Monday, February 28, 2011
Page order
FYI: We have had some technical difficulties so the postings/pages are not in chronological order. If you keeping scrolling down you will see things are a bit out of sequence.
Dress a Child...or two, or twenty or two hundred.....
Sunday was an amazing day meeting our sponsored children, but one of the greatest blessings of this trip was delivering the children's garments from Mary Peterson's dress project. Mary is a member of Gran Lutheran who put together a great community-wide project to make clothing for children in Africa.
Mary organized a "sew-in" in January at Mayville Lutheran. Many people of all ages (4 to 94) gathered at the church to sew simple dresses for girls and shorts for boys. Several people who aren't "sewers" pitched in to help cut and press fabric and package the clothes. Mary's efforts paid off--her sewing team produced over 200 dresses and over 50 pairs of shorts!! Staff at World Vision Bamako were speechless when they were told the story about the project. We gave a small dress to a staff member who has a baby and her eyes filled with tears.
The sewing project included 8 congregations, and drew people from as far as Fargo and Grand Forks to help. Thank you Mary, for your hard work on this project. What a tremendous privilege it was to deliver these items. These were precious gifts and through an interpreter the children were told that they were sewn with love by so many! We think the photos will speak for themselves.....
Mary organized a "sew-in" in January at Mayville Lutheran. Many people of all ages (4 to 94) gathered at the church to sew simple dresses for girls and shorts for boys. Several people who aren't "sewers" pitched in to help cut and press fabric and package the clothes. Mary's efforts paid off--her sewing team produced over 200 dresses and over 50 pairs of shorts!! Staff at World Vision Bamako were speechless when they were told the story about the project. We gave a small dress to a staff member who has a baby and her eyes filled with tears.
The sewing project included 8 congregations, and drew people from as far as Fargo and Grand Forks to help. Thank you Mary, for your hard work on this project. What a tremendous privilege it was to deliver these items. These were precious gifts and through an interpreter the children were told that they were sewn with love by so many! We think the photos will speak for themselves.....
Sunday, February 27, 2011
HIGHLIGHT OF World Vision trip to MALI!
We set out for Kolokani at 6:30 am, with excitement and anticipation to meet the sponsored children from our Sunday schools, community members, and our families. We wore our traditional Malian dresses, and entered the Kolokani Evangelical Church shortly after 9 am. Church lasted until 11am (no 1 hour services in Africa!!). The Sunday School kids sang and danced with so much joy, that it had even the four of us Scandinavian Lutherans clapping and swaying along. They were followed by a mother's choir, and a youth choir! WOW! The pastor's underlying message was "UNITY". Unity in prayer, Unity as people, Unity with World Vision. He equated a prayer group to soldiers preparing for battle. He also recognized World Vision staff and visitors as honored guests. There were both Muslim and Christians in church. (many of the sponsored children's families are Muslim). Side-note: in Mali 90% are Muslim, 7% are Animist, 3% Christian.
After church we were served a traditional Malian meal of chicken, potatoes, rice, and onions. The meal was beautiful and it was served on a large platter and set on the floor. Everyone gathered around and ate with their hand. (we each tried a little bit out of respect, but were a little nervous about our weak stomachs!) After our meal we met with each of the 20+ sponsored children from our community. Everyone was given a package, and we also distributed the special care packages sent along. We were also given extra one on one time with our personally sponsored children and Sunday School children. Words cannot describe this experience. Some of the children were shy, others were very affectionate. All were curious about us. Check the pictures out - Bonnie was presented with a chicken, a gift given with much honor and highest regard. (We really wanted to bring the chicken home with us, but World Vision staff stepped in and offered to give it to someone in need).
We were told by parents, siblings, and grandparents that accompanied the sponsored children, how grateful they were for sponsorship, and how it has made a wonderful difference in the lives of their children and their community. We get this message from World Vision and have believed it, but we now have personal testimony, and encourage everyone to consider and pray about the possibility of sponsoring a child. We met with a village yesterday that has no sponsored children (World Vision is a presence in the Women's garden which is a micro-finance project), and their health and physical condition was poorer than the sponsored children we met with and the other sponsored children we saw while in Kolokani. IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE.
Great day, lots of love all around.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Saturday, February 26th
Great day! Where do we begin? We will just give you highlights - and there were many. Greeted by chief at Zirablenkoro village. Visited women's association garden microfinance project in village. What an amazing welcome - greeted with dancing and singing. The garden was beautiful and producing many different vegetable which they use for feeding village and also selling. We all took a turn at pounding millet - not any easy job - the villagers laughed at our efforts. We took tons of pictures and videos and the children as well as adults were fascinated to see themselves. Big highlight - handed out some frisbees, bracelets, etc. Soccer balls were presented to Chief who then approved the children to play with them. To say the kids were excited is a complete undertatment. (at times we felt mobbed but older children would regain control) We had a great time playing with children - who are absolutely adorable! Poor doesn't begin to explain the conditions - no electricity or running water, lack of basic needs, etc. Risk of disease is tremendous.
Visited with another women's group (Love Association) who produce shea butter and oil for many purposes. They start with the bare nut from the shea tree. Again - so amazing. This also was a microfinance project. A microfinance project is a group of women who take out a loan from World Vision to finance the start of a business. The women work to pay back the loan, use the proceeds from selling the shea butter to finance their operation and buy supplies for their families. This teaches women to become independent and empowers them to have an income and better support your families.
On way back to Bamako, we stopped to exchange some money. $100 US = 47,000CFA mali money. Went to a local market in search of traditional dress. Fitting a large passenger bus into a mini Cooper sized parking spot was terrifying, after hitting the car to our right and missing the car to our left by a hair, the local men picked up the Mercedes to the right and moved it over! We parked and walked a block in both car and human traffic that puts NYC congestion to shame. Exciting for 4 white girls from ND!! Thank goodness for our driver Abraham and Mali WV donor liason Jean Calvin AKA Gene, John, Jean Paul, JZ, and Jean Claude. These two men protected us and negotiated for the prices of our dresses; no EASY feat, lots of loud negotiating with the Sengali merchants, shaky knees, sweaty palms, and heart palpatations (on our part) we walked out of the market with beautiful traditional dress! We don't believe our husbands would have gone to those great lengths to buy us an outfit. :)
Returned to our hotel to eat supper and reflect on our wonderful day...we are exhausted from the heat and overwhelming emotions of the day. It is very warm, 90's with a dusty breeze!
Afer all this, another "God" moment for our World Vision team.....after visiting the clinic yesterday, we identified the great need for a new birthing bed. The beds there were ancient....outdated, and dirty. As women, this was greatly disturbing to us. We have been contemplating how we could help provide a new birthing bed. As we were sitting down for our dinner, a lady approached our table...it was Angelique, a USAF Major presently working in Africa as an International Health Specialist. She had met Jen the evening prior in the hotel lobby. We somehow came to discuss visiting the clinic, their need for a birthing bed...and another God moment occurred. Anqelique state the US often phases out old equipment, and sometimes they are able to designate old equipment for certain causes. She will attempt to find a used birthing bed to help us provide to the health center. WOW!!! God works in mysterious ways....
Just have to add a bit about the wonderful woman from World Vision in Seattle who is leading our trip. Millie Vanderpool is a truly wonderful leader and an uplifting Christian with tremendous faith. We have grown to love her already.
Once again, we feel SO BLESSED to serve our churches and communities in this way. Thank you...
Visited with another women's group (Love Association) who produce shea butter and oil for many purposes. They start with the bare nut from the shea tree. Again - so amazing. This also was a microfinance project. A microfinance project is a group of women who take out a loan from World Vision to finance the start of a business. The women work to pay back the loan, use the proceeds from selling the shea butter to finance their operation and buy supplies for their families. This teaches women to become independent and empowers them to have an income and better support your families.
On way back to Bamako, we stopped to exchange some money. $100 US = 47,000CFA mali money. Went to a local market in search of traditional dress. Fitting a large passenger bus into a mini Cooper sized parking spot was terrifying, after hitting the car to our right and missing the car to our left by a hair, the local men picked up the Mercedes to the right and moved it over! We parked and walked a block in both car and human traffic that puts NYC congestion to shame. Exciting for 4 white girls from ND!! Thank goodness for our driver Abraham and Mali WV donor liason Jean Calvin AKA Gene, John, Jean Paul, JZ, and Jean Claude. These two men protected us and negotiated for the prices of our dresses; no EASY feat, lots of loud negotiating with the Sengali merchants, shaky knees, sweaty palms, and heart palpatations (on our part) we walked out of the market with beautiful traditional dress! We don't believe our husbands would have gone to those great lengths to buy us an outfit. :)
Returned to our hotel to eat supper and reflect on our wonderful day...we are exhausted from the heat and overwhelming emotions of the day. It is very warm, 90's with a dusty breeze!
Afer all this, another "God" moment for our World Vision team.....after visiting the clinic yesterday, we identified the great need for a new birthing bed. The beds there were ancient....outdated, and dirty. As women, this was greatly disturbing to us. We have been contemplating how we could help provide a new birthing bed. As we were sitting down for our dinner, a lady approached our table...it was Angelique, a USAF Major presently working in Africa as an International Health Specialist. She had met Jen the evening prior in the hotel lobby. We somehow came to discuss visiting the clinic, their need for a birthing bed...and another God moment occurred. Anqelique state the US often phases out old equipment, and sometimes they are able to designate old equipment for certain causes. She will attempt to find a used birthing bed to help us provide to the health center. WOW!!! God works in mysterious ways....
Just have to add a bit about the wonderful woman from World Vision in Seattle who is leading our trip. Millie Vanderpool is a truly wonderful leader and an uplifting Christian with tremendous faith. We have grown to love her already.
Once again, we feel SO BLESSED to serve our churches and communities in this way. Thank you...
Friday, February 25, 2011
Our First Full Day
Today we met with staff at main World Vision office in Bamako. Truly an amazing people and very welcoming: Noticed some pictures we had sent to them previouly hanging on bulletin board. We were shown the mail room where packages and letters arrive for sponsor children. It is truly understandable now as to why they prefer letters and small flat envelopes - they, must pay extra to pick up larger packeges from post office and that can be very expensive. From there, we traveled to the Beledougo ADP (area development project). This ADP is made up of the villages where our sponsored children live. Here we met the director of the ADP and his staff: We then visited the ADP Health Center. There are over 60,000 people in the ADP and one MD staffs the health center. Sara and Bonnie vowed to be more thankful for the excellent health care systems and working conditions in US. The clinic lacked basic supplies, medicines, running water, sanitation, etc. World Vision continues to work with the clinic to help with nutrition education, vaccinations, and malaria prevention (the number 1 killer of children there).We had opportunity to visit with clinic staff thru intepreter. When they see a patient who is unable to pay; they often pool their own money to help with costs - doing this all with a smile!
We are led by a wonderful World Vision employee, Jean Calvin, who has worked with World Vision for over 25 years. He is very patient with us and answers all our questions (and there are many) with a smile.
Having some technical difficulties today so will try to post more pictures as soon as possible.
We are led by a wonderful World Vision employee, Jean Calvin, who has worked with World Vision for over 25 years. He is very patient with us and answers all our questions (and there are many) with a smile.
Having some technical difficulties today so will try to post more pictures as soon as possible.
We arrived Mali Africa on February 24, 2011
Well, it was a long trip getting here but arrived last night (February 24 about 10 pm). Recieved another amazing gift yesterday: We had several bags and some overweight as we checked in at Fargo airport. Delta staff asked why we were going to Africa. After brief explanation, they waived fees on bags. We could not believe it! The extra bags held precious gifts for the children including, hand-sewn dresses and shorts (about 260), 30 soccer balls with pumps and needles, and various toys, colored pencils, and candy. Hotel is good and we all slept well (some of us over slept). Having some technical difficulties and will post picture as soon as possible:
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