Operation Classroom/Operation Doctor takes on health care

Bob Coolman and Dr. Marke walk the new construction site.

      Bob Coolman traveled to Sierra Leone and Liberia in April and has gotten well acquainted with all facets of Operation Classroom/Operation Doctor.   Here is the first of several posts relating to this trip and the vision/reality of Operation Classroom today.   As Bob (one of our very own) prepares to take the helm of Operation Classroom, Valparaiso 1st will surely strenghten their ties to the work that has been going on in the area for 25 years. 

     A new Women’s and Children’s Unit is under construction at the Kissy UMC Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone – a  48 bed OB/GYN/PED facility that will enhance Kissy UMC’s mission to improve the health of children and women in this terribly poor West African Country.   The health statistics of the past are sure to change with the addition of this facility and improved medical services to the people of Sierra Leone.

      While the construction of this nearly $1,000,000 facility is being funded by grants from USAID and UMCOR, it simply would not have happened without all of the time, money, and effort expended by folks from Valparaiso 1st and a few other Indiana UM churches.   Bob and Carol Stoner have led numerous teams over the past several years and will be returning again in November 2012.  Team members   from our church/community worked side by side with  local workers to  make it possible to reallocate space which would allow for the construction of the unit.   Oh how lives have been changed because we've taken seriously Jesus' teachings.  Strangely while hoping to make a difference in the life of others, our lives get turned upside down.  Thank you God for these lessons in humility.

Becky Harrell is coming for a visit

Becky Harrell, missionary in Costa Rica

Becky Harrell has been part of our church for a number of years.   I'm not going to get into dates but our congregation first supported her when she was a missionary in Chile.   Her assignment came long after a team from Valparaiso 1st (under the leadership of Lloyd and Margie Miller) came to Pachica, Chile at the Kusayapu Agricultural School. Becky has been with us on several occasions since she became a missionary for the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church.

Several years ago she was asked to go to serve at the Latin America Bible University.  Our Costa Rica mission team in 2010 were blessed by a visit to this fine institution of higher learning.   As you remember, this is the very school where Margie Miller recently spent 3 months doing some volunteer service.  

We are blessed again as Becky is "home" on furlough from the mission field and is visiting supporting churches around the country.   She will pass through Valparaiso on the evening of June 24.  

We are having a gathering at our home just north of highway 6 on Tratebas Road near 350 East (345 East Tratebas Road) around 5:00 p.m. with a meal at 6:00 p.m.   It will be very informal but also we'll hear from her about the work that is being done at the Latin American Bible University and why this institution is so important in Latin America.   Please call 464-1447 or email at bonkay@hotmail.com that you will be joining us so that enough food will be prepared.   We will ask for a free will offering to cover the expenses with the extra going to the University.   

Opportunities await Christian Zigbou

Christian Zigbou and Mary Beth Byrne share stories.

Christian Zigbou will soon be one of the many honored and respected graduates of Africa University, Zimbabwe.   Our Africa University team met him in October 2011 as he was one of the 11 scholarship students sponsored by Indiana Conference.  

Mary Beth Byrne was selected to be Christian's partner for a social gathering one evening and they became fast friends.  His desire and dream to be a missionary was communicated to her.  To make a long story short, she arranged for him to complete an application to become a mission intern for the United Methodist Church after she had returned to the US. 

In March she received an email from Christian indicating that he had been accepted.  Graduation is June 9 and he is to report to New York for training on July 12.   His work with the UM Church will be to be involved in doing mission work her in the United States for the 1st 18 months and then returnihng to his home country (Liberia) for the remaining 18 months to be in the field of mission.   How great is that!!! 

One problem has everyone concerned.  He has been denied a visa to come to the US.   Everyone including the staff at AU, staff of Mission resources, and Mary Beth is working with authorities to get the visa in time to travel from Liberia (his home country) to the United States in time for training.  This is such a wonderful opportunity for Christian and his desire to give back to the conference and church that has made his dream of a university degree a reality. Please lift Christian up in prayer as he prepares begin yet another amazing opportunity that has been offered to him by our connectional church.    

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.    .