walked 16 miles to come. Cell phones don’t reach the rural areas and there are no land lines or postal service, so we rely on sending messages to the churches through the weekly pastor’s meetings. United Methodist churches in the U.S. have raised enough money to buy each pastor a bicycle, so that will help them.Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-76512683548229576552010-09-12T15:09:00.001+03:002010-09-12T15:12:21.044+03:00Mission in Africa: Week ThreeSteve and I are taking turns writing the blog entries each week.; it is my turn (Diantha) to write the blog entry for our third week. We are thankful for friends and family. We have had a few live Skype (free phone over internet) sessions with video with some family members. Totally amazing. The internet is somewhat on and off depending on clouds blocking access to the satellite. My laptop, which is several years old, apparently isn’t up to date enough to receive the more modern Wi-Fi from the UMCOR (United Methodist Committee On Relief) office; we are living 50 yards from them on their compound in their guest house, shared with Boo and Phyllis Hankins (click the photo link on this blog page.). I’m using Steve’s email address as it is easier to access and has our complete address book. Request: please become a “Follower” to our blog to get an email reminder when we have posted something new.<br /> There is a team of 6 people visiting from our home Holston Conference. Steve is helping a lot with errands for them. They are here primarily to supply furnishings for the new guest house which is being built. It will be the residence of Boo and Phyllis, with guest rooms and a bunk room to also house visiting teams (up to 14 people). It is a short 5 minute walk from where we are, along a grassy lane (see photo of how Yei feels rural). The donor, Rev. Linda Bird Wright is here. It is nicknamed “Captain’s House” in memory of her late husband, who was an airline captain. Linda is receiving ongoing chemotherapy for lung cancer, and has scheduled this trip between treatments. She is truly an inspiration to us.<br /> Steve has been the busiest one this week, as I was under the weather for several days with some little bug (better now). There is little ready made furniture here, so we just set up the 5 foot wooden table he ordered as book shelf and desk for two! We are both able to go to the weekly pastor’s meeting in Yei, along with our team, where Steve describes how to avoid a snail infestation in the garden (see photo). The easiest way is form a 2-3 meter cleared margin around your garden, and then pick them off by hand; they don’t like to cross open soil. We know an agriculturalist at the Christian Reformed World Relief Council here who donated hoe blades, and peanut and sorghum seeds to give some to each church. These are some of the things they have been asking for. It is time to do the last planting of the rainy season. In the rural areas, most people barely survive by subsistence farming, though they can't cultivate quite enough land to feed themselves and sell the excess. The land is quite fertile, but all labor is by hand tools.<br /> We visit two rural churches along with the team. They present their list of needs, which as usual includes the need for a better shelter than the open thatch roof (especially from the rain), which now houses the church as well as nursery students (with spill over seating under the trees). You should hear the clapping when they were told they will each have a covenant relationship with certain Holston Conference churches (represented by the team), who will help them with the cost of building a “permanent building”, especially for the “iron sheets” (ie corrugated metal roof). Church members will be asked to provide river sand, rocks, home made mud bricks, local logs and some labor. At Ligitolo United Methodist Church Pastor Cosmos Ali is given candlesticks and candles, and a ceramic chalice and paten for communion (photo.) Churches have a simple table in front with a tablecloth, and sometimes prayer cloths hanging from the rafters, so the gifts represent an elaborate addition. They also receive a photo album of them taken at a previous team visit. I would imagine most people have never seen a photo of themselves. Adults and children alike gather around and laugh out loud at themselves and their friends. As at every church we visit, there are sick people who come forward with their needs. The abandoned mother, whose child’s school fees are paid by Holston, has a horrible toothache. Looking inside her mouth, I see half the tooth is eaten away by a cavity. Fortunately one of the clinics in Yei has added a dentist, the only one here. It costs about $10 to get a tooth pulled, so she is given the money. It turns out she doesn’t have the $2 also needed for a round trip on the taxi motor cycle. I am struck by the realization of how many things I am able to afford for $2 or more, and what a privilege access to health care is. In many villages, they do not have local pharmacies, and it would be too far to walk to one. We give her all the Tylenol we had in the medical kit in the land cruiser. When folks see we have medicine we were approached: “I have had a headache, fever and vomiting every time I eat for two weeks. I went to the hospital, but I am not better “. “I also have a headache”. The Tylenol was gone. Some could afford to go to the clinic. The hospital does not have enough staff, nor well trained staff to really treat disease. The local non-profit clinics are better. We have also been given used eyeglasses by churches to hand out. People flock to the land cruiser. They have to just find a pair by trial and error (reading glasses are the most popular). One teenager has infection in both eyes. Another gets glasses so he can see the blackboard. While there is a new opthamologist at a clinic in Yei, few of them can afford the fees or the journey; I think about the fact that I have been wearing glasses since I was 7 years old and would have a poorer education without it. While we are at the churches, I also help get the names, photos and stories of some of the orphaned children, who are living with relatives (see photo). Libby Dearing is on the trip; she is part of the team looking into having an orphanage built here. A good many of the children are wearing tattered clothing; many if not most I am sure could use more food as well. The families in the villages don’t have money to pay the school fees, which pay the teachers, nor to bring much in offering to pay the pastors. They are being encouraged to bring garden produce. Pukuka church has a few ears of dried corn hanging from the ceiling. They are proud to show that they are starting to do as they are being taught!!<br /> An additional highlight, especially for me who loves stringed instruments, is hearing a large and small odungu (see photo) accompany the choir. The strings tuned to the same scale as we use, and the notes of the chords are plucked rhythmically (but not like a guitar strum); the sound sort of reminds me of a thumb piano. We usually think of Sudan as a place of poverty, but it is rich with cultural (and spiritual) riches like these.Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-62662149331800886492010-09-05T18:56:00.000+03:002010-09-05T18:58:01.609+03:00Mission in Africa Week TwoSaturday, August 28 <br />Yesterday (Friday) was very unusual. We'd planned to visit two churches, but got a call that there had been two incidents of shooting and everyone (not just foreigners) were advised to stay at home. Actually, we felt well taken care of since three people called us and three others dropped by to check on us and update us about the situation. Apparently one was a domestic dispute in which a Dinka husband-to-be argued with his fiancee's family about marrying his wife sooner than originally agreed even though it would cut short her education; when the family disagreed, he shot and killed 9 of them. And in a separate incident, a Dinka soldier shot and killed his Nuer superior because he had been disciplined for drinking and drug use. We stayed and worked at home, and heard UN helicopter landing at the nearby UNMIS compound; later found out top GOSS (Government of Southern Sudan) officials from Juba had come to handle the situation and that both shooters had been caught. We praise God that things were handled in a way that did not fan the flames of the traditional Nuer-Dinka rivalry, and that it is being resolved by rule of law rather than the rough justice that prevailed during the war and has sometimes still occurred though the war is over.<br /><br />Elias from UMCOR was supposed to take the Landcruiser to Uganda yesterday to pick up up a backup generator for the Hankins new house, but was delayed until today because of this situation. He left early this morning. Phyllis is not feeling well so we pray for her. Rev. Isaac Sebit comes to talk with Boo, and gives me a lesson on his motorcycle (a brave and generous man.)<br /><br />Sunday, August 29<br />Since the Land cruiser is in Entebbe to pickup the backup generator, we are walking or “footing” as they say here. We took the opportunity to go to church with our UK missionary friends, John and Poppy Spens, who help the Martha Clinic and build primary schools. It is an ECS church (Episcopal Church of Sudan) with 3 services, and we're at the English service. Poppy apologizes for the formal liturgy, but we tell her there are United Methodist churches that have a more formal liturgy than this. The sermon is on Psalm 121, about God being our only, and reliable, source of help! Good reminder. Diantha and I go to the missionary prayer fellowship on Sunday evening for the second time; the crowd has doubled since last week and there are 12 there. John Spens leads an excellent Bible study on Mark, the passage when Jesus is asleep in the boat when the storm arises. Take home point: fear is the opposite of faith. A difficult lesson to really incorporate and practice, but Amen.<br /><br />Mon, August 30<br />Since the Landcruiser is on its way back from Uganda and still not here to day, there is no way for us to go to yet another 2 churches we had originally scheduled for today. Also, Diantha has discovered she has the chance to take a free week-long train-the-trainer workshop being offered on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (one of her main focuses for her village work), and the workshop is being held only a 30 minute walk away. So we postpone going to the churches. Tally: we've been blocked from 1 church by road problems, 4 by last Friday's security situation and the way it changed the schedule, and now we'll skip yet another 2 because Boo and Phyllis and Diantha have persuaded me it makes much more sense to go to the villages at a later date when Diantha can go too. I'm eager to get on with our initial visits to churches, but I have to (reluctantly) admit they are right. I must not only be flexible about changes in the schedule, but also must be patient with how much longer things take! So I go do something fun; I go visit the Principal of the Crop Training Center, David Bala my friend from 2 previous trips, and have a great talk with him. He gives me excellent advice on how to handle the snail problem that is devastating the crops in two of the churches we met with. David also offers me free papaya starts to share with the churches, and free chaya cuttings (chaya is “tree spinach”, a perennial with edible leaves that have more nutrition than spinach.) And David also gives me very good advice on which motorcycle brand will be best to buy for riding out to the villages. We agree to try to travel together to meetings of the USAID agriculture group in Juba. When I walk back to the UMCOR compound, Elias pulls up in the Landcruiser with not only the generator, but all the luggage Diantha and I had to leave at the East Africa Annual Conference Office! We were expecting to get it a week later! What a day of blessings!<br /><br />Tues, Aug. 31<br />While Boo takes Phyllis to the airport to fly to Uganda to meet the team coming in tonight, I go to weekly security briefing with Flora from UMCOR. The briefing is just down the street a short walk at the UN High Commission on Refugees compound. When we walk in there are four UN uniformed personnel from various countries, five other NGO/mission foreigners like me (two Americans, two UK, one Norwegian) and about eight Sudanese representing various NGOs. We learn details about the Friday security incidents, and also that the phone tree to inform NGOs was only partly effective; plans are made to improve it. Later while Diantha is still at her training Boo and I make 3 visits to the drivers license office, finally find it open, and in one short hour have licenses for Diantha and I! Then we go and with much silent prayer I buy a motorcycle, the same brand David Bala recommended, and ride it home still praying. I only stall twice; its controls are different than the one Sebit taught me on, but I finally figure it out with no major mishap. The first time I stalled, in the market area, a young man ran over and helped me get it started (answer to prayer?); I appreciate his help, especially since half a dozen of his friends are watching and laughing! When I get back home I practice riding in the UMCOR compound for about 2 hours. Prayer is great, but practice helps too.<br /><br />Weds, Sept 1<br />Today we drop Diantha at her training early in the morning at the ECS Guest House, and double check the reservations there for the team coming in this weekend. On to the bank where I get the paperwork to open our checking account, and to the market where we finally find motorcycle helmets the right style and size for Diantha and I. Back at the house, Pastor Isaac Sebit comes and helps us divide up the 400 lb of sorghum and peanut seeds that have been given to the United Methodists from the CRWRS (Christian Reform World Relief Service.) Using our luggage scale, Sebit and Boo and I fill 17sacks of equal weight of peanut seed, and another 17 sacks of sorghum seed, one of each kind of seed for each church. CRWRS has also given us good hoe blades, two for each of our churches. We'll give the seed and hoe blades to the pastors next at the pastor's meeting. It's hard hot work today, but it feels GREAT to do something concrete and immediate for agriculture in the UM churches. Most of what we will be doing this fall is a long-range planning session at each church and a first project coming out of that, but we need to mix the long-range with some short-range. It is still planting season, so these seeds and tools will come at a good time. We get done just in time to grab a cold coke, Skype with Danny Howe, and then I jump on the new motorcycle to go pick up Diantha from her workshop while the sky thunders and threatens the usual evening downpour. Its the first time I've ridden the motorcycle a mile with someone on the back, but all goes well and we beat the rain. Thank God for a productive, good day.<br /><br />Thurs, Sept. 2<br />The exciting and inspiring days of work in the villages, the part of my service here that I enjoy so much, is inevitably founded on days like today of tedious detail and errands: setting up our bank account, setting up our budget and financial record-keeping on the computer, buying a chain and padlock for our motorcycle, shopping for groceries. One exciting thing is arranging to get parts for a grinding mill (hand- or bike-cranked) sent to Kampala so it can be manufactured and we can buy one and try it out to see if its feasible for the villages; this was one of the high priorities of 3 of the 6 churches we visited last week.<br /><br />Fri., Sept. 3<br />I have a completely free day until 3 pm, so I set out walking ½ mile to the compound for the Christian Reformed World Relief Commission. High of the day: great talk with Nate at CRWRC not only about their group's excellent work in village agricultural development, but the real scoop on the other NGO (Non-Governmental Organizations) and government agencies involved in agriculture. My list of the NGOs I've identified is now longer than the list of plants and animals I can identify. I called two other key agriculture contacts and set up meetings with them. Low of the day: the brand new HP printer I bought in Kampala will not install on my computer or make copies.<br /><br />Sat., Sept 4<br />Today the team from our home Holston Conference arrived: Rev. Linda Bird Wright, Delphine Swanson, Jane Robinson, Joy Robinson Schultz, Libby Dearing and Fred Dearing. They are here to head up the purchase of furnishings for the new Hankins house/guesthouse for visitors and mission teas (mainly the first four people listed) and Libby and Fred are also here to work on the future orphanage project and the present school situation. We'll go to Ligotolo UMC tomorrow morning for worship, and from then on Diantha and I will pretty much devote the next week and a half to helping with the team. We'll probably be able to get the rest of our own household shopping done as we spend time in the market helping them shop for the Hankins house. And we may be able to squeeze in a few meetings with other mission groups and NGOs as we try to get a full picture of work already going on like ours.<br /><br />Today Diantha completed her WaSH (Water and Sanitation and Hygiene) training. The purpose was to train 16 people from three area villages to be Sanitation and Hygiene promoters. This is organized through a Christian NGO, Across which is doing many things we hope to do so we will visit them too to learn more. We'd tried to take the WaSH training in the U.S. twice, and were stymied both times; but it turned out for the better since by doing it here Diantha learned a lot about language, and learning styles and approaches, and also about local culture and situations: many people must get drinking water from contaminated rivers and boil water if possible; many people do not have latrines; some have pits with a simple or no structure . She'll get to put these things into practice when she does a local training on September 18 to which women from all the Sudanese United Methodist churches have been invited.Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4412227631061765247.post-7243550461695384942010-08-27T18:39:00.000+03:002010-08-27T18:41:46.712+03:00A week of visiting villagesAs we finish our first week in Yei, we are having a catch-up day at our new home at the UMCOR guest house with the Hankins. It has been a BUSY week, as the four of us (Hankins and Hodges) have visited one to two rural churches a day in our effort to eventually visit all 17 as soon as possible. On the way, we are carefully studying the scenery, trying to identify trees, buildings and figure out what people are doing or selling as we pass to better understand the life here. The local Assistant District Superintendent, Pastor Isaac Sebit, travels with us to interpret, and patiently answers our many questions. Each community of course is a bit different, but with very similar needs, as all are in poverty, in remote areas where roads are sometimes impassable, or too far from Yei (where there are services and markets) for them to access given their mode of transportation (mostly walking, carrying things on their heads; there are some bicycles and a few motorcycles on the roads; almost all 4-wheel vehicles are owned by service organizations). The tiredness we feel at the end of the day I think will ease as we adjust to our new life. Differences in the visits are marked by which chorus of “welcome visitor” is sung by the children and by what their presentation is composed of; but more so by the things that happen on the side. There are always people at these rural locations who need a ride back to Yei for medical treatment or other purposes. One trip was especially organized to bring one of the widows of the church for a vital visit to the clinic. On another, we were stopped by someone on the road to carry a limp woman with severe anemia; there are no ambulances and this woman was too weak to ride even a motorcycle.<br /><br />The purpose of the visits is to let each church met us and to have an introduction to what we hope to do. We also visit the recently dug bore holes (wells with hand pumps) with all the people and have a blessing prayer. This is the clean water for the community, and they report a reduction in disease, plus do not have to walk as far to carry water home. Each church is also used as a “Nursery School” which is preschool and Kindergarten; education which is not provided by other schools in their areas. Villages have Primary School, and students must go to Yei traveling daily or as a boarding school for High School which is one year past our high school. PTA’s and School Committees are included in the government outline for schools, but some do not have these. We heard of Nursery Schools with attendance as much as three hundred. For the most part, teachers are not paid, as parents do not have money, and the United Methodist Church (UMC) is encouraging people to plant an extra row of food for the teachers, as well as one for the pastors as they are mostly unpaid as well. Greeting visitors is of high value here, so the children form a chorus to sing a welcoming song, and sometimes process with a slow dance into the church to form a “parade”. (We are working on posting short video clips on You Tube. Also, check the photos we put on Facebook, and click on photos to enlarge and pass mouse over them for names, and note the descriptions). Several classes meet under open sided thatched church/school, with overflow under the trees. Holston Conference is providing 2 blackboards each, and UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) will bring each child a notebook, pencils, etc.<br /><br />The chiefs of the area also come to our meeting (one was a woman) as well as elders of the community and church, church members, parents with babies and little ones. While it is our first visit, it is also a second or more visit from Rev. Boo Hankins (the District Superintendent provided for East Africa Annual Conference by Holston Conference, TN to help support and organize the churches) and his wife, Rev. Phyllis Hankins. We tell our story of coming here, explain how we hope to learn about their problems, and their way of life and work together for solutions. They nod at this. We also say we want to be called brother and sister, rather than the honorific “Mother” or “Father” and they clap at this. We emphasize how patience is needed to make lasting, long term solutions. Then anyone who wants to speak is invited, starting with the most honored chiefs, then the elders, the teachers, parents. It is a very inclusive, open meeting. We are welcomed warmly and given tea or simple lunch of just rice with salt, or rice with meat and sauce. The food is passed as far as it goes. They are hopeful for improvements in their situation. <br /><br />We note common themes among the priority needs mentioned during the inevitable “report time”: they would like more permanent buildings to last and shelter school kids and church attenders from the rain, they would like teacher remuneration, teacher training, and teaching materials (there are no textbooks, sometimes no notebooks, etc. etc.) They want seeds, agricultural training, and implements (hoes, axes, machetes to cut the brush and small trees.) Right now during the wet season, snails are eating all the crops and children are getting sick and dying. They all ask for grinding mills as it is too far for most to take their millet to the mill; also their grinding stones break and put particles into the meal and the children get sick. Access to market is a great need (in 2007 there was an agricultural project to raise millet, sesame seeds etc. but it was too far for them to carry the grain on their heads to the market area.) The “road” to Yondoru UMC, several miles off the terribly rutted main road, had water filled holes the whole width so that even something like a hand pulled garden cart could not get through. Women are interested in selling embroidery, but again money for materials and access to market is a problem. <br /><br />They report disease has been reduced since the bore holes (deep wells) have been drilled and provide them with clean water, but we did not notice pit latrines; worms were not mentioned but are a common problem. One headwoman mentioned the problem of low birth weight babies and danger to young babies and mothers. All mentioned lack of adequate medicines at area government clinics (if there are any) and difficulty accessing health care in Yei. Money for transport, fees and medicines is also an issue. Malaria is not mentioned everywhere, though not all have bed nets and mosquitos are out. People can become ill quickly and die before they can get medicine. I see that the babies are breastfeeding, but many of the little ones and a few adults have red hair, indicating lack of protein. There are orphans among the children. The most impoverished are two churches in an area where the Lord’s Resistance Army has destroyed their homes and taken everything they had. Now the military has a camp there to help protect. On the positive Boo notes that several churches last year met under trees, and this year they have thatched huts with rough log benches for church/school. They will soon all have bore holes. Some of the schools are very new. Some are more organized with PTA’s and maybe a School Committee. Some of the reports are given English!! Selfishly, it will come in very handy to have one or more English speakers in each church or village when we return to do trainings and planning. <br /><br />We were impressed that people, especially the chiefs and leaders, have an in depth understanding and analysis of the problems of their village and are focused on the long-range goal of developing a better life for their children. Their group process is organized and inclusive. Women are involved, though only sometimes in leadership positions. This are all very encouraging!! The village folks we’ve met make it clear that t is of great importance to them that we are here at all; that help is coming out to try to reach them. Often it is mentioned that the different colors of our skin is not important. Diantha will hold a training Sept. 18 for the women on health and nutrition. Steve has immediately begun researching solutions to the need of reducing snails and increasing grinding mills.<br /><br />A welcome song sung by the children in one church was “We are the future of Sudan.” They sang it like they believed it! This is also a common theme, that we must work for improvements for the sake of the children. The needs now are great, but these people have made it through even tougher times. The children are bright eyed, love to sing, and also bring joy to our hearts.<br /><br />One of our highlights was one church where they practiced the custom of bringing a young child before the respected visitors and elders to pose a riddle (spoken in English no less). “I love my mother and my mother loves me. I strike my mother and my mother kills me. What am I?” We were given 5 minutes to come up with the answer, which of course we could not (the answer was a matchbox), so had to pay the forfeit. Fortunately we had some gum and peanuts/M&M’s in the jeep to give them as a reward for their cleverness, and Phyllis taught them a song with motions also as a reward. We’ll learn to carry treats in the future!<br /><br />We are appreciative of these things: love and support from family and friends, the weather which is cooler than Tennessee, with less humidity and more breeze (high has been 85 in the shade with some cloud cover, rain every several days), the beauty of the air, grasses, trees, sky, the rural feel of south Sudan even in Yei which is 250,000, and the people here who greet us with thanksgiving and open arms. We cannot forget the Hankins who have taken us into their home in the UMCOR Guest House, and the Landcruiser which toils under Boo’s skilled hands to bounce over bumps and down pot holes and plow through water filled holes several feet deep (I call the jeep a water buffalo) and though we have come close we have not become stuck. The mosquitoes are omnipresent at night so we shut ourselves inside from the evening to morning biting time. I call the occasional ones that slip inside the house “Mr. Lurkey” as they lurk around damp drains and clothing, but we have successfully eliminated several and have no mosquito bites yet. A small thing, yet we give thanks.Steve and Diantha Hodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15155791614526061562noreply@blogger.com0