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A letter from Luta and Jeremy Garbat-Welch serving in Malawi

Christmas 2014 - CHE: Meeting Community Needs

Josephine's school

 

The current preschool

 

Using local resources to prioritze our need

 

Rev. Stephen Tongyik, John Okoch and Ariet Phillip of EECMY display the model Kenya Top Bar beehive they created

 

Rachel Weller and Rev. Matthew Doleak prepare the soil during a site visit

 

Rev. Matthew Doleak teaches us how to dry mangos to use as a micro-enterprise

 

Learning appropriate technology

Greetings to you in this holiday season,

Josephine proudly gave us a tour of the school she built and owns in a village outside of Malindi, Kenya. She spoke with pride as she introduced us to her staff of teachers, showed us the tree under which she first began teaching preschool, and outlined the plan for improving the structure of the classrooms from mud and thatch to brick. The preschool that Josephine started has grown into a school of six classes—preschool to 5th grade—and it moved from open-air education to rooms made out of sticks and plastic sheeting to rooms made out of mud and thatch. The cost to attend Josephine's school is half of the cost of tuition charged in the nearby town. Orphans attend for free. Josephine receives no outside funding. She relies solely on the minimal tuition she receives to pay her staff and make continual improvements to the school.

As Josephine and I talked, I learned that she does not have a secondary education. I asked her, “What made you begin this school?” Josephine shared that as Community Health Evangelism (CHE) was introduced to her and she was led through the CHE lessons on the “mighty women of God” she realized that she too could be a mighty woman of God. She looked around her community and saw that by providing a school she could meet the educational needs of her community and she could provide an income for herself. Josephine continues to dream big—one day she hopes to include all grades in her school. 

I am convinced that we are called to meet both the physical and spiritual needs of our communities—one without the other diminishes our representation of the grace of God. It is stories like Josephine's that has convinced me that CHE programs are an important method for sharing the love of Christ. CHE strives to fulfill both the "Great Commission" (Matthew 28:18-20) and the "Great Commandment" (Matthew 22:36-40). CHE integrates the physical and spiritual needs of communities and individuals, focusing on development instead of relief and ensuring that CHE work is community-owned by using a participatory learning process. CHE functions using a training model—trainers train local trainers who train community health evangelists who in turn train their neighbors.

Training on both physical and spiritual issues is conducted using a participatory, learner-centered method of teaching—essentially trainers facilitate the process for participants to reach the answers themselves. Training covers a multitude of topics such as agriculture, appropriate technology, disease prevention, healthy habits, relationships, attributes of God, the Kingdom of God, and the list goes on.  Communities participating in CHE are taught how to identify, prioritize and address their needs using locally available resources. Together as a community they work to meet their needs. Most important, through the principles of CHE, CHE brings dignity to individuals and communities as they come to recognize and use their own skills and resources to strengthen their communities, learning that they have the power to meet their own needs. This is good news indeed! This work brings the “garment of praise” in place of a “spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:1-3).

In my role as Africa Community Health Facilitator I will be working with our partner churches to encourage the use of methods such as CHE to meet the needs of their communities, helping to troubleshoot, be a sounding board, and build capacity. During the months of August and September I participated in a CHE internship in Kenya. With me in the internship were four individuals from Mekane Yesus–our partner church in Ethiopia—and Rachel Weller, a fellow mission co-worker who has been working to initiate CHE through the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus.

During one of our sessions Qes (Reverend) Matthew Doleak said: “I thank God for Rachel (Weller). When they first arrived people were complaining—'They are doing nothing. They see our problems but they do nothing. They see we need money but they don't bring it. But we didn't understand—they wanted us to do the work ourselves, we wanted them to do the work for us.' For that I thank God for Rachel.” What a testament to Rachel's work and that of the PC(USA) Mission Agency. Another representative from Mekane Yesus had a similar "aha" moment during our internship, stating, “We have a role to play in prevention.”

I am excited to see God move through communities with CHE. I am eager to be able to share more stories like Josephine's from communities of our partner churches. Think what a difference it will be to have more and more people say, “I can be a mighty person of God too.”

In our short time as mission co-workers we have already been so blessed by your many words of encouragement. Your words have strengthened us and reminded us we are not alone in this journey. Please continue to lift us and our partner churches in prayer. We covet your support, both spiritually and financially.

With God's grace,
Luta, Jeremy and Jathniel

The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, Malawi, p. 143, 145

The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 156
Read more about Jeremy and Luta Garbat-Welch's ministry

Contact: Jeremy Garbat-Welch
Contact: Luta Garbat-Welch
Individuals: Give online to E200515 for Jeremy and Luta Garbat-Welch's sending and support
Congregations: Give to D507577 for Jeremy and Luta Garbat-Welch'ssending and support
Churches are asked to send donations through your congregation’s normal receiving site (this is usually your presbytery).

Double Your Impact!
A group of committed donors has pledged to match all gifts sent by individuals for mission personnel support now through December 31, 2014, up to $137,480.  This means your gift today will be matched by a gift to support mission personnel around the world, wherever the need is greatest. We invite you to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to double the impact of your gift. Thank you!

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