Christmas 2003

Greetings Family and Friends,

Samantha writes

After two years in Lesotho, sometimes we forget that many of the things we see here would be considered unusual in North America. During my drive home from the seminary one day, I saw two scenes that I realized I would not see very often, if at all, back home. The first was a small group of children each carrying a large bag of maize meal (cornmeal), presumably back to their home in a nearby village. A few minutes later, I saw another group of three or four children loading water jugs into a wheelbarrow, again presumably to be taken to their homes nearby. It was a vivid reminder to me of how in much of this part of the world, children’s roles and responsibilities within the family are often so different from what we are used to seeing in North America and the West.

The school year at Morija Theological Seminary continues to go well. It’s hard to believe that the first term is almost over. Our two first-year students, Thabanyane and Victoria, are doing very well and show a lot of self-initiative and enthusiasm. They even enjoy using the library! Weddings continue to prevail at the seminary, as two more students will be getting married in December (not to each other, this time). We ask for God’s guidance upon them as they begin married life while completing their studies. We would also like to ask for your prayers for one of the final year students, Edwin, who was in a serious car accident this June. Although he has returned to school, he is experiencing some health problems from the accident and it is affecting with his studies.

Bob writes

The Lesotho Joining Hands Against Hunger Network is preparing for its annual general meeting in early December. We’ve recently been audited and evaluated in order to develop transparency in all that the network is doing. Hopefully, this will model to the member organisations that transparency is a good thing. The “Hunger Action Training Manual,” which the network has been developing since May, has been written and is nearing final revision stage. We had hoped to get this curriculum printed this year and begin the training of our network members (“training the trainers”), but it looks like those stages will be pushed into early 2004.

There is now a Web site for the Lesotho JHAH Network.This can be seen at www.jhahlesotho.org. A few of the member organisations have their own page on the site. It’s not really for internal (Lesotho) use, as most of our member organisations don’t have computers, let alone Internet access. Rather, it is intended for our partners on the other side of the “digital divide.” It still needs some improvement, but please take a look at it if you’re interested.

The drought this year in much of Lesotho has resulted in a severe water shortage for the city of Maseru and the lowland towns and villages. Most of Maseru was without water for two to three weeks in October. Water was released from the Muela Dam up in the mountains to provide water for these areas. Ironically, as South Africa owns Lesotho’s water rights (through their participation in the Highlands Water Project), Lesotho will have to pay for this water. Even with that measure, we have had a sporadic water supply. We have plenty of stored water, and although it can be a bit inconvenient having no running water, we are reminded every day of how many people here have no running water in their homes to begin with, and have to rely on filling up containers at a tap in their village or carrying it from a stream. It certainly puts life into perspective.

Which brings us back to the One who puts our lives in perspective. We pray and hope that the celebration of Christ’s birth will fill you with joy this holiday season. Keresemese ha monate (Merry Christmas).

Love,

Bob & Samantha

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 54