May 11, 2005

Dear Friends,

I would imagine that many families writing their MCP letters share similar circumstances to Jodi’s and mine. We have agreed to alternate the writing of the letters. However, I know that if I procrastinate long enough, Jodi will need to tick the letter item off of her list, so she will eventually write it for me. Except that about every three years, I get an ultimatum, and suddenly I find that I do, in fact, have the time to write a letter.

We have been encouraged by the many correspondences we have received indicating that the topic of poverty is again getting attention. God’s Politics, a book by Jim Wallis, was sent this past month from friends in Michigan. Friends from Florida sent an excerpt from The End of Poverty by Dr. Jeffery Sachs, special advisor on the UN Millennium Development Goals and then friends from First Presbyterian Church of Watertown, New York, brought a copy. Sachs writes that the world should address the “Big Five” development interventions—boosting agriculture, improving basic health, investing in education, bringing electric power, and providing clean water and sanitation—if it wants to address poverty, and Wallis makes the point that poverty is a moral and religious issue.

The 120-mile, five-hour journey to this rural community winds through Nyika National Park, a unique park due to its high elevation. This elevation also accounts for rain when the rest of the country is dry, and frosts in our winter months of June and July. The end of April is quite cold and there was a light rain coming down on the 10 passengers in the back of the pick-up. Four hours into the trip, an 18-wheeler slid across the dirt road that had high embankments on each side so that our way was entirely blocked. While we were trying to figure out what to do, a very kind couple from Alaska arrived with a tour company going to the lodge in the park. Someone suggested we dig out the very steep embankment to drive around the truck. As the couple said that would take at least a month, one person broke off a branch, and started moving soil with a stick. Soon, others joined him, and within two hours, we were driving (plowing) around the truck.

We helped the Alaskans and other vehicles around the truck, and by the time we reached our destination, it was dark. One of the vehicles that went ahead of us arrived at our destination before we did and took our reserved beds at the local rest house, so that we were lacking accommodations for three people. We ate, and then went to the Presbyterian manse at about 8:30 p.m. The Reverend Kayuni and his wife were still awake (which cannot always be assumed in areas without electricity) and rearranged children to find beds for the three of us. Hot water for baths was prepared—not easy when the water source is a borehole about 100 yards from the house and in the dark, and when there is only a charcoal stove for heating water. In the morning we awoke to tea and fresh breakfast cakes. The Kayunis were so welcoming and gracious to us—their concern was that even though they knew we had eaten supper the previous evening, they had not fed us, and therefore, culturally, we had gone to bed hungry.

Yes, poverty is here, and there are moral and religious obligations that we as individuals and we as the church must address. But what we experience here every day is that, like the man with his stick against the embankment, individuals can make a difference when they act in faith. There is also much we can learn from the graciousness found amidst the poverty. Thanks to all of you for your individual and collective efforts, and although you may not see the results, know that others will.

Peace,

Jim, Jodi, Michael, Jason, Salome, and Selina

The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 337