During this holiday season, we rejoice in the birth of our Savior and
His faithfulness to us. Here at Mama Makeka, and we hope for you and
yours as well, celebrating God's goodness comes easily! Yet, as the
warmth of Christmas diminishes and the cold of January envelopes us, we
take a look at the world around us and it is easy to become discouraged
and feel helpless. We see hunger, poverty, and injustice. It is easy to
become overwhelmed, and it is difficult to know how to begin to help.
However, if we look at individuals and small communities rather than
the oppression at large, we see how little gifts can make a positive
difference in other’s lives.
This past year, because of your encouragement and monetary support,
Mama Makeka House of Hope was able to assist doctors, caregivers,
teachers, and students in Congo, Zimbabwe, and south Fresno. The Fresno
area medical community contributed $30,000 towards the purchase of
medicine and supplies for the hospital in Kajiji, Congo. Jackie, Tecla,
and Stella, three women caring for AIDS orphans in Congo and Zimbabwe,
received assistance through personal visits and encouragement as well
as monetary and material aid.
In January, more than twenty new sewing machines and fabrics will
arrive at the Girls’ Schools in Kikwit and Kajiji allowing the girls to
learn a trade and the schools to generate income. And in south Fresno,
Mama Makeka House of Hope is working together with students in the
Medical Academy at McLane High School, through a grant sponsored by
Kaiser Permanente, to study the effects of early exposure to violence
in this community. We have also submitted a grant proposal that will
allow us to implement a “peacebuilding for healthy communities” project
for Eastern Congo in partnership with Interchurch Medical Assistance
and Eastern Mennonite University.
As we enter a new year, I challenge us all to approach this time with
confessing hearts and with minds and hands willing to engage in the
responsibility we have been given as a people commissioned to “love the
Lord your God with all your heart” and to “love your neighbor as
yourself”. I long for a year full of deep character and quality
relationships, a year not only where much will be found in the window
but more in the room. Furthermore, I long for a year where it will be
possible for people to cross the streets to meet both their local and
global neighbors, and to find great joy in doing so.
