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Editor's note
With this newsletter, Janet begins a practice of writing
newsletters via email to friends and supporters. You can read
the letters on Janet's home
page or ask Janet to put you on the list to receive them
directly from her. Email: Janet
Guyer.
22 March 2006
Dear Friends,
The weather has been very unusual, or so I am told. We had almost
no summer here in Benoni this year, which has left people wondering
what the winter will bring. In the last few years, weather patterns
have been so erratic that many parts of southern Africa have had
to live as best they can with drought conditions. (And now it
is folks in East Africa who are suffering.) When food is scarce
it is often the poor people who are most vulnerable, and in our
situation it’s people living with HIV/AIDS who are affected
first and affected worst.
Volunteers who work with people with HIV/AIDS in Malawi have
spoken about this often, as food scarcity one of their biggest
concerns for the people they work with. It is an especially troubling
concern, as they cannot in good conscience care for their clients
knowing that they need food and not give them some. In many cases
the volunteers have shared what little they have for their families.
We thank God for the rains that did finally come to most areas
this year. It looks like the harvests should be OK in most parts
of Malawi, but they won’t be coming in for a month or two
yet. Village chiefs in many areas have allocated land for volunteers
to use to plant a garden. The fruits of these gardens, predominantly
corn but also other crops like peanuts and soy beans, can be used
to supplement the diets of some of the clients. Some of the crop
can be sold to purchase medicines and materials needed for the
clients. Part of the crop will be saved as seed to plant next
year.
The first two months of this year have found me in Malawi a great
deal of the time. One of the projects that we were working on
was developing a piece of material—a wrap or sarong—that
will be used as part of a fund-raiser for home-based care through
the Presbyterian Church. Stay tuned to hear about the launch of
this project. Some of the material was given to home-based care
volunteers in Malawi to use as a uniform, something for which
they have expressed a need for a several years now and they were
thrilled to receive.
One of the things that I am looking forward to this year is getting
better acquainted with South Africa and our partner churches here.
Tomorrow the general secretary of the Evangelical Presbyterian
Church of South Africa and I will be going up to Mpumalanga and
Limpopo provinces to meet some of the folks from his church and
to see what they are doing with regards to AIDS.
In the next couple of months I have plans to meet with people
from the United Reformed Church in South Africa as well as with
some people from Stelenbosch University who are working on a practical
theology network and are looking at how to integrate the AIDS
issue into that.
I have promised a home-based care organization to do a workshop
on stress and stress relief. This is a significant problem for
people who are constantly faced with the trauma of the end stages
of AIDS. For me, it makes it worse to know that there are drugs
out there that can help but for political or economic reasons
cannot be accessed. Although I don’t know this for sure,
from the HIV infection rates in this country I would guess that
some people who work in the hospice not only have to deal with
the crisis at work but also at home. My heart goes out to them.
A little farther down the road, it is looking like there may
be a possibility that I will be in the United States for General
Assembly and the Presbyterian Women’s Gathering, although
nothing is sure yet. If you are going to either of these events
please stop by the International Health Ministries booth to say
hello.
Blessings on you and yours. Stay safe, stay strong in God’s
care.
Janet Guyer
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
339
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