Preschool assists orphanage in Africa
A mile is a long walk for a child to get to school.
“Part of who we are as a church is being active in the community and reaching outside the four walls of the church,” said Pastor Jim Gascoine, who has been with the Dutilh United Methodist Church since 2009. “That's what it means to be a church.”
In Zimbabwe, the church mission team purchased seven Buffalo Bikes built for the rough terrain of rural Africa from World Bicycle Relief in Harare this summer. The money, $1,200, was raised by Dutilh Preschool for the Home of Hope Orphanage.
After the summer mission trip, Emmanuel Chiimba, director of the Home of Hope Orphanage in Nyadire, visited Dutilh church, 1270 Dutilh Road, Cranberry Township.
The United Methodist Church in Western PA has an ongoing relationship with the church in Nyadire. The Dutilh church is one of many UMC congregations in the area that are part of The Nyadire Connection, which collectively supports the construction of rural medical clinics, financial support for a local orphanage, and many other projects.
Bikes are a piece of equipment preschool students can identify with, Gascoine said. By raising the money, Dutilh students were able to lean the importance of helping others and what it means to be a good human being, he said.
The preschool fundraiser was led by Diana Barnett, director of Dutilh Preschool since 2014. The Hop-A-Thon, where children are asked to collect donations, has been an event at the preschool for many years and was established before her arrival, she said.
On the day of the hop, the children heard from a church member who visited Zimbabwe. They were told how the money raised would help buy bikes so the children of the orphanage could get to school easier.
“Once I learned about the Home of Hope orphanage, I thought it would be great to 'Hop for Hope,'” Barnett said. “I was pleasantly surprised at how generous the families of our preschoolers were.”
During Chiimba's visit to the preschool, he thanked the children for their generosity, she said.When the mission team delivered the bikes, the older children taught the younger children how to ride, said Gascoine, who was part of the mission team.The mission team also worked with the people of Zimbabwe on several projects including installing a solar water heater. The team's agricultural engineer worked on an irrigation system and the team's veterinarian volunteered at the hospital, Gascoine said.The church is leading the rebuilding of rural medical clinics, Gascoine said. Since the project began in 2013, three clinics are complete, one is set to finish early 2020 and another is scheduled for construction in 2020. Each clinic could potentially serve 5,000 people to 8,000 people.“This is an area where most people walk to find medical care,” Gascoine said.While on the trip, the team visited the most recently completed clinic, which is significantly larger than the previous facility, he said, adding they were able to see the fruits of their labor.The clinic project is a personal favorite of Ralph Duckworth, a 20-year church member who led the mission team,Before the rebuilds, the clinics did not have indoor plumbing or running water, he said. There were also numerous stories of woman delivering their babies in their huts by cellphone or candlelight because of the 9-mile distance from the clinic. Now the women can arrive days earlier and stay at the clinic's dormitory, he said.People describe the finished clinics as an oasis in the middle of the dessert, Duckworth said, adding the people have access to quality medical care in rural areas.Around the orphanage, the team assisted with a drip irrigation project to provide a steady stream of water to crops being grown to provide food for the orphans. It also allowed them to grow surplus crops that they can sell to purchase seeds and fertilizer for the next crop, Duckworth said.The partnership has allowed leaders from Zimbabwe and Pittsburgh to come together to use their knowledge and resources to develop solutions, Gascoine said.Chiimba, who was able to meet face-to-face with church members, is a forward thinking leader, Gascoine said.Among rewards of the mission trips are the friendships and an opportunity to reach helping hands across oceans, Duckworth said.Congregants now have an awareness of global issues, Gascoine said.On a personal level, Gascoine said he shed his preconceived notions and stereotypes about third world countries and their people.“The folks we met in Zimbabwe are resourceful,” he said. “They may lack physical resources, but they are wise in how they use what they have and resourceful how to take care of things.“Their leaders are creative and doing as much as they can to improve their community.”
