Lecturer’s contribution “worth the price of the book”

Avondale College of Higher Education lecturer Brad Watson has been cited for contributing to the book Mission and Development: God’s Work or Good Works?

A book chapter by Brad Watson has earned a citation on the Adventist Activism Facebook. Credit: Aaron Bellette.

The citation by Dr Monte Sahlin—director of research and special projects for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Ohio, USA, and a lecturer at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University (Berrien Springs, Michigan, USA)—praises the chapter, “The God Factor: Adventism, Medical Missionaries and ‘Development’ in Papua New Guinea,” which Brad wrote.

Monte says the chapter “demonstrates that Adventist theology is particularly supportive of a holistic view that integrates social action with evangelism” and is “worth the price of the book!”

Monte’s citation appeared on the Adventist Activism Facebook, March 16.

Brad is a lecturer in international poverty and development studies in the School of Humanities and Creative Arts.

Contact with sponsored children good for emotional health

Josh Dye
Public relations editorial intern
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

Regular contact with their sponsor is good for the emotional health of children in developing countries, doctoral research by an Avondale academic shows.

Sponsor and student meet: Brad Watson began sponsoring Namlen Kandulna during a visit to the Tonea School in Jharkhand, India.

Brad Watson discovered the importance of establishing and maintaining a relationship with sponsored children, during a trip to India over the semester recess. Brad visited children sponsored by the not-for-profit Christian organisation Asian Aid for more than three years. He found the children who had regular contact with their sponsor “seemed to have higher self-esteem [and] . . . a stronger sense somebody cared for them.” For some children, according to teachers with whom Brad spoke, the relationship with their sponsor also helped improve academic performance.

The level of the need for children to know something about their sponsor surprised Brad. “I underestimated the importance of that sense of relationship,” he says.

Asian Aid’s customer relations officer Kerryn Patrick says children “need a response to feel they are writing to somebody real.” Asian Aid stipulates children write to their sponsors twice a year, but according to Brad, “few sponsors would communicate with their children more than once a year.”

Reflecting on his research, Brad, a senior lecturer in international poverty and development studies at Avondale College of Higher Education, says regular contact would give children a confidence boost. Even one letter over 10 years “at least gives that child a sense of who is helping them.”

Children could become confused by a lack of communication from their sponsors, says Kerryn, “particularly when the children see others in their class getting letters. They could think, ‘What’s wrong with me?’”

Melbourne-based mother Bek Ross has sponsored seven-year-old Priyanka for almost a year. She has not yet responded to Priyanka’s letters but plans to do so. Bek will also encourage her children to write to, she says, raise awareness of the plight of other children.

However, both Kerryn and Brad caution about what information—discrepancy in wealth, for example—sponsors share with their children. “You don’t want to establish an unequal relationship,” says Brad. It is a personal relationship, says Kerryn, so “focus on similarities and talk about families.”

Brad encourages sponsors to respond to their children “in meaningful ways” so the correspondence does not become simply like a transaction. “Otherwise the relationship is at risk of becoming superficial and one-sided—they get the money, you get the letters.”

Book launch a gift for students who helped with author’s teen story

Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

An Avondale lecturer thanked students for their help by launching at Avondale School the sequel to a book about a boy and the challenge of adolescence.

Favourable critics: Year 6 students Bailey Clark and Caleb Kingston with Year 5 student Zoey Watson and her father, Brad, at the launch of Brad’s new young adult story David’s Revenge. Credit: Brenton Stacey.

Brad Watson met regularly with Year 9 students from Avondale and from Central Coast Adventist School and Macquarie College this past year to seek their thoughts on his new young adult story David’s Revenge.

“A consistent problem I have as a 40-year-old is expressing myself in a way that’s acceptable to a 14-year-old,” says Brad, a lecturer in the School of Humanities and Creative Arts at Avondale College of Higher Education.

He must have found the criticism about character development, plot and language constructive because the book’s editor, Nathan Brown, describes David’s Revenge as having more action, more good ideas and more pages than its prequel, Finding David.

Nathan represented Signs Publishing Company, which publishes both books, at the launch in the school’s iCentre this past Wednesday (September 21). He likes the series because it “takes the ordinary things young adults face and puts them in big adventures. But there’s also this recurring theme about God’s influence and presence and interest in those things. It shows how faith, hope and making good choices makes a difference in our lives.”

Finding David follows David as he moves into a new school and deals with bullying, romance and a mysterious family tragedy. David’s Revenge continues the story—caught in a fire storm while hiking, David’s RiskMEN group discovers truths, and lies, about each other. The themes: rescue; relationships; revenge; and choice.

Brad has based the series on stories of his grandfather, Raymond, who suffered a nervous breakdown after contracting a rare disease called wildfire. Brad told the Year 5 and 6 students attending the launch of his father’s anger at the lack of support for his grandfather, particularly after Raymond’s hospitalisation. His message: look out for your mates.

David’s Revenge is available from Adventist Book Centres.

Links
My Story with Brad Watson from InFocus on Vimeo.