WorldHope Corps

Trip Report complete Results in from the field: At toal of 10,565 individuals have benefitted from this year's Food Aid Program,7,757 being hospital patients suffering from diseases such as TB, HIV/AIDS, Marasmus; and 2,808 being orphans and abandoned children at 8 Orphan Care Centers. 40 pastors have been trained and equipped to deal with AIDS issues in their congregations through PACCT 2 new staff hired by CitiHope Malawi to deliver and monitor the next shipments of food and medicine through CitiHope.

On this last day of my mission trip, I toured SOWETO—heart and soul of the Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa in the 70’s and 80’s. How well I remember the conflict between the White apartheid government in retrenchment and Black nationals gaining global solidarity for the justice of their cause. In both college and seminary, we as students lobbied our institutions of higher learning to divest themselves of South African corporate holdings to help break the back of the regime. We were inspired by Nelson Mandela’s long imprisonment and championed his release. We welcomed with great enthusiasm Bishop Tutu’s visits to the United States to update supporters on the resistant movement’s momentum and success. Finally, we celebrated the free election of Nelson Mandela as the first President of the new South Africa. After 20 years, I finally had the chance to visit the sites of the Soweto uprisings. My Nazarene hosts—Linda Braaten and Kenneth and Theola Phiri—drove me into the Southwest To...

Back at the Park Hyatt Johannesburg where I began my mission trip to Africa two weeks ago. With Mission Malawi accomplished, I am here for two nights in transit to meet with Nazarene missionary, Linda Bratten, and others who may want to partner with CitiHope. I met two local Nazarene youth leaders, Kenneth and Theola Phiri, who along with Linda, invited me on a Safari through Pilanesberg National Park. The wild game reserve is about 2 hours from JoBurg and covers an area of 500 km square. Since this was my first African Safari, I was excited about 'shooting' the Big Five. Here is the list of wild animals sited and shot today with a digital camera: 17 Elephants (1 single and 16 in a herd) 15 Giraffee (4 sitings) 9 Hippopotamus (before and after going underwater) 23 Impala (jumping everywhere) 3 Kudu (sampled kudu jerky today for first time 1 Black Rhino 2 White Rhino (definately cool) 17 Springbok 12 Tsessebe 12 Warthogs (none named Pumba) 13 Waterbuck 37 Wilderbeest-Blue (ugly)...

Here in the capital of Malawi, the hotels are nicer and the food better than in Mzuzu. We're here for a series of meetings essential for present networking and future funding. As much as I hate meetings, our time was productive and promising with the Ministry of Health (medical programs), Ministry of Education (food program), USAID (food), World Vision (AIDS education), and Project Hope (medical aid). The one fish we fry at each of these meetings is that Anti-Retroviral drug treatment for AIDS patients is not effective without nutritional food assistance. Can't do one without the other. AIDS orphans need meals and medicine, as well as transportation to clinics, emotional and spiritual support, and empowerment. Help us, help them, we say to those we meet. Tomorrow, after speaking at the Nazarene Theological College, we fly to JoBurg, South Africa, before returning home.

I preached today at the Livingstonia Mission Church--named after Dr. David Livingstone, the famous Scottish explorer, educator and medical missionary to Central Africa in the mid 19th Century who exposed the slave trade which led to its demise. Livingstone is remembered today as bringing the 3 C's to Central Africa: Christianity, Commerce and Civilization through colonialism. The Livingstonia mission station itself was established by his successor--Dr. Robert Laws--who spent 53 years as a medical missionary and developed what is now the Central Church of Africa--Presbyterian. Today, there are over 130 churches with multiple ministries of holistic Christian care as part of the Presbyterian Synod of Livingstonia. It was Dr. Laws who built a mission campus on the plateau overlooking Lake Malawi that became known as the “greatest achievement in Central Africa.” Today, the compound includes the mother church, primary and secondary schools, a hospital, teachers residences including Dr....

Good Evening: Michael asked me to share my experience visiting some of the medical clinics we assist with medicine and supplies. We visited a district hospital near the lake today and it was hard to see the patients. They are doing their very best, but there is so little that can be done. Lots of little kids, most of them near death or dying. One little boy, there with his granddad and mother, had an extremely bad case of malaria. His little chest would rise and fall as he struggled for each breath. There was an almost an apathy in the level of despair. Like they had seen so much death, that it was almost expected that he should die. I didn't do so well with that. But the doctors were encouraged by our presence. One thing I learned today was why over the counter cough syrups are so important in third world countries. If a child has pneumonia, the doctor will prescribe w/e antibiotic they can get their hands on (btw - the augmentin we delivered was a big hit!). So, while the antibi...

Good Morning from the warm heart of Africa! Yesterday was a great day. Our first visits were at the inspiring orphan care centers where we deliver food. We were treated to a few songs by their volunteers and then we served the food. They have one week's left there and at the second orphanage, they ran out a month ago. Thank God the container is on it's way! As Dr. Christensen began to speak with the children and minister to them - I took a tour of their carpentry shop and sowing area. They make coffins for children there to raise money to help cover expenses. I told her how moved I was that they made coffins for children they couldn't save to raise funds for the ones they will save. Then I decided to teach them the song “Rise and shine” and played the same game I do with our Sunday school children - it was a big hit. We also visited St. Johns hospital where we saw our medicine in storage and they expressed deep gratitude for all we have given. Again, tremendous thanks was g...

We're staying at the CitiHope Malawi Mission Center in Mzuzu. Our internet connection has been down for 2 days. Also no hot water, several power surges, and a VCR that does not work. But I like this place. Clean, newly renovated rooms, office areas, kitchen and 2 baths. A wonderful thatched roof hut in the back yard. Secure brick fence around the property. And a property staff of three: a day watchman, a night watchman and a cook/housecleaner. Back online after launching our PACCT program on Monday. Originally designed for 25 pastors, we have 45 pastors and NGO reps here for three days, fully engaged in the workshop on how to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in their churches through morinformed preaching and teachirelevant education, overcoming denial and stigma, and behavior change. Two people living with HIV told us their story which put all things in perspective. I was particularly moved by Lillian, whose husband died 10 years ago, and who now has 13 kids and step kids under her ca...

A relatively short flight from JoBerg to Lilongwei--the capital of Malawi. We managed to get through customs with two large CitiHope boxes of augmentin antibiotics that we brought with us as "extra cargo" ahead of the next month's shipment of medicines and medical supplies from our warehouse in Andes, New York. There at the airport to greet us upon arrival was Rev. Maurice Munthali, Deputy Gen. Secretary of the Presbyterian Synod of Livingstonia, and his wife, Thandi--our ministry partners and hosts. And Ya-Mei Huang, CitiHope's Country Director, and her husband, Dr. Bong--a pediatric public health physician with Taiwan Medical Mission--another ministry partner. And Gabriel Mosongole, CitiHope's Food Aid Program Manager, who was all smiles. We loaded up the van and proceeded to Mzuzu where our mission center is and where our relief work continues. Tonight we stay in the guest rooms of our newly renovated mission center, and tomorrow we start the Pastoral and Congr...

Paul Moore Jr., Vice President of Citihope, Dr. Tanya Soldak, Medical Director, and I, serving as African Regional Director, left JFK today (9/8/06) at 6pm on a 17 hour flight to Johannesburg via Dakar. We will overnight at the downtown Hyatt before catching tomorrow morning's flight to Malawi (9/10/06) where we will be met by our hosts (Rev. and Mrs. Munthali), CitiHope Country Diretor (Ya-Mei Haung) and World Children's Fund representative (Doug Kendrick), one of our major funders. In JoBurg we enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner at the Hyatt restaurant before settling in our most comfortable bed for the night. Thank God for Gold Club membership which got us a great discount in this ***** international hotel. It was to be our last great meal before two weeks of enduring the bland diet of available food in Mzuzu, Malawi--our mission destination. Paul's mission is to monitor food security and distribution of the 75 metric tons of emergency food our staff has delivered in p...

One year after my first trip to Malawi, Africa, in August 2005, I am still affected by my encounter with hundreds of AIDS orphans at three Orphan Care Centers in the north. In the photo above, I’m holding one of the HIV positive orphans at the Kutemwa Center run by Rev. Mumba (who also pastors the Presbyterian Church next door). My 15-year-old daughter, Rachel, left, accompanied me on this trip, volunteered at an HIV clinic in Mzuzu, and met with a church youth group. Together, we visited many of the 36 community-based projects—medical clinics, schools, orphan care centers, and feeding programs—sponsored by CitiHope International—a Christian humanitarian relief and development NGO—and its partners. Today, I begin a sabbatical from Drew University where I teach pastoral theology and direct the Doctor of Ministry Program, to serve as Africa Regional Director for CitiHope International. Although I will conduct some research and continue writing during my sabbatical, this is an active leav...