“Pack your bags, grab your passport, we are going on a trip.”
In her keynote speech to the Eastern Synod 2006 Assembly titled Goats, Pails, Trucks and Tales, Ms. Kathy Magnus, Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Regional Officer for North America, took delegates on a journey. In their travels to Angola, Cambodia, and finally over to Mauritania, delegates learned about the work of LWF in those regions, and beyond. Through her imagery and stories, delegates saw how 66 Million Lutherans (really) Do Make a Difference.
During the first leg of the trip to Angola, delegates heard the story of Grace, the victim of a land mine accident. Describing the village, Ms. Magnus noted that the land was literally littered with land mines. It’s “a difficult way to live but what choice do I have?” Grace told Ms. Magnus.
The LWF has a major emphasis on the removal of land mines but it will take decades, said Ms. Magnus as she shared with delegates an update on the work of LWF in Angola. LWF staff members are meticulously searching and marking mines in the area but the process is tedious and sometimes futile. Land mine mapping is dangerous; to search for a mine, you lie on your stomach in protective gear and prod the ground with a stick to see where there may be mines, then you mark the spot. Sadly, the soil in Angola is so poor that heavy rains often cause the mines to shift, making all the dangerous discovery work invalid.
If the stories weren’t compelling enough, the statistics offered were even more astounding. Ms. Magnus noted, “there are over 10 million land mines in Angola, yet there are only 14 million people in the area.” Every 14 minutes someone in the world is killed or maimed by a land mine. Ms. Magnus urged delegates, “to pray and to do more because 66 Million Lutherans Do Make a Difference.”
Before the statistics could fully sink in, off delegates went on the next leg of their trip. This time they found themselves in Cambodia where they met up with Dim Yen, a 29-year-old woman who is the chairperson of her village’s water committee. Four years ago, LWF came to Dim Yen’s village to dig one deep well.
Prior to LWF’s presence in the area and the new well, children were dying from illnesses and no one understood why. Dim Yen, herself, experienced the death of two of her children, both who died under the age of one. LWF has educated locals on safe water practices and with the addition of the safe water well, made the acquisition of clean water much easier in Dim Yen’s village.
Instead of having to walk 30 minutes, everyday, for water (that wasn’t clean or safe), Dim Yen and others in her village now have only a ten-minute daily walk for water. Ms. Magnus put this into perspective for delegates as she reminded them, “in her own home she only has a ten step walk for water.”
At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by people suffering from water related incidents.
On the final leg of Ms. Magnus’ journey, delegates traveled to Mauritania. Barren and flat, dusty and dry. During the great droughts of the 1970s, LWF was there to respond to the human crisis caused by this natural disaster. Putting in place “defensive measures to hold the desert back,” LWF has planted thousands and thousands of trees in the region.” Ms. Magnus joked as she quizzed delegates, “Did you know that 90% of the trees in Mauritania are Lutheran?”
“We walk together this evening, hand in hand, in hundreds of places,” noted Ms. Magnus as she concluded her keynote presentation. “The LWF provides the table that we come together at as a global Lutheran family.”
In thanking Ms. Magnus, Bishop Pryse said, “We need to get this word out,” as he remarked about how he is often approached by people who say that more communication needs to be done about issues such a those highlighted by Ms. Magnus and the work of LWF. In response, Bishop Pryse challenged synod delegates and said, “We need willing communicators at the local levels. I challenge each of you to be some of those people.”
Goats, Pails, Trucks and Tales – the LWF’s name is everywhere and 66 Million Lutherans Do Make a Difference!
Resources Provided By Kathy Magnus in her Presentation:
Land Mines: www.icbl.com
Water: www.watercan.com
