Wings of Hope Restored

Jacques Akasa Umembudi, a United Methodist missionary pilot for Wings of Caring Aviation, flies a plane over the Congo from Tunda to Kanaga. Image by: Paul Jeffrey

A few minutes into the flight the engine just stopped. The small Cessna piloted by Global Ministries missionary Jacques Akasa Umembudi did not have enough air speed or altitude to glide to a safe landing. Hitting a house and several trees, the plane finally came to a stop. The impact had forced open the small cargo door while wedging the other doors shut. Bleeding badly from a head wound which would require multiple stitches and a couple of weeks in a hospital, Jacques took stock of his four passengers and got them to out of the plane to safety. Although he left frightened, bruised and battered, God flew with Jacques that day.

The Wings of Caring aviation ministry of the Central Congo Conference provides hope and help to thousands of people. Serving as an air ambulance; transport for Bishop Yemba, missionaries, doctors and volunteers; and a supply line enabling emergency medicines, food and other items to be delivered where needed, the loss of the plane was devastating. It was painful to hear Jacques tell the story and show the pictures of that fateful day. It was difficult to imagine the many who would suffer from the loss of help the plane’s crash represented.

God is good. UMCOR, thanks to many donors, was able to direct $150,000 to providing a plane so that Jacques could fly again. A used airframe was purchased from the North Katanga Conference, a rebuilt engine was found, tires and new rubber all around will be purchased, other missionary and volunteer pilot/mechanics have offered their labor to build a “new” plane. Tools and upgrades to the hanger and workshop servicing the plane require additional donations, but God will provide what is needed through his faithful children. The Wings of Caring ministry will take wing once again. It has been an overwhelming experience for Jacques and those of us who know him well.

By Sam Dixon, Deputy General Secretary, UMCOR
Watch a video of Sam Dixon sharing a story about Aviation Ministries.

Making a Difference in the Darkness

Boxes of UMCOR relief supplies are ready for shipping to bring hope to those most in need.

With a small pin light attached to my key chain, I finally found the emergency lantern on a table in the middle of the Depot. It was a routine work day at the new UMCOR West Office in Salt Lake City. However, when the rain came on quickly, accompanied by a strong wind, the electricity was suddenly gone and we all stood in complete darkness; things were anything but routine.

After regrouping, and with lantern in hand, we made our way through the darkness to the volunteer space to take any early lunch. I didn’t see him do it, but one of the volunteers placed the lantern in the middle of the warehouse while we ate. When I walked out into what I knew would be utter darkness, I couldn’t help notice that the one little lantern had shed a light on the entire 22,000 square foot warehouse! The scriptures came alive. I was reminded of the opening of John’s Gospel, “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” - John 3b-5

That afternoon became a powerful reminder to me of the invaluable work that takes place here at UMCOR West and at UMCOR Sager Brown. With overwhelming generosity and countless hours of work, volunteers assemble and ready much needed relief supplies which are sent to people in need of light in the midst of the darkness of disaster. Be it a tsunami in Samoa or a typhoon in the Philippines, UMCOR is there to bring the light of Jesus.

As a people of faith, I am convinced that we have been given the wondrous responsibility to continue to spread Christ’s light into the world. With places like UMCOR West and UMCOR Sager Brown, the people of the United Methodist Church are making a difference in the darkness. May God continue to bless us and our calling!

by Brian Diggs, Director UMCOR West Office and Depot, Salt Lake City, Utah

Long Term Volunteers—Called to Serve

Volunteers at UMCOR Sager Brown prepare and sew material to make school bags.

Howard and I are from the New England Annual Conference and serve on the Board of the Northeast Jurisdiction Volunteers in Mission. We are members and Commissioned Missionaries of the Center Conway United Methodist Church in New Hampshire.

We arrived at UMCOR Sager-Brown on August 9th to begin our nine week stay as Long Term Volunteers. Howard and I settled into our efficiency apartment and unpacked. Monday at breakfast we renewed friendships with the staff and met the team we would be working with. Howard was assigned to work in Facilities – upkeep of the 11 buildings and 20 acre campus, while I was to work in the sewing room at the Depot. After breakfast we went over to the chapel for orientation and Safe Sanctuary training, then off to our work assignments.

This year while at the sewing room, I was responsible for cutting out school bags, making sure they were sewed properly and keeping the sewing machines in working order. In past years, we would cut and sew baby gowns and receiving blankets.

During the time here I have been able to interact with people from many churches and while working share stories of our faith and love of volunteering to help others. I’ve met so many wonderful people - all willing to give of their time and talents. Each week brought in another group of wonderful volunteers all eager to help. One lady at home made quilts for the Linus Project (quilts for children at the local Ronald McDonald home) and she asked if she could go thru my trash and pull out scraps of material so she could make quilts. After she left I received an email saying that because of the scrap material she was able to make an additional 12 quilts – what a wonderful way to recycle. The following week a lady asked if she could have the threads and end pieces from cutting and the scraps from the serger machines – she would use them as stuffing to make dog and cat pads for use at the local animal shelter. Another wonderful example of recycling from what would have been our trash.

Howard this year worked around the campus doing the many things that were needed to keep the buildings in working order – changing filters, light bulbs, painting and any other jobs assigned.

We have been serving here at Sager-Brown for the past 10 years. The people and the campus have a special place in our hearts and we are very happy to know that we have been invited back next year to serve again as Long Term Volunteers.

We are called to serve. When we look to serve, to make a difference in this world, lives are changed, including our own. The world listens with their eyes not their ears.

By Howard and Joan McGlauflin, North Conway, New Hampshire

Community Health

The parking lot outside of Christian Medical College Hospital becomes an overflowing waiting area as people wait to be seen by a doctor.

While visiting the Christian Medical College (CMC) Hospital in Vellore, India, I experienced many amazing things. The enormous numbers of people arriving daily for treatment and care, or to visit a relative by every conveyance possible was truly amazing. Standing in front of the emergency room entrance I was amazed at how orderly and peaceful it was as people waiting to be seen somehow knew where to go and what to do.

Over 5,000 people a day are seen at this facility. CMC Hospital serves as the base for an extensive outreach program that takes medicine to the people in over 300 local villages through a comprehensive program of community health education, prevention and treatment.

The philosophy behind the work of UMCOR Health is this same strategy. Education and prevention is much more efficient and effective than just letting nature take its course. UMCOR Health has embarked on a significant training program for community health workers and mid-wives to serve villages in Africa. Community health workers are recruited from their home villages, trained and re-trained to provide accurate public health knowledge, improve the immediate treatment of injuries, assist in the birthing process and recognize when a condition requires referral to a clinic or hospital. Community-based primary health care works.

Dr. Suranjan Bhattacharji,, the Director of the CMC Hospital, told this story of one way in which their community based primary health care system has enabled better treatment of patients in remote villages. The community health worker collects a specimen requiring laboratory analysis from a patient. The health worker gives it to a student trained to handle this responsibility who takes it with her to her school several kilometers away. She leaves it with the tea vendor outside the school. When the teachers break for tea, one who has come from the city picks up the specimen and carries it with him, dropping it off at the lab, when he returns to the city. The analysis is performed, the diagnosis made, a call is made to the community health worker, and medicine is sent by the reverse procedure, if necessary. In 24 hours, a patient in a remote village is ministered unto.

As UMCOR works in places near and far, new ways to serve those in need are being continuously discovered. God is sending United Methodists on an amazing journey as we learn new ways to help each other.

By the Rev. Sam Dixon, Deputy General Secretary, UMCOR

Spirit of Volunteerism

Weary survivors of Typoon Ketana find shelter.

Amidst the calamity, the spirit of volunteerism is very much alive in the Philippines. Many responded to the call of helping those affected by Typhoon Ketsana. Different organizations and civil society groups have come together to express their solidarity by donating goods and kinds to the survivors of Typhoon Ketsana. Many have offered their time in repacking goods in warehouses of sponsoring institutions. The National Council of Churches in the Philippines of which the United Methodist Church is member, also joined the relief efforts in the marginalized areas of the metropolis. Relief goods were distributed to Payatas in Quezon city.

Students from the Union Theological Seminary (UTS) have also come together to express their sympathy for survivors by voluntarily participating in the relief efforts spearheaded by the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). Believing that human suffering should be alleviated, the seminarians and some of the members of the UTS community offered their time to participate in repacking of goods. According to Ms. Ciony Ayo-Eduarte, office manager of UMCOR Philippines, the response was overwhelming when she made an announcement for people to participate in the relief efforts during the chapel service. Around 30 people voluntarily went to UMCOR depot (office) to participate in the repacking of goods to be distributed in Pampanga, Laguna and Bulacan.

During the orientation at UMCOR depot (office), Ms. Eduarte reiterated the need for people to be prepared as another disaster is yet to come. "As long as there is a calamity, whether human made or natural, UMCOR will continue to respond with open hearts and open minds to all people,"she said.

By Nony Eduarte, husband of Ciony Ayo-Eduarte, office manager, UMCOR Philippines

“The Woman Who Couldn’t Say No”

A parking lot becomes a waiting area for patients waiting to be seen by doctors at the Christian Medical College Emergency Room in Vellore, India

Dr. Suranjan Bhattacharji, director of the Christian Medical College Hospital in Vellore, India met the UMCOR team shortly after our arrival at the Guest House on the campus of the medical school. Dr. Cherian Thomas, the head of UMCOR Health and leader of the team that also included Dr. Peter Fasan, dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences at Africa University and Niels French from the Methodist Hospital System in Memphis had come to Vellore to discuss ways in which this mission hospital could assist the fruition of the dream to start a United Methodist Medical School at Africa University. A secondary outcome was to make a connection with various departments within the hospital to see if it was possible for the hospital to provide some additional training for doctor/nurse teams from Africa. The trip was very successful with much information shared and commitments made. Another step along the journey of significantly improving the United Methodist Church health care systems in Africa was taken.

As Dr. Suranjan welcomed us that night he reminded us of the beginnings of the Christian Medical College and the Hospital as he told the story of Dr. Ida Scudder, “the woman who couldn’t say no.” Ida Scudder was the daughter of an American missionary couple in Tindivanam, India. In school and in America, enjoying a full and active life filled with activities with her friends, Ida had no desire to spend her life as a missionary. Visiting her parents in India, Ida was busily writing letters to her friends back home when she was interrupted by a knock on the door.

A man had come to seek her help with his young wife who was experiencing a very difficult labor. Ida explained that she was not a doctor, her father was, and she didn’t know what to do. She urged the man to let her father come and attend to his wife. He refused her offer with great sadness as his culture would not permit his wife to be seen by a male doctor. In a little while, another man came pleading for help. Later, another man also came. Three visitors, three pleas for help, three refusals to allow her father to see their wives—three preventable deaths.

Ida began to hear the voice of God calling here to become a missionary doctor in India. She couldn’t say no. She had to serve the women of India. Graduating from medical school she moved to Vellore where she began her work in a one room clinic where she lived. With the determination that only comes from God, she met challenge after challenge and with God’s help overcame them all. Today, the CMC Hospital serves an average of 1,900 in patients and more than 5,000 outpatients a day. It is an incredible site as people come from all over the country to be treated at this great place. It shows what can be done when we don’t say “no” to God.

Dr. Scudder expressed the vision of the hospital like this: “Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” For the CMC Hospital it is a true today as it was at its beginning. By sharing this vision, it becomes possible for we United Methodists to achieve our goal to significantly improve the health of the poor and the most vulnerable through the Global Health Initiative.

By the Rev. Sam Dixon, Deputy General Secretary for UMCOR

What’s it Like to Host a Refugee Family?

The Bellou family, Ruth Egger, Pastor Pam Wagner and members of Spirit of Hope UMC.

In April, 2009, our pastor, Pam Wagner of Spirit of Hope United Methodist Church in Phoenix, Ariz., received an invitation to attend a refugee resettlement meeting. Two of us from our mission committee attended. That was the beginning of the most rewarding, difficult, and blessed project we had undertaken. We are a small church with about 150 members, but consider ourselves big warriors for Christ.

After approval from the congregation, a special work committee was formed to accomplish our goal of bringing a refugee family to the point of self-assurance and independence.

The family we assisted was the Bellou family of seven from the Ivory Coast who had spent the last seven years as refugees in Ghana. They ranged in age from two to 44 years of age. We were privileged to help celebrate the two year-old’s third birthday, his first in a country of freedom.

Our first task was to collect furnishings for a two bedroom apartment, as well as clothing and food. Our requests for assistance went beyond our church family to include our places of work and personal friends. What a profound sense of God’s presence through this part of the mission. The logistics of acquiring the necessities for seven people in a short time was daunting, but God provided. He opened doors we were unaware of. We received a donation toward a one bedroom apartment, plus substantial monetary gifts from unsuspected sources. Moving everything into the apartment and organizing furniture was a huge task, but thankfully, we had the assistance of many eager workers from inside and outside our church family.

The big day arrived. On May 14, 2009 the Bellou family arrived and our team joined to greet them at the airport. They were thrilled with their new ‘digs’ and relished their first meal that women from our committee had prepared for them. Two days later we took the entire family on an instructional bus ride. We went to a grocery store and a clothing store and had a grand time watching them take in and select from more than they had imagined possible. This gave us a better insight to the family and what they had been through. We were certainly humbled by the bounty present in our lives that we have taken for granted.

What was the high point of the day? It came when the Bellou family asked if they could attend our church on Sunday. For weeks thereafter, we provided two cars to pick them up for church and two more cars to take them home again. We had a welcoming Sunday where the family was greeted warmly by church members and received special prayers and blessings from Pastor Pam.

The following weeks were filled with lessons in shopping for food and clothing and staying within a budget. One of our duties was to teach them how to operate a stove, microwave, coffee maker, dishwasher, laundry appliances, TV, and all things electronic. Many times we heard them say ‘Everything is automatic here’! But with each new accomplishment we got to see their joy followed by profound gratitude. Over the weeks, we slowly withdrew from their lives, leaving them to be totally independent and able to experience that feeling of self satisfaction that comes with taking care of oneself. We are often asked some basic questions about our experience. What were some of the most difficult parts? I have to say it was the lack of experience on our part and the magnitude of the family size. I believe that more detailed instructions would have been helpful along with more preparation time. What was the easiest part? Our family had a good command of the English language, we’re well educated and devout Christians. We had strong support and encouragement from the team, and for that we are grateful.

At the end of this project we were asked to submit a report dealing what we had spent in dollars, what was donated and its value, how many people were involved along the way and for what purpose. This included man hours and mileage for all work. I would strongly advise any congregation taking on this type of mission to keep a log of time, people, material and receipts, and the purpose of each entry.

All of us were blessed by this work in helping those much less fortunate than ourselves. I believe we have a better grasp and understanding of the freedom of choice in our country. I have a deeper appreciation of the opportunity to worship when and where I choose without fear of persecution.

Would we do this again? Yes, absolutely! We’re wiser now and we crave the blessings that come form our Lord as we strive to help with His work. Would we recommend this to other churches? Of course! Your blessings will far out number whatever difficulties you might encounter. It is also awesome to experience how God works to help his servants. Our Lord is truly an awesome God.

Submitted by Ruth Egger, Chairman of the Mission Committee, Spirit of Hope United Methodist Church, Phoenix, Arizona