bridges for email august 2008

8/14/2019 Bridges for Email August 2008

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Strasser Family News from ZambiaBy Arden (Susan) Strasser (VMs Zimbabwe 1988-1990)

being grateful to God for strengthening our familyrelationships through talking, praying, working andgoofing around.

Along with their professional commitment to vulnerablechild protection, Susan and Chloe, have beguncoordinating the building of a playground at a Christianschool & vocation center for 500 orphaned, disabled,and other children with a high vulnerability to extreme poverty. The program is called the Bauleni StreetKid's Program. It's a school feeding site for the UnitedNations World Food Program. Time and space to play

Continued on page 4

Greetings to you from Zambia! We hope you are well.I am an ELCA missionary, moving here from northernCalifornia in April, 2006.

Let me introduce my family first. My wife, Susan,works for Catholic Relief Services as an AIDS advisor.She is the technical advisor for The Elizabeth GlaserPediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) in Zambia.

EGPAF supports programs to prevent mother tochild transmission of HIV as well as HIV related careand treatment for over half of Zambia's populaton.Susans work covers a few strategic areas includingimproving the quality of counseling for HIV positivechildren, increasing the number of children on life-saving antiretroviral therapy, and overseeing publichealth evaluations and operations research. Specifically,Susan is interested in psychosocial support for HIVpositive children as well as HIV and nutrition.

Our daughter, Chloe, is in 10th grade here in Zambia.Chloe likes making friends, playing piano, and

polocrosse, but is most excited when she can practicedriving (albeit off road!).

Alea, 6, is in kindergarten and is learning to tie hershoelaces and identify the alphabet sounds. I still haveto keep her firmly in the car and away from thoseannoying elephants!

As with you, birthdays come and go, and we know joysand disappointments, opportunities and dead-ends,along with the future God lays before us. We depend on

VolunteerMissionaryMovement

Serving in Living for . . . Mission

August 2008 Volume 16 Issue 14

BridgesNewsletter


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Executive Directors ReportBy Julia Pagenkopf

P a g e 2 BridgesBridgesBridgesBridges Volume 16

What a beautiful summer it has been in Wisconsin! I hope you have all been able to enjoy Gods blessings in nature the past fewmonths. It rained so much this spring, I was reminded of the verse from Isaiah 45:8 - Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, andlet the clouds rain down the Just One: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a Saviour.

This has been an especially fruitful year for VMM. Ourrevenue for the year was $269,094, an increase of $67,886 over the previ-ous year. Total expenses were $260,468, an increase of $4,770 over the previous year, primarily due to the costs associated withthe increased number of missioners we have in Central America. OurNet Income was $8,618. These are not audited figures yet,so there may be some slight adjustments. Everyone here at VMM wants to give all of you a huge THANK YOU for your very gen-erous help and support to our missioners this past fiscal year. Continued on next page


3/8

We placed seven new missioners in Central America: Alicia inGuatemala; Kelley, Paul, Daemian and Mary Foster (and theirthree children: Thandiwe, Chesna and Aidan) in El Salvador;and Laura and Christine in Nicaragua. The Fosters returned inJuly so they could expand their family and adopt three of hissisters children after her tragic death in December. Keep themin your prayers as they continue their experience of missionhere in the U.S. and open their hearts to a new life.

VMM will have four new missioners in the coming year, all ofwhom attended the Mission Personnel Orientation (MPO)training held in May at the Siena Center in Racine, WI. We hadthe incredible opportunity to have Edwina join us for a day andshare with us how she started VMM, its early history, how theSpirit and Lifestyle was created, the value of community, andthe special charism of VMM missioners. It was a perfect wayto begin our time together! Here is a little bit of informationabout each of our new missioners:

Danielle Mackey graduated from St. Louis University with a

double major in International Studies and Political Science.She spent a semester in El Salvador studying at La Casa de laSolidaridad and working for a womens small artisancooperative. She will be replacing Danny Burridge in hisposition as the Grassroots Delegations and Tour Coordinator.

Jennifer Wilder just graduated from Furman University inSouth Carolina with a degree in Psychology. She wasrecommended to VMM by a professor David Gandolfo, whois married to former VM, Liz ODonnell. Jennifer also spent asemester in five countries in Central America. She has beenaccepted by the Divinity School at Wake Forest University,which she will delay for two years while she is ministering with

VMM. Her placement will be in El Salvador, most likely withour project partner, Fundahmer.

Issue 14 BridgesBridgesBridgesBridges Pag e 3

The above photo shows

new missioners sharing

a meal with members.

Photo right shows SVD

and former VMM

Board Member, Roger

Schroeder, presenting

during one of the MPO

training sessions.

David and Nancy

Slinde come to VMMfrom the Greater Mil-waukee LutheranSynod through the advice of Mary Campbell, another formerVM. Nancy is experienced as a teacher in elementary school,high schools and college. She has volunteered with the ELCAGlobal Mission for Education and Advocacy, GMSELCA/Salvadoran Lutheran Synod Companion Encuentro.

David has also been very involved with the Greater MilwaukeeSynod El Salvador Committee, and the ELCA Global MissionsConference in Costa Rica. He worked at Eaton Corp. for manyyears in management positions, and was Executive Director ofCitizen Advocacy of Washington County from 2002-2003. Heis currently working with the West Bend Noon Rotary as Pro- ject Manager of an international project in La Granja, Nejapa,El Salvador, for a waste water collection system. They cannotleave for mission until after January 1, but will be placed in ElSalvador.

Kelley Burns also joined us at the MPO even though she hasbeen serving with the SHARE Foundation in El Salvador as theGrassroots Education Solidarity Coordinator since October.We all enjoyed the benefit of her previous experience in CostaRica with the Peace Corps, and her great sense of humor!

Danny Burridge, who has been the Grassroots Delegation andTour Coordinator for the SHARE Foundation for two years,will be transitioning to a new role for a year as VMMs CentralAmerican Pastoral Associate. In an upcoming issue, Dannywill share more about what his role entails.

I encourage you to help us in our recruitment efforts by recom-mending possible candidates to us. And we also welcome yoursuggestions for potential Project Partners, whether in the U.S.or in Central America. Mark your calendars for the Assembly

next year. Pray for and celebrate the VMM Community!

We are pleased to welcome our

new missioners: Dave & Nancy

Slinde (photo left) and Danielle

Mackey, Kelley Burns, and

Jennifer Wilder (below L-R).

Visit our NEW websit e at www.vmmusa.org!

Please continue to keep our missioners,

and the people they serve, in your daily

thoughts & prayers!


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Volume 16BridgesBridgesBridgesBridgesP a g e 4

Strasser Family News continued from cover

is essential for healthy child development and, painfully,such structures are virtually nonexistent in the urban cen-ters of Zambia. We have secured the land, builders, ma-

terials, and the trucks! Chloe is responsible for the de-sign, planning, supervision and coordination, underSusan's guidance. The playground is built-to-last us-ing local materials and will have a large deck, roof,wheelchair ramp, monkey bars, seesaw, swings, parallelbars, tire tunnel, shaky bridge, slide, etc.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zambia, with whichI work, is committed to building village self-reliancethrough micro-credit projects. I am pleased to report thata new micro-credit program is underway, with four, 3-day, training workshops for 90 community leaders al-

ready complete in the northwest and our local field assis-tant, David Mangenda, hired and working.

People travel from far and wide to attend our workshopson micro-credit. One fellow rode two days on bicyclethrough deep sand from his congregation across the bor-der in Angola. We insist on women's participation, asthey have a better track record with micro-loans. So far,more than 20 lending groups of participants have formedand are writing their loan applications for our evaluation,and sending them in! The small businesses includemaize farming, rice farming, vegetable gardening, goat

selling, caterpillar selling, night spear fishing, plowingfields, and raising pigs.

Those groups that are successful will receive $400 eachto use as loan capital which they lend internally as agroup to each member. After nine months, if all the loancapital has been paid back plus the small interest, theirgroup will be awarded more capital to work with. Thepeople here deserve credit. They are willing to find helpin writing down and committing to their ideas to breakout of the cycle of seasonal hunger.

Susan and I joined VMM in 1987. VMM has informedour spirituality, values, and passions ever since then.

Today, we still run into people around Africa who knowVMM and respect it, speaking of the rare qualitiesVMs have. We have worked with so many differentdevelopment volunteers and professionals in Africa,but there is often a difference between our motivations.We believe it is the way VMM has infused in us aspecial view towards the poor, towards power, andtowards love. For this we are grateful. What a privilegeto be a part of such a special international community.

Arden (pictured above right) discusses micro-credit

with a villager.


Sister Mhuire McLoughlin, SSND,died at St. Michael Hospital in StevensPoint, WI, on July 4, 2008 at the age of76. Sister Mhuire has been a

wonderful friend to VMM and servedtwo years with VMM in Tanzania as ateacher and LPN. Most recently, SisterMhuire served on VMMs Board ofDirectors until June 2007.

Eternal Rest Grant Unto Her, O Lord,

& May Perpetual Light Shine Upon Her

In Loving Memory

Sister Mhuire McLoughlinSeptember 14, 1931 ~ July 4, 2008


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Issue 14 BridgesBridgesBridgesBridges P a g e 5

VMM 15 Years LaterBy Rose Stietz, OP (VM Milwaukee 93-95)

As a VM in the mid-1990s, I was one of the first threehome missioners when I responded to the call of twopastors to come to inner-city Milwaukee to do Outreachin the neighborhoods surrounding their parishes. Thatwas May 1, 1993. Since then, both pastors have movedon to other ministries and most of the neighborhoodleaders that I worked with have since passed on to a newform of life. I am in my third living situation allwithin five blocks of where I began my two-yearcommitment as a VM.

My living in, and being available in, the Harambeeneighborhood included four areas: 1.) To promote job possibilities; 2.) To assist families/individuals inownership, or rental, of housing; 3.) To assist residentsto utilize skills, develop crime and drug preventionplans, and promote drug abatement; and 4.) To promoteand encourage participation in positive youth activities

I discovered early that the neighborhood leaders neededa competent secretary. They had squirreled away much

valuable information but were unable to utilize it tomake the changes they felt were necessary. I hadprevious experience as an office secretary and access toa parish word processor. We worked together tochallenge the neighborhood-funded communityorganization.

Both congregations belonged to MICAH (MilwaukeeInnercity Congregations Allied for Hope). I joined theHousing & Economic Development and Crime & DrugsTask Force(s) which gave me entre into the local

political system and name/face recognition amongelected and appointed leaders.

When my two-year commitment as a VM was complete,some neighborhood women asked me to stay. I wasable to do so due to a grant from my ReligiousCommunity. Over the years my involvement inMICAH grew as I realized many of the neighborhoodproblems arose from decisions made at the city, county,state and national levels. I gradually came to therealization that my presence/living in the community isas important as my work there.

Today I find myself working with the police incommunity policing and against police violence to

individuals and groups; working with housing groups torejuvenate a once nearly destroyed neighborhood andworking against landlords and speculators that continueto profit from that very housing; working to expandeffective treatment for substance abusers who areuninsured, or under insured, and working against drugdealers. Ive integrated the senior citizen housingbuilding where I live. I continue to have an office at St.Martin de Porres Catholic Church and do much of theplanting and care of flowers in the courtyard each springand summer.

In addition, Ive been part of the Call to Action Anti-

Racism Team for the past four years. For the past 15years I have coordinated prayer vigils at the sites ofhomicides in Milwaukee (on average we experience 1-3or more homicides on a weekly basis). Though this isonly a small portion of my activities, it is probably theone that will be my legacy when my life in Milwaukeeis completed.

Sister Rose (above center) leads a prayer vigil for

Antwone Williams at the site where he was murdered

Sister Rose (right)

stencils an angel

on the ground

near the spot

where MarqueRodgers was shot

and left to die on

June 22, 2008

(Rodgers 25th

birthday) in Mil-

waukees inner-

city. If they (the

angels) arent

washed away,

Rose says, there

are angels all over

the city.

Visit our NEW web sit e at www.vmmusa.org


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In October, we will return to the US, after completingtwo years as volunteers here in San Marcos Guatemala.During this time, our understanding of problems, needsand solutions to improve the living conditions forcommunities here has gone through a gradual andcontinual change, with many of our initial perceptionsnow turned completely upside-down.

Upon hearing of the problems related to lack of basicinfrastructure in developing countries, the first thoughtthat comes to mind is the need for investment in publicworks, such as water and sanitation systems, landfills,

and roads. In our two years in the highlands ofGuatemala, we have learned first hand that theinfrastructure investment, which may be desperatelyneeded, is only one small part of the need that must beaddressed by a particular project.

In our time here, we have implemented family rainwater

collection projects for storage of water for use in the dryseason to raise chickens or irrigate a garden; we haveassisted in projects to bring water from mountain springsto communities that lack piped water or sufficient supplyto serve the entire community; and we have planned andconstructed initial wastewater treatment facilities inurban areas so that wastewater does not continue tocontaminate the rivers that are used by downstreamcommunities. While the investment in infrastructure ineach project has the potential to provide both health andeconomic improvements to the local communities, it

remains only a potential improvement withoutaddressing the corresponding social and cultural issues.We have enjoyed working with the social workers onour project team on these more difficult aspects thatdirectly affect the sustainability of the projects -community acceptance, self-governance, and technicaltraining to name a few.

It is much more important and results in more tangiblelong term improvement when the community supports aproject, even if this means implementing a project in adifferent way than our training and life experienceswould recommend. Listening to what a communitywants and accepts is an important part of developingsolutions to community problems. While sometimeswhat a community wants is impossible (and this needsto be discussed and explained), other times it is equally

Continued on next page

What Constitutes a Project?The Importance of Social Acceptance & TrainingBy Dan & Melissa Moran (VMs San Marcos, Guatemala)

Volume 16BridgesBridgesBridgesBridgesP a g e 6

Contamination of the rivers from untreated wastewater

discharges have health impacts for all, as it is impossible to

tell what market crops were grown using the contaminated

river water for irrigation. Above Dan talks with the build-

ing supervisor for the wastewater treatment plant for the

town of San Antonio Sacatepequez.

Sustainability of

the water projects

means training

community mem-

bers to operate the

system. Melissa

(center in photo,

left) is providing a

workshop on how

to read engineering

plans.


Melissa and co-worker, Osiel, meet with community

members to discuss plans for a new water supply for

the community of Panconche. Project success is

completely dependent on maintaining local

community involvement.


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Issue 14 BridgesBridgesBridgesBridges P a g e 7

In 1989, my husband, Matt, and Ireturned to the U.S. after spendingtwo years doing pastoral service inrural Venezuela. Re-entering theU.S. after being immersed in lifewith the poor of Latin America waschallenging. We both wanted tonever lose our "edge"--the sense oflooking at American life through theeyes of the Venezuelans we hadcome to know.

Well, 19 years later, I still have the

hammock that we made in Vene-zuela; it's a bit frayed, and I have toadmit that my edge is in the same condition. I'm at homein my culture, our wallet is less empty than it was backthen, and Matt no longer proposes the kind of wonderful,harebrained ideas that 20-something guys in missiondream up. (Maybe in another newsletter, I can sharemore about his proposal that we travel around on mules asitinerant preachers, relying on the kindness of campesinosto get by. Maybe I'm a bad missionary, but I never wentin for that idea.)

So today, in our 40s and putting kids

through college, we're more settled, but we still haven't abandoned theidea that faith can be lived authenti-cally in many settings. Our threechildren are a major focus in ourlives. Our job as a teacher (Matt)and editor (me) also consume ourdays. In addition, all of us in thefamily have started to help care forMatt's mother. At 78 and in fragilehealth, she needs extra support. Partof me wishes I had something much

more thrilling to report that Matt andI are doing with our lives. Why have-

n't we figured by now how to save lives, lift neighbor-hoods out of poverty, leap from tall buildings? Yet an-other part of me is content with the ordinariness. Godcalls us in different directions at different times in ourlives, and it seems that faith is lived in a distinct way atage 27, than it is at age 47. So, with or without ouredge, here we are, still believing in Jesus' promise thatthrough him we might have life in abundance.

impossible to implement a project that by our westernways is considered developed or improved if the idea isrejected by the community.

A key step in improving the likelihood that an infrastruc-ture project will succeed is training the community in ad-

ministration, operation and maintenance. Supporting longterm operation and maintenance of a water or sewage sys-tem can be extremely challenging in communities thatlack the necessary income. Also, on the part of the com-

munities, there is little understanding of operational andmaintenance needs due to lack of experience with thesetypes of systems. The problem is further compounded byilliteracy in some communities, which makes written in-structional materials fairly useless.

It is impossible to work toward improved living condi-tions without respecting the social and cultural realities.Our experiences have led us to further appreciation of themission of VMM in building person-to-person relation-ships across cultural divides. Discovering the underlyingchallenges and needs is necessary to connect and workwith those whose opportunities and lifestyles are definedby the location of their birth.

Two Decades After MissionBy Carol Schuck Scheiber

Earn Money for VMM While Online!Just imagine what if VMM earned a penny everytime you searched the Internet? Or how about if a per-

centage of every purchase you made online went tosupport VMM? GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertisingrevenue, about a penny per search, to the charities itsusers designate. Use it just as you would any searchengine, get quality search results from Yahoo, andwatch the donations add up!

Above Carol & Matt Scheiber still live out theirmission; but in a different way then before.

Dan shows Rene, one of San Antonios two

plumbers, how to monitor the wastewater treat-

ment process as a part of the operator training.

Visit our NEW websit e at www.vmmusa.org


8/8

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 9

Greendale, WI

Spirit and Lifestyle

This pre-supposesan opennessto the needsof others andthe humilityto meet them

wherever

they are at.It calls for a spiritof confidence andpoverty which isever ready to listen

and respondto others.

It is not simply amatter of handing

out money, food orequipment.It calls for

more than that.Our response is to

share who we areas well aswhat we have.

We work side-by-side with the peoplesharing our talents,friendship and love.

This is a continuing excerpt from Spirit and Lifestyle by Edwina Gateley


Visit ourVisit ourVisit ourVisit our NEWNEWNEWNEW website:website:website:website:

www.vmmusa.orgwww.vmmusa.orgwww.vmmusa.orgwww.vmmusa.org

Our MissionVMM recruits lay Christians in an ecumenicalspirit to witness to the Catholic social justicetradition. VMM supports their commitment tosharing their lives, resources and skills as theycollaborate with domestic and overseas partners to promote equality, empowersustainable human development, and challengeunjust and oppressive social structures.

Bridgesis published by the U.S. office of the VolunteerMissionary Movement (VMM). Phone: 414-423-8660; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.vmmusa.org. VMM is anonprofit 501(c)3 charitable corporation registered in Illinois.We reserve the right to edit all submissions.

Executive Director: Julia M. PagenkopfDevelopment Director: Kathyrn EbertCAFC: Betsy GonwaExecutive Office Assistant: Rheanna MeadeOffice Volunteer: Tom Kowalski

VMM-Europe: All Hallows, Grace Park Road, Dublin 9, Ireland

Volunteer Missionary Movement5980 West Loomis Road

Greendale Wisconsin 53129

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