One Mission sends students to serve in four countries
Josh Dye
Public relations intern
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
One Mission Mongolia team members help build a fence around a cooperative farm in central Mongolia. The fence will protect the crops from herds of nomadic animals and improve yield. Credit: Lara Campbell.
Miranda Leijser is walking through a shanty town outside Lusaka, Zambia. “Bright morning sunshine filters down to the narrow, cluttered streets. The smell of burning rubbish fills the air. Barefooted children playing soccer send a flock of scrawny chickens scattering. Mothers with babies cook ‘sheema’ (maize) over smoldering fireplaces on the red mud ground in front of tiny houses. This is the moment I realise I’m in Africa.”
The Bachelor of Ministry/Bachelor of Theology student is helping lead a team of other Avondale College of Higher Education students on a mission trip to the country and its neighbour Botswana. Organised by Avondale student club One Mission, Miranda’s team is one of three serving overseas during semester recess. Teams also serve in Cambodia and in Mongolia—in partnership with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA). Twenty-nine students will return with a greater vision of world needs.
Africa
“It’s amazing to see how HIV/AIDS affects not just one person, but ravages a family, a community, a nation.” Miranda reflects on the epidemic devastating the region. HIV/AIDS awareness and education would initially be one of the foci of the trip, although Miranda and her team also offered life skills training, presented health seminars and conducted kids’ clubs—entertaining hundreds of energetic children at a time. “We had 400 kids turn up on the first day, which was quite overwhelming,” says Miranda, “especially considering the size of our group. But with every challenge, we got stronger.”
The team also visited children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. “Our sole purpose that day was simply to hug the babies. Everyone needs to be shown they are loved, that they are worth something.”
Miranda describes the trip as fulfilling, despite what appear to be some initial misgivings. “You wonder at the time, How does playing jumping games with kids help bring them to Jesus? But Christ’s ministry was relational, so by us maintaining a connection with Jesus and building relationships with the kids, they come into contact with Christ.”
Cambodia
“God can always use you—it’s up to you whether you answer His call.” This is One Mission co-leader Megan Townend, who led a team of 13 students to Cambodia. She describes working “hand-in-hand with the local people and contributing to a project that is making a difference” as “humbling.”
Megan’s team raised money to build toilet blocks and to dig wells for local communities in the Chieb district of the province of Preah Vihear, where ADRA is working to improve sanitation and water quality. Megan found meeting and working with members of the communities rewarding. “They were so grateful—you couldn’t wipe the smiles off their faces,” she says. It also provided perspective. “We take a lot for granted,” says Megan, “even having a toilet in the house and clean water in the taps.”
The team also constructed a shelter at adventure learning centre Jombok Haos. Several local school students volunteered as translators. “The kids helped us communicate with the builders,” says Megan. “They gave up their holidays, and they broke down cultural barriers.”
Mongolia
“To witness farmers living and surviving in such a barren environment was inspiring.” Bachelor of Business student Luke Ferry joined seven others on visits to three rural cooperative farms in the central Mongolian province of Bayankhongor, where ADRA works with local communities to improve food security. The team raised money to provide fencing supplies to protect crops from herds of nomadic animals and to improve yield.
The attitudes of the farmers impressed Luke. “Even the elderly women were carrying heavy poles and rolls of barbed wire.” He found working with the farmers and “hearing how grateful they were—what the project meant for them and how it would improve their lives” satisfying. Particularly encouraging: “their eagerness to learn and the quality with which they built the fence.”
Despite facing challenges—including one team member being hospitalised and requiring emergency surgery—Luke felt God had his hand over the trip. “God led in all things at all times. We felt like He was in total control.”
One Mission teams will next serve in Brazil, Fiji and Vanuatu. Contact Megan Townend (0423 528 738) to join one of the teams.