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Month Here 2008 Volume 3 Issue X |
Harbor Covenant Church, Gig Harbor WA |
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In this Issue
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MISSIONARY REPORTS
Through a grant from the Jordan Foundation, Children of the Nations (COTN) is establishing a program, in the Dominican Republic (DR), for special needs children. To assess the situation and make recommendations on how to proceed, a team of women with backgrounds and expertise in the implementation of programs for special needs children traveled to the DR. Lois Kramer, an occupational therapist and member of the team, shares her experience.
Wendy Brown, International Education Director for Children of the Nations, led the team composed of Lisa Stowers, a speech and language pathologist from the Poulsbo area, Tiffany Brush, another occupational therapist, Jill Branham, an administrator/teacher, Ginny Porterfield, Co-Chair of Foreign Missions, Harbor Covenant Church and myself.
I had resolved to be fully open to see, hear, and act upon what God put in front of me. Each day brought experiences to reflect upon. I saw the hands and feet of God working in the COTN staff, teachers, and children’s faces. During the week, we experienced the joyful dedication of a new COTN school, a historic eighth grade graduation, and the beginning of classes for “challenge” special needs children. Teachers of the challenge students had few materials with which to work but showed creativity, compassion, and an interest in learning more on how to meet student’s needs.
As an occupational therapist, I was focused on the children who may not be enrolled in the COTN schools due to physical, emotional or cognitive delays. We met a 15-year-old girl in a poorly fitted broken wheelchair. Her medical history was unclear but her mother reported she was typically developing until age seven. At that time, a “crisis” occurred leaving her with left body side weakness (hemiplegia), loss of mobility, and poor speech. During our time there, we brought the family diapers and protein drinks to help with her immediate physical needs. We measured her for a wheelchair and seating system that would enable more interactivity and mobility in her community. Since our return, a local Gig Harbor physical therapist has donated a seating system but we are looking for switch activated toys and a communication board that she could manipulate. A special needs “jogging stroller” that would be more mobile than a wheelchair on the steep, rut filled dirt roads of the village could be a big help.
Other children who touched our hearts included a brother and sister who appeared to be autistic, a severely malnourished teenage boy who was unable to chew food or tolerate the physical touch of clothing, a young boy whose two parents were schizophrenic and who was also showing symptoms of this disorder, and a very strong-willed young girl with Downs Syndrome. Our team initiated medical/education charts on these children to establish continuity in sharing information as future teams work in the villages.
We also participated in workshops Wendy Brown had scheduled for training COTN and public school teachers in the city of Barahona. I was struck with how the knowledge we have in our country is so simple to share and how it can dramatically change life for these young children. I know our words were a great encouragement to the teachers who may have felt they had limited resources. When responding to God’s will, small actions can often have dramatic results. What an amazing experience!
John and Lynne Quanrud were missionaries in Kosova and Albania from 1987 to1998. However, for the past ten years they and their two children, Chloe and Nicholas, have lived in London, from where John has directed the overseas mission work of several local churches giving oversight to some thirty missionaries and their families. This year John will shift his focus toward pursuing a PhD program dealing with the role of ethnicity, identity, conversion and conflict in the foundation of England as a unified state in the late-ninth and early-tenth centuries. He will as well be traveling to Kosova and Albania at the request of churches and other organizations there. John is the son of HCC members, Mike and Mary Quanrud. A report of his recent journey to Kosava follows:
A few weeks ago, I received the invitation from an alliance of churches in Kosova to visit Prishtina, the capital of the newly-established republic, in order to give a paper, in Albanian, about the work of Gerasim Qiriazi, the nineteenth-century Albanian preacher and national hero about whom I wrote the book “A Sacred Task”, published in Albanian in 1998 and English in 2002. The occasion was the 150th anniversary of Gerasim’s birth, which also just happens to coincide this year with the 100th anniversary of a national Congress at which representatives from across Albania met and agreed on a standardized alphabet for publishing in the Albanian language.
I arrived at Prishtina airport on Sunday afternoon and was promptly whisked away in a waiting car. Before long, I found myself in the main conference hall of the prestigious Grand Hotel in Prishtina. There was a real buzz among the 300+ audience, for the “Alphabet Congress” of 1908 is, understandably, regarded by all Albanians as a very significant milestone in their national history. Even so, I had not expected so many to be in attendance. Before the session started however, and almost before I even knew what was happening, I found myself shunted in front of a television camera where a young reporter asked me to explain my interest in the history of the Albanian people. I sputtered something that is now a blur but which, somehow, managed to make the evening national news.
The first of three speakers was general secretary of the European Evangelical Alliance, who talked about the effect of the Protestant reformation on Europe; I was second, and my speech was on the life and work of Gerasim Qiriazi; a gifted local pastor then talked about the key role played by Evangelical Albanians in the history of Albania’s struggle for nationhood. All proved to be thought-provoking for we presented an entirely new perspective on things. Despite their vital contribution, information about the role played by Evangelical Christians in Albania’s national movement was harshly suppressed throughout Albania’s post-WWII communist regime. This was when most of what Albanians now ‘know’ of their history was written. Many people wanted to talk afterwards, including one young man who was very keen to discuss the possibility for Gerasim’s story to be made into a full-length feature film, a dream I have carried for almost 20 years. I was quite amazed at it all.
The next morning I shared Gerasim’s story at a large, fantastic K-12 school run by Americans (there were lots of kids and it was great fun) After this, the local pastors had arranged for several of us to meet with the Speaker of Parliament and the President of the Republic. These men were both warm and expressed knowledge of the Protestant churches in Kosova (surprisingly, Kosova’s new constitution has acknowledged the presence of an Evangelical community) as well as the history of Protestantism in Albania (at least Gerasim Qiriazi and his siblings).
All I can say is that these few days were quite remarkable. I left feeling very encouraged by the maturity I saw in the church leaders, their willingness to co-operate and stand together despite different denominational affiliations, and by the fact that they have grasped the importance of looking to their own past as they continue to work to establish a foundation for the future of the church in Kosova. Praise God!
Tim and Mabel Koop left for Tanzania several weeks ago to work in Moshi, at an orphanage established by the Rafiki Foundation to serve children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.. In an earlier e-mail, Mabel reported that they have been busy getting settled in their concrete block home, buying furniture and shopping for a car. So far they have test-driven 2 cars but have decided against both of them. In the meantime they will continue to borrow other’s cars to go to town. Cars are very expensive there because of taxes.
After the adventure of dealing with problems related to boarding their flight here in Seattle, Mabel thought the stewardess looked familiar to her – like an old friend in Taiwan from 30 years ago, and that is who it turned out to be. She took it as a message from the Lord that He was in control. Their journey might be full of obstacles, but He would get them there …and He did, with all their many boxes! Customs in Tanzania did not like all those boxes and they looked through every one, but in the end, the Koops arrived at their new home with all their stuff. Tim took off a door, put it on the empty footlockers and made himself a temporary table. They have since bought desks and chairs and a filing cabinet and have an office set up. They have also spent time observing the classes they will be teaching. The view they have of Mt. Kilimanjaro is incredible.
In the latest e-mail from Mabel, she reported that Mike and Stephanie Hagen stopped in for a visit and they spent a wonderful afternoon together. They also brought them the component needed for the satellite, so now there is internet on site. They also delivered most of the stuff the Koops could not take with them. (“Thank You, God, for surprising us this way!”)
Their prayer requests include: - That we will have another “mother” to train (once they train a new “mother”, they can admit more children). - They are looking for a pre-school assistant for me (Mabel). Pray that God will bring the right person and that we will work well together and that I will be able to train her well and that the children will take to her.
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Tiffany Brush, Helena, Lois Kramer, Jill Branham (click on photo to enlarge)
Angel Pena and Ginny celebrate the grand opening of a new school (click on photo to enlarge)
Ginny with her sponsor child Estrella (click on photo to enlarge)
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~ ~ ~ Harbor Covenant Church 5601 Gustafson Drive NW Gig Harbor Washington 98335 253 851 8858 |
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