Just One Day

by

Cheri Roland

It’s not been a quiet week in Lake Woebegone, or at the Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary, for that matter. Everything here at the seminary is brand new. Doug and I feel like midwives helping to birth this new environment, curricula and policies. We are finding ourselves under the mind-blowing spell of the seminary’s president, Ross Oliver, one of God’s chosen visionaries. As we journey up and down this challenging path as the newest members of staff (pronounced “stahhff”), our trail continues to expand, encompassing obstacles, detours and interesting side excursions. And I was worried I would be bored!

The process of becoming an ordained minister in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa differs from our way in the States, and is quite confusing to these two foreigners. We discovered there is a category of probationary pastors who have been ministering part time, or even full time, but have not had the traditional three years at seminary; along with doing on-line academic courses, they must gather annually to attend two weeks of intensive training in order to eventually become ordained. Helping to construct this two week training period has become one of our more recent assignments. Currently Doug and I are privileged to be working with a group of 21 such probationers, here from all over the country to experience life at SMMS, the emerging center of Methodist training for the entire southern African continent.

On Tuesday I joined this prestigious group, traveling 40 minutes out to the township of Mpop in a very cosy van. This gave us all the opportunity to get acquainted. I was humbled by the talents and expertise represented. These folks, aged 33 to 60, are touting resumes that would make any employer’s mouth water, from business men with Harvard degrees to government officials to university lecturers to psychologists to social workers, teachers and retired policemen. Half of these ministers spent the day at Masibumbane HIV/AIDS Mission, which I shared with you in my previous blog; my group reported to the Ethembeni Mission, just a short way up the mountain.

“Ehtembeni” means “hope” in Zulu. And hope is what this dedicated group of Christians bring to their HIV/AIDS patients. This organization, headed by Grant Edkins, is the other half of the team responsible for the beautiful change taking place in the township of Mpop. And we are thrilled to report that Ethembeni will be another of the seminary’s partners in “forming transforming leaders for church and nation”.

Grant welcomed our group as we gathered under the tree in the yard in front of the small Hospice building, and talked about the aspects of the mission. This program has three legs: a Hospice unit, home health care visits, and the crèche/project unit attached to their tent church.

1. The four bed Hospice unit serves those who are so ill that they are unable to care for themselves and have no care givers at home. Roughly half of patients admitted here on death’s door end up able to return home in good health. Grant gives all the credit for this amazing success rate to the power of prayer, combined with good nutrition and ARVs (antiretroviral drugs) administration. Their patients are ministered to with the Gospel and prayer FOUR TIMES A DAY! And the results confound the doctors!
2. The team of trained home healthcare workers divide up the township’s patients, walking miles and miles (or kilometres upon kilometres) over steep mountain paths to bring scripture and prayer and comfort every Tuesday and Thursday. They also assess the needs in each household, as well as helping with cleaning, bathing and daily living tasks when need be. When a patient needs to be admitted to the unit, they send for the four wheel drive “ambulance”.
3. About 70 children from the township attend the crèche, where the staff cherish these little ones as if they were their own. They are feed, bathed, clothed, loved and nourished by the Gospel – all things missing at home. In the same building, those patients who are physically able are taught how to make crafts to sell, and staff and patients provide training on computers (courtesy of Coca Cola) and torturing for the school children.

After devotions conducted in several languages, with our prayers sounding like the Tower of Babel, we were split into teams to accompany the six home healthcare workers. Our groups left the sanctuary of the cooler shade and began our journeys, trudging up crude dirt and rock roads that became more rugged the higher we went. Each team was to visit eight patients; we would eat our packed lunches somewhere in route.

Hospitality is paramount among this culture. In every stick and mud walled home we visited, the mother would graciously invite us inside and insist we all sat, on benches or chairs brought from out buildings, or on mats on the dirt floors. One woman stayed on her hands and knees during our entire visit rather than letting a visitor stand.

Our visits followed a pattern. One of our Zulu speakers would always first introduce us (the children were especially fascinated, even scared, by the two white folks), and the family members were asked what their needs were, as well as the state of their physical health. Then we would pray with them, often laying hands on them, share Scripture, and sing.

Previously I had made many home visits in townships, when Doug and I first arrived in August, as well as on my first mission trip to SA in 2008. I was overwhelmed by the sheer weight of their illnesses and their poverty, their lack of water and food and sanitation. And all we could do was to pray! When I voiced this frustration to our president, Ross, he forcefully reminded me that, “Never try to stuff God into a box made of human understanding; never discount what the Lord can do. Your job is to plant seeds. He’s got the rest covered.”

So, back to Tuesday. This experience was different a little different because all of our patients were HIV+. Being first an oncology nurse, and then a “jail nurse” the last 22 years, perhaps I was seeing these patients initially through my medical lens. Add to that my American bent to try to fix everything yesterday… I must tell you my heart was torn apart – but at the same time so filled with an inexplicable joy at their unwavering faith! These beautiful children of God, so sick and helpless in their abject poverty, were hanging onto life by their belief in a Father who loved them so much that this love would sustain them, no matter what. How humbling was this revelation for a nurse who has so many answers!

Still, in a few places I couldn’t keep my big mouth shut (just to ensure our American reputation didn’t slide). We stooped to enter the abode of one family, a healthy mother with many children, asking their needs after greeting were made. The mother went outside and returned soon, supporting a tall, very thin daughter, who she settled on the arm of their couch. This girl was obviously not well, and the home healthcare worker, in Zulu of course, questioned her mother about her current condition for quite some time. Then the mother left again, only to bring another daughter in, but this one needed to be carried. About the same age as her sibling, she made her sister look healthy. I had to swallow my gasp. Her mother laid her down, propped up between two of us. Listless, her head lolled to the side. The nurse in me kicked in. I asked her and her mother question after question, our team leader translating, and took her pulse, checked her skin turgor and temperature. She was hot to the touch, dehydrated, and had an elevated heart rate. I found out that not only was she HIV+, but she had tuberculosis, all too common in those with HIV and now the cause of more deaths than AIDS. She wouldn’t be able to start her ARV’s until she completed her TB meds. I tried to emphasize the necessity of her drinking more water, washing her hands, covering her cough, using her own eating utensils, etc; I don’t know how many of my suggestions were communicated to the patient or her mother. Presumably for family use, I saw one large pop bottle on the shelf, half filled with water. When we finally emerged from the dark stifling shack into the blinding sunlight, I hoped that family didn’t hear my sobs.

The other visit that shattered my heart was with a mother of five small children, all healthy except for her and her little daughter. After we had talked and shared for some time, the mother went to the adjoining room. She returned, carrying a tiny child, her face whitened by dried perspiration, listless and frail with toothpick limbs and distended belly, into the main room. This woman had found out she was HIV+ when this daughter was positive at birth, three years ago! Once again, I had to hide my tears. This child, too, had TB.

Death is a way of life on this mountainside. But Ethembeni Mission is here, in the middle of life, fighting with all God has given these dedicated servants, pushing back death every labored step up and down these dusty paths. And I was privileged and blessed to follow in their footsteps for just one day.

MPOP

By Cheri Roland

Something’s happening here – but this is the good kind of something. Such was the impression Doug I received the first time we drove up the tree lined main road into the township of Mpophomeni, just 40 minutes north of the seminary.

Today the term “township” comes with a negative, at best, connotation. A township is an area, usually remote, established by the Apartheid government to assure separation of the races. It is a rabbit warren of squalor, HIV, and hopelessness. Violence, child-headed households, unemployment, starvation, open sewage, lack of water, alcoholism, cultural superstitions, witchcraft, and garbage heaps punctuated by ramshackle shacks of tin and mud are the norm. We have experienced many such areas in the developing world, unfit for human habitation.

But the township of Mpop, as we call it, paints a different picture. This large tract of land, lying between high contoured hills of sugar cane and trees, once belonged to a white farmer; in a reverse move from politics as usual, the farm was confiscated by the government to be used for the 35,000 displaced Zulus that now make up the Mpop community. This farmer was so distraught, after learning that his precious land was going to further the Apartheid cause, that he committed suicide. The majestic line of trees, reminiscent of rural roads in France, is courtesy of that original farm owner. As we travelled up and down the rutted dirt roads, we noticed actual yards around some houses, several with fences, flowers, and gardens. There are more goats and cows than in other townships. There are more children in their neat school uniforms. We looked at each other in amazement. We already had been told that this area has 82% unemployment and the highest rates of HIV infection in Kwa-Zulu Natal, the state with the overall highest HIV+ rate in all of South Africa. Add to that, as in most developing countries, the fact that work here is done by the women. In rural South Africa, the majority of these women are the grandmothers, or go-gos, taking care of their many grandchildren since the middle generation has died or abdicated their maternal responsibilities. The majority of men are nowhere to be found.

We were here to visit the Masibumbane HIV/AIDS Mission, which we eventually located in the only two storied house in the area. This organization seemed like the perfect place to establish a partnership with the seminary for our Field Experience and Ministry Course. Rob Kluge, a member of the local Hilton Methodist church, had single-handedly founded this mission in 1999 with the support of the Atonement Lutheran Church in Missoula, Montana. With their support, he purchased a small two room house, adding on a large back room and a second floor. It is now the headquarters of a comprehensive program of self-sustainability, dignity, empowerment, and hope for the entire area.

Supported by contributions from the US and members of his local congregation, Rob has developed and implemented a comprehensive package of 11 programs that are transforming this community from darkness into light. It all begins with a 6 step empowerment agenda to move the clients towards self-sufficiency within four months. The goals include improving the long-term physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of the families; the clients then will make a contribution towards rebuilding this community ravaged by sickness. The results “will practically demonstrate God’s love by His Spirit through Jesus Christ”. But there are NO hand outs here; the program is based upon the Biblical principle of “no work, no food”.

The clients move through the application process of understanding and accepting the ground rules (each week they are given tasks to do for which they will be rewarded), and their physical and material needs are assessed while they are provided help with expenses, which they must pay back in full with their first stipend. If they agree to abide by the requirements they are put on the waiting list.

The emergency phase encompasses the first two weeks during which all aspects of the program kick in: 1) the client receives the workbook in which given tasks are assigned and evaluated weekly, 2) full weekly food rations start, 3) money for electricity, cooking utensils and hot plate are given and recorded, 4) their children’s school and health status are addressed, 5) a system of disciplinary actions are initiated if obligations are not fulfilled, 6) accountability for earned money is demonstrated (clients must save a certain percentage), 7) emotional counselling is started, 8) first tasks of tidying the yard and house are assigned, 9) their CD4 count is drawn at the local clinic and if below 200 they are started on ARV’s, and 10) they are assisted in filing their grant applications (if HIV+ or have dependents, government assistance is available).

Step four is the stabilization phase, slated for six weeks. Now the Mission can start to assess if a client is willing to take initiative to better herself and family. She receives food in proportion to her performance of the given tasks; her Mission budget account, as well as an actual bank account, are opened; healthy life style, organic vegetable gardening and home-based care teaching starts; spiritual counselling is offered; her grant application process continues; her funeral policy is applied for (a monumental problem here - sans this policy, her death can sink her entire family); and she learns how to make and use a hot box, a kind of township crock pot, an insulated top and bottom cushion which serves to continue cooking the food, greatly decreasing fuel consumption.

During the rebuilding phase, she get trained to crochet very attractive handbags (marketed locally by the Hilton congregation), learns the basic principles of working with money, starts her garden, and is assisted with making a will and obtaining a title deed for her house.

Finally, after about 12 weeks, she enters the maintenance phase. Now, ideally, her family is strong enough physically, emotionally and spiritually to begin to care for itself. Her food rations stop so she must start buying food and utilize her garden produce. Spiritual and emotional counselling, as well as gardening advice, are still available. To give back to the community, she is encouraged to do up to two hours of voluntary service a week.

So that’s it in a nutshell. Isn’t this just a FABULOUS program? You can imagine how these efforts have served to change the face of Mpop, one person, one family at a time. The mission is staffed by professional administrators and counsellors. The volunteers are this misson’s success stories, their former clients. Now add to this program their two day care centers, or crèches, which provide love, health care, food and teaching to the community children, many of which are HIV+ themselves. The love of God is palpable in this place through the efforts of His servants striving to make life a bit more humane.

Rob Kluge, the sole developer of this program and pictured above in the blue sweater, has given me his permission to share his inspiration with anyone who is interested. For more details, see www.masibumbane.org.za. And I must add that parts of the above description of the program’s six phases I plagiarized from the mission information booklet; I must give credit where credit is due!

You can appreciate the blessings Doug and I have received personally as we have travelled the greater Pietermaritzburg area, establishing relationships with some of Jesus’ dedicated disciples. Masibumbane Mission at Mpop is just one of the agencies in which our seminarians will be privileged to serve during the upcoming years.

ROLE REVERSAL

by Doug Roland

We still get inquiries about what we missionaries are doing here. The common vision is baptizing savages in the jungle. It's not us and it ended nearly 200 years ago in this part of Africa. That said, I think there are still some American evangelists who see it that way. In the modern mission trip context, it's painting old buildings, delivering medicines and materials, feeding the homeless and worshipping with the locals. We've yet to pick up a paint brush (though we have organized a crack painting team of seminarians.) Basically we get up and go to work each morning.

What we are doing is a dynamic determination, based on what's needed at the time. This is one of those times. Of all of the things I would not have expected, this would have been near the top of the list. In a couple of weeks, I will be leading 21 part-time and fully ordained Methodist ministers in two 90 minutes classroom sessions called "Excellence in Ministry" ; subtitled "A View From the Pew". (I'll take credit for the subtitle.) I am taking the 60 or so years I've sat on the other side of the pulpit and converting that into a learning or maybe awakening experience for these people. I have come up with some ideas.

A church is like s swimming pool. If not maintained, it will turn unattractive quickly. If not filled up it will evaporate. So it must be both stirred from time to time and replenished with fresh water. It's like the Queen of Hearts said: "We have to run fast just to keep up. If we want to get anywhere, we have to run twice as fast."

In thinking about how I will approach this, I intend to use my own experience at Hyde Park during the last 25 years. If you want to know more about part of this period of near-death and renewal, pick up Jim Harnish's You Only Have to DIe. Through many of these years, I held a variety of leadership position and read a good deal about church growth.

This approach evokes critical issues such as lay leadership, discipleship, spiritual gifts, missions and visions. If Hyde Park's experience means anything, it is that all these and more must be in play all day, every day. To rest is to stagnate. Or as John Tortorella used to say to the Lightning: "Safe is Death".

I am a little concerned about the very beginning - the idea of a non-minister, lay person without portfolio, telling them how to stimulate a church. Will they turn on me early? It could be an interesting debate. Bottom line is that lay persons are in a unique position to assess excellence in ministry, perhaps even more than ministers themselves who may be more attached to the structure than to the mission. I'm ready to defend that one.

This is part of what I love about this job - the chance to go out on a limb, roll the dice, get Out of the Box.

The powerpoint is virtually done. The breakout group questions are ready. I hope that these questions will challenge if not inspire them to reach a bit higher. All that's in God's hands, not mine.

I think there may be an undercurrent of support for my position of tacking away from the routine to the important. In a MCSA paper I get weekly, the President of some group of Lay Leaders in South Africa was quoted as saying, "My church is busy, and indeed very busy with thinkgs that do not change peoples lives - we are over-churched and under-discipled." That to me is a voice crying out to the ordained ministry for a new direction. If I'm right, this could be a good time indeed for a "View From the Pew."

What we are doing here has no glamour. It's a long-term deal - it will be years before the effects will be known.

A later blog will be coming about another project we are working on that may have significance for Methodists internationally.

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This next bit is not related to the above but is too good not to share. We attend a different church each Sunday. This week, the church's bulletin had a section on the sick and needy, listing their needs. The names have been changed.

Holly - with the Adams', her collar bone is healing nicely, but has a broken bone in her leg after she sneezed recently. Is in a lot of pain.

Janie Felger - Eleanor's niece, is trying to fall pregnant.

Barbara Riggles - Milton and Dianne's sister-in-law, has started having fits.