Crowd Eager For What You Can Offer

While we are in Togo we receive national news coverage for what we do. It turns out that some mission and church groups sell their services or don't follow through with their promises. We work hard to do what Christ would have us do, and this has allowed us opportunity to touch many people and continues to open doors for the work. We go where invited. We see as many people as possible in a day. We give away medical care, medicine, and glasses. The reporter follows us Monday through Wednesday for the 3 clinics near Kara, and then they share the report on the national news Thursday night. This opens up more opportunities for the Kipukes as they serve in Togo and for us on our return trips. We find opportunity in word and deed to share a witness for Jesus Christ and glad to be of service. There are many needs in Togo, and the timing is right, no matter the gifts and skills you and your team might bring to the work.

Yet the crowd, the need, and the opportunities are always greater than our ability.

If you desire an unparalleled open door for ministry, desire an African bush experience in a safe setting, & enjoy working with a team of missionaries and translators who are accustomed to Americans, then I'd strongly recommend your consideration of Togo and Esaho and Beatrice Kipuke. Kipuke

The crowd is waiting and eager to respond to some Good News!

Of Shea Butter, a Women's Cooperative, and Us

Do you know about Shea Butter?

I admit I never heard of the stuff until I was in Togo and saw where a Fair Trade group called Alaffia manufactures the product. It was an amazing element of our latest medical mission that was well worth the time.

One of our team members knew about a women's cooperative in Sokode, Togo that ships items to the U.S. in efforts to promote fair trade. Of the importance of this approach the Alaffia group says:

"Fair trade means paying a fair price or wage in the local context, providing equal employment opportunities, engaging in environmental sustainable practices, providing healthy and safe working conditions, being open to public accountability, and reducing the number of middlemen between producers and consumers. Fair trade is environmentally, economically and culturally sustainable and gives local communities the opportunity to self empower."

"Unrefined shea butter is a valuable natural resource for West Africa and could be an important tool in empowering local communities. However, most shea butter on the market in the United States and Europe is not fairly traded. The women who gather shea nuts and hand craft this remarkable oil receive only a tiny fraction of the final price."

"It is estimated to take 20 to 30 hours of labor to produce one kilogram of handcrafted shea butter, which is traded at $1 or less in today’s market. A woman making shea butter in West Africa will receive only a fraction of this price. Therefore, a person working for 30 hours, almost a week’s worth of work, will not receive even a dollar for her efforts. Even if she received the whole dollar, this does not even begin to reach living wage standards."

"Through our direct involvement in the entire process — from gathering the wild shea nuts and crafting the butter, to distribution locally and abroad — our members receive fair and steady incomes. In addition, 10% of sales will go directly back to our community in the form of community enhancement projects, AIDS and malaria outreach, and educational scholarships. We believe in 'building African self-empowerment the moral way' and truly appreciate your involvement in reaching our goals."

Learn more about Alaffia and support them if you use Shea Butter. Tell them that United Methodist medical team that visited Sokode (So Ko Day) sent you.

Mahlangu Hand Washer

Mahlangu Hand-Washer
By ALICE RAWSTHORN

Irene van Peer is a Dutch designer who, with a group of colleagues, has devised a clever method for turning empty plastic beverage bottles into hand-washing devices to help prevent the spread of disease in Africa. Van Peer realized the need for such a device while working on sanitation projects in South African townships; many of the township residents have difficulty washing their hands because they lack easy access to water. Van Peer and her colleagues began by having conversations about the idea with people, mostly women, in the townships. “For me it was important to listen to their problems and to come back with a solution they could make themselves,” she says.

Eventually, van Peer and her colleagues hit upon an ingenious design. It involves converting the cap of an empty bottle into a homemade tap. The cap is pierced and then a long, skinny cone made from a readily available material like cork is inserted. One end of a length of wire is pushed through the cone, and the other is wound around a weight, like a stone, to nestle in the palm of the hand. The bottle is held above the hand facing downward, and when the weight is pushed up, the water is released and trickles down the wire toward the weight. Used carefully, a one-liter bottle can perform up to 60 hand-washes.

After showing people in the townships how to use it, van Peer also left instructions to be passed on from person to person. She named it the Mahlangu after Johanna Mahlangu, a woman who told her she planned to make the hand-washers for her day care center for disabled children.

From- http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/12/14/magazine/2008_IDEAS.html

One Approach to the World Hunger Crisis

The approach in Malawi was to use outside finances for a subsidy program to reduce costs for farmers. See the whole story as the transformation has huge impact for families who have known drought and severe hunger repeatedly over the years.

http://dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/11/26/1688572.aspx

French Language Hymnal for Misson & Ministry

As many of us know there are VERY exciting movements of God taking place throughout the world. Africa is one continent which is experiencing a proclamation and response to Good News which isn't measured in hundreds, but in thousands and even millions! Of course, there is a power to music which is a perfect vehicle for sharing the love of God in Christ, for aiding worship in our own language, and for shaping our theology which is expressed in our lives and in our actions.

Yet so much of the curriculum and approach of the Church has tended to be geared toward western or U.S. practice, language, and situation. I'd been searching for a couple of months pondering how we might find the tools to advance some of our humanitarian efforts in Togo. With United Methodist work in Cameroon, and now with Cote d'Ivoire Methodists joining United Methodism, there has been more need for French language resources including the need for a hymnal.

Enter the General Board of Global Ministries Global Praise Division and the Rev. John Thornburg. Their joint efforts in Africa are producing a bilingual hymnal with an African beat and a Wesleyan heart to be published in 2009. This product should have dramatic impact in the partnership, the future of a worldwide Methodism and new approach to ministry, and to the worship and theology in locations all across the continent.

To learn more about this exciting ministry or the available resources go to http://www.congregationalsinging.com/