Tuesday 27 October 2009

Prayer requests

The Government has started restructuring at District and Hospital level now and we are affected too. The authorities have sent a Hospital Administrator to take over that position here (the post that Ida is currently 'acting' in). As a result, the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government and CHAZ in which Hospital Administrators are Church-appointed positions, is being revisited. So please keep us in your prayers. We keep in touch with Synod and the Church of Scotland regularly to update them on our situation.

Prayer:

- We give thanks for the successful Church Retreat and the blessing it was for many people.

- We give thanks for the provision of three new doctors for the Hospital and the 15 new nurses and Clinical Officers promised to help increase staffing levels here.

- We pray for wisdom for ourselves and all the parties involved in the Health Restructuring, that righteousness and justice may prevail.

Wednesday 14 October 2009

A family and church update

We’ve learned that we will be grandparents in the new year! Ruairidh and Fiona are expecting their first child at the end of February or beginning of March. We are delighted. That is another milestone in life. We are fortunate to have them so close at hand.

Church highlights here have been the opening of Sooka Church (left), built in six weeks by the active congregation there. They are grateful for the help received from Houston Church with the roofing. This follows the reroofing of Sikuzu by IPC Birmingham earlier in the year and the agreement by Cambusbarron to help to do the same at Simungoma this coming quarter.

A very successful retreat in the middle of September was held in the bush at Kasaya. We are also planning a Church Mission School which will start next year in June. This will involve young people of both sexes from rural congregations in the Mwandi Consistory who will camp at the Mission Church for three months and participate in a number of activities. There will be some theology and reflection to deepen their faith, there will also be skills taught such as book-keeping, report and letter writing, chairing and running meetings, all useful skills for those in leadership positions in congregations. Practical building, agricultural and rural development skills will also be covered with work at the farm, school, hospital, old folks home and in the local Church.

The wall and concreting in of the well at Mwananono B is complete. The chains and padlocks for the grill gate have been purchased and handed over. So it is now finished. At the High School the second slab for the 1x3 Classroom block which is being funded by CEVAA, the French Church Mission Council, is laid and bricks are being formed now for the superstructure. At the Church of Scotland Mission House the earth has been packed into the foundations and the slab is now being laid.

We had a wonderful 9 days in Milwaukee in the U.S. when we visited at the end of September. We went to the Wisconsin Aids Resource Centre where we saw the holistic care offered to those in the States living with HIV and Aids. We then visited St Joseph’s hospital, a world famous centre for neonatal care We talked and shared experiences with staff and students there.