Missions
Missions are a vital aspect of all we do at St. Paul’s. Projects help us use our hands as we listen to the spirit prompt our hearts to be better disciples of Jesus.
Current special project: cleaning bucket kit instructions
Nyadire Trip (Faith Geer)
Below are some e-mails from Faith describing her current mission trip to Africa:
From: Faith Geer [mailto:faithgeer@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2011 12:00 PM
Subject: RE: Trip update
Greetings:
I’m right near the time that the power often goes out so I will type fast!
We went to the sculpture’s house and ran into a thunder storm yesterday afternoon. It was amazing. First of all because it is not suppose to be raining yet and second because the lighting was gorgeous! The early rain is the talk of the town, they are not sure whether to plant now or wait until the usual time. We didn’t get to see all of his figures, but his house was small and welcoming. We all sat around on the sofas which are placed in a circle around a coffee table. This seems to be the order of most houses. Keith bought a beautiful tall carving of a snake. It has a good story to it. I’ll share it with everyone someday.
We hung the mosquito nets this morning in the Home of hope. The nets are rectangular, rather than round. They do not come with string to tie them to the ceiling. So we took the old nets that had holes in them and used the binding and strings that were attached to them to make new ties. Our theme of patient, calm and flexible has come though many times this week! We are constantly looking for ways to do things differently. Now each of the kids has a new, fresh net with lots of repellent on it!
We hiked to caves with ancient drawings in them on Monday. They were about the same time frame as the ones we saw on Saturday. However, these are on top of a granite mountain that is mostly flat stone that you walk in zig zags to get up. The view is beautiful. We took lots of pictures!
We met with one of the micro-loan recipients today. He is buying fish in Harare and selling it here at the mission. He has a freezer in his small house and keeps the fish frozen until he sells it to his customers. Some are on pre-orders and others are by folks who just know he has it. He was able to pay for his daughter’s and son’s school fees and still save some, too, to pay back some of the loan. His dream is to have a little butcher’s shop in the town just outside the Mission and then add beef, pork and chicken to what he sells. He’s really very ambitious!
I went to the sixth grade class room today to listen to the children read. They are quite good. One little boy read about a great snow fall…complete with a snowball fight, climbing mountains of snow and making a snow man. Read every word perfectly and yet, did not have a clue about what it was like! I tried to explain to him, but it was really difficult to explain when there is nothing here similar to snow!
The team that is working at the hospital has made great progress in getting the pharmacy order completed. They are also checking on the equipment that needs to be fixed or adapted. There is a team of researchers here from Princeton that are working on a parasite that is infecting children who play in the rivers north of here. It was discovered by the doctor here at Nyadire and now they have a grant to begin working on finding a way to break the cycle of infestation. It is really quite hopeful that they can resolve it. The nine member team stopped by the guest house last night and chatted with us. They are from all over the country. After the first two researchers set up the project the other seven found the project on-line and signed up for the nine month research project. That’s just amazing to me!
The worship services each morning have been inspiring. Each group in the Mission has a gathering during the week. We go to all of them and enjoy the singing. Even the shona prayers are special and heartfelt. Most of the time there is some English spoken. This week our team mate, Joni, has been the guest preacher for the groups. There is such a deep spiritual commitment here. Their work is such a struggle and the conditions so challenging, yet they get up each morning and try and do the best they can to make a difference. I guess that’s all we can ask of anyone!
We finalize the projects tomorrow and visit friends to say good bye. We’ll have a final evening of popcorn with the orphans on Friday and then leave early for Harare on Saturday. I will probably not have access to a computer there. We get home on the 19th in the afternoon.
Take care,
Faith
From: Faith Geer [mailto:faithgeer@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2011 11:22 AM
Subject: RE: update
Hi Everyone,
We have had several adventures…we went to the prehistoric caves and an ancient village. The village is similar to the findings at the Great Zimbabwe area with piles of rocks that do not have mortar between them to hold them together. We went there last year, too, if some of you remember the photos I had. The views from the top of the mountains are gorgeous. The fields are starting to turn green and the pretty bogadalins ( sp?) purple trees are all over the country side…so pretty. It looks like the “typical” African picutures one sees of the huts, fences, and farms along the country side. It is so pretty when it is starting to turn green! ( It was very brown in July.)
We went shopping in Mutoko, a small town about a half an hour from here. It had all the trappings of a flea market…lots of little booths and everyone wanting you to buy something! Found a pretty piece of material, and had a bottle of coke! There were hundreds of people trying to find rides to various parts of the area. it is the biggest town between here and Harare.
On Friday there was a huge graduation celebration for 56 nursing students…that’s a huge class of students who, unfortunately, do not have jobs. The government has asked them to stop training nurses for a while because there are too many! There were so many family members here… it was like a fair! Proud parents and siblings, picnics on the grass, people stuffed in trucks and vans…all trying to come and honor their graduate. Even the little kids sat through the 2 hour ceremony with out a DS in sight! After the ceremony, we had a wonderful dinner with all the speakers and the invited guests. Here it is our organization TNC, that sponsored ( paid for) most of the party and supplies! Who knew! Everyone was so grateful to TNC for the support. It truly was quite and event.
In addition to the graduates, they honor Joyce Tisgna. She is retiring after 40 years as the hospital matron…the one that gets things done and moving! She is the wife of Pastor Julius. They visited us in Pittsburgh last year and spoke at several churches. They are an amazing couple. Julius is at every event and leads worship at least four times a week as chaplin for the Teacher’s College, Primary school, Nurses college and the hospital. They have quite a combined ministry here at the mission!
There was a sad death of a high school teacher here on Friday. He was only 29 years old. The funeral was in a town about five hours drive from here. They go back to the “place of their ancestors” to be buried. Our Sunday worship service had some prayers for him. Many of the congregation were high school students. I felt sorry for them losing a good friend and teacher. They were very sad.
Met Sister Rut, a woman from Finland, who has been here since the mid 70′s ( I think). She has reared over 100 orphans and still has several living in her house here on Nyadire Mission. She has a guest/friend, Claire, who is from Switzerland. She came in 1978 and raise orphans in a nearby village. She retired in 2006 and is back on a three month visit…amazing. It reminded me of times as a child when I’d sit with my Aunt Verda and Gladys as they told stories and shared their adventures. They are thinking of writing a book. What a life they had had!
We have had some great adventures with the orphans. we are being more intentional about going down each night and finding something special. One night we took glow bracelets down and we played in the dark with them and one candle burning. There’s something creative to do when the power goes out! Last night we gave out gifts to the kids from their sponsors. The NoMIC shirts were a hit…especially for the aunties, mothers, and fathers! I have lots of pictures to show you. The kids loved them. I even saw some being worn to church this morning!
Last night I got to teach Lovemore how to play the recorder. We had to start at the very beginning with note values, names, and eventually fingerings. Lovemore caught on so quickly…it was delightful to watch it “click” for him when it finally all made sense! We will continue to ad notes each day. who knew “Hot Cross Buns” could be so much fun!
Tomorrow we are back on the road to four more schools to see orphan and visit one more cave…I’ve not been to that one. Then on Tuesday I will work with the sixth grade teacher, Violet, in her classroom. Wednesday we will go out to visit the sculpturer and then to a small village that has pretty material…I hope to pick up some more pieces! Thursday we will work with the farm folks and Friday we will catchup on what ever we haven’t finished. Saturday we leave here for the safari and Monday we start to head home to arrive in Pittsburgh on Tuesday the 19th.
Hope to be able to get another letter or two off next week…we’ll see how the power holds out!
Thanks for your prayers!
Faith
From: Faith Geer [mailto:faithgeer@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2011 11:44 AM
Subject: RE: First Day
Hi Everyone,
We arrived without complications to a very hot Zimbabwe! The orphans greeted us with big hugs! Natalie, everyone says “hi.” They love your pictures and wish you were here! The kids have really grown! Their English is better, which is good since my shona is not!
The Mission is covered with beautiful spring flowers. There’s one tree that is so pretty…huge purple, lilac-like flowers. There are still lots of goats and cows wandering. There are even several dogs!
We walked all over the mission today, showing the new folks where everything is. It is very dry and dusty. The sun is hot and the air is dry! The biggest difference are the flowering trees!
We are very tired and ready to have an early night. We have many projects ready to go for the week.
All is well! dinner is ready…the sazda awaits!
From: Faith Geer [mailto:faithgeer@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 6:35 AM
Subject: First Day (Part 2)
Hi All,
We’ve visited the headmaster of the primary school to ask permission to go to the classrooms and visit. We saw the hearing impaired class. It is one of their specialties here. We plan to go back and read to the sixth grade class, distribute pen pal letters to the fourth graders, and play games with everyone on Wednesday.
On the way home from the school we stopped and played at the creche ( preschool.) The children were fun and full of lots of energy! They know very little English, so we can only olay along and smile alot!
It is much warmer that it was in July. At 8 a.m. I began to sweat and haven’t stopped! It is much dryer now, too; alot of dust in the roads as we walk.
Faith
From: FaithGeer@gmail.com [mailto:FaithGeer@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 10:46 AM
We are busy going to the Primary School and playing with the orphans, We have been tutoring them after school, too. I went to a fourth grade class room to give pen pal letters to the fourth graders here. Nathan’s class had written letters to the kids and sent a pictures of themselves. so we gave the letters to 30 of the 47 kids in the class! Imagine! They wrote letters back and we took pictures to show them. It took over an hour and a half to do it! The kids know a lot of English for fourth grade! I hope we can find 17 more kids from his school who would like to write them!
The other members of the team are working with the hospital staff to get pharmacy orders and are going over some of the equipment needs. They are seeing how creative everyone is here to use twhat ever they have and make it work!
We will visit the Home of Hope tonight with all the gifts and letters. It is so heartwarming to see the kids open their notes. We will also take the NoMIC shirts to them. We had enough adult sizes to give to the “mothers,” the “aunties,” and Fraderick, the security /fix-it -up guy! I’m sure they weill be thrilled!
Our food is being prepared by three gracious nurses. They work at the hospital and then come and help prepare food for us…amazing. They are very good/read that patient at teaching us shona, too. I’m their most challenged student!
Dr. Chinchani ( sp) stayed for supper last night and then started telling us stories…wow, so many thing happen here. The ones about the snakes are the scariest…I’ve been watching in the trees alot more today as I walk the paths! ( they like to hang int he trees to sun! ) it was fun to listen to the “campfire” stories.
The electric has only been on today for about two hours…we miss it most with the water. The pumps stop working and then the faucets go dry. The boar hole for water is over by the primary school, about a 10 minute walk. Others got the water today. I’ll take my turn tomorrow.
Overall, it’s been a wonderful time getting reaquainted wth the mission. Tomorrow we plan to go off site and visit the schools where we have orphans who need updated information for their sponsors.
Faith