Bridges Of Hope

Pear Picking Party

bridges_author — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:42:05 +0000

January 23rd, 2011

The Academy/Retreat Centre sits on about 12 acres of land. Formerly, the property was a boutique vineyard w/ grape vines and various fruit trees including 27 pear trees.
When we were here the prior three months , we decided to work in the orchid. We sprayed for insects and when we returned this month, there were, much to our surprise, trees loaded with pears! So we searched the internet and called various canners and pulp plants. One agreed to take our harvest after we took samples and the pears were checked for pressure and acceptability. Our pears passed the tests. The next step was to pick the crop and transport to the pulp plant. The students from the Academy plus the awesome Rock Harbor team picked about 1500 kilos or about 3,300 lbs of pears. The pears will be turned into fruit juice concentrate.
The money earned will amount to about $550 which is going to bicycle repair. The Academy boys and I have found about 10 bikes that may be servicable with some much needed repair.
The money will go a long way in helping the kids have fun on bicycles!
Here’s a video showing Debbie with the kids picking the pears:

December Child – Phumzile Madikiza

bridges_author — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 22:08:44 +0000

Odwa

bridges_author — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 23:29:47 +0000

You’ve seen a couple of 12th graders, a prior student and now, you will see an 11th grader from Bridges Academy.
This will be our last blog from South Africa until we return in January.

Odwa is a fine young man and a member of my devotions group that meets each weekday morning. Maybe I’m saving the best for last, but you can be the judge of that……

Here’s Odwa:

Lausanne Congress – Joe Handley

bridges_author — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 23:27:30 +0000

Cape Town recently hosted the third Lausanne Congress.
Lausanne was started by Billy Graham in an effort to bring the world’s influential Christian leaders together to discuss and promote world evangelism. The first congress was held in Lausanne, Switzerland, thus the name Lausanne. That original congress was in 1974, the next one in 1989 and now in 2010, we’ve had the congress meeting in Cape Town.
As you can see, South Africa has been the plave to be. They’ve hosted both the World Cup and Lausanne in 2010.
Leaders have come from all over the world.
Bridges of Hope had the privilege of hosting several of the delegates. We took them into the townships so they could see our community development projects in action. Later, we brought them back to the retreat center to view the Bridges Academy and meet many of the students.
One of our visitors were Silk and Joe Handley. We’ve known them for several years and Joe is really instrumental in Deb and my involvement with Bridges of Hope. Joe was the missions Pastor at Rolling Hills Covenant Church and is now the President of Asian Access. This non-profit Christian group trains Pastors in 9 Asian countries enabling and equipping them to share the Gospel with many in their countries. It was a real blessing for Debbie and me to welcome them.
I asked Joe a few questions and captured them on a video. I’m sure that you will enjoy seeing him:

Don’t you just love Joe’s passion!!

November Child – Phola Dayimani

bridges_author — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:21:43 +0000

Interview with Bill & Debbie Duncan

bridges_author — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 22:34:21 +0000

Duncan Blog – Sweethome

bridges_author — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 17:12:48 +0000

This week we had the privilege of entertaining some visitors to the Lusaunne Congress which took place in Cape Town.
One of the visitors was a pastor, Andrew Richards, from Rock Harbor Church in Irvine, Ca. Rock Harbor has sent teams from their church to Sweet Home, a poverty stricken area in the Cape Town Flats township area, where they assist Bridges in Community Health Evangelism or CHE. CHE helps these communities help themselves by educating and enabiling them.
In Sweet Home the community told the Bridges staff that they were concerned about the early school age children not attending school, getting themslves into trouble,and running around unsupervised throughout the community. The Bridges staff suggested that the community start their own school and then equipped them with the training to do so. With the Bridges of Hope CHE training the Sweet Home community now has an ”informal school” operating in the local church where about 30 children are educated and nurtured.
This video is taken at the end of the CHE trainig session with the ”informal school” staff:

The Sweet Home community also told our Bridges CHE staff that the younger children were also running in the streets with no supervising and no adequate food. Again, Bridges in an effort to develop the community and help them help themselves suggested a pre-school program that could be run by the community. This program now has about 70 children who attend. The pre-school was operating in a local church, however, the roof blew off and while it was off, the front door was stolen. Without the money to replace the door, one of the leaders is holding the pre-school in her home.
The video you will be seeing shows the class meeting.

And here’s another with Deb leading the kids in “Father Abraham”, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this:

October Child – Odwa Sikemele

bridges_author — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 21:20:18 +0000

Duncan Blog – meet Michael

bridges_author — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:09:55 +0000

meet Michael

October 8th, 2010

Michael is another wonderfully capable leader on our Community Development team in the Cape Town Flats townships.
He has so much enthusiasm and passion for the Lord’s work.
Prior to being a part of the Bridges of Hope team (bridgesworldwide.org), Michael was in the UN Peacekeeping Force serving in several areas thru-out Africa.
Now, he’s in the Lord’s army…..I’ll let him explain:

Thanks for your encouraging comments and continued prayers.
bill and debbie

To view the rest of Bill and Debbies Blog, visit:

http://www.olsonduncan.com/bridgesofhope/

Holistic Healthcare Training in Congo Well-Received

bridges_author — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:24:02 +0000

BOKONZO, DR CONGO (September 29, 2010) – Leaders of the Congo Covenant Church (CEUM) hope that implementing Community Health Evangelism (CHE) will transform peoples’ view of healthcare as well as spur personal and economic development.

The CHE (pronounced “chay”) model emphasizes holistic healthcare that is initiated and carried out by local communities. The process of gradually educating the community on health issues is effective because it is “owned” by the community.

Twenty-two CEUM leaders as well as four Evangelical Covenant Church missionaries attended a training held at CEUM offices September 6-9. Participants included CEUM President Mossai Sanguma and his wife, Sabuli; Vice President Liwawa Elenga; Dr. Aime Nkakala, and leaders of other denominational departments.

The training focused on topics including worldview and development, what is holistic health, the role of church in society, the integration of the spiritual and physical, and needs and resources of the community. The session focused on “training the trainers,” people who will then take the model and training to other communities. Click here to see additional photos.

Department leaders were invited to participate in the training so that they would have a better understanding of CHE principles, some of which could be used in their areas of ministry, says Pete Ekstrand, the missionary who organized the training. “CHE is learner-centered, problem and action-oriented, spirit-guided and involves self-discovery,” Ekstrand explains.

According to the Global CHE Network website, “Physical and social health improves, projects are accomplished, and spiritual growth occurs as people come to faith in Christ. The community changes from the inside-out.”

Ekstrand and Sanguma were introduced to CHE during a 2007 visit to the Bridges of Hope ministry in Philippi Township outside of Cape Town, South Africa. “In Philippi we saw the results of transformation in attitudes from “we are poor and needy and cannot do anything for ourselves” to “we have dignity and some assets and there are things we can do to address some of the problems we want solved,” says Ekstrand.

They also saw a determination on the part of the people to implement CHE. “We recognized that there were important values in this ministry model that had the potential to significantly help the CEUM,” Ekstrand says.

Peninsula Covenant Church in Redwood City, California, which has been a strong supporter of CEUM ministries, also had become interested in CHE and brought several of the CEUM leaders to the United States in June for training. Covenanters Dennis and Susan Wadley of Bridges of Hope International led the training.

Since several of the Congolese officials the church had hoped to bring to the United States for the training were denied visas, it was decided to bring the training to Congo, where even more CEUM leaders could participate.

Ekstrand says he is pleased with the response to the first training, which incorporated teaching methods unfamiliar to many Congolese. “Having only experienced very formal, didactic teaching in Congo during our career, we were not sure how the learner-centered, participatory, self-discovery method would go,” he explains. “We found that everyone engaged very well. The small group format got everyone involved.”

Afterwards, one of the attendees said, “I learned a participatory teaching method and how to work with a community so that they begin to change their old habits, which have created non-development.”

Another added he was looking forward to spreading CHE because, “It will permit people to take charge of their physical and spiritual health.”

Editor’s note: Accompanying photos include CEUM President Mossai Sanguma (top) and one of the small group discussion exercises.