From our street to yours ...

Glyn, Susan, Maeyken, Adriaena

April 2006 #3.3

 One Family at a Time

One of the most difficult things about ministry is measuring ones productivity and “success”. It has been even more difficult here as most of our work revolves around building relationships. Since January my time seems to have been occupied with helping individuals. Some of those have been our many visitors. But there are also three significant families that I have been working with.

The first one is a family from our village who is very needy and have limited financial resources. When we visited in January their rondavel roof was in very bad shape. When you can see the sky from inside you know there are problems. So we agreed to help buy the thatch they needed to fix the roof. Then one of the young women who lives in this rondavel delivered twins in February. One was healthy but the other was still born. Sensing that their might be problems I had gone to check on her. Imagine my emotions that day as I held a tiny newborn baby in my arms. Then I drove the grandmother, great grandmother and an aunt back to the village with the still born baby to bury it according to custom that night on their plot (yard). I stood alongside this family, my car providing light, as they buried this tiny baby. Two weeks later when I went to check on the mother and child I discovered to my dismay that one of the relatives had spent the money for the thatch and the roof had not been fixed! With the rains we have had this is a serious thing for the health of this new born baby.

Agreement is a child who is an orphan but cannot go to the government school and yet wants an education. The children of Rainham Mennonite Church in Ontario, Canada are sending their Sunday school offerings to help sponsor his education at a private school in Old Naledi. It was so much fun watching the head teacher fuss over this young gentleman so that he would be properly dressed in the picture that I sent to the children of Rainham. He is so grateful for this gift of love from the children at Rainham Mennonite Church.

Vanessa’s mom died last year when she was studying and writing her Form 5 exams. The results of these tests determine university entrance. Unfortunately but understandably she did not do well in 2 of her exams and needs to write them over. This means that she needs to pay a fee per exam as well as secure a private tutor so she can succeed. We are helping to facilitate her studies as well as assist her financially.

One day I was pondering the question of what contribution I am making here. God reminded me of a philosophy of ministry that guided my youth ministry days; “One Kid at a Time”. Relational ministry has always been central in my ministry. God was reminding me of that calling. I’ve renamed it “One Family at a Time” because in Botswana by helping one person you help an entire family.

Susan

Involved in mission

We are supported by Mennonite Church Canada Witness (the mission arm of the Mennonite Church in Canada) and Mennonite Church USA Network (the mission arm of the Mennonite church in the USA) through Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission. Our salaries and the school fees are paid by Mennonite Church Canada Witness, while the various in-country costs are split among all three agencies. We could not be here without all parts of this working together. Our personal financial support is by far the largest portion of the total budget needs of the Botswana programme. Without churches and individuals like you sending money to Mennonite Church Canada Witness our salaries and the salaries of people like us would not be there. Your generous support enables us to pay for the school that our children attend.

Our Programme budget includes items that seem more interesting than others, but are all important for the ongoing ministry here in Botswana. This money comes to us from churches and individuals in both Canada and the United States, sent through one of the three agencies listed above.

Botho, one of the class leaders with Susan

Over the last few days I reformatted one of the Bible studies. They have been full sized books, and I reduced the size into a booklet. The cost of making the book has been about P28 ($ 6.20) which was more than the bible classes were collecting for the whole course. The new booklets should cost about P13 ($ 2.90) to make. These books do not sound expensive, but many of our students are at the very lowest economic levels of society and have problems finding P20 every 3 months. (For context an unskilled labourer is paid around P30 a day.) To reformat this bible study book I needed a computer, paper and ink. None of these items sound exciting in a budget, but all are important if we are to help people engage with the Bible.

Part of Bible education is getting Bibles into the hands of people. We subsidize bibles so that people can have their own copy. Bibles cost P48 ($10.70) in the store. We buy them in bulk for about P40 ($8.90). We then subsidize them and charge P25 ($5.60). Our budget covers the difference ($3.30). When you send money to the work in Botswana you are helping get about 200 bibles a year to people who could otherwise not buy one.

In Botswana distances are great. Public transportation is cheap and convenient from one major centre to another. However sometimes we need to drive. The cost of driving here is similar to what it is in North America, but the distances are great. The cost of travel to the places where we have bible study programmes is substantial. We try to keep in touch with the class leaders sometimes in person, and sometimes by phone.

Each year before Christmas the African Initiated Church youth group in Francistown called Bopaganang Basha ba Semoya travel to a Bible School camp in Swaziland for a week of solid Christian teaching. The camp itself is very cheap to attend, but transportation is not. We help them out with a subsidy of about $450. Without this they would not be able to attend.

Glyn

Family Life

Three more days of school and mid term break begins! This has been a great term with academic improvements, swimming and drama being the highlights.

Adrianea has had incredible support from her classroom and special ed teachers and has improved greatly in her areas of weakness. We are all thrilled that her hard work at the end of last year with the special auditory programme has helped her to be able to process sounds better as well as improve her confidence.

Adriaena and friends celebrating her birthday with Chinese food and Karioke

Maeyken’s big achievement was to come in 3^rd in the Southern School Gala in her age group for Butterfly. (Any swimmer who has tried butterfly will understand her delight!) She has also learned to make cards with tea bag folding and pewter embossing. Tomorrow she will try to sell a few to help reduce costs for a major school trip next term.

Both of the girls have a friendly competition going with one other girl in their age group to be the best swimmer in their age group at Thornhill. Both girls had brilliant swims in the butterfly race at the School Gala the other night both placing first! (They placed in other stokes as well, but the firsts came in fly). Glyn was the official ribbon “hander outer” and had fun giving those gold ribbons out to his girls.

Drama has been a new accomplishment for both children this term. They joined a kids drama company and have had fun experimenting with their creative sides. Last weekend the company put on a one hour drama for children at the local arts festival. It was well done and most importantly they had a blast doing it.

Upcoming Events

11 April          Arielle Campion returns for a little while before returning to Canada.

12 April          End of School term.

14 April          Paseka (Easter weekend) when churches gather at their headquarters for worship and annual meetings.

27 April          Vy Waller, a friend from Canada arrives for a visit.

2-9 May          Travelling - likely to Northern Botswana

10 May           Winter school term begins.

Contact us

Mail us at: 

Susan Allison-Jones &

 Glyn Jones

Box 33, Gaborone,

Botswana

Phone us at:

267-390-5554

(Just remember that we are 6 hours earlier than Ontario time!)

Email us at:

Our web site:

which includes pictures and previous newsletters:

http://www.thegatheringsite.ca/susanglyn/

We welcome your financial contributions for our support and invite you to send these to:

Mennonite Church Canada WITNESS

600 Shaftesbury Blvd

Winnipeg MB

Canada R3P 0M4

Please Pray for...

... Maeyken and Adriaena that they will have a restful and fun break from school responsibilities and activities. Also pray for us as we make decisions for Maeyken’s education for the next phase of her education. There are some differences between the curriculum here and in Canada so we need to make sure we are making a wise and informed decision.

... Ariel Campion, a young woman from Stratford Ontario is returning on Monday from her experience in Zimbabwe. She will spend a couple of weeks with us to process her experience and have some more fun in Southern Africa before she goes home on the 23^rd.

...PASEKA (Easter) Celebrations Easter weekend thousands of Batswana will be travelling to their church headquarters to celebrate Paseka. Pray for meaningful worship services and a good time of fellowship for these believers. Pray also for safety for people as they travel long distances often with very little sleep. Glyn will be travelling North to Bobonong to join the Holy Christian Church. I will stay closer to home and go to the Abanaeza Association Church in Moshupa with Ariel.

... Government permission to live and work in Botswana is getting harder to get. Our long term agreement with the government is at the end of it’s current 5 year contract. This is in the process of being renewed. However, other people have had increased difficulty getting visas. Pray that this process goes smoothly for us.

Continue to pray for...

... Bible classes are strong. In many cases a group of people start in a class and continue to study together. That raises questions about how to open the doors to people who want to start studying. Pray for wisdom for the various committees as they ponder how to start new classes or incorporate new people into existing classes.

... The Southern Africa AIMM team. Phil and Christine Lindell Detweiler and Joe and Anna Sawatsky (and their children) Dan and Yvonne Nighswander and of course us, Glyn Jones and Susan Allison-Jones (and girls)!

...HIV/AIDS Crisis here in Southern Africa. The numbers of people infected are mind numbing. The difficulties in reaching out and helping those living with HIV/AIDS and working at prevention are huge. Pray for wisdom for the many people trying to help in this crisis. Pray that we too may see a way that can build on the relationships that Mennonites have nurtured with African Initiated Churches over the years.