Republic of South Africa
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| In January 2004, Susanne Carter and Ken Jones were appointed to serve as mission workers with the South Africa network of Joining Hands Against Hunger (JHAH). A project of the Presbyterian Hunger Program, JHAH addresses the root causes of hunger worldwide. Susanne and Ken work with a network of churches, nongovernmental organizations, and grassroots groups that fight poverty through education, analysis, and advocacy campaigns.
The JHAH network in South Africa is linked with a network of churches in the PC(USA)’s Presbytery of the Western Reserve, of which Ken and Susanne are both minister members. These two networks have made a covenant to address the causes of hunger and poverty in South Africa and the United States. Part of the covenant is to establish a relationship that allows each group to get to know the other. The Samaritan Care Centre in Pefferville, South Africa, is not part of the Joining Hands Against Hunger network in South Africa, but it has become an important program for personal involvement by both Susanne and Ken. Initiated and maintained entirely by volunteers from nearby churches, the Centre provides free hospice care for terminally ill (mostly HIV/AIDS) patients. Susanne writes, “We find that the biblical name makes it almost impossible for us to simply ‘pass by on the other side of the road.’” Sister Rose, the nursing sister in charge, phoned one night to let Susanne know that Nontombi, a patient she had helped transport, had died of meningitis. She was one of more than six hundred people to die that day (as every day) of AIDS-related causes in South Africa—the majority of them women. |
 Partners/Ministries South African Council of Churches (SACC): Rev. Dr. Molefe Tsele, general secretary • Evangelical Presbyterian Church in South Africa: Rev. N. Joseph Tshawane, moderator, Rev. Titus R. Mobie, general secretary, Rev. Dixon Masangu, finance officer • Presbyterian Church of Africa: Dr. Jabulani E. Mdlalose, general secretary • Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA): Rev. Dr. Jerry Pillay, moderator, Rev. Vuyani S. Vellem, general secretary • Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA): Rev. John Collin Goeiman, general secretary, James Buys, moderator • Presbytery Partnerships: Presbytery of Donegal, Presbytery of Florida, Presbytery of New York City, North Alabama Presbytery, and Presbytery of Northern New England with the UPCSA; Presbytery of Western New York with the URCSA; Presbytery of the Western Reserve with CLEVESA (Cleveland-South Africa) PC(USA) General Assembly Staff Lisa Titus, FDN Sara Todd, WMD Rev. Philip Tom, NMD |
 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:13). |
 Ps. 25, 40, 84, 148 Zech. 14:1–11 Rom. 15:7–13; Luke 19:28–40 |
