It was a joy to host the Coppedge family, missionaries from Arua, Uganda, for a new story telling training. Billy has visited us many times but only came with his wife and 2 oldest children once, over 2 years ago. Since then they have added twin girls to their family and it was our pleasure to have them all come for a short visit. For them as a family to engage in ministry together was also special.
Our kids asked us for days leading up to the visit WHEN would they arrive! We don’t get a lot of ‘young’ visitors, so this was an all round special time for both families. We really thank God for this family, for enduring despite the hard work to pack up four young children for a trip into the bush and for being willing to go wherever the Lord sends them.
Billy was a facilitator for the Simply The Story training through Mango Ministries and World Gospel Mission.
The last two weeks have been very busy but very exciting. I was able to visit all of our CHE trainers in their communities, and I can’t tell you how encouraged I was to see their progress in their communities and in their homes. Now, the basic structure of a CHE program is this:
Facilitators will lead a series of Training of Trainers (TOTs). There are 4 of these TOTs, each a week long, and spaced out every few months, with specific homework assignments for the trainers after each TOT. These trainers help to create awareness in their communities about CHE and how it can be used to bring about wholistic transformation. They do small-scale projects to encourage the community, and help them realize what they can achieve when they work together, even without any outside help. After the 3rd TOT, the trainers help the community to select a committee. The trainers will train this committee in how to run a CHE program. The committee will select what topics to teach to the community, and also decide what community-wide projects should be done to bring change and transformation. Then, the committee will select CHEs (Community Health Evangelists), who will lead home groups, where they teach physical and spiritual lessons that can be easily implemented and shared, thus multiplying the impact throughout the community. The Trainers are also the ones to train the CHEs. One of the greatest benefits of this structure is that a community really feels ownership of this program, thus, they are empowered knowing their development lies in their own hands with God’s help. They feel confident that they do in fact have the resources, both in materials and people, to see their communities grow and become healthy in every way – physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, socially.
Our current trainers, who are eleven in number and span 5 different communities, have now completed 3 TOTs, and are gearing up for the fourth March 11-15. In one community, Lurchuk, we visited the home of trainer Athunta, where she lives with her 4 boys. She was keeping her home very clean and even using a tippy-tap! She and fellow trainer David have started training their committee and have already covered 14 lessons since January 7th! The committee is really motivated it seems. This community is about 3 hours from Tonj by car, and there is no phone network there. Despite the fact that these two trainers have been so disconnected from the rest of us, they have still maintained so much momentum for seeking God’s change in their community and helped to spur on others as well! I’m so proud of them!
Would you pray for our trainers and our team of facilitators as we prepare for the last TOT? We know that the real power to transform comes only from God. Join us in seeking his transformative power in the lives of our CHE trainers and their communities!
Today three year old Akuei Teng Ulol was brought to our clinic with extensive burns covering about 36% of his body. The burn was caused from boiling water which poured on him after he was left at home alone without anyone to watch over him. His father carried him from the village of Korking, which is very far, a whole day walking. With daytime temperatures reaching over 120 F, this journey was not an easy one. We’re just so thankful our clinic is here to help them, otherwise what would they do?
This is one of the very many incidences resulting from lack of safety in so many homes and one reason our clinic is shifting its focus more to the community and preventative care. We have started training through the CHE program, Whitney recently taught the Community Health Worker’s (CHW’S) on how to conduct a ‘healthy home’ visit and also Margit has begun her CHW training on Saturday mornings. Our desire is to bring awareness and prevent accidents before they happen by conducting home safety training during our home visits and share ways of making the home area a safe place for the little ones who are quite adventurous in early childhood.
Akuei is doing quite well and is currently admitted in our clinic. Please pray for his quick recovery and also pray for his family.
Even in the most desperate situation, we try to share the gospel. This is exactly true at the In Deed and Truth Ministries clinic. Of course the patients come here with an aim of getting treatment. We seize the opportunity and share the gospel. Such happened yesterday Pastor Judah (who happens to be my translator most of the time) and I did a demonstration of how sin has a grip on us as human beings – we were using the verse in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We called one of the guys, used a string to tie his hands and feet and passed the string around his neck. I asked him to untie himself and he couldn’t. I called one of the health workers(Joseph) to untie him as i explained that such is what Jesus did for us when he died at the cross. We also quoted from Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is everlasting life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” We assured them that if the call upon the Name of the Lord they shall be saved even as the scripture tells us so. The patients were glad that we shared with them the gospel, and prayed with them. Besides sharing the gospel orally, we also ensure that the patients get a gospel tract written in Dinka. We know it is a challenge for some of them to read such material since they do not know how to. But we hope and pray that they will read this material or get someone to read for them and that the Lord will speak to them.
One of the challenge though is how to reach the men since most of those who come at the clinic are women and children. Pray that the Lord will lead us on how to reach to the men, especially the former SPLA fighters who spend most of their time drinking.
Ok, so I suppose I don’t really need my overalls, but I have been doing a lot of farming lately, and overalls and farming just seem to go together for this Alabama girl.
Back in January, my teammate Adhanom and I got to work planting a garden. He had heard about a technique called Farming God’s Way (FGW), and had been sharing the concepts with me, so we decided to give it a try. It is an approach to farming similar to no-till farming, but it is based on Biblical principles of stewardship. We are to make the most of what we’ve been given and waste as little as possible.
Here we are post-planting in our peanut plot – not a very large area, but enough for a demonstration garden.
You only dig where the seeds will be sown, so you don’t have to turn an entire field. This helps reduce soil erosion. Also, you mulch very heavily, which can help reduce soil exposure to sun, maintain moisture in the soil, and reduce the amount of weeds. So, there is less work, the plants give a higher yield and it requires less water.
But even with all these benefits, we didn’t exactly pick the easiest time of year to plant a garden in South Sudan. January was right in the middle of the DRY SEASON! The ground was so hard we just had to start by digging small holes and filling them with water to soften up the ground to be leveled. It was definitely hard and hot work in the midday sun.
But this garden has a special purpose, so we had to get it planted within the few available days we had. We hope during our TOT 4 with our CHE trainers, which is taking place March 11 – 15, to use this garden for teaching the Farming God’s Way techniques. That way, after the training, the trainers will have time to prepare their gardens before the rains come in April. This garden will be a demonstration garden, showing the difference between FGW and the conventional methods of farming in the area.
Leveling the ground (ok, so you’re probably thinking, this doesn’t look like no-till farming, but after the first year when you establish the slope of the ground, you don’t turn up all of the soil as I’m doing here).
After the ground was leveled, and we measured out the plots, we dug the holes/furrows, and put some manure, which we got for free from a local cattle camp down the road!
Adhanom digging the furrows for peanutsHere we laid out manure in our sorghum plot
We planted the seeds and laid the mulch. We have in our garden now sorghum (the staple grain around here), corn, peanuts, green peas, tomatoes, collards, onions, and chili peppers! Oh and watermelons! Mmm, I can’t wait for those watermelons.
Before we started any digging, we gathered lots of mulch to cover our Farming God’s Way plots. It’s amazing the difference it makes!
Now, just over a month later, our plants are doing well…mostly. Many of our corn seeds did not sprout. Perhaps they had been too exposed to the sun prior to planting. Our FGW plots started out a little slow compared to the conventional ones because of the mulching, but now I’m slowly starting to see a difference between the two, which is exciting.
Here, three weeks after planting, I’m standing in our Farming God’s Way peanut plot (don’t mind the weeds), while Andrea, my colleague and one of our CHE trainers, is standing in our conventional peanut plot. He helped us know the way people plant locally.
March is looking very busy. Would you be praying for all the ministry endeavors happening?
Upcoming Schedule:
March 6-8 Simply The Story Training in Tonj with pastors and church leaders from the surrounding areas. Pray that this method will be clearly communicated and can become a powerful way to share the word of God.
March 11-15 CHE TOT 4 this is the fourth and final training for our Training Teams from Tonj and Akot areas. Their communities now have committees and are moving forward in their committee training. Pray that this training will meet the needs of the trainers as they move forward with their CHE programs, giving them more technical information and resources.
Mondays and Thursdays I lead CHE lessons with the Community Health Workers in the IDAT clinic. The clinic has made some recent shifts and the focus now is primarily pregnant and nursing mothers and children 5 years of age and under. The Community Health Workers go on home visitation in the community with Kenyan Midwives/Nurses Annie and Sham, and share what they are learning with people in the community. Pray for the staff as they make their visits in the afternoon, which is the hottest part of the day. Pray also for the families they visit to be transformed through the holistic teaching they are receiving.
We hope to begin CHE TOT1with a new group of CHE trainers in May in the Tonj area. Pray for God’s guidance as we seek to make awareness/preparations and trainer selections
April 5th Fly back to Kenya for Field meetings and retreat!
Today three year old Akuei Teng Ulol was brought to our clinic with extensive burns covering about 36% of his body. The burn was caused from boiling water which poured on him after he was left at home alone without anyone to watch over him. His father carried him from the village of Korking, which is very far, a whole day walking. With daytime temperatures reaching over 120 F, this journey was not an easy one. We’re just so thankful our clinic is here to help them, otherwise what would they do?
But even with all these benefits, we didn’t exactly pick the easiest time of year to plant a garden in South Sudan. January was right in the middle of the DRY SEASON! The ground was so hard we just had to start by digging small holes and filling them with water to soften up the ground to be leveled. It was definitely hard and hot work in the midday sun.
