Last year a group of women, scattered around the country, made the decision to journey to China with the United Methodist Ubuntu Journey Program. The Ubuntu Journeys are supported by Mission Volunteers and the Women’s Division of The United Methodist Church and Global Ministries Our team is scheduled to leave for China in September, 2008. This blog is to document our journey.
Here are brief bios of our team members:
Diane A. lives in Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom. She has dual citizenship, is a GBGM missionary and is an Associate with the China Program of United Methodist Global Ministries. Among other things, she recruits volunteers for the Amity Program. An article by Diane and the work in China was featured in the Nov/Dec 2007 issue of New World Outlook. You will even see a picture of Diane in action with some of Amity’s Summer English Language Program teachers! She has traveled to China, The Philippines, India, Nepal, and many other countries. Photography is part of her work and she enjoys gardening, agricultural issues and cooking. She has enthusiasm for China and will be a great resource for us.
Paula C. is from Birmingham, Alabama and was the first to share her enthusiasm for the Ubuntu, Hong Kong & China Journey. Paula has led mission trips to Henderson Settlement in Kentucky and to UMCOR Sager-Brown for many years. She has traveled to Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica and Ireland. She has had photographs published in New World Outlook. Paula says she has a great curiosity about other countries and particularly enjoys learning about different cultures. She is retired and enjoys reading and walking when not engaged in all her other activities. She has found that in spite of fewer material possessions, persons in other cultures often had values superior to our own.
Jordan J. lives with her mother and father in Rising Sun, Maryland. She is a thirteen year old student whose interests include church, reading, entomology and Chinese. Jordan is currently taking a course in Chinese and has started a list of common phrases/expressions for us to learn and practice before we travel! She has traveled to Mexico, Canada & Belize and participates in local mission projects through her church. She can dance, sing, play the piano, is trained in CPR, and is prepared to give a devotional and pray. Our hostess in Hong Kong feels that Jordan will be able to relate well with the Bethune Home clients as some of them are as young as 16. Her mother and grandmother are also part of this Ubuntu Journey. A three-generation family affair!
Tracy J. lives in Rising Sun, Maryland and is Jordan’s mother. She has traveled to Mexico, Canada, Italy, UK, Scotland, Wales, Germany, France, Hungary, Japan, Belize and is scheduled to travel with a church mission trip to Kenya in August of 2008. Tracy is a media specialist at the University of Delaware, speaks French and enjoys photography, writing and her family. She is trained in CPR, can sing with small groups, work with youth, plays the flute, currently publishes many newsletters, and has a friend who lives in the Guizhou Province we will visit in China. Tracy is excited about the possibility of giving post-trip talks and slide presentations to UMW groups within her annual conference and helping to build enthusiasm for UMW within her own church & community.
Peggy K. lives in Hilton Head, South Carolina. She says the initial information regarding this trip caught her attention immediately and has always felt the desire to serve God where she can. She and her husband have served on a mission trip to Russia and have visited China on a tour. She is retired, speaks a little French and enjoys reading, knitting, needlepoint, sewing, and music. Peggy is active in her local UMW group and currently serves as Vice President, developing and leading programs. She enjoys teaching crafts to youth can sing and can lead devotionals. She has taught Adult Sunday School classes and religious education to elementary children, directed choirs and is a Stephen Minister.
Gloria L., who resides in Hilton Head, South Carolina, approached me with a big smile saying, “I’m going with you to China!” Gloria has a beautiful granddaughter who was adopted from China 7 years ago and she says, “This is an opportunity to learn about the country of her birth.” She is active in her church and enjoys doing mission work, has done so with the youth many years, and is going on the church mission trip to Belize this summer. A realtor, Gloria enjoys music and exercise. She sings soprano in the choir, plays the flute, hand bells, and piano. She is very proficient in computer technology, including PowerPoint presentations. Gloria likes the idea of smaller groups and especially women’s groups.
Helen M. lives in Boones Mill, Virginia, is the biological mother of Tracy J. and is Jordan’s grandmother! She and her husband have recently joined a new UM church, she’s already involved in Bible Study class, plans to take Lay Speaker class and is a Stephens Minister. Helen enjoys sewing, reading, travel, people, and of course, church. She is comfortable working with youth in storytelling and crafts, leading in prayer and devotionals and keeping a daily log. She has been a tour director/representative for the Smithsonian Journey’s Program since 1982, having directed over 75 tours all over the world. Helen says she has very good people skills and is “Happy and willing to do what ever I can.”
Jennifer M. lives in Cortland, Illinois. She works with special needs children, participated on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic last year and believes a new path has been created for her. One of the reasons she liked the mission trip so much was that, “We were learning and sharing with the people, not going in to change their way of life.” She’s honored to be a part of the Ubuntu trip. Jennifer enjoys reading, being outdoors and walking. She also enjoys interacting with youth in recreation and craft activities. Jennifer says, “I believe that I am an active listener and go into situations with an open mind.” Jennifer’s pastor, who traveled with the team to the Dominican Republic, wrote that Jennifer was an asset to the team and highly recommended her!
Marilyn M. resides in Ninety Six, South Carolina and said she knew she was interested from the first sentence in an article that included, “I am human because you are human.” Then when reading the mission statement’s “quiet Christian presence,” she knew she was being called by God. Marilyn is a hospice volunteer and enjoys volunteering in community organizations. She is the board chairman of the SC Advocate, has worked with Habitat for Humanity, can lead devotionals, and enjoys working with youth. She’s an athletic woman, running 2-8 miles 3 days a week, works out on fitness equipment 2 days a week and practices yoga 5 days a week! Marilyn says she is a listener and contributor, an adaptable person with whatever is happening.
Susan S. lives in Mineola, Texas and says, “I believe it was God’s hand which placed me, the UMW President of a very small rural church, at the same table of the Women’s Division president.” She learned of the Ubuntu Journey that day and wanted to know more. Having traveled lived in Japan for four years, she realized this trip would reach “…the very core of who I am, the Christian woman.” Susan is a retired teacher who enjoys music, quilting, computers, and reading. She is trained in First-Aid and CPR, can sing, play the piano and organ, and is competent in using digital camera and processing on PC. She has done presentations for state, local and national education organizations. She wants to provide the opportunity for God to work through her.
Paula W. lives in Statesboro, GA where she is a very active member of her local church. She has served on United Methodist Volunteers In Mission teams to El Salvador and Jamaica, helping to build churches and conduct Vacation Bible School. Over Christmas she took a riverboat cruise down the Danube River, stopping in four countries. Paula is a retired FedEx employee who enjoys square dancing as a hobby. She can sing in large groups and is comfortable teaching crafts to youth. Paula is dedicated to her church, is an usher, has served as secretary of the local UMW executive committee and is an active member of the Agape Circle. Able to lead in devotionals and prayer related needs, Paula is known as a “quiet doer and giver”.
Carol V. spends her time between Schroon Lake, NY and NYC, is a newly named executive of the Women’s Division and as of January 2008, the division’s program coordinator for the Ubuntu Journey program. Prior to joining the Women’s Division full-time, Carol served as the liaison between Mission Volunteers and UMCOR-NGO, identifying potential sites for UM Individual Volunteers and UMVIM teams. Her work originated in Europe then branched to parts of Africa and the Caribbean. She also works with women and children’s issues with the Women’s Division. Carol brings years of experience from working with numerous first-hand international contacts as well as a strong UMW background.
Jeanie B. lives in Hilton Head, SC and is
team leader. She retired Aug. 2006 as Assistant General Secretary for Mission Volunteers-Global Ministries, and then served as a consultant, supervising the Individual Volunteers program. She continues work with the Ubuntu Program and Women’s Division. She helped “birth” the Ubuntu program and has conducted the team leader trainings for Ubuntu team leaders. She has traveled to numerous countries on behalf of the UMC, led team leader trainings, enjoys reading, yard work, Pilates, and connecting people across our connectional system. She serves on Mission Outreach, sings in the choir, advises a newly formed ecumenical volunteer group, and writes “Our UM Connection” articles for the church newsletter.
