PARTNERSHIP ... PROJECTS ... PRESENCE
Sue McCann is probably not a name familiar to members of Christ Church, but to many Zimbabweans and TNC members she is a pretty neat lady. Although her home is in New Hampshire, Sue has made 13 visits to Zimbabwe since 2010. Hers is quite a story.
Sue is a Red Cross volunteer. One of her deployments was to Port Arthur, TX, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike in 2005. In addition to her assignment of driving emergency vehicles, she and other volunteers swapped stories of their other volunteer work. Jim Gourley shared his account of his work in Zimbabwe. Community UMC in Crafton, MD of the Baltimore/Washington Conference sent teams to work on projects such as renovation of churches, churches and school buildings. Jim’s involvement prompted Sue to travel there with his group on their 2010 trip. “It was an interesting six months. I really liked the people, and I knew I was able to help,” recounted Sue. And more interesting trips were to follow.
Sue and Jim are a partnership. They were present during the construction of the Chikwizo, Nyahuku, and Dendera Clinics. They were seen as a quiet presence whose purpose was to support the village communities, not to oversee the projects. They lived simply - like the locals in whatever housing was available. In Nyahuku, they made their own meals, had no running water, no electronics, and “sometimes a toilet.” Jim was friendly with Hama, the general contractor, who asked his advice on occasion. “Hama was a true supervisor. He hired local people and watched them closely and identified their skills.” Sue and Jim took many pictures of the process and progress of the projects. Their presence helped to apprise The Nyadire Connection of the progress of the construction projects.
For example: The Nyahuku River provides water for the village. Unfortunately the river was totally dry during the construction. Women had to dig into the sand to find water. Children crossed the river, dug a hole, and inserted a hollow stem to get a drink. Boreholes had to be dug, the first for the construction project; the second for the villagers.
The villagers built a temporary circular holding tank 4’ high and 10’ in diameter to contain the water. Men and women worked for two days carrying buckets of water, rock, and sand from the river to build the tank. Unfortunately two days later, the tank exploded from the weight of the water, violently hurling bricks and materials outward. One woman suffered a broken leg. Sue and Jim drove the woman to the nearest hospital, 40 miles away. They drove her back to Nyahuku once she was casted. Their help was invaluable. Although they had a car, they had several “break downs” requiring lots of cell phone calls and rescues by a Nyadire mechanic.
“You never realize how important water is in your daily life until you do not have an instant supply of fresh, cold water out of the tap or from the refrigerator door. I was up at 5:20 when the neighborhood chickens sang out, and I was heading to the Mission borehole around 5:45 with one of our 20 liter pails. There was already an ox cart there with 20+ pails and a hand full of women with their buckets on their heads waiting for the young man to pump the handle and draw up ‘liquid life, “concludes Sue.
When asked what prepared her for this experience, she responded that she “rolled with the punches.” She and her family moved to Venezuela when she was nine where she learned “flexibilitly” in a new kind of living. And her Red Cross disaster relief training was a large factor. She never knew what she would find flying into an affected area where she might find displaced folks and families, sometimes finding shelter in a gym.
“Living simply, making friends, and experiencing new and different things. It is what I do – helping people.”
http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/water-shortage-threatens-zimbabwe-clinic
Sue is a Red Cross volunteer. One of her deployments was to Port Arthur, TX, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike in 2005. In addition to her assignment of driving emergency vehicles, she and other volunteers swapped stories of their other volunteer work. Jim Gourley shared his account of his work in Zimbabwe. Community UMC in Crafton, MD of the Baltimore/Washington Conference sent teams to work on projects such as renovation of churches, churches and school buildings. Jim’s involvement prompted Sue to travel there with his group on their 2010 trip. “It was an interesting six months. I really liked the people, and I knew I was able to help,” recounted Sue. And more interesting trips were to follow.
Sue and Jim are a partnership. They were present during the construction of the Chikwizo, Nyahuku, and Dendera Clinics. They were seen as a quiet presence whose purpose was to support the village communities, not to oversee the projects. They lived simply - like the locals in whatever housing was available. In Nyahuku, they made their own meals, had no running water, no electronics, and “sometimes a toilet.” Jim was friendly with Hama, the general contractor, who asked his advice on occasion. “Hama was a true supervisor. He hired local people and watched them closely and identified their skills.” Sue and Jim took many pictures of the process and progress of the projects. Their presence helped to apprise The Nyadire Connection of the progress of the construction projects.
For example: The Nyahuku River provides water for the village. Unfortunately the river was totally dry during the construction. Women had to dig into the sand to find water. Children crossed the river, dug a hole, and inserted a hollow stem to get a drink. Boreholes had to be dug, the first for the construction project; the second for the villagers.
The villagers built a temporary circular holding tank 4’ high and 10’ in diameter to contain the water. Men and women worked for two days carrying buckets of water, rock, and sand from the river to build the tank. Unfortunately two days later, the tank exploded from the weight of the water, violently hurling bricks and materials outward. One woman suffered a broken leg. Sue and Jim drove the woman to the nearest hospital, 40 miles away. They drove her back to Nyahuku once she was casted. Their help was invaluable. Although they had a car, they had several “break downs” requiring lots of cell phone calls and rescues by a Nyadire mechanic.
“You never realize how important water is in your daily life until you do not have an instant supply of fresh, cold water out of the tap or from the refrigerator door. I was up at 5:20 when the neighborhood chickens sang out, and I was heading to the Mission borehole around 5:45 with one of our 20 liter pails. There was already an ox cart there with 20+ pails and a hand full of women with their buckets on their heads waiting for the young man to pump the handle and draw up ‘liquid life, “concludes Sue.
When asked what prepared her for this experience, she responded that she “rolled with the punches.” She and her family moved to Venezuela when she was nine where she learned “flexibilitly” in a new kind of living. And her Red Cross disaster relief training was a large factor. She never knew what she would find flying into an affected area where she might find displaced folks and families, sometimes finding shelter in a gym.
“Living simply, making friends, and experiencing new and different things. It is what I do – helping people.”
http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/water-shortage-threatens-zimbabwe-clinic
