For close to a year fundraising and building took place to give the children of Odibo a preschool, these are photos of the structure and opening day.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Odibo Activity Center
For close to a year fundraising and building took place to give the children of Odibo a preschool, these are photos of the structure and opening day.
End and Beginning
Dear Friends I know it has been a long time since there have been updates on our blog. A lot has happened in the past months. Much of what has happened has been very challenging. The short story is that we have ended our official tour as missionaries as of December 2010. I am currently back in Namibia following up on the training program and working with the Diocese on several projects. I will be adding updates to the blog that fill out our experience and share more stories of the work done in Namibia.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Trip South and Training Program
Well May and June were another two very busy months. I was in the North for a week with the training program and following up on a pre-school we are building and last week we traveled South to the outstations along the Orange River.
At Odibo in the North, about 1kilometer from the Angolan border, they have identified the need for an activity center for pre-k kids. We, through donations from the Diocese of Alabama, are funding the construction of a building that will be called the Odibo Activity Center. It will be a pre-school for local children and will initially have 50-60 children. These photos show where they have been trying to gather and the new building next door.
While I was in the North we had week six of the new clergy training program. Week 6 was dedicated to personal growth, counselling and HIV education. With funding from the Diocese of Alabama we invited trainers from LifeLine/ChildLine and Catholic AIDS Action to come and present for the week. Students gained valuable knowledge and skills to help them be the type of supportive and loving presence they will need to be as pastors in their communities. You can view photos by going to the Picasa Web Album. Click here to see the photos.
After a short break we decided to take a quick trip to the South. The trip lasted a week but was planned quickly. We wanted to get South because we had not been able to deliver the bibles and childrens books that had been donated to us by our friends in Alabama. Over a year ago we received 5 mail bags full of children's books from Grace Gilchrist, a retired school teacher from Christ Church in Tuscaloosa. We have been giving the books away to orphanages and other individuals but still have so many left. The challenge is to give them in a way that they will get used. We decided to take close to 100 of them south and give them to the outstations for their children. This photo shows one of the children in Noordower with a Curious George book.
All of the kids that came that day got a book.
All of the kids that came that day got a book.As I said before we took blankets and children's clothes and toys as well, but what people asked us for more than anything else was bibles. Each person wanted a bible of their own in a language they could understand. Around November last year I approached my friend Rev. Heidi Kenner at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham and asked if they could donate money to purchase bibles that we could distribute. The Cathedral gave money to buy several hundred bibles. We have been giving them to outstations and groups but had not been back South since we purchased them. We took 3 cases of Oshikwanyama bibles with us and a case and a half of Afrikaans bibles. When we left, the Bible Society of Namibia had no Oshikwanyama or Afrikaans Bibles left. Their next order will come in July. We plan on asking for more money to repeat our distribution efforts. The Bibles cost about $10USD each. Here is a photo of one of the people in Noordower with a new Bible, blanket and children's book for her kids. We cannot thank Heidi and the Cathedral and Grace Gilchrist enough for their donations. All of the blankets, Bibles, and soccer balls were purchased with money donated from the Diocese of Alabama, as were our accommodations for the trip. The clothes, toys and transportation costs were donated by St. George's Cathedral in Windhoek.
We have added two Picasa Web Albums of our trip South that you can see by Clicking here for Part 1 and here for Part 2. Part 1 is from Noordower and Part 2 from Ausenkehr.
Each time we travel around the country it is a new experience. We thank God for the opportunity we have been given to serve here in Namibia. Seeing the joy on peoples faces at having their first Bible or knowing that they and their children will be a little less cold in the night because Christian people that they will never meet care about them is an amazing experience. One of the best parts for me is the opportunity to share Eucharist with our brothers and sisters in far out places and to baptize those wanting to join this community of faith. We had a Eucharist and baptisms on a very cold and windy night in Ausenkehr. We used a table for our altar and borrowed a mixing from our lodge for a font. Wine and water were carried in plastic bottles. We took a paten and chalice from the Cathedral and all stood in the light of one light bulb and altar candles to join together in love and praise. Here is just one photo from that night. The others are in Part 2 of the Web Albums.
Thank you again for all your support and prayers. We love and miss all our friends in the Diocese of Alabama. Blessings and Peace, Jeremy and Penny
Friday, April 23, 2010
Mother's Day, Almost
I know that it is still a week from Mother's Day and I should probably wait to post this but I have time today. I have been very slow in getting this post together. It is from my Mom's visit to Namibia in March. She came for two weeks and we tried to show her as much as possible in that time. After a less than warm welcome in the Airport in Germany she finally made it to Namibia. After a couple of days to recover from the 36 hours of travel, we took her to Etosha and she saw almost every animal there is to see. She even saw a Cheetah in the wild on her second day. People go for years of their life, who live here, and never see a Cheetah. Lions, Elephants, Black and White Rhinos, Giraffes, Zebras, you name it and she saw it. Everything except a Leopard which are next to impossible to see in the daytime. We came back to Windhoek for a day and she got to meet everyone from the Church then we went to the Coast and visited Swakopmund. We spent part of our second day in Walvis Bay, climbing Dune 7 and driving out on Pelican Point, where we saw seals and flamingos, and did I mention getting stuck in the sand. Well it only took us an hour to get out. 
We should have called our friend Mike earlier. After we had tried everything I could think of his first question was, "Did you let the air out of the tires?" Glad we called Mike. It was an awesome trip and so good to see Mom in real life and not just on Skype. It has been a long year and the trip was just what was needed. I have added a few more photos to a Picasa Web album that you can link to here. Hope everyone has a great day. Peace, J
We should have called our friend Mike earlier. After we had tried everything I could think of his first question was, "Did you let the air out of the tires?" Glad we called Mike. It was an awesome trip and so good to see Mom in real life and not just on Skype. It has been a long year and the trip was just what was needed. I have added a few more photos to a Picasa Web album that you can link to here. Hope everyone has a great day. Peace, J
Monday, April 12, 2010
Transforming Lives Part 2
The second group that we have been working with is the Namibian P.E.A.C.E Center. PEACE stands for People’s Education, Assistance and Counselling for Empowerment. Their mission is to assist people to overcome the negative impact of organised violence, including war, that has impacted the lives of thousands of Namibians. Our society has over the last years witnessed a steady increase in suicides and violent crimes, some of which may be attributed to unresolved psychosocial trauma. PEACE’s purpose is to ensure that people affected by violence and other traumatic events have increased access to psycho-social services and that there is an increased understanding of the impact of trauma.
In an effort to achieve this mission the PEACE Center has partnered with The Institute for the Healing of Memories in South Africa. Healing of Memories was created at the same time as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa to allow everyone to tell their stories of violence and abuse under the apartheid regime.
Penny and I participated in a Healing of Memories Workshop in mid January co-facilitated by PEACE and Fr. Michael Lapsley the Director of Healing of Memories. Fr. Lapsley is an Anglican priest who became a victim of the apartheid government in 1992 when he was sent a letter bomb intended to kill him. He lost both his hands and an eye but through that experience has developed a new vision of reconciliation. I encourage you to read his short bio at The Forgiveness Project. After attending the workshop, which included all manner of people from Namibia who had been affected by apartheid, Penny and I decided to help sponsor the next workshop with money that had been donated to our mission fund. We gave $5000.00 USD to the PEACE Center for a training in early March. It is an amazing project and we are happy to be involved in the long term wok of reconciliation in Namiba.
In an effort to achieve this mission the PEACE Center has partnered with The Institute for the Healing of Memories in South Africa. Healing of Memories was created at the same time as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa to allow everyone to tell their stories of violence and abuse under the apartheid regime.
Penny and I participated in a Healing of Memories Workshop in mid January co-facilitated by PEACE and Fr. Michael Lapsley the Director of Healing of Memories. Fr. Lapsley is an Anglican priest who became a victim of the apartheid government in 1992 when he was sent a letter bomb intended to kill him. He lost both his hands and an eye but through that experience has developed a new vision of reconciliation. I encourage you to read his short bio at The Forgiveness Project. After attending the workshop, which included all manner of people from Namibia who had been affected by apartheid, Penny and I decided to help sponsor the next workshop with money that had been donated to our mission fund. We gave $5000.00 USD to the PEACE Center for a training in early March. It is an amazing project and we are happy to be involved in the long term wok of reconciliation in Namiba.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Transforming Lives Part 1
As part of our ongoing work of building relationships and sharing skills with the people of Namibia I have been asked by several organizations to help them with certain areas of their programs. I have turned down more invitations than I have accepted because I do not have the time or the energy. But two programs have gotten my attention and I would like to share a little about each.
The first is Lifeline/Childline. This is an organization that provides training and counselling in many areas of life. They have 24 hour help lines and suicide prevention hotlines. They serve Namibia through personal growth training and training in counselling skills and gender transformation programs. This last project is the one I have been working on.
It was recognized several years ago that most, if not all of the HIV/AIDS money in Namibia was going to projects that focused on women and children. While this was helpful it was also found to not be extremely effective in slowing the spread of HIV. There are many reasons why these programs did not have the impact that was hoped for, but one particular reason is how culture views gender. In Southern Africa women, in general, have very few rights. There are rights that are written into the constitution and laws that protect women and children but their enforcement is inconsistent and they do not provide the level of confidence needed for women to exercise these rights. Another aspect of this problem is the rural nature of the county and cultural expectations that abound around gender. Women generally do not have control over their reproductive health. If a husband comes home and demands sex from his wife, she dare not refuse, even if she knows he is HIV positive, or that he engages in risky behaviours outside of their marriage. Rape of young girls is common as is a sort of soft prostitution, girls as young as 11 or 12 giving sexual favours for a cell phone or can of coke. One friend who works in the HIV field told me once that to slow the spread of HIV they should give every 12 year old girl a cell phone and unlimited minutes. But I digress...
As a way of trying to combat the problem of gender when dealing with HIV a program was developed that specifically targets men and boys and attempts to transform their understanding of gender and help them transform their communities. It is a great program called Engaging Boys and Men in Gender Transformation. The full program is available here as a pdf so have a look.
Lifeline/ Childline is one of the Namibian partners for this program. My involvement started when conversations began about writing supplement to the program that would be spiritual in nature. The spiritual supplement was intended to engage religious leaders in gender transformation, using the Bible as its key text. I was asked to be the lead author for the Supplement. Over several months I wrote and presented the supplement to groups of reviewers from Namibia. They provided helpful feedback and the drafting process continued. We did a 3 days pilot training using the supplement materials in late February and had wonderful feedback and a desire for the materials immediately. We are very close to the end of the process and hopefully the Supplement will be printed and distributed with the manual before the end of May. I am very proud of my involvement in this project and hope that this program has the effect of transforming lives.
The first is Lifeline/Childline. This is an organization that provides training and counselling in many areas of life. They have 24 hour help lines and suicide prevention hotlines. They serve Namibia through personal growth training and training in counselling skills and gender transformation programs. This last project is the one I have been working on.It was recognized several years ago that most, if not all of the HIV/AIDS money in Namibia was going to projects that focused on women and children. While this was helpful it was also found to not be extremely effective in slowing the spread of HIV. There are many reasons why these programs did not have the impact that was hoped for, but one particular reason is how culture views gender. In Southern Africa women, in general, have very few rights. There are rights that are written into the constitution and laws that protect women and children but their enforcement is inconsistent and they do not provide the level of confidence needed for women to exercise these rights. Another aspect of this problem is the rural nature of the county and cultural expectations that abound around gender. Women generally do not have control over their reproductive health. If a husband comes home and demands sex from his wife, she dare not refuse, even if she knows he is HIV positive, or that he engages in risky behaviours outside of their marriage. Rape of young girls is common as is a sort of soft prostitution, girls as young as 11 or 12 giving sexual favours for a cell phone or can of coke. One friend who works in the HIV field told me once that to slow the spread of HIV they should give every 12 year old girl a cell phone and unlimited minutes. But I digress...
As a way of trying to combat the problem of gender when dealing with HIV a program was developed that specifically targets men and boys and attempts to transform their understanding of gender and help them transform their communities. It is a great program called Engaging Boys and Men in Gender Transformation. The full program is available here as a pdf so have a look.
Lifeline/ Childline is one of the Namibian partners for this program. My involvement started when conversations began about writing supplement to the program that would be spiritual in nature. The spiritual supplement was intended to engage religious leaders in gender transformation, using the Bible as its key text. I was asked to be the lead author for the Supplement. Over several months I wrote and presented the supplement to groups of reviewers from Namibia. They provided helpful feedback and the drafting process continued. We did a 3 days pilot training using the supplement materials in late February and had wonderful feedback and a desire for the materials immediately. We are very close to the end of the process and hopefully the Supplement will be printed and distributed with the manual before the end of May. I am very proud of my involvement in this project and hope that this program has the effect of transforming lives.
The New Year
So three months is probably the longest time we have gone without a blog post and I am very sorry for the delay. It seems just like yesterday when we took the Christmas photo. So today I am going to try and catch everyone up with a few blog entries. Rather than one long story about everything from New Years to now I am going to try and break it up. This way if you don’t have an extra 3 hours to read our blog (which I know, without doubt is what you would do with an extra 3 hours) then you can just read an entry and then come back later for more.
Penny and I began the year in silence. It’s not because we didn’t have anyone to spend it with but because we decided to attend a 10 day silent meditation retreat in South Africa from December 31 to Jan 10. I cannot describe the feeling of New Years Eve standing in silence looking out over a beautiful valley outside of Cape Town and knowing what was happening all over the world. That the calendar was turning and that the same hosts were doing the same shows and that the same bars will filled with the same people toasting another year gone and hoping for the one to come. The entire 10 days was an extremely intense experience. It was at the same time one of the most difficult and rewarding experience of our life. Here is a photo of the retreat center and the area surrounding.
Both before and after the 10 days of silence Penny and I spent a few days in Cape Town just relaxing and reflecting on 2009. We got to spend some time and have dinner with our friends Bishop Garth Counsell, his wife Marion and their family. Garth is the Bishop of Table Bay (Cape Town). He and Marion stayed with us last year over Holy Week and we had so much fun. They are truly a blessing to us and have provided much good council. Penny and I drove both ways to Cape Town from Namibia (14 hours) so we had a lot of time to talk and reconnect. It was a wonderful time and a very needed break.
On our return home we decided to finally take the plunge again and get a dog. It had been two years since our last dog Scroungie had died. Since we have been unable to find spiritual directors in Namibia we decided to see what God might teach us through a new furry friend. So just a few weeks into the new year we went to the SPCA and adopted DeeOGee.He is an incredible dog and has helped us remember not to take everything so seriously.
Penny and I began the year in silence. It’s not because we didn’t have anyone to spend it with but because we decided to attend a 10 day silent meditation retreat in South Africa from December 31 to Jan 10. I cannot describe the feeling of New Years Eve standing in silence looking out over a beautiful valley outside of Cape Town and knowing what was happening all over the world. That the calendar was turning and that the same hosts were doing the same shows and that the same bars will filled with the same people toasting another year gone and hoping for the one to come. The entire 10 days was an extremely intense experience. It was at the same time one of the most difficult and rewarding experience of our life. Here is a photo of the retreat center and the area surrounding.
Both before and after the 10 days of silence Penny and I spent a few days in Cape Town just relaxing and reflecting on 2009. We got to spend some time and have dinner with our friends Bishop Garth Counsell, his wife Marion and their family. Garth is the Bishop of Table Bay (Cape Town). He and Marion stayed with us last year over Holy Week and we had so much fun. They are truly a blessing to us and have provided much good council. Penny and I drove both ways to Cape Town from Namibia (14 hours) so we had a lot of time to talk and reconnect. It was a wonderful time and a very needed break.
On our return home we decided to finally take the plunge again and get a dog. It had been two years since our last dog Scroungie had died. Since we have been unable to find spiritual directors in Namibia we decided to see what God might teach us through a new furry friend. So just a few weeks into the new year we went to the SPCA and adopted DeeOGee.He is an incredible dog and has helped us remember not to take everything so seriously.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Alabama Episcopalian Article
Hi friends I know it is strange for us to have three posts so closely together. If you do not get a copy of the Diocesan newspaper from the Diocese of Alabama I ask that you go to this link and read the article written by Penny and myself about our time in Namibia.Peace, Jeremy Click here for Walking the Way of Christ in Namibia
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Photos from the Training Program
Here are some photos from the training program.
Click here for photos from the last seminar of 2009.
Click here for photos from the last seminar of 2009.
Theological Training Program Student Interviews
Hi everyone thinks for your continued prayers and support. Here are the first videos from our students in the Theological Training Program.
More are on the way, including individual interviews from each of the students in these videos.
Sorry about the sound you may have to turn your speakers all the way up to hear them. Peace, Jeremy
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Time Flies
I cannot believe that it has been almost a month since our last post. This will be a shorter update. I want to point out that I have added links to four news outlets in Namibia at the bottom of our Blog. You can take a look at all the goings on in Namibia and read all about the upcoming elections.
Our main source of local news is The Namibian. Click here to go to their site. Lately most of the news has been about the upcoming elections on November 27 and 28. There has been quite a bit of tension leading up to this election. SWAPO the main liberation party and head of government has been dealing with several challenges from rival parties and in some places violent confrontation has taken place. The former President Sam Nujoma, considered by some as the Father of the Country has been making some particularly violent statements about Germans (they should be shot in the face) and Americans and Brits (they should be hit in the head with hammers). It is all a way of inciting the electorate to passion. Many inside the country are keeping a close eye on the situation although there is no expectation of violence similar to Kenya last year or Zimbabwe.
Work is going well. We are preparing for stewardship season at the Cathedral and the Bishops visit is on All Saints. In a few weeks we have our St. George's Fair and Funday. Work with the clergy training is going well and a few weeks ago they had their first year exams. We are waiting hopefully for the results. I go back North the second week of December when the temps will be around 110, and malarial mosquitoes will be at their worst. Well I will send more later. I am now off to a training class for new Lay ministers for the Cathedral. Peace, J
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Life in Namibia
I get asked sometimes what life in Namibia is like and it is a really difficult question to answer. But here is a short note to try a describe what our life is like. We live in the capital city of Windhoek. It is the largest city in the country with about 300,000 people. We live in a nice house next door to the Cathedral. It is the smallest Cathedral in the Anglican Communion and I am the Associate Dean and Rector. We make very little money by U.S. standards but by Namibian standards we are extremely rich. Over 65% of the people in this country live on less that $2 U.S. dollars a day. We shop at western style grocery stores and shops and can get just about anything we want. But not even most of the city live like we do. Over half of the city of Windhoek live in shacks and don't have a reliable source of drinking water. Outside of a few cities Namibia is populated by rural, subsistence farmers whose life depends on good rain and a good harvest. If you look around, statistics say that every 5th person you meet is HIV positive. Malaria, TB, and meningitis are just a few of the other diseases that plague the country.
We came to Namibia to work on a clergy training project. Our goal is to work with the diocese to help develop and implement a 3 year training program for new clergy. So far it is going really well. We have 50 students, mostly from the northern part of the country. They are highly motivated and are working very hard. I also run the cathedral, sort of. Sometimes it feels like it is running me. I am the main clergy presence for the approximately 400 parishioners and in addition I am the chaplain for the 700 student diocesan school. To say that days are full would be a great understatement. Penny works on various projects, like after school programs and organizing clergy spouse conferences. She has also started presenting at workshops on Hospice and the dying process. If it were not for her I would not have made it this long in Namibia. She gives me love and strength that carry me for days.
We have made friends and have met lovely people all across this country. We try to spend some time every week away from work with our friends, which usually means leaving our house, because our house is about 30 feet from the Cathedral, so we are always "on duty". I have taken up squash and try to get to the gym a few days a week. I have a standing squash game with several Americans from the Embassy every weekend. Staying healthy is one of our main priorities. I wake up at 5 am every Sunday morning to try and catch he end of Saturday nights college football on the internet. ESPN shows one college football game that begins about 4am Sunday our time and they show Sportscenter USA at 12 noon on Sunday.
Our days in Namibia go up and down. Sometimes we feel like this is exactly where we are supposed to be, and other times we are racked with guilt and sadness and feel we must get out before we are overcome. It doesn't mean we can't be in both places at the same time and some days we are. It is hard to adjust to the back and forth. Some days we can go from dinner at an ambassadors house to serving the homeless in a few hours. Lately I have been working with a lifeboat metaphor. Although we didn't come to Namibia to "save" people and we realize that there is nothing we can do for most of the people here, it is horribly painful to watch the immense suffering in this place. It is like being in a lifeboat, in our case a comfortable place to live with plenty of food and relative safety and looking out at a sea of drowning people. We only have a few life vests and they are not nearly enough to help. It is not that we feel guilty all the time, we work as hard as we can to do everything we can to help the men, women and children of Namibia. But working hard does not hide you from the day to day reality of life and death. We do not have the luxury to hide our eyes from this suffering, looking out across the drowning sea of humanity and being present to it. This is the key. If you are present to suffering it will effect you. No matter how good you are at professional detachment, not matter how much self reflection work you have done, no matter how much you pray you will be affected. Sometimes it is just too much. Sometimes I feel like we are being taken down into the waters, that our "lifeboat" has capsized and we are swimming for our life. I have been trying to find an appropriate prayer to say for what we are experiencing but it is not easy. I was recently reminded of a prayer that was prayed by the desert monks of the 3rd and 4th century. It is the opening of Psalm 70 and has been prayed daily for centuries, "Oh God make speed to save us, Oh Lord make haste to help us" Many days it seems like the only appropriate thing to say.
About a week ago the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams gave a sermon on mission that was quite good and in it he said "Mission is most truly itself when it walks along the same road as those who are suffering in body or spirit. Only then does it walk the way of Christ. …to stand with and walk with those who are forgotten or despised, the poor in city and country, women who have suffered violence, children and migrants. Walking in this way will not guarantee success or safety, but it will be a true fellowship with Jesus; without that true fellowship with him, there will be no true reaching out in love to others, and without reaching out to others there is no fellowship with him."
We are trying to understand what it means to "walk along the same road as those who are suffering in body or spirit" We know that our privilege means we will never be on the same road. Even if we are walking together, side by side, we can never truly know the suffering the people of Namibia live with. We can be present to it, we can be a witness to it, but we will never really know it. These are nice words and what we are supposed to say about mission but there will always be something that keeps us from knowing truly what the people here experience.
Overall this has been one of the hardest, most challenging, most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life and we are not even half way through it. I ask for your prayers for the people of Namibia and all those who are here, far from home, working and serving the people. Peace, Jeremy
We came to Namibia to work on a clergy training project. Our goal is to work with the diocese to help develop and implement a 3 year training program for new clergy. So far it is going really well. We have 50 students, mostly from the northern part of the country. They are highly motivated and are working very hard. I also run the cathedral, sort of. Sometimes it feels like it is running me. I am the main clergy presence for the approximately 400 parishioners and in addition I am the chaplain for the 700 student diocesan school. To say that days are full would be a great understatement. Penny works on various projects, like after school programs and organizing clergy spouse conferences. She has also started presenting at workshops on Hospice and the dying process. If it were not for her I would not have made it this long in Namibia. She gives me love and strength that carry me for days.
We have made friends and have met lovely people all across this country. We try to spend some time every week away from work with our friends, which usually means leaving our house, because our house is about 30 feet from the Cathedral, so we are always "on duty". I have taken up squash and try to get to the gym a few days a week. I have a standing squash game with several Americans from the Embassy every weekend. Staying healthy is one of our main priorities. I wake up at 5 am every Sunday morning to try and catch he end of Saturday nights college football on the internet. ESPN shows one college football game that begins about 4am Sunday our time and they show Sportscenter USA at 12 noon on Sunday.
Our days in Namibia go up and down. Sometimes we feel like this is exactly where we are supposed to be, and other times we are racked with guilt and sadness and feel we must get out before we are overcome. It doesn't mean we can't be in both places at the same time and some days we are. It is hard to adjust to the back and forth. Some days we can go from dinner at an ambassadors house to serving the homeless in a few hours. Lately I have been working with a lifeboat metaphor. Although we didn't come to Namibia to "save" people and we realize that there is nothing we can do for most of the people here, it is horribly painful to watch the immense suffering in this place. It is like being in a lifeboat, in our case a comfortable place to live with plenty of food and relative safety and looking out at a sea of drowning people. We only have a few life vests and they are not nearly enough to help. It is not that we feel guilty all the time, we work as hard as we can to do everything we can to help the men, women and children of Namibia. But working hard does not hide you from the day to day reality of life and death. We do not have the luxury to hide our eyes from this suffering, looking out across the drowning sea of humanity and being present to it. This is the key. If you are present to suffering it will effect you. No matter how good you are at professional detachment, not matter how much self reflection work you have done, no matter how much you pray you will be affected. Sometimes it is just too much. Sometimes I feel like we are being taken down into the waters, that our "lifeboat" has capsized and we are swimming for our life. I have been trying to find an appropriate prayer to say for what we are experiencing but it is not easy. I was recently reminded of a prayer that was prayed by the desert monks of the 3rd and 4th century. It is the opening of Psalm 70 and has been prayed daily for centuries, "Oh God make speed to save us, Oh Lord make haste to help us" Many days it seems like the only appropriate thing to say.
About a week ago the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams gave a sermon on mission that was quite good and in it he said "Mission is most truly itself when it walks along the same road as those who are suffering in body or spirit. Only then does it walk the way of Christ. …to stand with and walk with those who are forgotten or despised, the poor in city and country, women who have suffered violence, children and migrants. Walking in this way will not guarantee success or safety, but it will be a true fellowship with Jesus; without that true fellowship with him, there will be no true reaching out in love to others, and without reaching out to others there is no fellowship with him."
We are trying to understand what it means to "walk along the same road as those who are suffering in body or spirit" We know that our privilege means we will never be on the same road. Even if we are walking together, side by side, we can never truly know the suffering the people of Namibia live with. We can be present to it, we can be a witness to it, but we will never really know it. These are nice words and what we are supposed to say about mission but there will always be something that keeps us from knowing truly what the people here experience.
Overall this has been one of the hardest, most challenging, most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life and we are not even half way through it. I ask for your prayers for the people of Namibia and all those who are here, far from home, working and serving the people. Peace, Jeremy
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Trip to the South
Hello everyone hope you are doing well. Penny and I are doing pretty well but we have been really homesick lately. As I said in as an earlier post we spent most of the month of August on the road. I am attaching several Web Albums to this post so that you can see where we have been and what we have been doing. I am also sharing what we wrote for this month’s parish newsletter. Peace, Jeremy and Penny
Ministry to the South
From 21 August to 1 September several members of St. George’s Cathedral travelled on a mission and ministry trip to the South. Penny, our new Deacon Thomas and myself began the journey and travelled through Keetmanshoop to Luderitz for Sunday Eucharist and Baptisms on 23 August. This is the Web Album for Luderitz and Oranjemund. Click Here. On 25 August we travelled to Karasburg to meet the rest of our team, Mrs. Hetty Rose Junius, Mrs. Rose Beukes, and Mr. Simon Wilke. We met with a Lutheran congregation for singing, prayer and fellowship on Wednesday as there was no sustained Anglican presence. After that we travelled to Noordower for a Eucharist on Friday, Aussenkher for a Eucharist and Baptisms on Saturday morning then on to Oranjemund for Sunday services on 30 August. Here is the Web Album for Keetmanshoop, Karasburg and Noordower. Click Here. This is the Aussenkehr Web Album. Click Here. After Church Hetty, Rose and Simon headed back to Windhoek via Keetmanshoop and Thomas, Penny and I started our trip back on Monday making a stop in Rosh Pinah to meet their lay minister and find out that they have 500 Anglicans on their role. We finally arrived home on Tuesday afternoon after 4000 kilometers of driving.
To say that this was an incredible journey would be an understatement. It was an amazing blessing and the Holy Spirit was with us all the way. It would take three Gateways to tell all the stories of the South so what I have asked everyone on our mission team to do is to write of the moment that had the greatest impact on them. The moment that they felt closest to Christ. This will be a way of introducing our trip along with a few photos. When we have had the opportunity to organize all the photos and our thoughts we will have a presentation at the Church for everyone to see what an amazing ministry this truly is. We are also starting to plan our next trip. If you are interested please let me know.
Moments Closest to Christ
My moment closest to Christ came in Noordower. On Friday morning we went to the home of Tate Enoch a lay minister for the Anglicans that meet in Noordower. We sat in chairs and on logs in front of his modest home made of sheets of tin and reeds and under a shade made of net and reeds. As we spoke it became apparent that this was a place for us to have a Eucharist. On the outside wall of his home was a hand painted sign that said “Congregation of Enoch”. We were told that since they were not a Church he did not feel comfortable giving his home a Church name but that he wanted people to know where to come for Anglican worship. As we sat and talked more and more people gathered around and as we prepared a small, folding table to be our altar the excitement grew. Close to 60 men, women and children gathered for communion and blessings. Just as the service was ending Tate Enoch asked to say a few words and came to put N.50 cents on the altar. After the service he told me he wanted us to have the money for our continued work in the South. As I looked around I think I know now how the disciples felt in Mark 12:41 when the widow comes to give her offering. Jesus says to them ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on. I humbly accepted his offering to God and commit to putting it to use in our continued ministry to the South. Fr. Jeremy+
Throughout our trip to the South I was overcome by a deep feeling of humility. It is hard to describe because it takes time for me to process all the emotions I felt. If there was one moment I could point to it would be standing and sharing communion with the people in Noordower and Aussenkehr. It felt like a true communion. We were sharing in something that brought us together. It touched me in a deep way that people who have almost nothing in common and come from such different worlds can be brought to a different understanding of who they are before God by standing side by side and sharing in the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We were connected in our common humanity and it is humbling to remember that connection. To remember that people are more than what they have, or where they work, or where they live. As Christians we are not defined by these things. We are defined by a common creator and savior who loves each one of us. Although we went to the South to take communion, I realized that true communion was already there and by going I found it. Penny
Ministry to the South
From 21 August to 1 September several members of St. George’s Cathedral travelled on a mission and ministry trip to the South. Penny, our new Deacon Thomas and myself began the journey and travelled through Keetmanshoop to Luderitz for Sunday Eucharist and Baptisms on 23 August. This is the Web Album for Luderitz and Oranjemund. Click Here. On 25 August we travelled to Karasburg to meet the rest of our team, Mrs. Hetty Rose Junius, Mrs. Rose Beukes, and Mr. Simon Wilke. We met with a Lutheran congregation for singing, prayer and fellowship on Wednesday as there was no sustained Anglican presence. After that we travelled to Noordower for a Eucharist on Friday, Aussenkher for a Eucharist and Baptisms on Saturday morning then on to Oranjemund for Sunday services on 30 August. Here is the Web Album for Keetmanshoop, Karasburg and Noordower. Click Here. This is the Aussenkehr Web Album. Click Here. After Church Hetty, Rose and Simon headed back to Windhoek via Keetmanshoop and Thomas, Penny and I started our trip back on Monday making a stop in Rosh Pinah to meet their lay minister and find out that they have 500 Anglicans on their role. We finally arrived home on Tuesday afternoon after 4000 kilometers of driving.
To say that this was an incredible journey would be an understatement. It was an amazing blessing and the Holy Spirit was with us all the way. It would take three Gateways to tell all the stories of the South so what I have asked everyone on our mission team to do is to write of the moment that had the greatest impact on them. The moment that they felt closest to Christ. This will be a way of introducing our trip along with a few photos. When we have had the opportunity to organize all the photos and our thoughts we will have a presentation at the Church for everyone to see what an amazing ministry this truly is. We are also starting to plan our next trip. If you are interested please let me know.
Moments Closest to Christ
My moment closest to Christ came in Noordower. On Friday morning we went to the home of Tate Enoch a lay minister for the Anglicans that meet in Noordower. We sat in chairs and on logs in front of his modest home made of sheets of tin and reeds and under a shade made of net and reeds. As we spoke it became apparent that this was a place for us to have a Eucharist. On the outside wall of his home was a hand painted sign that said “Congregation of Enoch”. We were told that since they were not a Church he did not feel comfortable giving his home a Church name but that he wanted people to know where to come for Anglican worship. As we sat and talked more and more people gathered around and as we prepared a small, folding table to be our altar the excitement grew. Close to 60 men, women and children gathered for communion and blessings. Just as the service was ending Tate Enoch asked to say a few words and came to put N.50 cents on the altar. After the service he told me he wanted us to have the money for our continued work in the South. As I looked around I think I know now how the disciples felt in Mark 12:41 when the widow comes to give her offering. Jesus says to them ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on. I humbly accepted his offering to God and commit to putting it to use in our continued ministry to the South. Fr. Jeremy+
Throughout our trip to the South I was overcome by a deep feeling of humility. It is hard to describe because it takes time for me to process all the emotions I felt. If there was one moment I could point to it would be standing and sharing communion with the people in Noordower and Aussenkehr. It felt like a true communion. We were sharing in something that brought us together. It touched me in a deep way that people who have almost nothing in common and come from such different worlds can be brought to a different understanding of who they are before God by standing side by side and sharing in the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We were connected in our common humanity and it is humbling to remember that connection. To remember that people are more than what they have, or where they work, or where they live. As Christians we are not defined by these things. We are defined by a common creator and savior who loves each one of us. Although we went to the South to take communion, I realized that true communion was already there and by going I found it. Penny
Monday, August 24, 2009
Trip to the South
Hi Friends this is a very quick update sent from an internet cafe in Luderitz, Namibia. Luderitz is a small coastal town that looks like a cross between an old German village and a small town in the Greek Isles. 100 year old German buildings built on rocks in bright colors around Luderitz bay. We are here as part of our 10 day mission trip to the South of the country. Yesterday we had a great service at St. Peters and St. Lukes and did two baptisms. We leave tomorrow for areas even further south. Please keep us in your prayers. You can keep up with where we are on twitter or facebook or by checking the twitter feed on the left side of the blog. Peace, Jeremy
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Quick Update
Hi everyone hope you are all doing well. Penny and I are doing fine and are very, very busy. Since we returned to Namibia we have been going in 100 different directions. While this is good it takes away from our time to sit down and write on the blog. In fact the longer we go without a post the more overwhelmed we feel about how much has happened and how long the next post would need to be. So in an attempt to get out of the non-blogging rut we will try to post a few short things over the next few weeks. We will also try to put together some Web Albums to show you where we have been.
Our Tip Home
From May 19-June 22 we were in Alabama visiting family and friends. We had a wonderful time seeing everyone. It was our first trip home since coming to Namibia. The highlight of the trip was meeting our new nephew Max my sister Monica's first child. He is such a cool kid, and as good as Skype is to stay in touch, there is no way to reproduce holding a baby in real life. Our trip included visits to many Church in the Diocese of Alabama and we will be trying to send home more items for purchase. Overall we want to say thank you to everyone for you r love and support and please continue to keep us in your prayers.
Penny's Birthday
Some of you have probably seen our new profiles pictures on Facebook. Those were taken at a place called Sossusvlei about 5 hours south of where we live. They are considered by most experts to be the oldest and tallest desert dunes in the world. Many of the dunes are 1000 feet tall. It is a truly incredible place on the same level as the Grand Canyon. We took the trip as a way of celebrating Penny's 40th Birthday on July 18. We camped two nights and stayed in a lodge two nights. It was really windy while we were there. In fact when we camped we had to tie our tent to the truck to keep it from blowing away. It was a great time.
St. George's Cathedral
Coming back to the day to day work at the Cathedral was like coming back to any job after being away for a while. There were a lot of things that needed to be dealt with and a pile of messages to deal with. We have recently been doing renovation and restoration work around the Cathedral grounds that has been needed for years. We are now finished with phase one and hopefully will be moving on to phase two soon. We are working on lots of outreach projects, training new lay ministers, teaching confirmation classes (35 students so far) and planning weddings (5 in the works for the next couple of months). Our newest project is going to be the Anglican Rosary Project to benefit our Loaves and Fishes homeless ministry. We are recruiting women and men from our ministry to make Anglican Rosaries that we will buy from them and then sell to benefit Loaves and Fishes. We hope to have the first rosaries made by the beginning of September and I am taking orders.
The other exciting thing happening at the Cathedral is an upcoming mission and ministry trip to the South of the country. On August 21, 6 members of the Cathedral, including me and Penny will be headed South 8 hours to celebrate communion and perform baptisms for parishes and outstations that have not seen a priest for a year. It will be a 10 day trip and we are getting very excited.
I am out of time to write more now. Next post I will update everyone on the Clergy training project. Peace, Jeremy
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Sorry Friends
This is just a quick note to let you all know that since we have been home we have had quite a time with both the internet and our phone. We have had almost none of either. Hopefully we will be back in touch and be able to post some photos from our trip home and of our upcoming trip to the Sossusvlei Dunes for Penny's Birthday. Peace, Jeremy
Friday, June 26, 2009
Back in Windhoek
Hey Everyone just a quick note to tell you that we are home safely after a long week of travel. It is about 5pm and we are unpacking for as long as we can stand up. We still don't have home internet connection so I am not sure how often we will be able to email. I am at an internet cafe now not far from our house. We had a great visit home. Thanks to everyone for everything. We cannot express how great the trip was for us and we cannot wait to see you all again. Love, Penny and Jeremy
Monday, June 8, 2009
Help For Linea
We have been having and incredible time on our home stay. We spent the morning at St. John's in Decatur and had a great time. I want to say another very special thank you to Rev. Richard Lawson and Ms. Monica Romano. Monica has been travelling over the past two week to wherever we have been speaking to be our all around audio/visual professional. She created two DVD's of our photos and has been an incredible help. Yesterday was very special because we got to go "home" for a visit to our old parish in Athens, St. Timothy's. This visit was all the more special because we were joined there by The Rev. Deacon Linea Haufiku from Namibia. She is currently continuing her theological studies at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas but she is spending the summer on an internship in the Diocese of Alabama. She added so much to last night's discussion. Here is a photo of her (on the left) with the Rev'd Nangula Kathindi the coordinator of the Diocesan HIV/AIDS program. Since the time this photos was taken he has cut her hair. I made a request last night for some small amount of support for Linea while she is in the U.S. studying. Although she receives tuition and housing she still has to buy groceries and other household needs for herself AND she sends money home to support her mother and the 6 children that live with her now. Many people at St. Timothy's gave her a love offering last night but also requested her information to continue supporting her into the future. Thanks to everyone who made last night possible. Here is the information:
The Rev. Deacon Linea Haufiku
SUMMER ADDRESS IN ALABAMA
107 Forest Glen Dr.
Madison, AL 35758
(256) 479-5674
PERMANENT ADDRESS IN AUSTIN, TX
3007 Duval Street
Apt. 303 N
Austin, TX 78705
Friday, May 29, 2009
First Week Home
Hi Everyone. I hope that everyone is having a great week. We are finally recovering from the trip home and have been criss-crossing the state visiting family for the past week. We are in Birmingham until Monday when we will head to North Alabama. So far it has been a great trip we spent Memorial Day with my sisters family and
the new baby Max. These photos are from their house. My bro-in
-law Phil made some incredible smoked BBQ and we had a nice relaxing day. This past Sunday night we went to St. Francis to share a little about our mission work. Monica Romano produced a great video for us and we had a really great evening. Thank you to everyone who donated to the cause. This weekend we will still be in Bham and I will be preaching at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Cahaba Heights. They have two services, one at 9am and one at 11:15am. During the Christian Education hour Penny and I will be giving a presentation on our mission work and selling all sorts of Namibian gifts to raise money for the cause.
Next week we are headed to North Alabama to visit with our friends from the Athens/Decatur/Huntsville/ Madison/Florence areas. We will be at St. John's in Decatur on Sunday the 7th of June. That night we will be at St Timothy's in Athens for a dinner and talk at 5:30pm. Ok that's all for now. Have a good weekend and follow us on Twitter. Peace, Jeremy and Penny
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