The Dream IS Alive for Hazvinei Jongi

Hazvinei's dream is alive. 

     In 2000 as we toured the campus of Africa University a small new planting had been started.  The shrubs were whispering the school motto  "the Dream is Alive".   This year for over 1600 students from 23 African nations the shrubs have matured (see photo above) but the message is the same...it still captures how students feel about Africa University yet today. Education in Africa at any level captures the top of nearly every person's list of dreams.   Employment opportunities are so few, young Africans realize the only way to get a job that will support a family is to get not just a college degree but at least 2 or 3 master's degrees or beyond.     

     While in Zimbabwe in 2000, our mission team had the opportunity to give $500 toward the school fees for each of 3 students.  I still communicate with all of them and on our recent trip to Zimbabwe, we were able to meet 2 of the 3.   Hazvinei was one of the three.   She took a vacation from her job working with the United Nations in the prisons, women in the IDP camps, and with law enforcement employees in Darfur, Sudan to come and spent a week with our team in October 2011 at Africa University.   I can't begin to tell you how great it was to finally meet her after 11 years of corresponding first by snail mail and then by email and phone calls.  

Gene Albert, Hazvinei Jongi, Bonnie Albert

Hazvinei and I met with the Dean of the School of Health Sciences in early November 2011.   He gave her information and encouragement about getting a doctorate in Public Health.   He directed her toward University of Kentucky, Lexington, and to Dr. James Holsinger. She did exactly that, completed her application and waited.  Just 3 weeks ago she received the invitation for a position as a doctoral student with tuition waived at U of K.  You should read her excited email but she still had one hurdle to make before that excitment could really be expressed.  She needed to demonstrate that she had  $12,000 to $15,000 of support for living expenses for the first year.   She had saved just $4,000.  

      With the help of Dr. Holsinger, Dean of Health Sciences at U of K,  she has been able to use her funds, add some scholarship money from the University and gather private donations from our "Indiana Friends of Africa University".   Together we have pulled off a miracle.   In just 3 weeks, all the support has been raised.  

     Valparaiso 1st UMC is one of those  Indiana Friends of Africa University.   We were able to donate funds toward her support for this first year.   Hazvinei will join us in worship on the first Sunday in August.   THANKS so much for your faithful giving to the mission fund at our church.   Your gifts helped make this kind of world changing opportunity be a dream realized.     

Rebecca Rusnak returns to Costa Rica



Rebecca cleans the cement/concrete mixer.

What is this draw to Costa Rica?   In 2005 a small team including Mary Lou Rainford and Lois Smith did a "check it out" tour of mission work being done in the San Jose area.   Since that time, around 25  volunteers from our congregation have joined various teams to be with what we now refer to as our Costa Rican family.   

In 2010,  Rebecca got tired of hearing all the glowing reports coming from those who had been there so she gave it all up and ventured out to follow what she felt God was calling her to do.   Currently she is a long term mission volunteer work (with a living stipend) doing what she loves and what she was called to do. 

It was good to see Rebecca while she was visiting recently but after 3 weeks she was ready to go back "home" .   Rebecca works hard ... helps volunteer work teams mix the concrete, prepare the mudded walls, translates from Spanish to English (and visa versa), and assists teams make all the necessary arrangements to work with the people doing a variety of projects.  Now granted all this takes place in one of the greenest most beautiful places in the world.      

In our conference, (the entire state of Indiana) we have just 3 or 4 active Individual Volunteers and two of those are from Valparaiso 1st UMC.   Margie Miller and Rebecca Rusnak have both served in this country in 2012. We are blessed by their leadership and dedication.

This month we are using our May Monthly Mission Offering to honor the work that Rebecca is doing on our behalf.  These funds will go toward the various feeding programs in the area to help address food security and most importantly proper nutrition for children.  Thanks for your prayers and support for Rebecca and the ministries she has joined.     

Construction has begun at Kissy's New Obstetrics and Pediatric Hospital



Mother and Child

Bob Stoner, team leader and fund raiser, has been to Sierra Leone almost yearly since his first trip in 2004. He wrote "...construction has begun at the new Obstetrics and Pediatric Hospital at Kissy. This new facility is being funded by a grant from US Aid (ASHTA) and a matching grant from UMCOR. The construction projects undertaken by our FUMC teams and partially funded by FUMC over the last several of years have all been directly related to improving the infrastructure to support the new hospital. The project architect and engineers have indicated that our work has been considered very valuable by the Kissy Hospital community as we have been doing the preliminary work to bring this building project to fruition."

Around November 15, 2012 another team will depart from Valparaiso to go to Freetown, Sierra Leone. The cost of the trip (all inclusive) is around $3,000 give or take a hundred depending on the cost of airline tickets. Our fees also help pay local laborers and give much needed jobs to local people. The ideal team size is 10 so if you think you or someone you know might want to be on this team, please contact Bob Stoner (241-5551) regarding details soon.

1 out of 4 babies in Sierra Leone never reach their 5th birthday

A well baby comes in for a checkup

Dr. Merilyn Palmer, a pediatrician at Kissy Clinic, has brought hope and health to young famillies in Sierra Leone.  In February 2011 the Well Baby Clinic opened its doors to women and children in the Freetown area.   One of the church's area of focus is on health issues related to poverty.   Sierria Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world so starting a clinic to provide education and medical care for babies through the age of five is already proving to make a difference. 
Dr. Palmer writes: 

A concerned mother who learned about the clinic brought in her month old infant who was born at 32 weeks (8 weeks premature), weighing 1.9 kg (or 4.18 pounds) for a time of first visit. She had a host of questions concerning her child's slow weight gain, and wide open soft spots. We have been monitoring the head circumference and its rate of growth and are reassured that the child is not developing hydrocephalus. So far he has caught up on his social and motor development and the mother is happy with his developmental progress."

Can you imagine having a premature baby at home?  The Well Baby Clinic is now available to this mom to answer questions, do the highly recommended practice of checking the baby as he/she matures, getting all the immunizations on time, and giving mom the peace of mind that her precious child will survive those statistically critical years.  Even if the lines are long the outcome is well worth the wait.   If you want some first hand stories about life in Sierra Leone, just ask the Stoner's, Doug McMillian, Tim Ridenour, Bob Coolman, Dr. Leland, and others, how their experiences have changed their view of living.  Thanks for your support of $640.66 in April's Mission offering for the Well Baby Clinic. The clinic operates on gifts such as ours and the small fee that is collected from each mother.    .