VILLAGE VISIT # 5 – MAY 2010

Education Global Partner, “Mummy Linn” Asbury, recently returned from her two week visit in Kager and she reports with a big smile that village transformation is readily apparent.  A new Village Greenhouse has sprung up in a formerly vacant field, FAITH (Food Always In The Home) Gardens are being planted, electricity is glowing in the largest village church and community center, and children are attending a secondary school right in the village, (as opposed to five miles away).  Lives are being transformed as JOY Kitchens women’s groups are expanding, new Microenterprise initiatives are begun and hope is restored.  Best of all, God is showing His hand as the River of His love and grace continues to flow through the lives of everyone associated with JVP.  Linn’s personal testimony is below:

“I’ve never been a particularly sentimental type, but as I start to write about my two weeks in Kager during Village Visit #5, I find the tears creeping up and my breath getting shallow.  It’s the kind of thing mere humans could never devise – ‘growing’ a new family 8000 miles from my blood relatives, and at warp speed of under eight months.  Understanding God’s purpose in this (the super-speedy relationships) and seeing His hand in the way JVP is making a difference in Kager is downright blatant…in the most wonderful, reaffirming way. All I know for sure is that somewhere in the past few months, most of my Kager family has begun calling me “Mummy Linn” and it’s a name I’m proud to be growing into.

Until this visit, I’d only been in Kager for one life-changing day last fall.  The relationships begun in that few hours grew deep and fast, leading to my being invited to return to Kager to speak at their Women’s Conference. Through the help of an anonymous benefactor, I was able to make the trip knowing that speaking at the conference would be a small part of my ‘mission.’   As it turned out, the conference itself morphed into a full-scale village revival every single night – and I had the opportunity to teach a multitude of lessons both to the women during the day and the villagers at night.  Speaking (through an interpreter) where it seemed every person was on the edge of their seat listening to me was a huge encouragement.  It’s most definitely not my skillful presentation style, but their sincere eagerness to hear the Word of God delivered in a highly relational way. They were hungry, though not for food. Many couldn’t read, yet understood, with a yearning desire to hear God’s will for their lives.  There is almost no money and very few possessions in Kager, yet the one thing they do have is one we Americans often find so difficult to attain:  Joy.  And that brings me right back to one of the great blessings in Kager:  the women of Joy Kitchen.

In the eight months between visits to Kager, the 16 women of the JOY Kitchens group has lost one member to a tragic death and added another 16 new members.  The structure of JOY Kitchens groups is a core group of 8 women who study the Bible together, put a small amount of communal savings away at each meeting, and support one another in all aspects of challenging village life.  These women are the backbone of Kager, with heavy responsibilities in frequently impossible situations.  They are the ones whose eyes light up when discussions about microenterprise opportunities are mentioned; they have initiative, energy, determination and one another. It’s no coincidence that the microenterprise initiatives currently being funded through JVP are being operated by women who belong to JOY Kitchens groups.  Each core group of 8 is expected to reach out to the other women in the community and help develop new JOY Kitchen groups, multiplying the benefits within the village. They are evangelists, pure and simple. The ‘hard goods’ involved in becoming a JOY Kitchens woman (fireless basket cooker, upesi stove, water purifier, solar lantern, smokehood/chimney, home canning) are all good things – but by far the most valuable aspect of becoming part of a JOY Kitchens women’s group is the empowerment gained when women collaborate.  And it’s even so much better because the collaboration has at its’ center a growing relationship with Christ!

Beyond the Women’s Conference, I was privileged to tour Kager’s three primary schools and the recently-opened (February God Kado Secondary School.  While it broke my heart to learn the realities of four kids sharing one book, lack of latrines (not to mention water), and a long list of horrendous impediments to education, I was still encouraged to see how many solutions are in the works through JVP.  Planting gardens at schools (to feed the kids) is beginning to be a reality; four balls (doesn’t sound like a big deal, does it?) are at the secondary school now so kids can exercise and learn healthy competition during lunch; there’s a hope that the school ‘kitchen’ floor (actually just a tin shed with a three-rock stove) will be covered in concrete to cut down the dirt.  And the parents are organizing to conduct fund drives within the village which helps ensure that education will be sustainable long after JVP moves onward.  Before long (if the fund drives are successful), there may even be electricity in the schools, a huge step forward in Kager.

Each JVP Champion in Kager (with a Global Partner counterpart here in Indy) has his/her own set of challenges and they are not insignificant!  I listened to each of the Champions discuss not only problems, but potential solutions.  The common thread which weaves back and forth across these 8000 miles is the hope we all have in Christ. This is the hope which transforms — really transforms — people and villages.  God’s will is being played out in ‘loving color’ through a group of Jubilee Village Project Champions, Partners and Supporters.  It’s a privilege to witness this transformation as one of the (distant) elders of the village of Kager.”

Mummy Linn