Partnership Request- Food Assistance Urgently Needed- Haiti

St. Dunstan's Carmel has been involved in a 26 year relationship with St. Andres School in Hinche Haiti. 90% of their parish is involved in this ministry in some way! An important part of their support has been the school lunch program, which for many students is the only meal they get in a day. Their funding partner is no longer able to provide assistance. St. Dunstan's is urgently seeking a new funding partner to begin assistance in January of 2009.
Contact Mel Blevins at: mblevens AT comcast.net

To learn more about the history and context of thier ministry read: 26 years with Haiti

Food Assistance Needed - Hinche, Haiti

by Sarah Pease, St. Dunstan's Carmel

In Hinche, a town of about 40,000 in the central plateau of Haiti, the markets are colorful with fresh vegetables and fruit , baskets of rice, eggs and dried fish- even sugar cane pieces to chew for the sweet juice. Walking through the town, you can often see women selling a few bananas and perhaps a woman with a basket of cookies on her head. They are one of the cheapest things in Haiti. Children eating these dark, hard cookies are a regular sight. Food looks plentiful, but it is hard to come by because the prices have shot up astronomically in the last year – 100 – 200 per cent. But the cookies are cheap and plentiful. And easy to make. All you need is a little sugar or a very little milk powder and lots of good, rich Haitian dirt. Nice and dark so the dirt-cookies will look appetizing. Pat it all together with some water and let them dry in the sun. Cookies for sale. A woman interviewed by one of St. Dunstan’s visiting Haiti Ministry members was asked how often her child ate. After a pause, she said quietly, “Maybe…every other day.” A child who has one small meal every other day will have a few dirt cookies to silence that stomach.

The children of St. Andre’s School in Hinche have been lucky to have a good hot lunch every day for the past several years. St. Dunstan’s provided salaries for cooks, bought propane stoves and utensils for this effort and a wonderful private foundation underwrote the food cost. The staff of St Andre’s kept accurate records of the children’s weight and height. They grew amazingly and their scores on national tests shot up. It was astonishing how much learning took place once those stomachs stopped hurting. But the costs of providing the food for this meal have forced Mercy and Sharing, the non-profit foundation who were funding this effort to shut down. A St Dunstan’s parish member has given emergency help which will last through December. St. Dunstan’s is a very small parish and has been raising half the annual cost of St Andre’s – a school of 680 children – for more than twenty years. Help is urgently needed to continue this program. It is our hope that another parish in the Diocese will be interested in partnering with us to provide food for these students for another year.

Companionship Prayer

The following prayer, in both English and Swahili, is a prayer for this new triad companion relationship between our diocese, the diocese of Gloucester, and the diocese of Western Tanganyika. Bishop Michael wrote it, based on the companionship agreement, and with the input of Bishops Gerard and Mary. The Bishops have agreed to hold one another in prayer.

Please join Bishops Mary, Michael, and Gerard in praying for our new relationship together:

Holy God,
source of healing and of peace,
bless with your grace the companion dioceses
of El Camino Real, Gloucester and Western Tanganyika.
Through our partnership one with another
may we grow in mutual affection and communion,
seek a more profound experience of truth,
build up the Church in unity
and give glory to Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Ewe Mungu uliye mtakatifu
Asili ya uponyaji na amani, Tunakuomba kwa neema yako
uzibariki dayosisi zinazoshirikiana za El Camino Real, Gloucester
na Western Tanganyika, ili kwa njia ya uhusiano huu kati yetu,
tuweze kukua katika kuungamana pamoja na kuelewana,
tukichuchumilia kuijua kweli yako hata kulijenga kanisa katika umoja
na kumtukuza Yesu Kristo Mwokozi wetu, Amina.

A Message from Bishop Gerard

The following is an email message from Bishop Gerard of Western Tanganyika, one of our new companion dioceses. He describes the beautiful ceremony they have planned for the signing of the companionship agreement, which will take place this Sunday, November 30.

Dear Mary and Michael;

We are getting more excited as we draw near to the real day....Sunday Nov. 30.

Let me briefly share with you what we have planned to do. The Launching ceremony will be done at St Peters Church, at Mwanga Musanga Parish. As I said this is my home town and home church. I had already planned to visit them on this Sunday and so we decided we might as well have the launching event there.

We shall begin the Eucharist service until after the Nicene Creed. After the Creed we will sing a song as my chair gets brought forward in front of the Alter. After I am sitted into my Episcopal Chair, the Diocesan Secretary Canon Mathayo Kasagara (who by the way is our communication person) will read a statement to set the stage as to what we are about to do. After he finishes the reading, there will be a procession of bringing the Partinership agreement to the bishop. There will be three women carrying three barrel like african traditional baskets. The middle basket will be a little bigger and will contain the official document to be signed. The other two baskets will contain the swahili versions. So as the process begins from the main door at the back of the church, they will be escorted by young men and women dancing and celebrating the joy of the beginning of our companion relationship. After they arrive in front of the bishop, the bishop will receive the middle basket containing the gift of our relationship ie the official document. This is how chiefs received special gifts from their people. Then another lady will then read the agreement document. After the reading, and before signing it, a swahili translation will be read to allow people to hear the contents of our agreement. After the Swahili version is read, I will stand up and sign the agreement on the alter in the midst of shouts of joy and celebration. After the signing is done, I will say the partinership prayer in swahili and then a choir will sing the set song for the occasion. Then my sermon will follow.

That is what we have planned to do. After the document is signed, it will be put back into the same basket which will be kept in my office. When people come to my office they will always remark about the beauty of that basket and I will always remark that, the beauty of that basket is the symbol of the beauty of our tripartite relationship. By the way after my signature, one of our senior lay canon and also a Trustee member of the diocese will also sign as a witness.

I have another suggestion to make. Since you two are coming here in March, how about signing our partnership together during your visit, rather than mailing copies to each other? Here we really don't trust our mail system. We might lose some copies. So if you really like what we want to do on Nov 30th, we could repeat the same celebration here at the Cathedral when we are all three together. What do you think about this idea?

+ Gerard

Good News from Sudan

We have wonderful news from Juba. Guet, the wife of James Atem Tuor has been found and her abductor is in jail. In talking with James yesterday, Guet seems to be unharmed and is staying with elders of her clan in Juba. Your prayers and concerns have been most helpful during these trying times. Equally, important have been your generous commitment to help James Atem get to Juba to be with his wife in what has to be a healing for both of them. We are hoping that today we will have sufficient funds committed so that he can leave tomorrow for Nairobi and then on to Juba.

The circumstance with Guet is all to common in Sudan and elsewhere. The marriage customs are out of control with exhorbinent dowries being required now for brides. Consequently, older men are able to marry several wives or guys that are in the US, Canada, and Australia can seemingly afford to raise the funds for the marriage. Consequently, thousands of young men are without means to find a wife. Increasingly, they turn to abduction of attractive young women. Fortunately, Guet was not spirited away to a distant village where she could have disappeared permanently.

Please keep Guet and James Atem in your prayers as well as her abductor.

I (Jerry Drino) am planning to leave on December 5 to fly to Nairobi and then on to Juba for meetings with the President of Southern Sudan and his cabinet as the leaders of a delegation of US based Sudanese NGOs that have been started by other former Lost Boys/Girls who are now doing projects in Education, Health, Water and Agriculture in southern Sudan.

Prayer for the success of this endeavor, as well

Jerry Drino

Bishop Mary's Address to Convention 2008

Photo: Copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson, used with permission







Click here to read the full text of Bishop Mary's Address: Bishop's Convention Address

Bishop Mary, in her address to Convention, encouraged us all to stretch our boundaries, locally and globally

• She challenged us to get to know someone or a context in our community that is outside our comfort zone, remembering that multi-cultural parishes grow far faster:

"Be mindful in your prayers about where you may need to stretch: children? Culture? Color? Gender? Sexuality? We all have an edge that meets the open expanse of change as we encounter the reality of another. Make it a point this year to take in and absorb, rather than judge, the fullness of another, who is other, than you."

• She talked about the thought behind establishing a companion relationship:

"In other words there had to be enough room in this relationship that we could be ourselves: those who could be financially generous and those who can only give a little, gay, straight, world travelers, homebodies, lay and clergy. This would not be a relationship just for the bishops, but a large communal space that could potentially hold us all."

• She talked about how the Triad Relationship was visioned:
  

"[Bishop] Michael [Perham of Gloucester] suggested that in companioning, we really needed to have an American, an English and an African diocese companion together, keeping all the matters that challenge our communion before us; owning, accepting and working with the myriad of our theological and cultural diversity, speaking, listening, challenging and helping one another in the ways that we each need.

I believe we are being gifted with this opportunity of a triad relationship with Gloucester and Western Tanganyika for both mission and for a deeper relationship with fellow Anglicans around the communion."

• She spoke about the place of this Companionship in our ongoing mission efforts:
  

"I am well aware that individuals, groups and entire congregations in our diocese have significant and important relationships with other churches, schools and outreach organizations around the communion. It is not the intention of a diocesan companion relationship to displace those, but rather to add to the repertoire of mission and communion opportunities of our diocese, so that whomever would like to participate will have a chance to do so."

• She played this video from YouTube- to show the context for our ministry, and responded to it (below):
  

"Sort of scary isn’t it? Stop trying to keep up – we will make ourselves crazy trying to do that. In fact, the key is to go to the deeper stillness of God’s abiding Presence, not to try to keep pace with all these shifts. 'Be Still and Know that I am God' has never been a more necessary spiritual practice than in these days. Jesus Christ is still our foundation, and spiritual principles are timeless... When we are grounded in Christ, we are okay, no matter what. He is our foundation. I imagine that people caught off guard and overwhelmed by the rapid shifts in our lives, might appreciate a firm foundation and some timeless spiritual principles... Across all our diversity, grounding in an eternal and spiritual reality is something we all seek. That basic human need is one of our most unifying realities"

• The Triad Companion Diocese relationship was enthusiastically approved by the delegates!
  
• See More info on the Companionship in posts below: Click Here
  

Emergency in Sudan

Guet Garang, 22 year old wife of James Atem Tuor of San José has been abducted in Juba, Southern Sudan. She has been living with her mother and a sister in an apartment which James Atem provides for them in Nakuru, Kenya and had gone a week ago to visit another sister in Juba. On Tuesday, five days later she disappeared, presumably abducted after she left the home.

Obviously, James Atem is terribly distraught. We are in the process of booking a ticket for him to fly to Juba as soon as possible so that he can be closer to the search efforts. His uncle is a commander of the Sudanese People Liberation Army and holding the office of retirement personnel. He is heading up the search process

Please keep Guet and her safety and James Atem and their family in your prayers.

We are seeking any contributions to cover the $1650 round trip airfare to Nairobi and the $700 round trip airfare from their to Juba.

Please send donations to

Hope With Sudan
5038 Hyland Ave
San José, CA 95127
www.hopewithsudan.org

Thank you

Jerry Drino
Executive Director
Hope With Sudan
(408) 806-4506

jdrino@hopewithsudan.org

Triad Companion Relationship Accepted

At the Diocese of El Camino Real Convention yesterday, the delegation unanimously passed a resolution which makes official our new companion relationship with the Diocese of Gloucester in England and the Diocese of Western Tanganyika in Tanzania.

See Bishop Mary’s powerpoint presentation on Lambeth and this new relationship below: Click Here

See the network’s discussion article on this relationship below: Click Here

Bishop Mary said in her address to Convention that she had already been stretched and transformed this companion relationship, and she knows that wonder is in store for us.

The Bishop also said that this relationship is not a replacement for other mission activities. Rather, it will add to the repertoire of mission companionship opportunities in our Diocese.

World Mission Network Presentation at Convention

The World Mission Network gave a presentation at the 2008 Diocese of El Camino Real Convention.

The following video was shown, and everyone who had participated in mission work this year, who was present, came up on stage. Jerry Drino talked about the network, and several people talked about what mission means to them. Thank you to everyone who made a special effort to be at convention for our presentation!

If you would like a copy of this DVD please email Robin Denney at: redenney AT gmail.com

Table of Contents

Welcome to the Blog of the World Mission Network!

This Blog:

• To comment on any article, click on "comments" at the bottom of the article, fill in the box provided, and add your name. Choose the "anonymous" option so you don't have to create an account.
  
• To see photos with captions from mission activities, click on the slideshow "Partnership in Action" in the top right corner
• To see documents produced by the WMN, see the "Mission Data Files" section in the right side bar
• To see Personal Stories about mission work and parish relationships see "Your Mission Stories" in the right side bar
• To see websites of our mission partners see: "Links- Our Mission Partners" "Links- Our NGO Partners" in the right side bar
• To see background resources see: "Links- Resources" in the right side bar
  

About us:

The World Mission Network is a forum of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real. Each parish in the diocese is encouraged to have at least one person on our contact list. We send out a monthly update with info from this blog, as well as the roster from all the churches. The network has a non-hierarchical structure. There are no officers, and it is not a decision making body. Those who wish to be more involved in the running of the network can join the “Mission Circle” which is a group of people within the network who have agreed to receive more frequent communications, and participate in promoting the network, information sharing, and visioning.

• If you are new to this site, let us recommend some important articles:

Concerning the World Mission Network:

• Report to Convention 2008: who we are, accomplishments, challenges: click here
• See upcoming events in the right-hand sidebar
• Video Presentation (10 minutes) of mission involvement around the diocese 2008: click here

Concerning our new Triad Companion Relationship:

• Bishop Mary’s Powerpoint Presentation outline of the relationship 9-25-08: click here
• Discussion Topic about the Relationship: 9-11-08 click here
• Bishop Mary’s Address to Convention 2008, introducing the relationship: 11-21-08 click here
• Convention accepts relationship: 11-9-08 click here
• A Message from Bishop Gerard (Western Tanganyika): 11-25-08 click here
• Companionship Prayer: 11-25-08 click here

Mission Involvement around the Diocese and contact info for parishes:

• Mission Data File: posted in the right hand column, updated monthly: click here
• Monthly Updates: posted in the right hand column: November update click here
• Graphic: Map of involvement: click here

Discussion topics – You can add your thoughts on these or on any article:

• Triad Companion Relationship- click here
• Millennium Development Goals- click here
• Anglican Communion- click here

Questions? Please contact us!

Communications: Joanna Shreve: jrshreve AT aol.com
Blog: Michael Ridgway: mwridgway AT earthlink.net

Mission Circle:
Jerry Drino, Hope with Sudan: jdrino AT hopewithsudan.org
Julie Fudge, St. John’s Capitola
Sylvestre Romero, St. Phillip’s San Jose
Charles Greenleaf, St. John’s Capitola
Karen Greenleaf, St. John’s Capitola
Celeste Ventura, St. Mary’s Pacific Grove
Peter Troop, St. Jude’s Cupertino
Bill Shreve, St. Timothy’s Mountain View
Joan Anderson, St. John’s Capitola
Linda Morris, St. Jude’s Cupertino
Gloria VanBree, All Saint’s Palo Alto
Mary Lou McKenney, All Saint’s Watsonville

Sudan Advocacy Action Forum Situation Update 29-2008

Dear Friends of Sudan,

This update will address issues in both Darfur and Kordofan.

In recent days there has been a flurry of worrisome reports. The first was that Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) -- which runs the semi-autonomous south and is a partner in the Government of National Unity -- both have been building up their armies ahead of the 2009 elections and 2011 referendum when the South will choose whether to secede from the north. Khartoum has been purchasing arms from China and North Korea, including fighter jets and tankers, while the Southerners, suspecting that Khartoum is bent on scuttling the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), have been preparing for any eventuality.

There have been reports about the kidnapping of nine Chinese oil workers, the third such incident in the energy-producing state of South Kordofan in the past year, and the death of five of them. Who was responsible for the
kidnapping and the deaths is unclear, but what is clear is that analysts say the underdeveloped region could become another violent flashpoint. Although the kidnapping took place in South Kordofan, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of the Darfuri rebel factions, is being blamed. If indeed JEM is responsible, its action expands insecurity from neighbouring Darfur into the Kordofan region.

Pray for peace for the people of Sudan.

In His Service,

Bill
Bill Andress
Sudan Advocacy Action Forum

************************************************************************

Sudan Update 29-2008

October 31, 2008

SAAF Note: People who want to help make a difference in Darfur
frequently ask if sending money to aid organizations would be beneficial. The painful answer is that the factors that currently inhibit the aid agencies have less to do with insufficient funds and are more related to issues of insecurity and violence perpetrated by the Government of Sudan (GoS) and in some instances warlords who have taken advantage of the internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Darfur: Humanitarian Access

Humanitarian access in Darfur is primarily determined by a combination of three factors:

1. The degree of general insecurity, which may require the United Nations and other humanitarian partners to suspend or limit operations in certain unsafe areas for a certain amount of time;

2. The continued harassment of humanitarian organizations and workers, including blanket denial of humanitarian access, bureaucratic obstacles,detention and intimidation of national staff, bullying and temporary denial of access to affected areas and IDP camps.

3. Targeted attacks on humanitarians and their assets, including hijacking of cars and abduction of personnel, physical violence directed towards humanitarian workers, road ambushes, destruction of NGO assets and armed break-ins in humanitarian compounds. Between July and October, one national humanitarian worker was killed and 12 wounded. So far this year, 11 national humanitarians have been killed against 13 during the whole year 2007. One hundred and forty-four times humanitarian premises have been assaulted/broken into during the first nine months of 2008 against 93 for the whole of 2007. (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Report: Section II, page 4)

Darfur: Education

Preliminary data gathered at the beginning of the 2008 school year (June-July) showed encouraging progress with 126,619 children (96,923 boys and 56,696 girls) enrolled as 1st graders in the three states in Darfur. Total primary school enrolment in Darfur, according to Ministry of Education data, is now nearly 977,000 - 65 per cent of the primary school population. SAAF Note:
This is far better support of education than is experienced in Southern Sudan.

Darfur: Child protection

In August, a new Family and Child Protection Unit officially opened in North
Darfur, following the establishment of a similar unit in West Darfur earlier in
the year. The units are managed by local GoS police, with support from UNICEF, and provide specialist services to victims, offenders and witnesses of abuse and exploitation - services include social work, legal aid, psychosocial support, forensic evidence collection and child friendly investigation. The Units are also engaged in awareness raising and monitoring in communities, targeting high-risk areas with prevention activities and messages and through community dialogue. Preparations for a third Unit in South Darfur are ongoing and will open with UNICEF support in January 2009. (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Report: Section IV, pages 14- 15)

Sudan's Southern Kordofan Problem: The Next Darfur?

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended Sudan's generation-long North-South civil war in 2005 is at risk in Southern Kordofan state, where many of the same ingredients exist that produced the vicious Darfur conflict.

Southern Kordofan is a new state, created by the CPA, in the critical border area between North and South, a zone of ethnic interaction between Arab(mainly Misseriya and Hawazma) and indigenous African (mainly Nuba) tribes. Inadequate implementation of the CPA's special protocol relating to the region has led to insecurity and growing dissatisfaction. Tribal reconciliation based on negotiation of a common agenda, establishment of an efficient state government administration and adherence to the CPA's principles of power and wealthsharing have to be fostered from Khartoum and pushed forward by the international guarantors. There has been some limited recent progress, but much more is urgently needed.

The state's inhabitants were mobilized by the opposing sides during the North/South war and despite the CPA remain deeply scarred by that conflict, polarized and fragmented along political and tribal lines. They are armed and organized and feel increasingly abandoned by their former patrons, who have not fulfilled their promises to provide peace dividends. Return of internally displaced persons (IDPs), development projects and creation of an integrated state government administration have all stalled. Hundreds of people have died in disputes over land and grazing rights, with no comprehensive or sustainable local or national response. Efforts by the NCP and SPLM to co-opt Arab and African tribes, respectively, prior to elections by politicizing development policies are aggravating tensions.
(ICG Report, October 2008) http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5738&l=1)