Mission To Namibia

Odibo Activity Center

2011-02-09T10:38:00.002+02:00

For close to a year fundraising and building took place to give the children of Odibo a preschool, these are photos of the structure and opening day.

End and Beginning

2011-02-09T10:25:00.002+02:00

Dear Friends I know it has been a long time since there have been updates on our blog. A lot has happened in the past months. Much of what has happened has been very challenging. The short story is that we have ended our official tour as missionaries as of December 2010. I am currently back in Namibia following up on the training program and working with the Diocese on several projects. I will be adding updates to the blog that fill out our experience and share more stories of the work done in Namibia.

Trip South and Training Program

2010-06-15T08:15:00.009+02:00

Well May and June were another two very busy months. I was in the North for a week with the training program and following up on a pre-school we are building and last week we traveled South to the outstations along the Orange River.

At Odibo in the North, about 1kilometer from the Angolan border, they have identified the need for an activity center for pre-k kids. We, through donations from the Diocese of Alabama, are funding the construction of a building that will be called the Odibo Activity Center. It will be a pre-school for local children and will initially have 50-60 children. These photos show where they have been trying to gather and the new building next door.

While I was in the North we had week six of the new clergy training program. Week 6 was dedicated to personal growth, counselling and HIV education. With funding from the Diocese of Alabama we invited trainers from LifeLine/ChildLine and Catholic AIDS Action to come and present for the week. Students gained valuable knowledge and skills to help them be the type of supportive and loving presence they will need to be as pastors in their communities. You can view photos by going to the Picasa Web Album. Click here to see the photos.

After a short break we decided to take a quick trip to the South. The trip lasted a week but was planned quickly. We wanted to get South because we had not been able to deliver the bibles and childrens books that had been donated to us by our friends in Alabama. Over a year ago we received 5 mail bags full of children's books from Grace Gilchrist, a retired school teacher from Christ Church in Tuscaloosa. We have been giving the books away to orphanages and other individuals but still have so many left. The challenge is to give them in a way that they will get used. We decided to take close to 100 of them south and give them to the outstations for their children. This photo shows one of the children in Noordower with a Curious George book. All of the kids that came that day got a book.

As I said before we took blankets and children's clothes and toys as well, but what people asked us for more than anything else was bibles. Each person wanted a bible of their own in a language they could understand. Around November last year I approached my friend Rev. Heidi Kenner at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham and asked if they could donate money to purchase bibles that we could distribute. The Cathedral gave money to buy several hundred bibles. We have been giving them to outstations and groups but had not been back South since we purchased them. We took 3 cases of Oshikwanyama bibles with us and a case and a half of Afrikaans bibles. When we left, the Bible Society of Namibia had no Oshikwanyama or Afrikaans Bibles left. Their next order will come in July. We plan on asking for more money to repeat our distribution efforts. The Bibles cost about $10USD each. Here is a photo of one of the people in Noordower with a new Bible, blanket and children's book for her kids. We cannot thank Heidi and the Cathedral and Grace Gilchrist enough for their donations. All of the blankets, Bibles, and soccer balls were purchased with money donated from the Diocese of Alabama, as were our accommodations for the trip. The clothes, toys and transportation costs were donated by St. George's Cathedral in Windhoek.

We have added two Picasa Web Albums of our trip South that you can see by Clicking here for Part 1 and here for Part 2. Part 1 is from Noordower and Part 2 from Ausenkehr.

Each time we travel around the country it is a new experience. We thank God for the opportunity we have been given to serve here in Namibia. Seeing the joy on peoples faces at having their first Bible or knowing that they and their children will be a little less cold in the night because Christian people that they will never meet care about them is an amazing experience. One of the best parts for me is the opportunity to share Eucharist with our brothers and sisters in far out places and to baptize those wanting to join this community of faith. We had a Eucharist and baptisms on a very cold and windy night in Ausenkehr. We used a table for our altar and borrowed a mixing from our lodge for a font. Wine and water were carried in plastic bottles. We took a paten and chalice from the Cathedral and all stood in the light of one light bulb and altar candles to join together in love and praise. Here is just one photo from that night. The others are in Part 2 of the Web Albums.

Thank you again for all your support and prayers. We love and miss all our friends in the Diocese of Alabama. Blessings and Peace, Jeremy and Penny

Mother's Day, Almost

2010-04-23T09:27:00.004+02:00

I know that it is still a week from Mother's Day and I should probably wait to post this but I have time today. I have been very slow in getting this post together. It is from my Mom's visit to Namibia in March. She came for two weeks and we tried to show her as much as possible in that time. After a less than warm welcome in the Airport in Germany she finally made it to Namibia. After a couple of days to recover from the 36 hours of travel, we took her to Etosha and she saw almost every animal there is to see. She even saw a Cheetah in the wild on her second day. People go for years of their life, who live here, and never see a Cheetah. Lions, Elephants, Black and White Rhinos, Giraffes, Zebras, you name it and she saw it. Everything except a Leopard which are next to impossible to see in the daytime. We came back to Windhoek for a day and she got to meet everyone from the Church then we went to the Coast and visited Swakopmund. We spent part of our second day in Walvis Bay, climbing Dune 7 and driving out on Pelican Point, where we saw seals and flamingos, and did I mention getting stuck in the sand. Well it only took us an hour to get out. We should have called our friend Mike earlier. After we had tried everything I could think of his first question was, "Did you let the air out of the tires?" Glad we called Mike. It was an awesome trip and so good to see Mom in real life and not just on Skype. It has been a long year and the trip was just what was needed. I have added a few more photos to a Picasa Web album that you can link to here. Hope everyone has a great day. Peace, J

Transforming Lives Part 2

2010-04-12T10:16:00.001+02:00

The second group that we have been working with is the Namibian P.E.A.C.E Center. PEACE stands for People’s Education, Assistance and Counselling for Empowerment. Their mission is to assist people to overcome the negative impact of organised violence, including war, that has impacted the lives of thousands of Namibians. Our society has over the last years witnessed a steady increase in suicides and violent crimes, some of which may be attributed to unresolved psychosocial trauma. PEACE’s purpose is to ensure that people affected by violence and other traumatic events have increased access to psycho-social services and that there is an increased understanding of the impact of trauma.
In an effort to achieve this mission the PEACE Center has partnered with The Institute for the Healing of Memories in South Africa. Healing of Memories was created at the same time as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa to allow everyone to tell their stories of violence and abuse under the apartheid regime.

Penny and I participated in a Healing of Memories Workshop in mid January co-facilitated by PEACE and Fr. Michael Lapsley the Director of Healing of Memories. Fr. Lapsley is an Anglican priest who became a victim of the apartheid government in 1992 when he was sent a letter bomb intended to kill him. He lost both his hands and an eye but through that experience has developed a new vision of reconciliation. I encourage you to read his short bio at The Forgiveness Project. After attending the workshop, which included all manner of people from Namibia who had been affected by apartheid, Penny and I decided to help sponsor the next workshop with money that had been donated to our mission fund. We gave $5000.00 USD to the PEACE Center for a training in early March. It is an amazing project and we are happy to be involved in the long term wok of reconciliation in Namiba.

Transforming Lives Part 1

2010-04-09T09:54:00.002+02:00

As part of our ongoing work of building relationships and sharing skills with the people of Namibia I have been asked by several organizations to help them with certain areas of their programs. I have turned down more invitations than I have accepted because I do not have the time or the energy. But two programs have gotten my attention and I would like to share a little about each.

The first is Lifeline/Childline. This is an organization that provides training and counselling in many areas of life. They have 24 hour help lines and suicide prevention hotlines. They serve Namibia through personal growth training and training in counselling skills and gender transformation programs. This last project is the one I have been working on.

It was recognized several years ago that most, if not all of the HIV/AIDS money in Namibia was going to projects that focused on women and children. While this was helpful it was also found to not be extremely effective in slowing the spread of HIV. There are many reasons why these programs did not have the impact that was hoped for, but one particular reason is how culture views gender. In Southern Africa women, in general, have very few rights. There are rights that are written into the constitution and laws that protect women and children but their enforcement is inconsistent and they do not provide the level of confidence needed for women to exercise these rights. Another aspect of this problem is the rural nature of the county and cultural expectations that abound around gender. Women generally do not have control over their reproductive health. If a husband comes home and demands sex from his wife, she dare not refuse, even if she knows he is HIV positive, or that he engages in risky behaviours outside of their marriage. Rape of young girls is common as is a sort of soft prostitution, girls as young as 11 or 12 giving sexual favours for a cell phone or can of coke. One friend who works in the HIV field told me once that to slow the spread of HIV they should give every 12 year old girl a cell phone and unlimited minutes. But I digress...

As a way of trying to combat the problem of gender when dealing with HIV a program was developed that specifically targets men and boys and attempts to transform their understanding of gender and help them transform their communities. It is a great program called Engaging Boys and Men in Gender Transformation. The full program is available here as a pdf so have a look.

Lifeline/ Childline is one of the Namibian partners for this program. My involvement started when conversations began about writing supplement to the program that would be spiritual in nature. The spiritual supplement was intended to engage religious leaders in gender transformation, using the Bible as its key text. I was asked to be the lead author for the Supplement. Over several months I wrote and presented the supplement to groups of reviewers from Namibia. They provided helpful feedback and the drafting process continued. We did a 3 days pilot training using the supplement materials in late February and had wonderful feedback and a desire for the materials immediately. We are very close to the end of the process and hopefully the Supplement will be printed and distributed with the manual before the end of May. I am very proud of my involvement in this project and hope that this program has the effect of transforming lives.

The New Year

2010-04-09T08:23:00.008+02:00

So three months is probably the longest time we have gone without a blog post and I am very sorry for the delay. It seems just like yesterday when we took the Christmas photo. So today I am going to try and catch everyone up with a few blog entries. Rather than one long story about everything from New Years to now I am going to try and break it up. This way if you don’t have an extra 3 hours to read our blog (which I know, without doubt is what you would do with an extra 3 hours) then you can just read an entry and then come back later for more.

Penny and I began the year in silence. It’s not because we didn’t have anyone to spend it with but because we decided to attend a 10 day silent meditation retreat in South Africa from December 31 to Jan 10. I cannot describe the feeling of New Years Eve standing in silence looking out over a beautiful valley outside of Cape Town and knowing what was happening all over the world. That the calendar was turning and that the same hosts were doing the same shows and that the same bars will filled with the same people toasting another year gone and hoping for the one to come. The entire 10 days was an extremely intense experience. It was at the same time one of the most difficult and rewarding experience of our life. Here is a photo of the retreat center and the area surrounding.

Both before and after the 10 days of silence Penny and I spent a few days in Cape Town just relaxing and reflecting on 2009. We got to spend some time and have dinner with our friends Bishop Garth Counsell, his wife Marion and their family. Garth is the Bishop of Table Bay (Cape Town). He and Marion stayed with us last year over Holy Week and we had so much fun. They are truly a blessing to us and have provided much good council. Penny and I drove both ways to Cape Town from Namibia (14 hours) so we had a lot of time to talk and reconnect. It was a wonderful time and a very needed break.

On our return home we decided to finally take the plunge again and get a dog. It had been two years since our last dog Scroungie had died. Since we have been unable to find spiritual directors in Namibia we decided to see what God might teach us through a new furry friend. So just a few weeks into the new year we went to the SPCA and adopted DeeOGee.He is an incredible dog and has helped us remember not to take everything so seriously.

Merry Christmas from Namibia

2009-12-25T18:46:00.002+02:00

Alabama Episcopalian Article

2009-12-14T17:40:00.002+02:00

Hi friends I know it is strange for us to have three posts so closely together. If you do not get a copy of the Diocesan newspaper from the Diocese of Alabama I ask that you go to this link and read the article written by Penny and myself about our time in Namibia.Peace, Jeremy Click here for Walking the Way of Christ in Namibia

Photos from the Training Program

2009-12-13T19:59:00.001+02:00

Here are some photos from the training program.
Click here for photos from the last seminar of 2009.

Theological Training Program Student Interviews

2009-12-13T16:07:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone thinks for your continued prayers and support. Here are the first videos from our students in the Theological Training Program.

More are on the way, including individual interviews from each of the students in these videos.

Sorry about the sound you may have to turn your speakers all the way up to hear them. Peace, Jeremy

Time Flies

2009-10-20T17:21:00.000+02:00

I cannot believe that it has been almost a month since our last post. This will be a shorter update. I want to point out that I have added links to four news outlets in Namibia at the bottom of our Blog. You can take a look at all the goings on in Namibia and read all about the upcoming elections.

Our main source of local news is The Namibian. Click here to go to their site. Lately most of the news has been about the upcoming elections on November 27 and 28. There has been quite a bit of tension leading up to this election. SWAPO the main liberation party and head of government has been dealing with several challenges from rival parties and in some places violent confrontation has taken place. The former President Sam Nujoma, considered by some as the Father of the Country has been making some particularly violent statements about Germans (they should be shot in the face) and Americans and Brits (they should be hit in the head with hammers). It is all a way of inciting the electorate to passion. Many inside the country are keeping a close eye on the situation although there is no expectation of violence similar to Kenya last year or Zimbabwe.

Work is going well. We are preparing for stewardship season at the Cathedral and the Bishops visit is on All Saints. In a few weeks we have our St. George's Fair and Funday. Work with the clergy training is going well and a few weeks ago they had their first year exams. We are waiting hopefully for the results. I go back North the second week of December when the temps will be around 110, and malarial mosquitoes will be at their worst. Well I will send more later. I am now off to a training class for new Lay ministers for the Cathedral. Peace, J

Life in Namibia

2009-09-29T11:49:00.001+02:00

I get asked sometimes what life in Namibia is like and it is a really difficult question to answer. But here is a short note to try a describe what our life is like. We live in the capital city of Windhoek. It is the largest city in the country with about 300,000 people. We live in a nice house next door to the Cathedral. It is the smallest Cathedral in the Anglican Communion and I am the Associate Dean and Rector. We make very little money by U.S. standards but by Namibian standards we are extremely rich. Over 65% of the people in this country live on less that $2 U.S. dollars a day. We shop at western style grocery stores and shops and can get just about anything we want. But not even most of the city live like we do. Over half of the city of Windhoek live in shacks and don't have a reliable source of drinking water. Outside of a few cities Namibia is populated by rural, subsistence farmers whose life depends on good rain and a good harvest. If you look around, statistics say that every 5th person you meet is HIV positive. Malaria, TB, and meningitis are just a few of the other diseases that plague the country.

We came to Namibia to work on a clergy training project. Our goal is to work with the diocese to help develop and implement a 3 year training program for new clergy. So far it is going really well. We have 50 students, mostly from the northern part of the country. They are highly motivated and are working very hard. I also run the cathedral, sort of. Sometimes it feels like it is running me. I am the main clergy presence for the approximately 400 parishioners and in addition I am the chaplain for the 700 student diocesan school. To say that days are full would be a great understatement. Penny works on various projects, like after school programs and organizing clergy spouse conferences. She has also started presenting at workshops on Hospice and the dying process. If it were not for her I would not have made it this long in Namibia. She gives me love and strength that carry me for days.

We have made friends and have met lovely people all across this country. We try to spend some time every week away from work with our friends, which usually means leaving our house, because our house is about 30 feet from the Cathedral, so we are always "on duty". I have taken up squash and try to get to the gym a few days a week. I have a standing squash game with several Americans from the Embassy every weekend. Staying healthy is one of our main priorities. I wake up at 5 am every Sunday morning to try and catch he end of Saturday nights college football on the internet. ESPN shows one college football game that begins about 4am Sunday our time and they show Sportscenter USA at 12 noon on Sunday.

Our days in Namibia go up and down. Sometimes we feel like this is exactly where we are supposed to be, and other times we are racked with guilt and sadness and feel we must get out before we are overcome. It doesn't mean we can't be in both places at the same time and some days we are. It is hard to adjust to the back and forth. Some days we can go from dinner at an ambassadors house to serving the homeless in a few hours. Lately I have been working with a lifeboat metaphor. Although we didn't come to Namibia to "save" people and we realize that there is nothing we can do for most of the people here, it is horribly painful to watch the immense suffering in this place. It is like being in a lifeboat, in our case a comfortable place to live with plenty of food and relative safety and looking out at a sea of drowning people. We only have a few life vests and they are not nearly enough to help. It is not that we feel guilty all the time, we work as hard as we can to do everything we can to help the men, women and children of Namibia. But working hard does not hide you from the day to day reality of life and death. We do not have the luxury to hide our eyes from this suffering, looking out across the drowning sea of humanity and being present to it. This is the key. If you are present to suffering it will effect you. No matter how good you are at professional detachment, not matter how much self reflection work you have done, no matter how much you pray you will be affected. Sometimes it is just too much. Sometimes I feel like we are being taken down into the waters, that our "lifeboat" has capsized and we are swimming for our life. I have been trying to find an appropriate prayer to say for what we are experiencing but it is not easy. I was recently reminded of a prayer that was prayed by the desert monks of the 3rd and 4th century. It is the opening of Psalm 70 and has been prayed daily for centuries, "Oh God make speed to save us, Oh Lord make haste to help us" Many days it seems like the only appropriate thing to say.

About a week ago the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams gave a sermon on mission that was quite good and in it he said "Mission is most truly itself when it walks along the same road as those who are suffering in body or spirit. Only then does it walk the way of Christ. …to stand with and walk with those who are forgotten or despised, the poor in city and country, women who have suffered violence, children and migrants. Walking in this way will not guarantee success or safety, but it will be a true fellowship with Jesus; without that true fellowship with him, there will be no true reaching out in love to others, and without reaching out to others there is no fellowship with him."

We are trying to understand what it means to "walk along the same road as those who are suffering in body or spirit" We know that our privilege means we will never be on the same road. Even if we are walking together, side by side, we can never truly know the suffering the people of Namibia live with. We can be present to it, we can be a witness to it, but we will never really know it. These are nice words and what we are supposed to say about mission but there will always be something that keeps us from knowing truly what the people here experience.

Overall this has been one of the hardest, most challenging, most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life and we are not even half way through it. I ask for your prayers for the people of Namibia and all those who are here, far from home, working and serving the people. Peace, Jeremy

Trip to the South

2009-09-15T06:26:00.000+02:00

Hello everyone hope you are doing well. Penny and I are doing pretty well but we have been really homesick lately. As I said in as an earlier post we spent most of the month of August on the road. I am attaching several Web Albums to this post so that you can see where we have been and what we have been doing. I am also sharing what we wrote for this month’s parish newsletter. Peace, Jeremy and Penny

Ministry to the South
From 21 August to 1 September several members of St. George’s Cathedral travelled on a mission and ministry trip to the South. Penny, our new Deacon Thomas and myself began the journey and travelled through Keetmanshoop to Luderitz for Sunday Eucharist and Baptisms on 23 August. This is the Web Album for Luderitz and Oranjemund. Click Here. On 25 August we travelled to Karasburg to meet the rest of our team, Mrs. Hetty Rose Junius, Mrs. Rose Beukes, and Mr. Simon Wilke. We met with a Lutheran congregation for singing, prayer and fellowship on Wednesday as there was no sustained Anglican presence. After that we travelled to Noordower for a Eucharist on Friday, Aussenkher for a Eucharist and Baptisms on Saturday morning then on to Oranjemund for Sunday services on 30 August. Here is the Web Album for Keetmanshoop, Karasburg and Noordower. Click Here. This is the Aussenkehr Web Album. Click Here. After Church Hetty, Rose and Simon headed back to Windhoek via Keetmanshoop and Thomas, Penny and I started our trip back on Monday making a stop in Rosh Pinah to meet their lay minister and find out that they have 500 Anglicans on their role. We finally arrived home on Tuesday afternoon after 4000 kilometers of driving.

To say that this was an incredible journey would be an understatement. It was an amazing blessing and the Holy Spirit was with us all the way. It would take three Gateways to tell all the stories of the South so what I have asked everyone on our mission team to do is to write of the moment that had the greatest impact on them. The moment that they felt closest to Christ. This will be a way of introducing our trip along with a few photos. When we have had the opportunity to organize all the photos and our thoughts we will have a presentation at the Church for everyone to see what an amazing ministry this truly is. We are also starting to plan our next trip. If you are interested please let me know.

Moments Closest to Christ
My moment closest to Christ came in Noordower. On Friday morning we went to the home of Tate Enoch a lay minister for the Anglicans that meet in Noordower. We sat in chairs and on logs in front of his modest home made of sheets of tin and reeds and under a shade made of net and reeds. As we spoke it became apparent that this was a place for us to have a Eucharist. On the outside wall of his home was a hand painted sign that said “Congregation of Enoch”. We were told that since they were not a Church he did not feel comfortable giving his home a Church name but that he wanted people to know where to come for Anglican worship. As we sat and talked more and more people gathered around and as we prepared a small, folding table to be our altar the excitement grew. Close to 60 men, women and children gathered for communion and blessings. Just as the service was ending Tate Enoch asked to say a few words and came to put N.50 cents on the altar. After the service he told me he wanted us to have the money for our continued work in the South. As I looked around I think I know now how the disciples felt in Mark 12:41 when the widow comes to give her offering. Jesus says to them ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on. I humbly accepted his offering to God and commit to putting it to use in our continued ministry to the South. Fr. Jeremy+

Throughout our trip to the South I was overcome by a deep feeling of humility. It is hard to describe because it takes time for me to process all the emotions I felt. If there was one moment I could point to it would be standing and sharing communion with the people in Noordower and Aussenkehr. It felt like a true communion. We were sharing in something that brought us together. It touched me in a deep way that people who have almost nothing in common and come from such different worlds can be brought to a different understanding of who they are before God by standing side by side and sharing in the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We were connected in our common humanity and it is humbling to remember that connection. To remember that people are more than what they have, or where they work, or where they live. As Christians we are not defined by these things. We are defined by a common creator and savior who loves each one of us. Although we went to the South to take communion, I realized that true communion was already there and by going I found it. Penny

Trip to the South

2009-08-24T10:16:00.001+02:00

Hi Friends this is a very quick update sent from an internet cafe in Luderitz, Namibia. Luderitz is a small coastal town that looks like a cross between an old German village and a small town in the Greek Isles. 100 year old German buildings built on rocks in bright colors around Luderitz bay. We are here as part of our 10 day mission trip to the South of the country. Yesterday we had a great service at St. Peters and St. Lukes and did two baptisms. We leave tomorrow for areas even further south. Please keep us in your prayers. You can keep up with where we are on twitter or facebook or by checking the twitter feed on the left side of the blog. Peace, Jeremy

Quick Update

2009-08-05T07:22:00.001+02:00

Hi everyone hope you are all doing well. Penny and I are doing fine and are very, very busy. Since we returned to Namibia we have been going in 100 different directions. While this is good it takes away from our time to sit down and write on the blog. In fact the longer we go without a post the more overwhelmed we feel about how much has happened and how long the next post would need to be. So in an attempt to get out of the non-blogging rut we will try to post a few short things over the next few weeks. We will also try to put together some Web Albums to show you where we have been.

Our Tip Home

From May 19-June 22 we were in Alabama visiting family and friends. We had a wonderful time seeing everyone. It was our first trip home since coming to Namibia. The highlight of the trip was meeting our new nephew Max my sister Monica's first child. He is such a cool kid, and as good as Skype is to stay in touch, there is no way to reproduce holding a baby in real life. Our trip included visits to many Church in the Diocese of Alabama and we will be trying to send home more items for purchase. Overall we want to say thank you to everyone for you r love and support and please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Penny's Birthday

Some of you have probably seen our new profiles pictures on Facebook. Those were taken at a place called Sossusvlei about 5 hours south of where we live. They are considered by most experts to be the oldest and tallest desert dunes in the world. Many of the dunes are 1000 feet tall. It is a truly incredible place on the same level as the Grand Canyon. We took the trip as a way of celebrating Penny's 40^th Birthday on July 18. We camped two nights and stayed in a lodge two nights. It was really windy while we were there. In fact when we camped we had to tie our tent to the truck to keep it from blowing away. It was a great time.

St. George's Cathedral

Coming back to the day to day work at the Cathedral was like coming back to any job after being away for a while. There were a lot of things that needed to be dealt with and a pile of messages to deal with. We have recently been doing renovation and restoration work around the Cathedral grounds that has been needed for years. We are now finished with phase one and hopefully will be moving on to phase two soon. We are working on lots of outreach projects, training new lay ministers, teaching confirmation classes (35 students so far) and planning weddings (5 in the works for the next couple of months). Our newest project is going to be the Anglican Rosary Project to benefit our Loaves and Fishes homeless ministry. We are recruiting women and men from our ministry to make Anglican Rosaries that we will buy from them and then sell to benefit Loaves and Fishes. We hope to have the first rosaries made by the beginning of September and I am taking orders.

The other exciting thing happening at the Cathedral is an upcoming mission and ministry trip to the South of the country. On August 21, 6 members of the Cathedral, including me and Penny will be headed South 8 hours to celebrate communion and perform baptisms for parishes and outstations that have not seen a priest for a year. It will be a 10 day trip and we are getting very excited.

I am out of time to write more now. Next post I will update everyone on the Clergy training project. Peace, Jeremy

Sorry Friends

2009-07-15T21:49:00.001+02:00

This is just a quick note to let you all know that since we have been home we have had quite a time with both the internet and our phone. We have had almost none of either. Hopefully we will be back in touch and be able to post some photos from our trip home and of our upcoming trip to the Sossusvlei Dunes for Penny's Birthday. Peace, Jeremy

Back in Windhoek

2009-06-26T18:19:00.001+02:00

Hey Everyone just a quick note to tell you that we are home safely after a long week of travel. It is about 5pm and we are unpacking for as long as we can stand up. We still don't have home internet connection so I am not sure how often we will be able to email. I am at an internet cafe now not far from our house. We had a great visit home. Thanks to everyone for everything. We cannot express how great the trip was for us and we cannot wait to see you all again. Love, Penny and Jeremy

Help For Linea

2009-06-08T15:58:00.001+02:00

Dear Friends
We have been having and incredible time on our home stay. We spent the morning at St. John's in Decatur and had a great time. I want to say another very special thank you to Rev. Richard Lawson and Ms. Monica Romano. Monica has been travelling over the past two week to wherever we have been speaking to be our all around audio/visual professional. She created two DVD's of our photos and has been an incredible help. Yesterday was very special because we got to go "home" for a visit to our old parish in Athens, St. Timothy's. This visit was all the more special because we were joined there by The Rev. Deacon Linea Haufiku from Namibia. She is currently continuing her theological studies at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas but she is spending the summer on an internship in the Diocese of Alabama. She added so much to last night's discussion. Here is a photo of her (on the left) with the Rev'd Nangula Kathindi the coordinator of the Diocesan HIV/AIDS program. Since the time this photos was taken he has cut her hair. I made a request last night for some small amount of support for Linea while she is in the U.S. studying. Although she receives tuition and housing she still has to buy groceries and other household needs for herself AND she sends money home to support her mother and the 6 children that live with her now. Many people at St. Timothy's gave her a love offering last night but also requested her information to continue supporting her into the future. Thanks to everyone who made last night possible. Here is the information:

The Rev. Deacon Linea Haufiku
SUMMER ADDRESS IN ALABAMA
107 Forest Glen Dr.
Madison, AL 35758
(256) 479-5674

PERMANENT ADDRESS IN AUSTIN, TX
3007 Duval Street
Apt. 303 N
Austin, TX 78705

First Week Home

2009-05-29T16:53:00.000+02:00

Hi Everyone. I hope that everyone is having a great week. We are finally recovering from the trip home and have been criss-crossing the state visiting family for the past week. We are in Birmingham until Monday when we will head to North Alabama. So far it has been a great trip we spent Memorial Day with my sisters family and

the new baby Max. These photos are from their house. My bro-in

-law Phil made some incredible smoked BBQ and we had a nice relaxing day. This past Sunday night we went to St. Francis to share a little about our mission work. Monica Romano produced a great video for us and we had a really great evening. Thank you to everyone who donated to the cause. This weekend we will still be in Bham and I will be preaching at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Cahaba Heights. They have two services, one at 9am and one at 11:15am. During the Christian Education hour Penny and I will be giving a presentation on our mission work and selling all sorts of Namibian gifts to raise money for the cause.

Next week we are headed to North Alabama to visit with our friends from the Athens/Decatur/Huntsville/ Madison/Florence areas. We will be at St. John's in Decatur on Sunday the 7th of June. That night we will be at St Timothy's in Athens for a dinner and talk at 5:30pm. Ok that's all for now. Have a good weekend and follow us on Twitter. Peace, Jeremy and Penny

Feeling the trip

2009-05-23T21:42:00.001+02:00

There is a great comment by one of the characters of Willam Gibson's book Pattern Recognition. She says that when you fly long distances you move faster than your soul and leave it behind. It takes a few days for it to catch up. Today it feels like our soul has come crashing into our body. Since Wednesday when we arived we have been doing OK with the jet-lag but today it has hit us like a ton of bricks almost at the exact same time. We are doing alright but are having waves of dizziness and upset stomachs. I am sure it will pass. Please join us tomorow night at St. Francis of Assisi in Indian Springs for our first official dinner and talk if you can. Blessings and Peace, Jeremy and Penny

We're Home!!

2009-05-21T20:21:00.001+02:00

Hey everyone just wanted to send a quick email to let you all know that we arrived home safely yesterday around 12pm. We stayed awake until about 7pm and got up around 7am today. We are just hanging out recovering at my Mom's house in Bham. If you need to call us the number is 205 871-1084. We will be getting a cell phone in the next few days to have while we are home and I will send the number when we get it. Our first official event will be this Sunday evening the 24th at St. Francis of Assisi in Pelham. I think it is at 6:30pm. We will have dinner and then we will have a talk and give people a chance to buy a few things we brought home. Hope you are all well and thanks for the great weather in Birmingham. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone. Peace, Jeremy and Penny

Coming Home

2009-05-08T08:14:00.001+02:00

We hope that everyone is doing well. This will be our last post before we come home on May 20. On Sunday Penny and I are headed to the North for a week. Penny will be helping with an HIV/AIDS prevention and home based care training of trainers. I will be going for the second week of the clergy training program. We will be back in Windhoek on Sunday the 17th and begin our travels on the 19th. The last few weeks have been really great and we have made some great connections for our return. A few days ago Penny had a meeting with one of the directors of I-TEC (International Training and Education Center for HIV/AIDS), Yesterday we had the blessed opportunity to meet and have tea with Father Michael Lapsley and members of the training team from the Institute for the Healing of Memories. Here is a little about his story from the Forgiveness Project. Today we are going to sit down with Father Rick Bauer who is the director of Catholic AIDS Action in Namibia. It is great to be able to make these connections. We realize how much they could help with the work we are doing with the Diocese. This past week the Cathedral hosted meetings of the Cathedral Chapter and Standing Committee. The meeting included the Archdeacons from around the Diocese. There are so many stories from this country and diocese and the faith and hope of Anglicans here is beyond almost anything I have ever seen. Most priest in this country work for less than $200 USD a month. They are usually responsible for more than one parish and several outstations. Since almost none of them has a car they hitchhike between locations and then walk many kilometers to get where they are going. The parishioners go months sometimes without seeing priest but carry on with Lay Ministers doing Morning Prayer. The situation is desperate but there is hope. Next week will be the second seminar for out new clergy trainees and they are excited to take up their place in a few years. The Rev Deacon Linea Haufiku is now studying in the U.S. at Seminary of the Southwest and will be coming to the Diocese of Alabama for a three month internship this summer. She will be based at St. Matthews in Madison but will do some travelling to tell people about Namibia and share her own stories. She is an incredible person. I want everyone to know that your support for us has been turned into support for Linea.
We are really excited to be coming home for a month and look forward to seeing as many people as possible. On this trip we will be in Birmingham, Athens, and Gadsden to see family and friends and to do some preaching and presenting about our work in Namibia. Unfortunately we will not make it to the south or west of Bham on this trip. We won't make it to Montgomery, Auburn, Selma or Demopolis or to the Tuscaloosa area. On our next trip home we will make sure to put you all on the top of the list. If you are able to come to Birmingham, Decatur or Gadsden we would love to see you there.
Our next post will be from the U.S. Blessings and Peace, Jeremy and Penny

The Last Two Months

2009-04-23T10:15:00.000+02:00

Ok, so two weeks turned into two months without a post on the Blog. Hopefully you haven’t all forgotten about us. So many things have happened over the past two months that I will only give a summary. In mid February our friend Monica Romano from St. John’s Montgomery came for a visit. She brought four suitcases. Only half of one was her stuff. The rest were gifts and supplies generously donated by our friends in Alabama. We cannot say thank you enough for all the wonderful reminders of home and of the supplies for Sunday school.

While Monica was here we took 6 days and travelled around the country. We went North to Oshakati and ended up spending the day with an incredible group of people from the HIV support group at the village of Onakunghundi . I have sent out the web album to our email list but if you didn’t get that, here it is again. Click Here. The structure made of sticks is actually the Church/Preschool/meeting hall, etc. The people there were beautiful and generous, they cooked us a chicken and served us omalodu, traditional millet beer. We sang and prayed with them and were generally inspired by their hopefulness. You can see in some of the photos how high the water was when we visited. The flooding got much, much worse after that in the North. After leaving the North we took Monica to Etosha for some game viewing and to Swakopund for some ocean & dune viewing. It was a great trip and we were excited to see a friendly and familiar face. Just after Monica left we had a major computer crash and lost most all of our photos from the first 9 months. We thought they were backed up to another hard drive, but...

A couple of weeks after Monica left Penny and I were asked to come to an orphanage just across town with a friend from the U.S. Embassy. It was a life altering visit. I cannot go into detail about it here but here is what I wrote the night after our visit on my Facebook page:
Sometimes it happens before you know it. You walk into a place, a relationship, or a situation and before you know what is going on, your heart is removed from your chest and smashed on the ground in front of you. You feel your gut tighten and it hurts in a way no words could ever touch. A voice in the back of your mind says "What did you expect? This is the way it goes, this is life." Then you think you hear laughing, at how naive you were, at how silly your expectations about the world were. And all the time you stare down into the face of that child, crushing you heart beneath her feet. She smiles at you, it's her laughter you heard, and she's holding the first toy she has had in months. It only makes you happy that you once had a heart, it makes you remember where it was. Then the little boy comes to you wanting his photo taken and again you feel this ripping in your chest. "Wait" you think "isn't that over, isn't my heart destroyed beneath another foot?" And so it goes on and on and on for what seems like days, but is in reality only a few hours. The six month old infant, horribly thin and nursing a surgery wound bigger than her. A little girl unable to control her urination after being repeatedly raped by her step-father. 37 little children from 6 months to 17 years old, many HIV positive, living in a run down house, also known as an orphanage. A woman does her best to run this place with the help of German donors and provides a place and a home for those without a home. Each one of them now holds a piece of the heart that once lived in my chest. I'm happy I can still feel it hurt.

For the past few weeks everything has revolved around Easter. It is tradition at the Cathedral to invite a Holy Week presenter from outside the Diocese to spend Holy Week with us. To preach and celebrate and do a program associated with the themes of Holy Week. This year The Rt. Rev Garth Counsell, Bishop of Table Bay, and his wife Marion were our visitors. Bishop Garth is actually the Bishop of Cape Town in South Africa, but because that title is reserved for the Archbishop of Southern Africa, he is known as the Bishop of Table Bay. Bishop Garth and Marion stayed with us at the Deanery from just before Palm Sunday till the Tuesday after Easter. They are an incredible couple and we were so honoured to host them. It was truly a blessing and we feel as though we now have new friends in Cape Town. Easter at the Cathedral was an incredible experience and I learned so much. It is a blessing to celebrate the resurrection with so many incredible people.
Well that is all to say for now. I am trying to recover from multiple respiratory infections, from sinus to chest, I picked up over the past couple of months and finally went to the Dr. for. We took a few days at the coast and are resting and getting ready for our next busy time before we come home. In two weeks Penny goes North to help with HIV training and the following week I go North for the second session of our Clergy training program. After that we have a few days to pack and then we are in the States for a month. We will be arriving in Alabama in May 20th and be there until June 22nd. Two dates are organized for preaching and dinners. On May 31, Pentecost Sunday I will be preaching at St. Stephens in Birmingham. Penny and I will also present for the Sunday School that morning. That night we will be hosted for a dinner and talk at St. Francis in Indian Springs. On the following Sunday June 7th I will be preaching at St. John’s in Decatur, and we will have a dinner and talk at St. Timothy’s in Athens beginning at 5:30pm. More gathering times are sure to be added and we will do our best to keep everyone updated as to our whereabouts. We have added a Twitter feed to the blog and we are trying to Tweet regularly. We love you and appreciate all your prayers and support. We could not do this without you. Jeremy and Penny

Two weeks

2009-03-05T20:12:00.001+02:00

Looks like it will be at least two weeks until we get our laptop back. We will update the blog just as soon as we can.

Computer Crash

2009-03-03T11:09:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone we just wanted to give you a quick update and tell you that we are doing fine. We had planned a long update and many photos from the past month but on Friday we had a major computer crash. We are hoping they can save our photos. We backed up two weeks ago so mostly we are ok. We are now using the Parish office computer. We hope to have our computer back in the next week or so and when we get it we will send out a big update.

Two quick notes; 1.) Thank you again to everyone who sent thigs with Monica on her visit. you do not know how much it means to us and to those you are helping. and 2.) It was wonderful to hear everyone at Diocesan convention. Your voices were beautiful and really gave us a lift. Thanks.

Orientation Week

2009-01-14T18:39:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone we hope you have had a great start to the new year. We had a rather quiet evening with some new friends from South Africa on New Years but the 2009 has quickly picked up speed. From early December to mid-January Namibia pretty much takes a break and shuts down. But now as school is going back into session people are coming back from their holiday and picking up on things they didn't finish in November.

We started off the year by Jeremy going North to help with the first week of the Theological Training Program for the Diocese of Namibia. We have had the question from a few people about what it means to go "North" so hereis an explanation. North is the area of the country mostly populated by the Ovambo tribes. It was once known as Ovamboland. It is an 8 hour drive from where we live to the Anglican Center at Onekweya. It is a long drive with almost nothing to break up the drive. There are towns every 200 kilometers or so, but in between, nothing. So going North generally refers to that drive to historically Ovambo territory. The conference center is located about 10 kilometers into the bush off the main road.

As most of you know one of the main reasons we are in Namibia is to work on this theological training program for the diocese. We have been working really hard over the past six months to put the final touches on the framework or outline of how the program will run. This week from January 5-10 was our orientation. We had 49 students that showed up to begin this program. Each of them had gone through an interview process with the Diocesan Selection Committee and been recommended by their rector. There are 20 women and 29 men and 20 of the students are under the age of 25. These students will be using a curriculum from TEE South Africa. TEE stands for Theological Education by Extension. The difference in this program and other extension programs is that we wanted to give the students a sense of community and form a floating seminary. Each month students from each geographical area will gather to meet with a tutor, generally an archdeacon. Four times a year (January, May, August and October) they will come together as a large group in Seminars that will cover topics not included in the TEE program. In May we will begin our study of Anglican liturgy, music and the Prayer Book. It is an incredible group. Their commitment is already evident. Two of the students travelled over 1000kilometers to attend and most of the students slept on mattresses on the floor of old classrooms during the week. One student, Daniel came from over 70 kilometers in the bush from one of the parish outstations to attend. Only two of the students had cars so most either took a "taxi" or got a ride with someone in the program staff. I am amazed and inspired by them. I have posted a web album of photos from the orientation. Just click here to go and take a look.

There are so many things I could tell you about this week. One interesting statement came up when Lukas Katenda was talking about what it meant to be a shepherd. He asked the class how many of them had actually tended sheep or goats or cows at some point in their life. Every hand in the room went up. Each and every one of them had, at some point in time, tended animals. Scriptures speaking of Jesus as a shepherd will have a very different meaning to them than they do to most priests.

Another incredible find was to recover the Bill Yon library of books that were left at Etameko back in 1988. We had heard last year that the books had either been lost or destroyed but a little digging found them in a large room at Onekweya. They were probably 85% intact and just a little dirty. The room being cleaned in the photos is the library and almost all of the books you see were donated by Bill. The students were so excited to have their very own seminary library and we have committed to continue building this resource. Any priests that are looking for a way to clean out all those books from seminary? Put them in a box and mail them to: The Rev. Jeremy Lucas, Box 65 Windhoek, Namibia. A large box will probably cost you a couple of hundred dollars but there are much worse things you could spend your money on. Don't worry about duplicates we can organize several resource libraries around the diocese to house them. Any books about theology, liturgy, biblical studies, pastoral care or preaching. Classic books like City of God or any other standards. Just send them. They will do more good on the shelves here than on the shelves there.

Another find was a beautiful stained glass made by Bill while he was here. It is a cross laid over Africa with the words God Bless Africa across the bottom. This is part of the prayer for Africa;

God Bless Africa

guard her children

guide her leaders

and give her peace

for Jesus' Christ's sake. Amen

We rescued the window from the floor of the room we cleaned out and brought it to the deanery to preserve this piece of history.

We will continue telling stories about the Training Program and its students and I hope you will realize how much your support means to the Diocese and people of Namibia. Just as a reminder February 22 is World Mission Sunday. It would be a great time to ask people in your parishes to donate to Mission to Namibia. Mail checks to 521 North 20th Street, Birmingham, AL 35213. Memo the checks Mission to Namibia.

The month of February would also be a wonderful time to organize a webcast via Skype. Send us an email and we will set up the details. February 15 will be the only time we know we will be out of town in the North.

We hope you are having a blessed Epiphany. Peace, Jeremy and Penny

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2008-12-23T08:14:00.000+02:00

It is with very mixed emotions that I write to tell you about the last couple of months here in Namibia. So much has been happening that is wonderful and incredible, but here at the holidays we are really missing our family and friends at home. It is not that we haven't missed them before now, just that holidays bring a special kind of homesickness.

One of the reasons we are so homesick now is that my sister Monica had her first baby about two weeks ago on December 6th. We are new aunt and uncle and will be missing Max's first Christmas. He is a beautiful baby and Monica and Phil (her husband) are awesome parents. Please pray for them as they experience all the joys and challenges to come.

So it has been almost 2 months since our last post. It is not that we have had nothing to tell but that here in Namibia, especially in Windhoek, November and the first of December are extremely busy. It is just turning from spring to summer and the schools are out for their long summer break before the new school year begins in mid-January. December through mid-January is also holiday time for most of the country. By the second week in December most government offices have closed and people have started travelling. Many people go to the coast (where we spent a week) and others go to their traditional homesteads in the North. Really everything has to be finished for the year by November. Some of the highlights of November were Thanksgiving with a group of new friends from the U.S. Embassy. You know its not really a holiday unless you are an American. The Loaves and Fishes Christmas Party. As you may remember Loaves and Fishes is the homeless feeding program of the Cathedral. It provides food every Wednesday for around 40-60 homeless people from our community. It also provides a hot meal one Saturday a month. This year we expanded its mission to also provide medical vouchers for basic healthcare. At the end of the year we have a party for all the regulars and give them gifts of clothes and basic self care items. It was a great party. The last, biggest thing for November was the Bishop's visit on the 30th. Bishop Nakwatumba came and baptised 11 and confirmed 32 in a three hour service with more people sitting outside than inside. In fact we did the baptisms outside so that more people would be involved in the service.

The month of December started off with a bang. On December 3rd we celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. Nothing big. Just a toast and plans for our two week trip away from Windhoek.

Most everyone we talk to about living in a foriegn counrty tells us that it takes at least 6 months to get used to your new place. We are just shy of 6 months and unless something huge happens in the next 4 days I think it may take a little longer. We decided that mid-December would be a good time to get away from the city and travel a little on the way to our friend Lukas' wedding in the North.

We left on the 8th of December and drove through the bush to Swakopmund on the coast. We spent a cloudy and cool week there before heading North to Twyfelfontein for a couple of nights of camping on the banks of the (dry) Aba Huab river in Damaraland. The drive was amazing and Twyfelfontein is home to the largest collection of ancient rock carvings in Africa. Some of the carvings are over 6000 years old. One of the coolest is the Lion Man carving depicting the shamanistic belief that they could change into animal form. The feet and tail of the lion have human hands with five fingers. You can also see giraffe, rhino, springbok and quite a few other animals in this carving.

After two nights under the stars our trip carried us further North through terrain that reminded us of our trip through the Southwestern U.S. a few years ago. We drove several hours to just outside the Okakweyu Gate of Etosha National Park. Etosha is a huge game reserve that many people say is the best in all of Africa. After this trip we would have to agree. We spent two days in the park and saw an amazing array of animals. The two that stand out the most were the lions and the elephants.

Rather than tell the whole story in one long blog post we will post a more detailed story and a web album after the first of the year. But here are two photos that will sum up our experience. The first is of a massive old bull elephant that came out of the bush and straight toward our car. Penny took this photo as we were backing up the road. He walked right in front of our car and over to a mud hole in the road to spray himself with mud. We sat less than 20 feet from him for about half an hour. He never seemed to care that we were there, only that we were between him and the mud hole.

The second photo is one of about 50 we took of a pride of lions lying just off the side of the road. We were acutally on our way out of the park when we saw two cars parked side by side in the road. We wondered what they were doing and as we drove past them looked down and saw a male lion with two females and two weaned cubs lying under this tree. We sat and watched them over the next hour. We were never more than 30 feet from them. Over that hour one of the females went out to the bush and caught a jackal puppy and the male mated with the other female. It was like we had stepped into an episode of Wild Kingdom or were on National Geographic.

After leaving Etosha we continued driving north to our final destination Rev. Lukas Katenda's wedding. Lukas' wedding was a three day event that started on Thurday night at his homestead. Acutally it started that night at Lukas' and about 200 kilometers away at his bride's father's homestead. The night before the wedding family and friends get together to eat a freshly killed cow and to dance and sing through the night. We spent about 4 hours at Lukas' that night and did just that. Ate meat from a handmade traditional bowl and danced with the family and friends. We hit the bed about 1am that night.

The next day was the wedding day. It was supposed to begin at 9am. This being Africa we did not even arive until 10am and were almost the first there. The wedding actually began at 12pm and ended about 4pm. It was a traditional Anglican wedding with lots of singing and speeches after the official service. After the wedding comes the bride's reception at her homestead. We got there about 6pm and followed the procession of singing and dancing to the tree. It is traditional for the new bride and groom to go to a nearby tree for more speeches and the giving of gifts from the bride's family and friends. After the tree service everyone heads into the homestead where huge tents have been assembled for the reception. But this is just the fist of two massive parties. The second takes place on day 3.

The bride and groom do not stay together on their wedding night. Instead the next day the groom goes and gets her and brings her to his homestead and another day and night of parties begins. I have downloaded quite a few photos from the wedding to this web album Lukas and Aune Wedding Photos Web Album I hope you enjoy the photos. If you have any questions about what you see please ask. There are so many details to a traditional wedding ceremony in Ovambo culture I could never know them or write them all. But we did learn a lot from the elders of the tribes and we may be able to answer a few questions.

It would be very easy for someone reading this blog to get the impression that driving around Namibia is just one big safari adventure. Namibia is a beautiful country, both naturally and its people, but this beauty can mask the ugliness of abject poverty and disease. As we travelled through the small towns and villages we were met with experiences of terrible suffering. People of all ages were scratching out a meager life selling trinkets on the roadside. We passed one cart pulled by donkeys that had a wheelchair strapped to the back. Children at every stopped begged for a dollar (about 10 cents U.S.). Most of the country lives like this. 60-65% live on less than $2 a day. We drove past children drinking from puddles of water on the roadside. There have been recent reports of cholera. Namibia has a particularly virulant strain of Malaria called falciparum. If not diagnosed early and correctly (its symptoms are like the flu) it attacks the brain can lead to death. Every night after we left Swakopmund we slept under a net took our medication and sprayed ourselves with Peaceful Sleep bug spray. We only drank only bottled drinks and carried all our own water. One part of the wedding celebrations that very few people know about it that, when you get married you are expected to feed anyone who shows up and given the high poverty rate hundreds of people showed up at Lukas' wedding looking for food. And they were fed because they were part of the community. This trip across the country goes into our conflicting experiences in Namibia. On the one hand beautiful on the other ugly. On the one hand happiness and joy on the other pain and suffering. Remembering that every 5th person we met was probably HIV positive.

We are now back in Windhoek and preparing for Christmas services. Christmas Eve Mass is at 11pm and Christmas Day is 830am. We have decided to spend a quiet Christmas at home and make a few dishes to make us feel a little closer to home. We want to take this opportunity say thank you to everyone who has supported us over the past year. It has been a time of unbelievable change in our life and there have been quite a few times over the past 6 months that we had no idea what we were doing or why. And almost every single time we were at our most lonely or hopeless or homesick someone wrote us an email or called us on Skype to say hello and remind us we were not for. Other times we would be reminded of how many people were praying for us and supporting us financially in our ministry. You have helped us so much over the past year. Next year is going to be full of more challenges. I will be starting work on our theological training program (January 4-10 is orientation) and Penny will begin working with the diocesan HIV/AIDS program and continuing her work with the after school program. Please continue to remember us in your prayers and we will write again after the new year. Love, Penny and Jeremy

Gone up North

2008-11-04T14:57:00.000+02:00

After three hours of vomiting I thought there may be a problem. I should have realized it six hours earlier when my fever spiked and my body felt like it was being squeezed in a vice. But being in Ondongwa in northern Namibia I wasn't quite sure what I would do anyway. I had arrived mid day after a 2 hour drive from Tsumeb, Namibia. I left Windhoek on Saturday after a wedding and drove 4 1/2 hours to Tsumeb to break up the drive. About an hour into the drive to Ondongwa I started feeling warm and my muscles started aching. When I got to my hotel I was feeling worse by the minute and decided to take a nap. When I woke up I felt worse than before but thought I could tough it out and hopefuly it would go away. It did not go away, but actually intensified. From 2-5:30, I laid on the bed trying to rest and at 5:30 it hit me, I started throwing up and could not stop. But then it got even a little worse. The power went out. It was over 100 degrees in Ondongwa that day. So there I was, in a hot hotel room, throwing up by flashlight trying to keep a wet towel on me to stay cool. By 8:30pm I could not take it any more, and after talking to Penny decided to look for a doctor. I was not even sure if there was a doctor in Ondongwa. My friend Mike went to the front desk and they called the hotel doctor, Dr. Patrick. He came to the hotel about 9pm and checked me out and said it looked like a bad case of food poising. So he gave me a couple of injections, some antiboitics and some rehydration mix and said to call him if I needed him. For his two trips to the hotel and all the medications I paid N$400. That comes to about $42 US dollars. Now I don't want to be the focus of this blog post, but I will tell you what I was thinking when I was laying in that hot hotel room bed. I was thinking about all the people, the men, women and children, that I saw living in stick or mud brick huts and walking miles with containers of dirty water on their head and realizing that people die everyday from exactly the same kind of food or water bourn illness I had. They lie in huts in the swealtering heat and have no access to medical care, and if they had access the bill would be over a months salary for most of them. It was a very humbling expeience that I have yet to fully appreciate.

What I did realize the next morning was that even though I did not feel very good, nothing was going to stop me from getting the books and toys to the children. Last week Penny and I went and spent $500 US on school books, supplies and a couple of balls. This money was donated by the great people from the Diocese of Alabama and others from around the county to support these and other projects we are working with. I drove from Ondongwa to the Angolan border and over to St. Mary's Anglican Mission at Odibo to deliver the first two boxes. The following photos show the kindergarden. There are 35 children and two very low paid teachers (about $15 a month) in a tiny room being loaned to them from another group. The first photo is of the building but only half the building is their space.

They are looking at ways to expand this space and it would probably only take $5000 US to double the space and make it useable. As you can see from the other photos the space inside is packed with left over junk from other things. There is so much stuff they cannot even put out the table and chairs they have. The second photo is of the teachers and the other is of the first few children who saw the stuff. They thought Christmas had come early and the truth is that these two boxes for the school is more than any of these children will get for Christmas. The next few photos show more reactions to the gifts. What I want everyone to remember is that the money you gave to us for Mission to Namibia made this possible and this is only the first of many trips to help support the pre-k schools in the North.

About an after-school program

2008-10-06T14:58:00.000+02:00

I don't think I told any of you about this so I think I will take time now to do so. Two weeks ago I went with some women (3 others) I met at the International Women's club to an after school program that started at 1pm and ended around 4pm. It is suppose to be for young children maybe 5-7 years old. The program is held at an elementary school in two or three of the class rooms. The idea is that they help children learn the basics necessary for reading, writing, math,etc. Some need to learn to speak English.

The school is in Katatura which is the very poor area of the city of Windhoek. I really did not know what to expect. When we arrived there were 40-50 kids. Their ages ran from 4-14 I would guess. It was very chaotic and the supplies were VERY limited. Very few books, no coloring supplies, scarce pencils or paper, a few matching games, and counting cards. There were a few etch-a-sketch type things but, they did not work very well at all. I have to admit that I was terrified! These kids were all at different levels in their skills. Some had no idea what I was saying because they could not speak English. Others were trying to learn to count or their ABCs. Some were further along and a few were even doing homework. 5-6 kids were gathered around the table I was at and they all needed different help. They all kept saying teacher or pulling on my clothes for my attention. Finally I realized what each of the children wanted, ATTENTION! I have never been sat on, hugged, teased (in a kind way), and held on to so much in my life! We finally split into two rooms and played simple games with the kids. I was in the room with the older ones maybe 8-14.

The kids would beg to sit next to you and even the 2 to 3 older girls eventually ended up next to me and would tap my shoulder and pretend like they hadn't. When I would catch them they would just giggle like little kids. They all wanted to feel my hair as well. Several would call me "mama". They all asked me and the other women if we would come back the next day. There is usually only 1-2 local women who are with the children each day. This is a tiny program. There are others that have hundreds of children who come. They even have to turn many away. It was an amazing experience but, it was heartbreaking as well. A few children had really bad sores that appeared to need medical attention. Most the kids did not have shoes. Their clothing was old and often to small. One of the older girls had on a skirt held together on the side with safety pins all down it. This was not a fashion statement, just a real necessity. Several of the little girls had on dresses and skirts that were way to short because they were too little. I kept wanting to pull it down so you couldn't see their panties. All I could think about was the rape and abuse of young women and girls in that area. I wanted to just bring all the kids home with me.

I plan to go back as soon as I can. The woman I ride with usually goes every Thurs. but, I was sick last week and her daughter is sick now. I hope this week we can go. I guess the hardest part about the whole thing was that the kids just wanted you to notice and talk to them. They really didn't seem to care who I was as long as I was interested in them. All these kids come from very poor families and some of them are in pretty bad situations from what I was told. I was so ashamed of some of the things that I have thrown away in the U.S. These children had on stuff I would use as old rags or just throw out. Me and the other women obviously looked wealthy compared to the children just by our clothes, shoes, and jewelry but, the kids didn't seem to notice. If they did it didn't seem to be an issue. In the U.S. we throw away better things than many people here own. I realize even being homeless in the U.S. is being better off than these people. Think of all the stuff we throw out. If food gets too old then we don't want it anymore. If fruits or veggies get a little brown they are tossed. Restaurants and grocery stores throw out tons of food. Please do not think I am telling you this to make you feel guilty I am just trying to work it out for myself. I really don't know how to put the great wealth I posses next to the great poverty these people endure. I am so rich compared to most in Africa. I am having a hard time witnessing all this. I knew it was going to be hard coming here but, some days it is overwhelming.

The one thing I keep going back to is this: everything I have ever done that was worthwhile was because I just took a step and showed up. Most of the time I had no idea what I was getting into but, that was the beauty of it all. If you just put yourself out there you never know how God will use you in someone else's life. Or maybe how God will have someone else change you. I am certain I did nothing for those children on that Thursday afternoon and I am positive that I do very little for the homeless people who I help out with on Wednesdays at the church. I do know for certain what all of them do for me and that is to be greatly humbled by them. They all remind me of how life could be very different and how embarrassingly rich I am. They can laugh and find joy even though they have almost nothing. I struggle not to pack up and come home so that I don't have to see all this. It is really hard!! I just want to ignore it all sometimes but, I know that is not what I am suppose to do. I have been called to be a witness here for some reason. Why God would want that of me is something I am still trying to figure out. I guess, if nothing else, that I was just willing to show up. I often never know why I was suppose to do something until long after I have finished. Don't ever underestimate what a difference you may make just by showing up to do something. You may find it was all about you getting something wonderful and priceless in return. Thank you for letting me "talk" this out a bit. I am still trying to process this. I hope you are all well. You all are in my prayers. Penny

Life in Windhoek

2008-09-15T06:01:00.000+02:00

So I have been promising for several weeks to post to the blog and so far I haven’t done it. So now I have made you wait long enough for the latest adventures of Jeremy and Penny in Namibia. Well that might not be quite right because contrary to popular myth the life of a missionary is not filled every day with what would be considered excitement. When things really start getting down to business is when you have to start living your day to day life, day in and day out in the place you have come to work. I will be honest, some times it is just regular life. But the real essence of working in another country is getting into the lives that the people around you live, building relationships and just living.
This is not to say that we are not busy or that we are not experiencing amazing things. So far there are 60 people who have submitted applications to the clergy training program. We will only be able to take 36-40 depending on the price of the Theological Education by Extension classes and the cost of food and supplies for the program. The cost of living in Windhoek and in many parts of Namibia has been going up for months. There is a lot of excitement about this program and the Selection Committee (the same as a Commission on Ministry) should be able to choose a great group of folks.
Penny and I have been helping out with a ministry here at the Cathedral called Loaves and Fishes. It is a feeding program for the homeless that provides a small amount of food every Wednesday to between 40-60 people. We have been getting to know them and some of their stories are heartbreaking. There is a medical clinic that will treat them, or at least give them a check-up for N$5.00. That is less than $1 US dollar and none of them can afford to go to the clinic. We sent 4 people this past Wednesday for various problems. The folks that run the program have recently made a deal with another nearby clinic to allow us to use vouchers and then pay at the end of the month. It is a great ministry that also provides a hot meal one Saturday a month.
We think we have finally gotten our security situation under a little better control. After the theft, the parish put up a 10 foot high fence with razor wire around the top. This will at least slow people down that are trying to break in. But there is also the issue of street violence. In the past few weeks we have had two young people from our congregation attacked by thieves. One was stabbed in the back, and was sent to the hospital for a cell phone, the other was knocked down and kicked before undercover police stepped in to catch one of the guys. The second incident happened after a Wednesday night confirmation class I have been teaching. The young woman was walking downtown to catch a cab to take her home. When I say cab please don’t think of anything yellow or New York-like. Think 1980 Datsun with a yellow Taxi sign on top and the name of the cab company on the side in plastic peel-off letters. Most people in Windhoek don’t have cars so these taxis are their only means of transport. So the young woman who was assaulted was the niece of one of our priests, Father Samuel. He called me shortly after it happened and asked if we could go and see about her. I called her and she was on her way to the police station. Now when I say police station don’t think of any major or even minor city police stations, think 1950's bungalow converted into a station with the back-porch enclosed in bars and acting as the holding cell. The holding cell which is reached by walking through the kitchen/conference room/interview room. The guys who had assaulted Fr. Samuel’s niece had been caught the previous two nights robbing tourists at knife point, but none of the tourists wanted to make a case so they had to release the guys. It was a wild night at the police station and I am not sure it is important to tell all the details. Let’s just say it was a frustrating and eye-opening experience and that we hope we don’t have to visit again anytime soon.
So this is everyday life in the mission field. We really appreciate you keeping us in your prayers and for all the support you have given us.

New York Times

2008-08-23T11:02:00.000+02:00

If you have not seen it I encourage you to go and have a look at the New York Times article about Namibia. It is in the Travel section for August 24th. It has some very interesting information about the country and about the clash of cultures taking place in Namibia. Have a great Saturday. J

...And We're Back

2008-08-21T08:27:00.000+02:00

Well the past few weeks have been a series of ups and downs, both literally and metaphorically. So this post will probably be a little long. We will try and make up for it with some photos.

I will begin with something good. The clergy training program is getting started. We have had two discernment days over the past few weeks. Lukas and I met with 11 people from the area around Windhoek and South and then Lukas went to the North this past weekend to meet with another large group. It was great listening to their stories and feeling their ethusiasm. We have really started to get the program together. Towards the beginning of October the selection commitee will meet and choose the postulants for the training program. They will register for their TEE (Theological Education by Extention) materials in November and we will have our orientation week in January. We hope to have 36-40 students in the program. Everything will depend on how far we can make the grant money go. We have a plan, but the changing economic conditions could affect how many students we can accept.

Now for the big downer. On Wednesday, August 6th, The Transfiguration. Penny and I were both invited to lunch with different people. Me with the personal assistant for the Ambassador of Nigeria and Penny with the Dean's wife. She left at 12:30pm, I left at 1pm. She got back at 2pm. I arrived about an hour later and found Penny standing with the Dean at the front of our house. As I walked up the steps she told me that our house had been broken into. She had come into the house to find that the window in our living room had been broken and the security bars pried off. She initially thought that only the computer had been stolen, but after some searching realized that our old and brand new digital cameras had been stolen. After a day or so we also figured out that Penny's purse an my second wallet had been stolen. Betwen the two they got Penny's iPod and both our credit cards. By the time we cancelled the cards on Friday the thieves had charged several thousand dollars. For the next few days we had a guard at night. Since that time the parish has really taken security much more seriously. We have a new temporary security fence in the front and back and a new plan for security of the property.

Over the days that followed the theft we experienced a range of emotions. Sometimes we were angry other times we were sad. Sometimes we felt guilty for having these things in the first place and other times we were frustrated that we lost photos of our family and friends that had not been downloaded or backed-up. When we moved here we did not bring much, mostly clothes and electronics. We had been feeling really homesick anyway and then to have most of what conected us to home taken was hard. At the same time we could look around and see how little most people here have, the high unemployment rate and rising food prices make for a desperate situation. As we takled to people in the parish we realized that most everyone has had a theft of some kind and that in many ways it is a rite of passage. We feel connected in a different way. We know we must remain vigilant about our security, both property and physical, but we cannot lock ourselves away and become disconnected from the people were are here to serve.

Enough bad news lets get to some good stuff. About the same time that were were robbed Penny and I had been considering adopting a cat from the SPCA here in Windhoek. We had actually gone the day before and picked out two cats and they were being spayed at the time. We went and picked them up the Friday after the theft. You can see them in the photo. Since we had been feling homesick we named our new additions after rivers in Alabama. The grey and white cat is named Coosa and the calico/tabby mix is named Sipsey. They are very sweet and affectionate and have brought new life to the house. As you can see they have already started getting comfortable.

So we went and ordered a new computer and had to wait about 2 weeks to get it. The Olympics have been a nice diversion and we have never felt so patriotic. You can tell that you are feeling homesick when you get tears in your eyes during the medal ceremony for womens gymnastics. I realized that this was the first time I have ever heard the Star Spangled Banner from another country.

This past weekend we experienced a highlight of our time here so far. The Dean, Mike and his wife DeeDee and Penny and I took the youth confirmation class on a camping and hiking trip to the Nakluft Mountains. There were 20 kids aged 12-17, from a variety of economic backgrounds.

We left at about 11am on Friday for a 5 hour drive through the bush to the Namib/Nakluft National Park. We took a bus that had seen better days but semed up to the trip. Mike followed in his truck. About 3 hours into the trip we had our first flat tire, on Mike's truck. A very nice Austrian couple on holiday in Namibia stopped to offer assistance. About 30 minutes later our second flat, this time on the bus. This is a part of the world where you must take flat tires very seriously. As you can see from the photos we are out in the middle of nowhere and it can be hours before another car passes.

So we finally arrived at our camp site and got everything together. The kids were split into teams and were each responsible for preparinga meal. It was very cold during our trip. A cold front from the Cape came through and brought temps close to freezing both nights. It did, however, make the 10 mile hike the next day much nicer. Rather than try and narrate the entire hike and the rest of our trip I will download photos and just say a word about each one.

This photo is of our first meal being prepared.

These are our kids along with Mike, DeeDee, myself and our bus driver Jack. Penny is taking the photo.

Next a couple of photos of the amazing scenery. As I said the hike was 17km or about 10.5 miles and reached a hight of 1910 meters (6266 feet) Its 1000 feet higher than Denver. We will post more photos of the trip in our next post.

We will be updating the blog more frequently now that we have our computer back. Thank you for all your prayers and support. We heard that we made the Huntsville Times last Friday. If anyone has a copy please drop it in the mail to Jeremy and Penny Lucas PO Box 65 Windhoek, Namibia, we would love to see it. Blessings and Peace, Jeremy an Penny

Getting Settled

2008-08-01T09:33:00.001+02:00

Well it has been a couple of weeks since our last blog post, so much for the weekly update. Sorry to keep y’all waiting. We are still getting settled into our new home and can’t believe that we have only been here for 5 weeks. The past two weeks have been very busy.

Just before Penny and I were to leave on a four day break at the coast, I had my first death in the parish. It was obvious that he was highly respected and loved by everyone who knew him. He was Kwanyama and was the principle at a High School in the North. I visited his home the evening after he died and was invited in to be part of the mourning to read scripture and say prayers for the family and Damien. It was an incredible evening of Kwanyama hymns and offerings of condolence to his widow and children.

On the Saturday after he died we held a memorial service at the Cathedral in the morning. Close to 150 people came as we said prayers and heard remembrances. After the service the family and friends left Windhoek to travel to the North for the full service of the Burial of the Dead. That service can take 4 hours or longer we have heard.

That afternoon Penny and I left and drove across the Namib Desert to the western coast. On the way we were stopped by the police. The officer was checking speed with a radar gun, but I knew we had not been speeding. We had been warned that Namibian police were out in force to catch speeders so we were watching. He pulled us over by stepping into the road and waving us to the side. When we stopped I asked if we were speeding and he said “No”. Then he began asking for something that I could not understand and finally Penny heard the words “Red Triangle”. He finally communicated to us that he needed to see our red triangle. I had absolutely no idea what he was wanting but came to figure out that each car is required to carry a set of red triangles to put on the road in case of an emergency, to alert other cars to your presence. As we were driving the parish car I had no idea if there were red triangles or not. I got out of the car and checked the boot, (the ‘boot’ is what they call the car trunk in Namibia) No triangles. So he told me that he would have to give me a ticket, but that it was only N$100 or about $14 US. I said ok and then he asked if I knew were to go and pay the ticket. I told him I had no idea, and he said we would have to go back to the last town we passed (about 45 minutes ago) and pay it. I told him that we were on our way to the coast and would be coming back on Wednesday, and I asked if we could pay it on our way back. I also told him that we would buy red triangles as soon as we got to Swakopmund. At this he got very confused and said he didn’t know what to do. Finally he decided that he no longer wanted to deal with us and told us that we could just go, which we did.

We stayed for 4 nights in a flat across from the ocean loaned to us by some friends, in a small tourist town called Swakopmund that is sometimes referred to as being more German than Germany. Swakopmund means “mouth of the Swakop” in German and refers to the Swakop river that flows into the Atlantic when there has been significant rainfall. There are all kinds of shops and restaurants that cater to the many German tourists who visit. The architecture also reminds you of a German village as you can see from this photo. We did not take this photo. But we did take others. We got a new camera just before we left the United States and have not had time to download the software to our computer. As soon as we do you will have more photos then you ever wanted from Namibia.

We stayed in Swakopmund until Wednesday and then drove home. It is about a 4 hour drive over paved roads, some of which are in major need of repair. A few times we had to slow down for baboons or warthogs in the road and mainly tried to stay out of the way of the crazy drivers.

This past Sunday I was Celebrant and preacher for both services. The service is from the Anglican Prayer Book of the Province of Southern Africa 1989 and is similar in many ways to the BCP 1979. It follows the same pattern more or less; Ministry of the Word, sermon, Prayers of the People, the Peace, and then the Communion. I think anyone visiting from an Episcopal Church would be able to follow along with very little problem. Our Old Testament reading last Sunday was about Moses being sent by God to the Hebrew people in slavery. So I taught everyone Go Down, Moses in my sermon and we sang together a couple of verses. It was great. Some people really got into it and other now just think I am crazy.

This past week I was really busy with parish administrative issues and working on the Clergy training program. We begin the selection process in 2 weeks with interest meetings in Windhoek and the North and then the Commission on Ministry will select the ordinands in September. Penny and I had our first tutoring session in Oshikwanyama the past Wednesday. We have scheduled regular Wednesday morning classes so hopefully we will know how to say something more than good morning. Penny is doing well and is about to begin exploring where her skills can be most useful.

We also want to say a special thank you to everyone who has sent us mail. It takes at least 2 weeks from the US to get a card and longer for any kind of larger package or box. We will try and let you know when we get your mail so that at least you can know it arrived. We are still looking for people to download SKYPE. It is a very easy way to connect and talk to us. The best times to call us are between 7am-3pm Central Time. We are 6 hours ahead of Alabama. If you want to call the best thing to do is to send us an email and tell us a good time. We have been having a little trouble with our internet connection the last week or so (it goes out for 24 hours at a time with no real explanation, and Telecom who runs the system stops answering the phone) So we have not been able to really say for sure we could be available. So if we make a plan to talk and you can’t get us please know that we have no control over the system so keep trying.

I hope you enjoy reading our updates. Thanks to everyone sending email it is great to hear from you. It helps us to feel not quite as homesick as we are. Blessings and Peace, Jeremy

Understanding Africa

2008-07-15T09:22:00.000+02:00

I hope that you have all had a great week and I know that you have anxiously been waiting for our next blog post. Well here it is. This past week has been our opportunity to come face to face with some of the realities of Africa that we did not expect.

When someone says “realities of Africa” many things probably jump into our minds and most of them are bad. Let me just begin with a small statement of common sense, Africa is a huge Continent made up of countries that are as diverse as any you could find anywhere in the world. From predominately Muslim countries in the North, such as Egypt to very diverse countries, in every way possible, such as South Africa. From places of almost constant conflict like Sudan, to places of relative peace like Namibia. All in all there is no way to describe Africa as any one thing. There are specifics of place just like in the U.S.A. If someone asked me to tell them about the U.S. I might say some things about the places I had been or the constitution but, nothing that I could say would ever describe the specifics of places like New York City, or Athens, Alabama. It is just not possible. So it is also not possible to describe Africa, a continent over 3 times the size of the U.S. What you will have before you is one small slice of African life.
This slice of life is from Central Windhoek and this week it included connection to two pieces of technology, a cell phone and T.V. with a satellite hook-up. In addition to our high-speed wifi internet connection we are very connected to technology. Most people in Windhoek have cell phones and I think it could be safely said that it is THE main way people communicate with one another in the city and in the rural areas. Many people, I could not say how many also have TV’s with satellite. There are no TV signals other than satellite so if you have a TV you must have some way to pick up a signal. So it is quite strange for us to be here in Namibia and have many of the things we had at home. I have been reflecting this week on whether or not we SHOULD have these things. Certainly it is possible to get by without them and they represent different things to different people. It would be easy for someone in the U.S. to say, “Well if they can have a cell phone and missionaries can have TV sets why do they need our help?”

What is missed most often coming from a western cultural context is that all the trappings of western consumerism are a very thin veneer here in Namibia and I would guess in most of Africa. While there may be cell phones, there is not always electricity to charge them, while there may be TV’s and satellite connections, rolling blackouts are becoming more and more common. Many people who have these types of “conveniences” don’t have reliable sources of clean water. I guess what I am trying to say is that just because someone has a cell phone or TV does not mean that there is an infrastructure behind it. It is a lot easier to put up a cell phone tower than to provide whole towns with drinking water, and it is a lot easier to get a TV than to prevent the spread of malaria. It is a lot easier to buy western clothes and listen to western music than it is to provide public education to all children. I would say that, just because things might look the same on the surface level, like veneer, doesn’t mean they have the same depth of infrastructure. That is what we, and others, are here for. We are here to work with the Diocese to help develop depth.

July 4th, 2008

2008-07-04T18:56:00.000+02:00

Well there it is. (pictured left) Our tribute to America on our first July 4th in Africa. As you might expect this day went by rather uneventfully here in Namibia. Although when we went to change money today the guy at Bank of Windhoek asked how our 4th was going. KFC is the only American fast food chain in Namibia. No Mc. D's, no Burger King, nothing else but KFC. So I waited about 30 minutes in a line to get a three piece originally recipe, mashed potatoes and gravy, and two cans of Coca Cola. They, regrettably did not have biscuits, so we ate it with German white rolls called Brotchen. It was not quite the same but we enjoyed it. We topped it off with some peanut M&M's. Last night we had dinner with some friends who had invited over the outgoing director of USAID for Namibia. They we ending their assignment after 4 years and told us how much we were going to enjoy the country. They were great folks and we are sorry they are leaving so soon after we arrived. They did tell us however that there is a new young couple working for the CDC here in Windhoek that have both recently finished their PhD's in Alabama so hopefully we will meet them soon.

We have been here 10 days and are both starting to feel a little better. We were both sort of thrown into the deep end as soon as we got here last week. We arrived on Wednesday and the following Sunday was the installation service for myself and the Dean at the Cathedral of St. George. It was about a 2 1/2 hour service complete with one of the Wardens passing out and an ambulance being called to take her to the hospital. She is fine now but when I went to see her yesterday she was still very embarrassed. So we have not had a lot of time to just sit back and get our bearings. The only clock we had when we got here was on the computer, so we went and bought a wall clock that kept perfect time for exactly 24 hours then started losing time until it just stopped working all together. Today I went out and got two more clocks, from different shops. Windhoek is a very modern and in some ways cosmopolitan city of about 300,000 people. There are German grocery store chains that sell great bread, meat and beer along with just about anything else you would ever want. There are electronics stores selling everything that you could find in Best Buy in the states. There are shops that sell incredible coffee and locally made crafts. You name it and we have access to it within walking distance of our front door. But this is not the reason we moved to Namibia. It would be extremely easy for anyone who moved here to fall into a very Western lifestyle and miss what is going on just over the next hill or in the North.

Yesterday, while waiting on a meeting, I walked over to the National Art Gallery of Namibia which is about 100 yards from our house. I walked through and saw some great works then I went down to the gift shop to look around. There I met Belinda. She was working in the gift shop to support herself and three kids that live in the old black township of Katatura. She told me how she could just barely afford food on her pay and that her husband had died when oldest child was 1 and that she lived in her mother house and had been broken into twice. She was thankful that at least she had a house to live in, most people who live in Katatura live in shacks in shantytowns. It is thought that over half the population of Windhoek lives in Katatura.

On Monday I have a meeting scheduled with my friend Fr. Lukas Katenda who is now back in Namibia as the Diocesan Secretary/Treasurer. We are meeting to discuss the initial plans for the Clergy Training Program for the Diocese. I found out just before I left the U.S. that the diocese had been approved for a grant from Trinity Church Wall Street to fund a majority of the training program for three years. I also found out before we left that we had received a grant from the St. Luke's Episcopal Church Foundation in Salisbury, NC to help purchase a truck for the program. There is much work to be done if we are going to begin the training program in January so we are hoping to take a quick trip to the North in the next two weeks for a few days. We want to work on the program and take some books and school resources to the Joy to the World kindergarten that so many of you have so thankfully agreed to support. We will hopefully get to meet with Sr. Gertrude and find out how the last year has been.

On July 11th our friend Lindsey Mullen from the Diocese of Alabama's Canterbury Chapel will be coming to stay with us for a week. She has been studying in South Africa since the beginning of June and is taking a special trip over to visit us. It will be fun to see a familiar face.

Speaking of seeing familiar faces I want to encourage all of you who might be interested to download Skype and the call us at jeremy.lucas71. Skype allows you to make free computer to computer calls, including video calls, anywhere in the world. We have been talking to family at home and it really seems to work well. Go to www.Skype.com Well I guess that will about do it for our first real post from Africa. My plan is to try and post at least once a week if possible. Posts will probably range from something like this, to many other matters both serious and sublime. Thanks for reading and keep us in your prayers. Peace, Jeremy

Finally we are in Namibia!

2008-06-26T21:47:00.000+02:00

After 2 1/2 long days of travel we arrived in Windhoek, Namibia yesterday (Wed.). Our luggage decided to take a different trip and did finally show up this evening. We are trying to adjust to the time change (6 hrs ahead of AL) and the altitude change of 6000 ft. The weather is beautiful during the day (65 degrees) and cold at night (upper 30s and 40s) with clear skies all the time. We have been meeting lots of wonderful people from St. George's Cathedral. Their hospitality has been overwhelming. We are trying to get some rest before the big weekend of Jeremy and the Dean's instillation on Sunday. They say the service may be around 3 hours long. We will try and post more updates and some photos as soon as we can. Blessings,Penny

Last Post from the U.S.

2008-06-23T03:06:00.000+02:00

Well tonight we are staying in the Sheraton Hotel at the Atlanta Airport and tomorrow morning we begin our 2 1/2 day journey to Namibia. We have spent this week saying goodbye to family and friends. It has been a very difficult week. Please keep us in your prayers as we begin this next part of our journey. Our next post will be from Africa. Peace, Jeremy

5 Days Left

2008-06-18T14:53:00.000+02:00

Well after two weeks of Mission Orientation and Training in New York we are back in Alabama for our last week of goodbyes. It is wierd watching the 7 day weather forcast and thinking that next Monday we won't even be in this country. At this point we have passed the point of exhaustion and are running on pure momentum. Hopefully it will get us there and we can take a few days to rest once we arrive. I promise that our posts will become more frequent once we slow down. Peace, Jeremy

Quick Update

2008-06-01T14:32:00.000+02:00

This morning Penny and I are on our way to NYC for Mission Orientation. We will be in NYC until the 16th. Yesterday we sold our last large item, our car, at a yard sale. This is the second time we have sold a car at a yard sale and we are really happy to have that out of the way.
On another note some people have been asking me for our address in Namibia. So far this is what we have; Our physical address is 19 Love Street Windhoek, Namibia (no zip codes in Namibia) we don't know what our PO Box will be because there is no local mail delivery in Namibia, we will have to pick up anything send via USPS. You will also need a phone number, which we do not have yet, to mail the package. DHL is also an option but very expensive. You could also mail things to St. George's Anglican Cathedral PO Box 65 Windhoek, Namibia. We should have access to that fairly soon.
Anyway, keep us in your prayers. We are trying to write thank you notes as quickly as we can but there are lots so if you haven't gotten one, and you have contributed to our cause please know how much we appreciate it and we will be thanking you personally as soon as we can.
Until then you can check out our new website hosted but the Diocese of Alabama http://missiontonamibia.dioala.org We are still working on it and Deacon Dave Drachlis is the rock star behind it. We can not thank you enough Dave.
We will be in touch as soon as possible. Peace, Jeremy

Out of Athens

2008-05-30T04:08:00.000+02:00

I am sorry that it has been so long since my last post. We have not had home internet service since the beginning of April and work has been hectic to say the least. Last Sunday the 25th was my last Sunday at St. Timothy's Church. We had a great 4 years there and will miss all our friends. It was a sad farewell but one that saw me stand on the pulpit to remind everyone again that God loves them more than anything.
The next month will be another busy one. We are in Birmingham and Gadsden for a few days before we leave for NYC. We will be on Staten Island for 2 weeks at the Episcopal Church Mission Orientation. It is also known as "How to not make a complete fool of yourself in a foreign country, but you're going to anyway but at least we tried" We will be there till the 16th of June. As part of the orientation we will be going to the Everyone Everywhere Conference in Baltimore. So far over 350 people have registered for the conference. Check out their page and make plans to come. It's not too late.
I will be preaching at St. Peter's Church in Chelsea, NYC on Sunday the 15th of June about our upcoming work in Namibia.
We will be leaving for Namibia on June 23rd. We are scheduled to arrive in Windhoek on June 25th.
I will be posting more stories about our last days in Athens, including how St. Timothy's took up a gold offering and people actually gave their gold teeth. Peace.

U ha pandula novake

2008-04-28T22:14:00.000+02:00

U ha pandula novake, I am told by my friend Lukas is a proverb in the Namibian language of Ohsikwanyama. I means that if you have great and good things done to you and you do not appreciate then, you are bound to steal one day!
This simple proverb is like so many other proverbs in that it seems so simple to begin with and then continues to expand the more you think about it. In this case the relationship between thankfulness and theft. This proverb suggests that our daily exercise of being thankful or not has future consequences for our life. If we are not thankful it leads us on a path to stealing in the future.
But I think that there are more present realities in this proverb. In many ways if we are not thankful for what we are given we are stealing right now. We are appropriating things for ourselves that we did not create and acting like we did. We are acting as if we created all of our wealth and in this way we are really stealing from God.

In this line of though Penny and I want to publicly thank everyone who has supported us up to this point. Before we leave we will publish a list but for now from the bottom of our heart thank you for sharing your gifts with us.

What a Month

2008-04-03T20:20:00.000+02:00

Dear Friends,

March went by so quickly and we were busy non-stop. We sold our house in 10 days and had to be out by the 28th. We packed over Holy Week and Easter and moved the week after Easter. Most everything we own is now packed in boxes and stored. We will only be taking clothes our computer and a few books with us when we go. We are now living in a great house on the Elk River until w leave for Birmingham at the end of May and then Namibia at the end of June.

Our last Easter at St. Timothy's was made all them more special by the presence of our family and our friend The Rev. Lukas Katenda. This is a photo of Lukas and I after the Easter service. He saved me this year by preaching the Good Friday and Easter Vigil services. He was incredible. Lukas was featured on the front page of the Athens News Courier on Easter Day in a story written by our friend Vickie Johnston and we were in the "Meet the Neighbors" section the same day. Who says we don't know how to get publicity.

Last night we were hosted at Grace Episcopal Church in Anniston, Alabama. it was a great evening with friends from the Anniston and Jacksonville churches. Today was recieved word of a very generous plege of support from an Episcopal Church in Birmingham. sometime over the next month I plan on putting together a list of the pledges and gifts we have gotten so far. We think it is important to highlight churches that are putting their money and support where their mouth is. "Not only with their lips but in their lives"

We have truly been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and we thank each and every person that has given of their time, talent and treasure to Mission to Namibia.

Flooding in the North Update 1

2008-03-08T18:53:00.001+02:00

Here is an email I received today updating the flood situation in the North of Namibia. The first part is from my friend Fr. Lukas Katenda. the second part and photos are from Nancy Robson who lives at the Odibo mission. Please keep the people of Northern Namibia in your prayers.

Dear People of God,

This is another update on the flooding waters in Namibia. These photos were taken today or yesteday by Mrs. Nancy Robson at St Mary's Mission Odibo. Her message speaks it all. Take a look, we have one main town in the north called Oshakati. I understand that, the bridge that links Oshakti to the rest of the country has begun to crak as the waters are too much. The main shopping malls are there, the Intermediate Hospital is there, Banks etc. No body knows what will happen, the rivers are still overflowing, as the rains continues in southern Angola and Northern Namibia. Peace Lukas

Today (Saturday) I managed to get a lift to Oshikango with a local storeman who is still prepared to take the plunge through the deep water at the far end from Odibo. He said the water was more than yesterday. It was not one of the big bakkies but the door was higher than my knee and the floorboards were flooded but luckily the car did not stall. On walking back, I was not so lucky with a lift, the water came to my crotch. I was dressed in shorts & prepared for this. For those of you who have not been here in the past 4 years or so this road leaves Oshikngo on the far south of the town & runs south of the mission. The bakkie stuck in the water is on the Odibo -Oshikango road.
I had heard on the TV that Engela, Ongenga (to the west of Engela) & some of the other clinics in the district were cut off by the floods so I took the opportunity (by taxi) to go and view the Omafo-Engela road. In the first pic you can just see the old Engela hosp on the right of the pic. The 3rd pic shows the force of the water going through a culvert under the road. You will see from the first pic how the tar road has washed away. That happened last night I believe. For some days now the water has been flowing across the road but then it caved in. Odibo will now have to take their patients to Eenhana. For some time now the Odibo transport has had to go via Ondobe which is half way to Eenhana & then hit the tar and return to Engela. As the Efundja floods is bringing more & more water down we do not know what we are really in for yet.
The President has declared the north as a state of Emergency. As yet I have not been to Oshakati but plan to go on Wednesday (with a driver) We have to go via Ondobe which adds another 55km to a single trip to Osh. I understand that the eastern part of the town is one big lake. There was also mention in Wednesday's paper that there were signs of 2 cracks in one of the bridges due to the force of the water going through. If any of those bridges packs in Oshakati will be cut off from everywhere and everything! I think it is time to do some stock piling of food while at Oshakati!
These floods are unprecedented. A month ago it was said that the volume of water was equal to the 1950 floods but since then there has been much more. In 1950 there must have been at least half the number of people living in the north. The many, many homesteads that have been washed away is because many of them were built in what was traditionally flood plains but with these floods ever having been much in the intervening years and ground being scarce people have built in them.
The last pic shows the tent town at Oshikango which is housing about 200 people. However many flood victims have gone to family or friends. These are ones who had nowhere to go to. The tents house about 10 people each. More are needed but none are available.
Our Orphan project is looking into doing supplementary feeding at the schools where flood victims attend and today I found the headman's right hand and we will try and organise some food from Portuagal Wholesale for him to collect. Children from Grade 1 - 3 are not attending school as the water is too deep for them to get there. We need to see if the Education dept can find someone to go out there to help in that area. Next week!

Report of Floods in the Oshikango / Ohangwena Constituancy
Oshikango 28 households 212 people in 16 tents (about ? are children)
Ekango - 5 households 41 people in 4 tents
Onaminda - 1 tent 15 persons

22 in their own corrugated shelters but fed by the constituency
Onamunama 21 households 142 people 4 tents (rain flooding)
Rain damage to homesteads extends to Omundangilo (over 100kms east of Oshikango)

The President has described these floods as "unprecedented proportions. As a result, the survival of a large percentage of our population in Namibia is under serious threat"
Impact of floods:

Farmers have lost 25,850 animals

17 Schools in Ohangwena affected - at Odibo CS teachers walk through 8 oshanas to get to school.

9 Schools in Kabbe affected

Yield prospects reduced by 40%

Cultivation are reduced by 50%

Nancy

Our House

2008-03-05T15:06:00.000+02:00

Well it is official we have a contract on the house and we have to be out by the 28th of March. In the worst housing market in 30 years we sold our house in 10 days for the full asking price. It seems surreal. For months now we have been waking up to NPR on the radio with story after story of how bad the housing market has collapsed and how the economy is in a tail spin. I am happy that we are the exception.
But just to show what a wonderful sense of humor God has we have to be out in a little over 3 weeks. One of those weeks is a pretty busy week for priests called HOLY WEEK. Now don't

get me wrong we are not complaining, just trying to enjoy the wonderful light hearted nature of our God. We are really going to miss this house. Penny and I have lived in it longer than we have lived in any other place together. We got used to the changing seasons and the comfort of having a home. We loved watching the life and death struggle of the aphids, river birch and lady bugs and the hatching of a new generation of preying mantis. It has been a great house and in 23 days it will become a memory; that place we lived when we were in Athens.
Yesterday was also the day I mailed our work and temporary residency permits to Namibia. In case you are wondering how much it cost to send documents to Namibia from Athens via DHL it was $89.

Flooding in the North

2008-02-29T18:53:00.000+02:00

I have been on a whirlwind tour of the Diocese of Alabama this week raising money and asking for support. This week took me to the southernmost part of our diocese to Trinity Church Demopolis and St. Paul's Selma. I had a wonderful time staying with my friends Candice and Steve Frazer and even got to visit Craig Field were my family was stationed in the Air Force back in 1974-75. Thanks to Rev. Dick Cobb at Trinity and the wonder folks who fixed a great lunch on Tuesday and Rev. Polk Van Zandt and Rev. Joe Knight and the breakfast crew at St. Paul's who fed me on Wednesday. Penny and I have been overwhelmed with the love and support from every place we have visited.

I spoke at both Trinity and St. Paul's about the severe flooding in the North of Namibia. I am attaching photos from Nancy Robson at Odibo showing just how bad the situation is. This year they are expecting food shortages and severe malaria outbreaks. Although Namibia is a mostly desert climate some places on rare occasions get more rain than they can absorb. To show how important water is in this context the President said a few weeks ago in a Newspaper interview that "We cannot pray that it will stop raining" Rain is life. It is part of the daily conversation in Namibia almost year-round. Prayers for rain are said at every service. Pray for the people of Namibia that even though that cannot pray that the rains should stop, there will be adequate aid and support as the recover from their losses.

Getting Ready

2008-02-18T15:17:00.001+02:00

I'm not sure how many of you have ever moved to another country but let me say for those of you that haven't it is a logistical challenge. We will be putting our house on the market this week and praying that it sells as soon as possible. We are finishing up the paperwork for our visas and work permits which seem to have taken months to finish. We are still traveling and preaching during Lent and trying to raise money for our mission. We were featured in our Diocesan newspaper the Apostle for February. I have recently looked at our countdown clock and we have 103 days before we leave for Namibia. Time is flying by.

Welcome to the new Blog

2008-01-14T03:21:00.001+02:00

Over the next week I will be building this new blog site and bringing things over from the old Blog to this one. Check back often.