A letter from Doug Tilton in South Africa
March 2013
Dear Friends,
When I was young I used to enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles. I love it when lots of different, oddly shaped pieces come together to make a beautiful picture. One of my favourite passages of Scripture has always been Paul’s analogy in 1 Corinthians 12 of how we are like different parts of the single body of Christ, each with different gifts and roles.
A few years ago, while I was visiting the FJKM, our partner church in Madagascar, I heard that the leaders of the women of the church would like to meet with me. So a few days later I sat down with a group led by Madame Bodo Ramambasoa, the formidable widow of the first president of the FJKM.
The church’s women’s association, the Dorkasy, was preparing to celebrate its 40th anniversary. Mrs. Ramambasoa explained that the FJKM women have a tradition. Every 10 years they sponsor a big project as a gift to the church commemorating another decade of ministry.
What would they do to mark 40 years? The women had been consulting widely throughout the church. Many people had been concerned about children in rural areas who had to travel to larger towns to pursue education beyond the primary level. Often their families were poor and the schools did not have boarding facilities. So the students had to live in groups in shabby rooms in town. This exposed the girls to substantial risk, as you can imagine.
Much of the concern focused on Moramanga, a regional centre about three hours east of the capital, Antananarivo. It is a commercial and transport hub, so it draws people from a wide radius—not only students, but also truck drivers, hawkers and other itinerant workers. And there is a police training college in the town. All of these factors were seen as threats to the safety and virtue of rural girls—some as young as 10 or 11—who came to town to study.
So the Dorkasy decided that their 40th anniversary present to the church would be to build a hostel for these girls, so that they could stay in a sheltered environment with adult supervision. By the time I met Mrs. Ramambasoa and the Fortieth Anniversary Committee, the women had already identified a site for the hostel on church land. They had persuaded a company to clear the land for them for free. And they had raised funds to draw up the plans and lay the foundation. Was there anything that the PC(USA) could do to encourage and assist their efforts? they asked me.
A big part of my role as a regional liaison is about making connections and building bridges, both among our partners in Southern Africa and between Africa and the PC(USA). When I heard about the Dorkasy’s plans, I felt immediately that it might be something that Presbyterian Women (PW) would want to support through a Thank Offering grant. So I told the Committee about the Thank Offering criteria and process. Elizabeth Turk, one of our PC(USA) mission co-workers in Madagascar, helped the Committee to complete the forms, to translate them into English, and to submit them electronically. A colleague in Louisville printed the forms and delivered hard copies to PW. And then we waited anxiously for the Thank Offering committee’s decision.
Unfortunately, the Dorkasy’s first proposal was not funded. The problems were fairly minor, so I encouraged the Committee to try again the following year. In the meantime the women raised enough money to build the first of the two stories planned for the hostel. But they had exhausted their funds and had to pause construction while they looked for more money to complete the structure.
The women’s persistence was rewarded. In April 2011 PW gave a $50,000 Thank Offering grant to finance the completion of the hostel. The following year Jan Heckler was called into mission service in Madagascar to help the FJKM’s national office build capacity around program planning, monitoring and evaluation. One of her first official acts was to represent the PC(USA) at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the completed hostel, now called Akany Gazela. In November I had the pleasure of visiting Moramanga and meeting the first group of girls to call Akany Gazela “home.” They ranged in age from 10 to 18, but all were confident, articulate and strong in their faith—clearly potential future leaders of both church and society.
The Akany Gazela story illustrates a number of important principles about the way in which Presbyterian World Mission does mission in partnership.
First, the initiative came from our partner church. The Dorkasy’s proposal was the result of broad consultation, and it was being taken forward by duly elected officers. They had done a lot of work before they ever approached the PC(USA).
Second, the project’s emphasis on enhancing educational opportunities for girls from poorer rural communities fit well with World Mission’s primary objectives—what we call “Critical Global Issues.” It correlates especially strongly with the first of these: Addressing the root causes of poverty, particularly as they affect women and children.
Third, it demonstrates the concept of “communities of mission practice” in which global partners, World Mission staff and PC(USA) members work together in ministry. Mission personnel were key catalysts in building connections between women in the FJKM and the PC(USA), and Jan Heckler continues to be involved with Akany Gazela by providing advice and encouragement to build the capacity of the management team.
Although much has been accomplished, there is still much to be done. The hostel is intended to house 60 girls, but in its first year of operation, they have only had the resources to accommodate16. There are still administrative challenges involved in integrating the operating expenses of the hostel into the Dorkasy’s annual budget. The current housing costs prevent the poorest households from making use of the facility.
But these are challenges that we can and will face together, with your help. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with and accompany our global partners and our mission personnel, and I thank you for your prayers and gifts that sustain this work. I know of your strong commitment to mission, so I want to invite you to consider whether God is calling you to engage even more deeply in ministry and mission. If you have not already done so, I would encourage you to establish a relationship with one or more PC(USA) mission co-workers. To pray with and for them regularly. To learn more about the places where they are serving and the joys and challenges of the partners with whom they minister. And to support them with your love, your energy and your gifts.
Doug Tilton
The 2013 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 123
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