Debbi Hitchings

Galatians 6:9-10 June 21, 2009

So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever you have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially those of the family of faith."

A couple of weeks ago Kevin spoke to the children about measuring themselves. Remember how he measured a few of the kids with a yellow measuring tape - and they in turn measured him at 73 inches - proving that he is still growing and even more of a presence that he thought!

His message to the kids that morning struck me as having a great deal to do with where I am in my own life right now for he spoke of how we measure our own hearts….how we measure what is in our hearts and how we care for others with the love that is held within our hearts.

For more than a year you all have heard me speak of my sister in law, Lynn Minderman, and her experience as a Peace Corp volunteer in Lesotho, southern Africa. Our knitters have created the wonderful little dolls which have gone to the children of several villages there after they have been blessed by all of you.

The conversations that I had with Lynn about her experience have opened my heart (and my head!) to a whole different world - a world so different - so foreign - from anything I have ever experienced or could even begin to conceive of. It has certainly tugged at my heart strings for quite awhile now, making me wish that there was something more I can do. Someway I too can make a difference.

Out of the blue, one day last fall Lynn called to ask me if I could find it in my heart to return with her to Lesotho this fall and work on a small project there that she has undertaken to create a sustainable environment for a group of AIDS orphans that she had come to know.

Remember just a few weeks ago when Pam's dad, Rev. Jim Kidd preached about WISH DREAMS: well this is her wish dream…and now mine as well.

I will tell you all right now that traveling to one of the poorest, most HIV/AIDS afflicted countries in the world is definitely outside my comfort zone. It's not quite like taking a vacation to Florida or visiting my daughter in London, that's for sure. I wouldn't even describe myself as a particularly brave or adventurous person.

But I found myself saying YES immediately, yes because I find it the right time in my life to put my actions where my words are: to listen to my heart and to make the commitment to try and make a difference in the lives of children who need our help if they are to 1. Survive, 2, have any kind of positive future.

So let me explain the ORPHAN GARDEN PROJECT and hopefully to open your hearts to what we will be doing so that you can provide me with all kinds of moral support as I move outside my comfort zone

First a little background on the country.

Lesotho is a tiny, mountainous country about the size of Rhode Island which is totally surrounded by South Africa. It is also the only country in the world where all of the land lies above 3200 feet and as a result is sometimes known as "The Kingdom in the Sky".

Much of the declining population of 1.8 million live in rugged, mountainous terrain, only accessible on foot or horseback. It has no natural resources and very little industry

Unemployment stands at nearly 50% and most of its rural citizens are subsistence farmers. Adult men tend to leave the country to work in the South African diamond mines. They may return home to their families once a year usually bringing AIDS back with them - or they may never return, dying in the mines.

Because of AIDS Life expectancy at birth has been cut from 60 years in 1991 to a staggering 34 years now.

Pretty desolate news indeed and no one familiar with the country would tell you that there is much positive happening there although relief agencies are working hard to make a difference: agencies like Partners in Health and the Clinton Foundation as well as: Sentabale , an aid agency for orphaned children which was established in 2006 by Prince William.

On a much smaller but no less important scale, Lynn has identified a project which will impact the lives of orphans and children in a very small but determined village. It is not a relief project, it is an effort to create a sustainable environment that will nurture children, providing them food, water and education. It is known as the ORPHAN GARDEN PROJECT

About six years ago several members of the village of Likiting donated a plot of land and a shed to be used by their orphans. A garden was established for the children and is overseen by two wonderful women of the community who keep copious records of both the crops and how well the children are thriving.

The garden sustains a population of local "double orphans" who have no other source of food or assistance. Their parents have succumbed to AIDS and they are literally left to fend for themselves. The oft-used phrase "it takes a community" is very true there as these kids are dependent on the caring of other adults. A year ago there were 15 orphans, now there are 35.

These kids have nothing, absolutely nothing to call their own. They are dependent on each other and on the kindness of others in their village. They are hungry and they are hard workers. They are in their garden every day and are dependent upon it to stave off that hunger. They stick together: work together, play together and sometimes live together. They vary in age from about toddlers to young teens.

They lug water from a stream down the mountain, about a mile away, carrying it back up the mountain side their garden in one gallon plastic jugs.

Sound like pretty hard work doesn't it. But as they walk, and as they work they sing and make games out of their efforts. After work is done they often engage in a lively, competitive game of soccer with the two women……

Let me give you an aside about soccer in Likiting and most of Lesotho in fact.

Soccer balls are made from those ubiquitous plastic shopping bag (like we would get at Hannafords) stuffed tightly with straw and tied up securely. The kids are pretty proficient at creating these balls BUT they are sometimes stolen by a goat or two after the straw! Game over.

Last summer Beryl and Eric Charlton sent a soccer ball and pump to Lynn and the kids were obviously thrilled. Lynn tells the story of first seeing that ball at one of the schools she visited, being used and shared by all the kids.

A week later she saw the same ball at a school some 15 miles away…when she asked how they had come to be playing with a ball she had given to another village it was explained that the ball was being shared and that each week it would go to another village school so that everyone could enjoy it. A child would walk from one village to the next to pass it along.

Now that Lynn is back in the United States we are working to provide funding to improve the sustainability of the Orphan Garden

" by building a water tank which will insure a constant source of water to the site,

" by providing fencing that will keep the animals out and

" by securing the necessary supplies to ensure the productivity of the garden on a year round basis. (i.e. seeds)

In anticipation of the water tank the children are lugging stones to the site so that once the funds are secured the village hire someone from the ministry of agriculture to come in and teach the village how to build the tank.

Irrigation pipes have been secured and will bring gravity fed water from a spring up the mountain.

As an extension of the project we are also looking to provide scholarships for the children of the area, both orphans and those with one or two parents. While primary school is free, one must pay tuition of just over $200 to go to high school. That is an astronomical amount for these people. The gov. will pay for orphans IF they have death certificates to prove their parents are dead…but in reality these rural folks have nothing so formal as a death certificate to show.

If there is hope for this little country and its people, education is key. They know it. Kids want school and parents yearn for their kids to have such an opportunity. This next generation must have the chance through education to rise above their poverty and to better understand how to move forward against such difficult odds.

When Noel Cox learned that I was involved in this project in Lesotho she sprang into action and within a couple of weeks her West Bay Rotary had donated $500 to the project. Roy, in turn, put me in touch with the Rockland Rotary who asked me to speak with them and presented me with a check for $500.

Kim Graffam of the Camden Rotary is currently researching how they too can be of assistance. What great community support here locally for a little project in a far distant place: a project with the simple goals of creating a sustainable environment for children as well as offering them an education.

Because of our local Rotarys the building of the water tank is assured and the village is already making plans.

It may be a little project in a far away country ravished with disease and poverty. But it's a project we can get our hands and hearts around and will bring a measure of hope for an improved future for a group of wonderful, innocent kids.

We are going there in September to be part of the building of the water tank, to celebrate with the village as their garden becomes more sustainable, and to meet with the high school principal to create the guidelines and expectations for scholarships.

One thing of which we are certain: that each student will have a relationship with the scholarship donor. We are hoping to meet several of the kids and maybe to visit in their homes so that we can bring back personal stories of the impact that the ability to go to school has on their lives.

In fact, just this week I received an email from Lynn saying that the first recipient had been chosen thanks to the funds from West Bay Rotary and the child has already written a letter to them, telling about herself. I can't wait to hear that the letter has arrived.

I am hoping that perhaps as a church family we can sponsor one or more kids. If you would like to be part of that effort just let me know. I always seem to be asking for money don't I?

So, I am going to Africa. I've been thinking a great deal about how I will react to:

" A level of poverty that I have never seen.

" The overwhelming sadness that I may feel for children in such dire straits - even though those kids know nothing different and are generally happy in their environment.

" Being in an absolute minority: It is a black society and I am a very pale white lady. Lynn tells of feeling discrimination for the first time when she went to the post office there to pick up her mail. The post mistress looked right past her while she waited in line, as though she were invisible, and helped those standing behind her. ….until finally one lady chastised the woman for ignoring Lynn and insisted that she help her.

" Being from a country that is disliked and distrusted. In fact, they believe that the United States brought AIDS to Africa to benefit the pharmaceutical industry. The good news is that the Basotho people like President Obama.

But I go with an open heart and a commitment to do what I can to have an impact in a part of the world that is as far away from my own life experience as I could ever imagine. I know that these kids will have a huge affect on me, that they will live in my memory forever and that my experiences there will forever change my life.

It will be a Wish dream come true for us.

I ask for your prayers and your support as I prepare to move out of my comfort zone. While I am there pray hard to keep me safe- to let me absorb all that is around me. And when I return I promise to share with you all that I have seen and learned.

And yes, to all of you who have advised me already: I WILL only drink bottled water, I WILL use hand sanitizer every 10 minutes, I WILL get my shots. Heck, I'll even wear my Obama t-shirt at all times and will be very cautious in all that I do.

Amen