The Ghana shipment of Moms Against Hunger food, clothing and shoes arrived at last, and is it is off the docks and being distributed now.
This container is unloaded by hand.... a big job!
Unloaded right on the docks. Africa is a whole different world with such lack that every single thing we sent will be gratefully used. Equipment is nonexistent and labor is all done by hand.
Once it is completely unloaded... then the next step happens....
The entire load gets loaded again by hand onto 'lorries' - big trucks. This takes hours and hours to do in the hot sweltering west African sun.
Then it is taken to warehousing and the shipment gets divided out.....250,000 meals plus all the other goods tightly packed on top too!
Come walk with me down a road in Zimbabwe in my memories. We are headed to a orphanage that is unique in nature. It has orphaned children and elderly destitute people living together here. Together they provide support for each other - the older teach the younger about life, and the responsibilities of growing up. And the young children teach the elder to love, and provide the arms and legs for the work daily.
People that had been thrown away find Jesus in this humble place together.
Children who have suffered the loss of their parents usually through the suffering of Aids, find their way to comfort in the arms of the older.
Setting together getting ready for devotions each day, everyone arrives to set on the logs or the dirt itself. t's quiet here, a cool breeze sweeps through, birds sing overhead and their voices of prayer are lifted in the outside atmosphere calling on God for daily bread.
Greeting us with gifts we all rejoiced at being together again. Simple gifts for us and our acts of kindness for them, our mutual love for each other was obvious.
This little building is the morgue here. When someone dies the others place the body in here and lock the door awaiting authorities to come and take it. Once a elderly man died and he was placed in here and locked away as was the custom. The next day when devotion time came, banging and kicking and shouts could be heard from the little building. At first fear came on the others listening, but then they recognized his voice so joyfully they opened the door and let him out! He had come back to life while they were all praying......
Setting here with the women. we share smiles, and the pure joy of being together again. What is so great about setting here in seemingly abject poverty? These people while suffering greatly have learned to cherish small joys in life, they have a freedom from modern pressures, stresses and anxieties, they share each other's life, the value of God in ones heart, and His close Presence all around. This ...... is a richness that those who live on the other side of the world experience daily.
Today I walk back to this place in my mind and remember all of these people. They live far back in the bush country, and I wonder if they will eat today. Soon we will begin a campaign to raise the funds for distribution and travel expenses as we head back to Zimbabwe representing Moms Against Hunger. And we will experience the joy again of giving to people who will greatly benifit from the food and provisions shipped to them.
We are coming Zimbabwe.....
I will tell you more later...
My niece - Summer Joy is a real Role Model and I thought you would like to read one excerpt in her journal about her life. I am very proud of all she does in the earth. Meet Summer....
A brief Bio...
Just a little about
me…I come from an international family. My father and his family were
missionaries to Liberia in the 1960's and served as resident missionaries in
Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) in the 1970's. My father married a native Zimbabwean
and I was conceived in the Summer in Zimbabwe and born in the Summer in Texas,
hence the name…Summer. My family continues to have a vested interest in the
continent of Africa and I have had the opportunity to serve in a variety of
ways on different occasions in Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt,
Malawi and Mozambique. I am currently
in the first Nurse-Midwife/Doctorate in Nursing Practice program at Baylor
University and I will graduate in May 2010. This past Spring I had the
opportunity to travel with my Graduate Colleagues and Faculty to Ethiopia and
Malawi to serve the indigenous people groups in these developing nations.
My life was forever changed....My primary purpose for choosing to become a
Nurse-Midwife, is to help decrease maternal and infant mortality rates in
developing countries.
My patient's name is
Aina and she was lying on a labor bed with a bright-colored cloth wrapped
around her waist…she is so tiny. She was
dilated to 7-8cm/100%effaced/+1 station upon my initial exam @ 2150. Contractions were coming 3 in 10minutes,
lasting 40-50 seconds and palpating moderate.
Her body is beautiful as she moves with each contraction. I am learning important phrases in Chichewa
(native language in Malawi) i.e. Dulusomepwayah which means "breathe
out" and Ubaysabueno which means "good job." At first, I could tell Aina was anxious and
scared especially with all of the "Mazungus" aka White People in the
room. Nevertheless, as her labor
progressed I continued to remain a constant labor support at the bedside. Her pelvis was small and she began to writhe
in pain while lying on top of a trash bag.
Her body was drenched in sweat and the trash bag clung to her every
move. I fanned her during contractions
and she turned onto her tummy. I was shocked, I had never seen someone labor in
a prone position.
While she was lying in
this position, I was able to massage her lower back and promote counter
pressure to her iliac crests in efforts to increase the AP (anterior-posterior)
diameter so the baby would descend easier. As I laid my hands on her, they
swallowed her hips and I was praying for safe passage and delivery. It was at this moment during the arduous
labor, sweat soaking through my scrubs, beads of perspiration running down my
face and flies swarming around us, that something significant happened…. The
patient was lying on her tummy and she reached around with her left arm and put
it around my waist. This was the most
powerful and beautiful experience I have ever encountered during labor. This was a huge breakthrough, not just for the
labor management process, but this was when the trust-bond was established
between Aina and I. I got chills when
this occurred, and despite the language barrier, cultural differences and the
hot insect-infested environment, I felt the presence of God so strongly….for it
was at this moment a midwife was birthed!
I realized that God had
totally orchestrated this moment, for nothing comes without a price. True
joy…for it was the joy that was set before Him that He endured the cross. I felt that I was in a labor process….as I
had anticipated, longed for and desired birthing new life....I was born. The birthing of a midwife took place on the
very continent where I was created. Oh
Father, You saw my unformed body, all of my days were written in Your book and
planned before a single one of them began. Now was the time! I held back the tears as Aina clung to
me. I could feel the pleasure of God as
I stepped into my true identity as a midwife. WOW!! There are no words to
adequately portray the emotions that I felt or the birthing process that took
place inside of me. For it was at this
very moment, I knew…this is what I was created to do! Here in Malawi (which means Flames of Fire) I
was birthed.
As Mary Ann and
Stephanie looked on, they witnessed this significant event. Later Mary Ann told me she was glad that I
insisted we spend the night again (although she was exhausted) she was glad I
pushed her J She said,
"Summer, tonight I witnessed the birth of a midwife." WOW! I was
overwhelmed for this is exactly what happened….
During the labor, it
was as if I was one with my patient and I could feel exactly what she needed
this was the Holy Spirit guiding my hands, as I truly embraced the heart of midwifery
by being "with women." When
Aina became complete (10cm dilated) @ 0205 we were all a little concerned if
she would be able to deliver vaginally.
There was fetal caput/molding felt on my exam. She began to push with all of her might! No meds, all natural, the veins in her face
and chest were popping out! I've never
seen someone push like she did. Grace
was still skeptical and went to get Aina's family. All of the sudden we heard loud shouting
outside of the labor room and Aina, stopped pushing in order to listen. I was alarmed by this yelling and asked Grace
what was going on. She replied,
"Oh, Summer, you see Aina's family is telling her to push this baby out or
the baby will be born dead." I was
shocked! Shortly after the berating screams, Aina delivered a beautiful baby
girl at 0305 weighing 3000grams with lots of caput/molding. I was able to catch
this beautiful Malawian baby and I was so ECSTATIC!! This was my first
"catch" in Africa, what a life-changing monumental experience and
Aina didn't tear, Praise the Lord!!
As I held this gorgeous African daughter in
my hands, I spoke blessings over her life.
Shortly thereafter, the other patient delivered and I was able to catch
her baby at 0355, the birth of another precious baby girl J
Delaine and Stephanie did a wonderful job tending to the babies, while
Mary Ann and I finished caring for the mothers.
Once we got the mothers
settled under their blue mosquito nets and the babies nestled at their breasts,
we called it a night. I expressed my
deep gratitude to Grace for being such an amazing midwife and for allowing me
to have this opportunity. We all went to
bed at 0500… God you are so faithful!
I have been intensely focused upon my Moms Against Hunger food shipment for Zimbabwe. Everyday ....prayer all day long, every single day my attention has been on pulling the money together for this shipment - producing it straight out of nothing. I have had my total mind upon speaking this into existence. That early morning 1 month ago I arose with an overwhelming urgency in my spirit to reach out and find a way to ship. Moms Against Hunger already had shipments going, so this was in addition to what we were already doing. So to find the extra money was going to take a miracle. God came through for me and here's the rest of the story!
I am happy today to tell you that the shipping portion of the money needed has been raised. A special thank you to all of my compassionate supporters who joined with me to make this happen. The day after the rest of the funds came in, a container was ordered and we prepared to ship!!!
Yesterday was my husband's birthday and we spent his special day pouring out for the needs of others. (Today we will celebrate his birthday!)
It's 107 degrees here when the container arrived. Already I am sweated down, but excited.
The container smells! So a layer of absorbent product is put down first to absorb all smells. A closed in place for a month can get overwhelming - so it's important to take care of this first.
My husband oversees the guys loading. Every inch of this container is to be jam-packed, and he is a professional making every inch count.Look how sweated down the guys are getting already. We only have 2 hours to load this container so it's fast and hot work!
Angela meticulously counts the boxes for our paperwork for the load.
It's so tightly packed that he gets on the forklift himself and pushes and pushes to make sure it's going to not have any 'air' between pallets.
It takes many hands to actually do this work, I am so thankful for every staff member who jumped on board to help complete this.
Just one more box!
I know what will happen the day this container gets reopened. There will be laughter, and joy and bouncing around. Africans will all joyfully come to lay their hands on it and help carry boxes. Pastor Clyde Bismark will be so thankful. So from my hands to yours my African family..... here is aid with love. I know this will be a help and an encouragement to you that your American Christian family cares and sends aid at this most desperate hour in your country.
My husband and I pray over this load, for all sorts of good to come from it. I am thankful it's done.
I feel exhausted, and drained. Going away to rest now.
My week is going to be a good week. I have decided that this week will see completion in some important ministry issues that I take care of. I love my job but to have a successful week requires a few things to get started. Here is what I do when I have a full plate to start my week with. First and foremost is prayer. Period. Nothing will be completed without the help of the Lord in my life.
My Dear Lord
I am writing because I need a supernatural week. And I don't have much time to complete the needs at hand. Please come and work beside me each day this week. I need each day to count as if they were 3 days. Send your angels to provide the extra hands I need. Fill me with the Holy Spirit so I stay full of You and away from stress. I need uncommon favor Jesus in these areas.
Help me to complete the Moms Against Hunger Zimbabwe Crisis Shipment this week. Send me financial aid to do this. Open the hearts of people and put compassion upon them to want to help me with this shipment. Give me ideas who to contact about helping with this.
Bless the Role Models of America store this week and help me to complete the Christmas stock area upstairs and get everything put into place so that our staff can manage it for the next 5 months smoothly. This big 2 week job needs to turn into 1 day Lord. Send me strong CS help to complete this job with me.
Help me with our Community Bible Chapel details and the mail that is pouring in. Bless every student that we have and send your blessing to our technical teams to work out the details now so we can start using the system we envision to do THIS WEEK. I want to see real progression now in our systems that are being built. Help us to complete our formatting this week for the last 3 books of the currant curriculum.
Direct my thoughts for the Fall RMA events. I need to encourage our women to grow spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. Give me clear understanding of the plan Lord for my coming meeting with all of them.
Thank you for the joy of 3 puppies and the homes each of them will have. Please help them to completely wean THIS WEEK. Help me to get this done.
Bless our staff with communication and coordination skills this week. Help me to be an encouragement to each one of them. And to be a strong support for the many projects around the world that my husband the Bishop is doing.
I need a week of uncommon favor Lord.
Thank you for it Jesus
I love you with my life
signed
your predestined daughter
I am spending time getting leaflets created, and copies and posted everywhere I can.
Here's what I have ... feel free to print this off and put anywhere you can to help out.
Moms Against
Hunger
Zimbabwe ………Food Crisis
I am raising funds to ship a
container of Moms Against Hunger food to the crisis
happening in Zimbabwe, Africa. I have 150,000
meals ready to go! I just need the money
to ship this container.
Feeding hungry children who are
helpless due to the conditions in Africa is deep in my heart. Would you please
join me in this most worthy cause.
www.momsagainsthunger.org Please go see my site and help me feed
hungry children.
I'm Dr Gayla, join me and help feed a starving child.
