By Ed Jesteadt
FARMINGTON – Mission at the Eastward, based here, is an organization of eight small rural churches. Since the summer of 2000, it has been in a sister-church Partnership with the Macfarlan Church near Alice, South Africa. The area surrounding the villages that comprise the Macfarlan congregation is called ‘The Tyhume Valley’ – named after the small river that originates in this valley, nestled within the Amatola Mountains of the Eastern Cape Province. This Partnership was created under the umbrella of the uBunye [meaning ‘all together’] Partnership created between the Presbytery of Northern New England [PNNE] and the Amatola Presbytery of the Uniting Presbyterian Church of South Africa.
The MATE-South Africa Partnership [MATE-SAP] Committee organized a two-week trip to South Africa in August of 2010. Twenty-one people paid approximately $3,000 each for the privilege of flying over 8,000 miles [one way!] to visit with the people there, reconnect with old friends, and make many new ones.
This visit helped us renew our commitment to the people and the projects we have been working on over the 10 years of our partnership. We had a gala celebration under a huge tent to commemorate our friendship over all these years.
Our outreach to the local villages in the Tyhume Valley is now focused on two programs: Home garden committees and assisting a local doctor with her free treatment to AIDS patients. MATE is now assisting eight villages with their home and communal gardens. The criterion for being a home garden member to receive assistance from MATE is based solely on need. Most members are elderly women or single mothers struggling to feed their families, with many of them also raising their own grandchildren, most of whom are AIDS orphans.
Through the generosity of many donors, MATE is sending a total of $9,000 to the eight villages for their use in repairing the garden fencing, vital for keeping out the chickens, goats, pigs, cattle and horses – and other people who might like some of the veggies.
In March, we expect to send more funds for their use in purchasing seeds and seedlings for their fall (in our spring) gardens.
Dr. Norma van Niekerk has her office in the village of Hogsback, up on the mountain overlooking the Tyhume Valley. She has created HIV Hope – a not-for-profit entity dedicated to the care of AIDS patients who otherwise would not have access to the life-sustaining antiretroviral [ARV] drugs. www.hivhope.co.za is her website.
Since 2007 she received the ARVs through the U.S. government program PEPFAR – “President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief.” The South Africa and U.S. governments decided to end the ARV part of this program in October 2010 – under the assumption the SA government could take over the supply of drugs. Unfortunately, in this area of South Africa the Health Ministry does not yet have its program operating effectively, and Dr. Norma can neither simply transfer her patients to the local hospitals, nor has she been able to obtain a reliable source of the ARVs to treat her 80+ patients.
MATE provides HIV Hope with financial assistance for communal gardens, as well as funds to buy ARVs on the open market when Dr. van Niekerk cannot get an adequate supply from the government. If you would like more information on these programs and how you can help, call the MATE office at 207-778-4705, or email Ed Jesteadt, a MATE-SAP committee member, at ed-just-ed@tds.net.
