LETTERS FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA
‘I learn from, advocate with, and walk beside’
July 20, 2009

Greetings to All from South Africa,

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July and were able to celebrate the gifts of “Interdependence” with family and friends. Being so far away, I am reminded of God’s gifts we receive from others and the gifts God has put inside each one of us to share.

In May, I met my sister, Sharon, and her husband, Chad, in Cape Town where we toured the beautiful peninsula. The weather was perfect; the sun was shining and there was no wind. It felt wonderful to be next to the sea again as after living in San Diego over 20 years.

While in Cape Town, we were able to visit iThemba Labantu, The Lutheran Community Centre which is located in one of the informal settlements in South Africa called, Philippi. The Lutheran Centre started in April 2004 (with funds from LUCSA and other partners) to assist persons in the last stages of AIDS. Many persons responded to treatment and care and are now living productive lives and some are volunteering with the centre today.

iThemba Labantu continues to grow and expand in its services to the church and the community.
Beside the health care facility, it has an additional structure which houses the vocational education class in car mechanics; a solar panel instillation class; and a small exercise gym with weight lifting equipment. The projects encourage gender balance with two young ladies participating in the car mechanics training. The solar panel class has all women enrolled to date; however, they are looking for male participants. It was exciting to see the potential of a brighter future for these young people.

Income-generating activities include a vegetable garden for those in need of food and a craft making project for persons living with HIV. They make pretty decorated cloth bags and beaded Christmas ornaments to sell overseas.
IThemba Labantu operates a preschool where children come for the day and older children come after school for a nourishing meal.

After spending 5 nights in Cape Town, we flew to Kruger National Park and were in awe of the landscape, the many wild animals and the kindness of the people we met. We arose each morning at 5am to leave on morning safaris which lasted a couple hours; a nature walk in the afternoon on the second day; and evening safaris each night until 7pm. I counted about 15 animals, 4 out of the Big Five (elephants, lions, rhinoceros and buffalo) that we were able to see up-close and personal. I could have stayed all winter, living in the wild and experiencing God’s creatures.

We returned to Johannesburg for one day and one night before flying to Livingston, Zambia to see the beauty of the Victoria Falls. The area had heavy rains prior to our visit so the falls were very full and we needed to put on rain ponchos during our walk across the bridge as the normal spray was more like a down pour. The falls were magnificent in strength and beauty as rainbows shown above.

After returning to Johannesburg, we drove to Gaborone, Botswana for 3 days to visit people I became acquainted with through my daughter-in-law, Pyper. Lisa Jamu started Stepping Stones, International, an after school programme to assist orphans and vulnerable children ages 10-18, in learning the life skills needed to get them on the right path towards a hopeful future. A number of youth have already secured jobs in their area of expertise which demonstrates the effectiveness of the programme. My family left the 1st of June and I quickly adjusted to the business of LUCSA which kept me from feeling lonely.

LUCSA ACTIVITIES
There were a number of workshops in which preparation was needed. These included:
7-14 June - InfoHut HIV-AIDS Training in Zimbabwe
This is a programme which was designed to teach computer skills to youth and at the same time provide them with information on HIV- AIDS. The course is set up so that the students may not progress to the next level in Information Technology (IT) without successfully passing the test in each level of HIV-AIDS. Nineteen participants attended this workshop and it was evident that they increased their knowledge by the pre- and post-tests; however, one week was felt to be too short. Therefore, LUCSA decided to increase the training to two weeks. InfoHut is a programme that is very exciting to young people as for some this is the first opportunity to learn about computers. It teaches IT skills that students may use in the future in job-seeking and it also educates them about the dangers of HIV and how to avoid getting infected.
15-19 June - Resource Person’s Project Management workshop in Soweto.
In the past, the Church HIV-AIDS Resource Persons have attended a workshop once a year for capacity building in various aspects of project management. In 2008, after an evaluation of the LUCSA AIDS Action Programme, one of the recommendations was that the Resource Persons come together in smaller clusters to maximize learning. The Project Management workshop in Soweto was the third cluster which brought together 14 participants from the Moravian Church (Districts 1-12) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Africa (Central, Eastern and Cape Orange Dioceses) for 5 days. They were given the tools used in planning and managing projects.
15-26 June - Community Capacity Enhancement (CCE) in Angola
CCE addresses the underlying causes of HIV-AIDS, be they power relations, gender issues, stigma and discrimination or other social factors. The programme assists people to look at the deep-rooted reasons of why the epidemic continues to spread and through an interactive dialogue known as Community Conversations; and it enables community decision-making and action. There were 15 participants including a traditional leader, political leader, nurse, school director and 11 church leaders.
29 June – 3 July – Support Visit for IELA in Angola by LAAP Officer
The LAAP Officer stayed in Angola an additional week to ‘walk with’ IELA and assist the church leaders in their endeavors to decrease the horrible effects of the AIDS pandemic
6-10 July Theological Seminar and LUCSA General Conference
Bishops, Church Leaders, Lutheran Theological Professors and Students gathered in Johannesburg for information sharing and discussion of the 3 Lutheran Seminaries in South Africa. The second day the LUCSA AIDS Action Programme Coordinator addressed the status of HIV-AIDS Global and Southern Africa Situation. This included the tasks, challenges and viability of the responses of churches and Lutheran seminaries in Southern Africa. This was followed by an update on the Lutheran World Federation HIV and AIDS Campaign. AFRISIDA, an AIDS service organisation, was outsourced by LAAP to come in the afternoon to offer vocational counseling and testing services to the LUCSA Church Leadership. They use the slogan, ‘One2Many’ (One new HIV infection is one to many!) Everyone at the seminar and council meeting was encouraged to be tested for HIV and out of about 40 participants (including six LUCSA staff) over 30 people volunteered. This is a wonderful achievement as Bishops and Church Leaders are looked up to set examples of Christian living whether it is taking the step for HIV testing or demonstrating love, care, and concern for those known to be HIV+ in their Church and communities.




Bishop Kameeta, from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia and VCT counselor, Lindiwe from AFRISIDA






Current and Upcoming Activities:
13-24 July – InfoHut HIV-AIDS Training in Zimbabwe
27-31 July – Resource Person’s Project Management workshop in Johannesburg
3-4 August – Advisory Committee Meeting in Johannesburg


In Bishop Kameeta’s address on Church Leadership Development for LUCSA member churches, during the Theological Seminar, he spoke of the good Samaritan and the Christ-like actions he took in tending to the man by the side of the road that had been beaten and robbed. He spoke to the LUCSA Church Leaders in Africa but the message pertains to all who proclaim to be Christians. He said that, “We cannot preach the good news from the pulpit while not being connected, attached and most importantly touched by the every day life and suffering of the people living in poverty”.

In this shrinking global climate, we can either help or hinder those around us as well as ourselves.
God placed gifts inside each one of us, the gifts of giving, caring, compassion, forgiveness, love, tolerance, respect and many more. If we can look at a person who is HIV+ and see Christ’s goodness in them; if we can say kind words to someone hateful to us; if we can respect the resources of the earth by making changes in our lives that will better God’s earth, then there will be less suffering and more wealth for all. We can start by asking ourselves, “How can I make the world a better place to live in today? Celebrating the birthday of Nelson Mandela on Saturday, 18th July, people all over the world were asked to do something for someone else for 67 minutes. Why not think of others everyday, all of the time?

The partnership between the Evangelical Lutheran Churches is Southern Africa and ELCA continues to be strong. I encourage you to go to the ELCA web site at www.elca.org and click on Our Faith in Action, and then click on Responding to the World. There is a good update on Zimbabwe and how meaningful our relationship has been between the ELCZ church communities and ELCA. The country is still in great need of our prayers and support.

Prayer Concerns:
Our sisters and brothers all over the world who have been infected and affected by HIV-AIDS, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa
The nearly 12 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa, under the age of 18, that have been orphaned by AIDS
Please pray for pastors who face challenges daily of the effects of HIV on families (the sick, the newly diagnosed, the dying and those left behind)
Pray for our ELCA leaders and staff in the US for their hard work, time away from their families and long trips to provide support to partner churches. And, pray for their families in their selfless support.

I continue to thank all of the churches and individuals at home for remembering God’s mission in Southern Africa through prayers and monetary support. God’s bless you in your caring and sharing.

In God’s Grace,
Paula

The New Year

Hello Everyone,

After 2 years in South Africa and writing newsletters, I thought I would try my hand with a blog. Never too young or too old to learn.

The holidays have past but the message of Christmas lives on and I pray for a more peaceful year for those all over the world. Unfortunately, there is much suffering all over the world. I put up my Zimbabwe 'Charley Brown' tree again this year. Its a very small tree with 4-5 straw orniments and a ribbon garnishing the wire limbs. Christmas dinner was spent with my supervisor's family and their extended family who had come from Zim. We all felt we were eating too much, knowing so many have so little. They were able to shop for staples while here and take much food home with them. It was a needed relief for them from the poor conditions of their country.

Now, I'm back at work fulltime and the staff at Lutheran AIDS Action Program (LAAP) is planning with the churches for their activities for the upcoming year and I'm working on the 2008 report for our funders. I hope to travel to more countries this year and have family come and visit. I do miss everyone but am so grateful for the encouragement and support.

Until next time.
In God's Grace,

Paula