Hand in Hand Global Mission Support Blog Digest

Mary Beth and Bayo Oyebade are ELCA missionaries in Nigeria. They now serve with the Mashiah Foundation to provide services for those who are infected with and affected by HIV and AIDS. Mary Beth leads the women’s sewing program which helps women with HIV and AIDS earn money to provide for themselves and their families. To support the Oyebades, or another of the ELCA’s nearly 250 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

The women praise God when they receive the sewing machines.

In early December the Self-Sustainability Department of the Mashiah Foundation gave out new treadle sewing machines to five of the women in our program. Over the years we have given out more than 100 sewing machines. This is an incredible gift to the women as it allows them to do much of their work at home without always having to pay transport to come to our sewing center. The machine is a big step on their road to being able to take care of their families.

These are always times of great joy — and always kept a secret until the staff come dancing out with machines. The recipients are often overcome with emotions. I haven’t seen Nigerian women cry very often in public, but many times this gift is so overwhelming that their tears just pour out.

The women’s immediate response is to praise God for their new machines. It’s a time of pure jubilation. I also love how friends rejoice with those who receive.

Another example of striving for self-sustainability is a woman who does not have the use of her legs due to having polio as a child. Consequently, she can’t use a treadle sewing machine. She comes to our program from time to time. I’m always reminded of the Bible story of the persistent widow whenever I see her. She kept telling us that she wanted us to help her buy firewood so she could be selling it at her house. In January, we paid for a load of firewood which she is selling from her compound. Ideally, by the time she finishes selling the wood, she will have capital to invest in another load of wood as well as some income to feed herself and her child.

She was so happy that day when some of our staff members visited her in her home and took the money to her. We will be following up with her to see how her business venture is going.

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Keep On Keeping On
Posted: 19 Feb 2010 10:34 AM PST by Mary Beth Oyebade, ELCA missionary serving in Nigeria.

My apologies for being AWOL on this site for the past few weeks.

The dynamics of daily life have changed in the last month, dealing with riots and various security threats.

It always takes me awhile to get back to normal–or I should say: “the new normal.”  After the riots in 2008, I was driving downtown a few weeks later and almost stopped the car in the middle of the road when I caught sight of construction workers on a three-story building.  I was so shocked that construction was continuing while I was wondering when the next wave of violence would occur.  They were building for the future, and I was just trying to get through the day.

I bought a whole bunch of tomatoes, peppers and onions last weekend just because this is the season to buy those things. I planned to can pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, and red stew (typical Nigerian fare).  But as I looked at the 200+ empty jars on my shelves, I felt the same way I did when I saw those construction workers: filling those jars meant planning for the future–and my mind has been stuck in a daily survival mode for the past month.

We did get the canning done with lots of extra help in the kitchen. Here’s the tally:

30 pints of pizza sauce (this will last more than one year based on current pizza eating patterns in our home)
26 pints of Grandma’s spaghetti sauce
18 quarts of Nigerian red stew

Anyway, this past week was the most normal I’ve had for awhile so I feel like things are starting to pick up once again. And I’ll try to post a little more often on this site.

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The folowing is a slightly abbreviated version of a blog post by ELCA Missionary, Mary Beth Oyebade.

My Grandma had major heart surgery in Rochester, MN in June. My mom, dad, aunt and uncle were at the hospital before, during, and after the surgery. But within a day or two, they started to go to their respective homes. I was horrified. I said, “But who’s going to stay with Grandma?!” My mom gently explained that what they were doing was acceptable. They didn’t need to be with her 24/7. And moreover, my Grandma really didn’t need constant company if she was going to get adequate rest. I understood what she was saying, but I still felt a twinge of guilt that someone wasn’t sitting with Grandma.

In this area of my thinking, I have become very Nigerian. If you are hospitalized in Nigeria, you have to bring someone to take care of you – especially for your feeding and bathing. It is just expected that a family member is always present.

In a similar vein, as I was making various presentations this summer, I noticed I was using some Nigerian terminology, and I couldn’t think of how to express that thought in American English. For example, I would mention that we train youth on computers, and that having these computer skills would enable them to get a small job. “Small job” didn’t sound right in the U.S. In retrospect, I could have said, “Youth are able to get part-time or entry-level jobs with these computer skills.” I can tell that I have been here a long time.

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