Grace upon grace

WOMEN’S MINISTRIES TERRITORIAL PROJECT 2012–2013

THIS YEAR women of the Western Territory—through Home League and outreach ministries—aim to raise $40,000 for the “Grace Upon Grace” Women’s Ministries Territorial Project, an annual fundraising endeavor that supports overseas ministries of The Salvation Army.

“We choose projects that specifically enhance the lives of women and girls,” said Colonel Sharron Hudson, Western Territorial secretary for women’s ministries. “These projects help give us a broader perspective than our own area of service, and give us the opportunity to meet some of the need that exists in the world.”

Each of the West’s divisional women’s ministries departments sets its own fundraising goal, and will raise money at rallies, retreats and events through the end of September. An offering at the women’s rally at the recent Alaska Congress brought in $250. For the past three years, an anonymous donor has sent $100 to support the project.

This year, project funds will support women’s programs in Kenya, Angola and Zambia—each under the leadership of a USA Western Territory officer serving overseas.

In Kenya, the Junior Miss program is a younger version of the traditional Home League that focuses on such topics as sexual purity, HIV/AIDS awareness, nutrition, gardening, and soap making with young women who are expected to run a household from an early age. “In Africa they say that if you educate a boy,  you educate one person. If you educate a girl, you educate a nation,” said USA Western Territory officer Commissioner Jolene Hodder, territorial president of Women’s Ministries in the Kenya West Territory with her husband, Territorial Commander Commissioner Ken Hodder. “Research shows educating girls to be one of the most effective and sustainable way of fighting global poverty as well. This is because education, especially for girls, has been shown to raise family income levels, combat rates of HIV and illness, lower fertility rates, and empower girls to build a brighter future for themselves, their families and their communities.”

Support from the USA Western Territory will go toward a Junior Miss Congress for 3,000 girls this December, as well as providing sanitary hygiene and other essential supplies to girls in rural areas who do not have resources for these items.

Hodder said the Kenya West Territory boasts 30 percent of all junior soldiers in the world.

“We are anticipating that thousands of young ladies will attend this potentially life-changing event,” she said.

In Angola, a Home League ministry uses health charts to initiate discussions about health matters relating to women and their families, from basic hygiene to fire and neighborhood safety, to AIDS education, child spacing, pregnancy health and proper nutrition. Support from the USA Western Territory will defray the cost of the health charts and provide training to all women officers and envoys in how to engage a group in a community facilitated discussion.

“These health charts will help us in several ways, but specifically, they are an excellent entry point into the community to help the Army build relationships,” said Major Debbie Horwood, command secretary for women’s ministries in the Angola Command. Horwood is a USA Western Territory officer serving in Angola with her husband, Major Ted Horwood, command secretary. “The health charts are designed as a starting point in facilitating conversations about issues that affect all of our lives, beginning with health related matters, but continuing into areas that of family concerns. And after all, isn’t that who we are as The Salvation Army? The church that is concerned with the things that matter in a community, be it justice, education, security, and health—all of which have the potential to lead to wholeness in a person and their family.”

Horwood said the health charts will provide a platform for the Army in Angola to continue expanding its ministry in health related matters in conjunction with other community programs such as polio eradication, HIV/Aids awareness and malaria prevention.

“This is a ministry that is community based, but corps initiated—a ministry that is grounded in and carried out through the very people that we are trying to reach with the gospel of Jesus Christ,” Horwood said. “It is our belief that any effort we can make that will demonstrate the Body of Christ is present, concerned and actively involved in the daily challenges of life, will be transformational to the families we live among.”

In Zambia, the Mitanda Home for the Aged—the second largest Salvation Army facility in the Zambia Territory— provides residential care for up to 32 senior citizens. The home provides food, shelter, clothing, medical care, spiritual and physical activities and supplies for its residents, yet the facility is in poor condition.

USA Western Territory officer Major Beryl Pierce Director of the Mitanda Home reports collapsing roofs, broken pumps and water lines, failing laundry machines, and rats (see related article p. 7). Support from the USA Western Territory will go toward building repairs, and new bedding for the residents.

Colonel Dave Hudson, Western Territory chief secretary, recently visited Mitanda Home.

“If it were not for this facility,” Hudson said, “the people who live there would be virtually homeless—they either have no family, or their family has no means/interest in caring for them.”

The Army recently installed a water tank that will save hundreds of dollars a year on electricity and water costs, yet Pierce said the home is currently unable to pay the remaining $3,000 for prepaid meter installation.

“I believe if we could finish this project, we would no longer experience a monthly shortfall—no longer would our expenditures exceed our income,” she said.

Two fundraising projects are planned to assist with food and medical expenses, and raise staff wages: chicken rearing and a parking lot.

Contact your corps officer to learn more about this project and how you can get involved.

Watch a video introduction to “Grace Upon Grace” at https://bit.ly/158VlQQ.