Lon and Val Garber - Distributed in Namibia

NAMIBIA CONTAINER

Our household belongings are packed,inventoried, labeled and ready to go. Many trips deliver them to the church and the Namibia Collection Center.

At the Namibia Collection Center,they are combined with the clothes, books, toys and sports equipment donated by generous Northlanders. A last-minute surge of donations fills the load.

This tractor-trailer truck then transported the entire load to Harvest Time, International in Sanford. This ministry sends shipping containers of humanitarian aid to needy countries around the world.

At Harvest Time, they are off-loaded into the warehouse, stacked onto wooden pallets and shrink-wrapped. They will be stored there until the shipping container arrives from Jacksonville.

VISA TROUBLES

NOTHING IS EASY

On Tuesday, November 5 we received the news that our visa applications were denied. It seems that the Ministry of Home Affairs is not currently issuing visas to foreign pastors. It seems that a Nigerian pastor forged application documents this past summer and the Namibian authorities caught him. This has tarnished the reputation of all foreign pastors and they are routinely denying visas. Six other pastors had their visas denied on the same day as ours.

So what now?
Stephan Nell (our Namibian sponsor) is appealing the decision. We are confident that God wants us in Namibia and will therefore make a way for us. We are proceeding with our plans to ship belongings to Namibia and follow them in early December. If the appeal is unsuccessful, we may have to enter ministry activities we can engage in during this period and will necessitate our leaving the country for an undetermined length of time before long-term visas can be issued. If so, we would go to South Africa and work with Bruce and David Wilkinson in their new ministry venture God's Answer.

Stay Tuned
We will keep you posted as this adventure develops. In the meantime, please pray that God will make a way for our long-term stay in the country.

OUR CHURCH HOME

On 30 December, we visited the church that has become our Namibian church home on weekends when we aren’t ministering somewhere. His People Christian Church located in the southern side of Windhoek has lively, contemporary worship, a grace-filled atmosphere, and challenging teaching. The pastor is Andrew Gossman, a white South African. After several weeks of “this church speaks too much Afrikaans for us language-challenged Americans, this church’s worship is too tame, this church is too segregated”, etc., we finally found a church that is just right.

What we like most about the church is that it is thoroughly integrated, with equal mixes of whites, blacks and coloreds. What’s more, they are in the midst of moving to a larger facility, which was previously a Boy Scout center. We had a workday this past Saturday to clean-up the grounds. It reminded us of the olden days when Northland first took over Skate City, except I didn’t see any rats at the Boy Scout center.

We have also joined a home group that meets in our neighborhood. The leaders are Bonnie and Dawn Pereko. Bonnie is a music professor at the University of Namibia (UNAM) and an excellent worship leader. He also just released his first worship CD with songs he wrote in several languages (Oshivambo, OshiHerrero, Sotho, Afrikaans, Nama/Damara, and English). It’s a great CD

FYF RAND SQUATTER'S CAMP

My relationship with Pastor Thomas Mbundu began simply enough in April, 2002. I was asked to give him a ride to Five Rand. Five Rand is the squatter’s camp near Okahandja, Namibia where he lives and ministers. Unemployed workers from Ovamboland and refugees from war-torn Angola migrate south in search of work and safety. However, work is hard to find for the unskilled and unschooled who only speak Oshivambo. So they gather in these “informal settlements.” Pastor Thomas pastors a church at Five Rand.

Several months later I received a letter from him asking for clothes for his congregation. Upon returning to Namibia in December, I visited Pastor Thomas to tell him that the clothes would soon arrive. In the process, I invited him to tell me how God was blessing his church. Thomas blessed me with the following report.

He founded the church in September, 2001 in response to the obvious spiritual needs of the camp dwellers. 40 people attended his first service in which a crippled man received healing. 80 people attended the next week. They now have from 140 to 200 attendees meeting in a modest sanctuary that holds about 70 people comfortably. Pastor Thomas attributes the increase to concerted, faithful prayer. An educated man who speaks 7 languages, Thomas and his family have chosen to remain in the camp and minister to the needs of their fellow camp dwellers.

Eventually, people in his congregation return to their homes or migrate elsewhere. When they do, Pastor Thomas and his leaders go with them to help them plant a church in their new location. As a result, in the past 16 months Pastor Thomas has planted a church in Noordoewer on the southern border of Namibia, another in a migrant labor camp on a grape farm in the south, one at Gobabis in the east, one in Windhoek, one in Ongulumbashe, two more in an Angolan refugee camp near Otjiwarango with over 500 attendees, and 4 more in Rundu on the northern border. That’s 11 new churches in about a year. The Five Rand church has an apostolic ministry that is spreading churches all over Namibia and beyond.

Now that the war has ended in Angola, many of the church members in Otjiwarango refugee camp will be returning to their homes near Lubango, Angola. In March, Pastor Thomas and several of his leaders will be traveling with them to Angola to plant a church in Lubango.

Pastor Thomas wishes to send greetings and thanks to the many Northland attendees who donated clothes for his congregation at Five Rand. He will use them to bless his congregation and then give the remainder to the elderly, orphans and handicapped people in the camp. Thank you for partnering with the Five Rand church as they continue to minister to the needs of people throughout Namibia and Angola. Your care and concern is helping Thomas and his church leaders to shine the light of Christ’s love in very dark and needy places. He summed up God’s blessings on his church by stating, “In the beginning, we spread through the camp in search of people to help us build our church. Now the people seek us out.”

MOVING DAYS

We found a 3-bedroom townhouse in Hochlandpark before Christmas, but it did not become available until 16 January. Since we had to vacate our borrowed flat on 9 January, we spent the intervening week in Swakopmund, a beach resort town on the Atlantic coast. While there we visited with two pastors with whom we will be working. Welly du Toit is the pastor of Walvis Bay North Dutch Reformed Church and Manus Olivier is the pastor of the Swakopmund Dutch Reformed Church. He also preaches at Swakop River Community Church.

Finally, our much-awaited moving day arrived. Most of the boxes had already been stored in our landlord’s garage before leaving for Swakopmund, so moving day consisted mainly of unpacking the bins we had sent over with the outreach teams this summer. It did not take too long to find a place for everything and afterwards the house still looked empty. Nevertheless for the first time in two months, we had a place to call home.

For the next two weeks, we still slept on a borrowed twin mattress (very cozy) and ate on the patio furniture left by our landlords, Jan and Mika Erasmus.

The container arrived in port on Jan. 13 but was not delivered until Jan. 27. Late that Monday afternoon, we got a call that the container was on its way to Hodygos (YFC’s headquarters). We literally dropped everything and rushed to Hodygos only to find that the truck had gotten lost. It arrived right before the rain and darkness. It was an unloading zoo. Boxes were literally flying off the container, while we tried frantically to save our breakables and computers from certain destruction and separate them from the contents destined for the other places.

Then, while the sofas and cardboard boxes were arrayed on the dirt like an eviction proceeding, it began to rain. Wind, sand and rain mixed together make mud. We are learning to hold on lightly to our belongings. Darkness set in before the container was emptied. We then loaded our stuff onto a separate truck by the faint light of far off poles. With a couple of trips, we got it all under cover. This warehouse-type building was under construction with no way to secure it. So we had to sleep there to guard everything. At least we slept on our own mattress for the first time in over two months. Well, sleep is a bit of an exaggeration. We got to lay down and swat mosquitoes all night.

In the morning, most items had dried due to the dry climate. We packed an open-bed truck (that’s Dave Fortin on the truck) and our Isuzu bakkie (pickup) and headed for Windhoek (thanks be to God, everything fit). By noon we re-united our home and our belongings for the first time since leaving Orlando.

MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES

We have been here for just two months and the ministry opportunities are beginning to fall like summer rain (Namibian summer that is). I have many preaching opportunities. I will be preaching on the fourth Sunday of each month at Khomas Community Church, On March 1, I will preach at Swakop River Community Church and on March 16 at the Oshakati Dutch Reformed Church.

I am conducting elder training at River of Life Community Church in Khomasdal every Monday evening. They have 15 elders and 9 potential elders attending the training (see separate article, Elder Training Opportunities). I will be conducting a Lay Minister Seminar on March 13-14 in Oshakati.

I am also working with Dieter and Joan Morsbach, missionaries to the Fyf Rand (Five Rand) Squatter’s Camp in Okahandja, in a consulting role. I am assisting them as they put together a 90-day, 1-year and 10-year ministry plan for holistic ministry to the 7,500 residents of the camp.

Since mentoring is in my blood, I am currently mentoring a pastor, a ministry leader and an emerging young adult leader named George Steinbach, who is also serving as my ministry assistant.

I continue to meet pastors and ministry leaders throughout Namibia by attending pastors conferences and gatherings, through personal appointments and introductions. Stephan Nell, pastor of Khomas Community Church, introduces me to a new pastor each week.

So rest assured, God is opening many doors for us and ensuring that our time here is not be wasted. Please continue to intercede for us concerning our pending, but unapproved, work permits.

ELDER TRAINING

This evening (10 Feb) I went to River of Life Community Church to address their elders. Pastor Fred Joseph and I agreed beforehand that it would be a trial evening to see if the elders would then want to invite me back for more extensive training. Our pre-arrangement was that after I finished my presentation, I would leave and Fred would caucus with them to see what they thought about me. No pressure there!

All of his 15 elders showed up for the meeting, plus 9 potential elders who were especially invited to join us. There was also one guest pastor in attendance from Sedgefield, South Africa, for a total of 25 men.

My purpose was not only to give them an overview of the elder training material, but also to “tease” them with what they would learn if they continued the training. We began clicking immediately. My interactive style encouraged them to participate and ask questions. They started asking significant questions that showed a high degree of interest. After about an hour, my presentation turned totally into a Question & Answer time. They were especially interested in mentoring. There was much lively conversation on that topic. After 90 minutes, I ended and started to leave as pre-arranged, but Fred invited me to stay. Actually, he insisted that I stay. He said, “It is obvious that something special has happened here this evening. From everyone’s reaction, I’m sure we want you to do more training with us, so please sit down while we discuss the best format and timing.”

So we agreed that I will come back every Monday evening for the foreseeable future and conduct additional training on topics of interest to them.

After the meeting, I spent time with Pastor Henry McCombi, the visiting pastor for South Africa. He invited me to come down to South Africa and participate in their annual leadership conference they conduct each year in September at the Integrated Agape Fellowship. He assured me that his congregation is true to their name and is thoroughly integrated in agape fellowship.

OVAMBOLAND

On Jan 29-30, I made my first trip to the north-central region (Ovamboland) where the outreach teams ministered last summer. It is another world up there. Windhoek is a modern city. Oshakati and Ondangwa are definitely not. Windhoek is dry and arid; Ovamboland is a delta region with the only standing water in the country. Windhoek is mountainous and looks like Colorado; Ovamboland is flat with palm trees and looks a lot like the inland areas of Florida. In Windhoek cars and especially taxis have the right of way on the roads. In Ovamboland, cattle, goats, donkeys and children wander the roads without concern for the cars who may be trying to share the road with them. Cars must yield to them at all times since they seemingly ignore the presence of vehicles.

But the biggest difference is the people. Oh, the people. They are so friendly and open to ministry. Life is slower in the north, partly because jobs are so scarce, and the people take time for you. They are very appreciative of any offers to assist them.

The purpose for my trip was just to meet people, but it quickly yielded opportunities for ministry. I will be going back the weekend of March 14-16 to conduct a leadership seminar for the Oshakati Dutch Reformed Church and to preach there on Sunday morning. I will also be exploring with Pastor Festus Negumbo how I can assist his Four Square Gospel Church with leadership training. He is already doing a wonderful job of identifying, developing and sending out young adult leaders (several YFC staff members came from his church), but he want to do even better.

UPCOMING EVENTS

FEBRUARY
10 - Planning Session (Fyf Rand Squatter's Camp Ministry)
10 - Elder Training(River of Life Community Church)
11 - Meeting with Ron Gardiner (Pastor, Emmanuel Church)
12 - Planning Session (Fyf Rand Squatter's Camp Ministry)
13 - Judea Harvest Ministry Pastor's Meeting
15-16 - Leadership Retreat (Khomas Community Church)
18-20 - God's Answer Pastor's Conference (Rock Lodge)
23 - Preach at Khomas Community Church
25 - Meeting with Andrew & Carol Gossman (Pastors, His People)
26-27 - Disciple Namibia 2020 Conference
28 - Travel to Swakopmund to visit Manus Olivier (Pastor)

MARCH
01 - Preach at Swakop River Community Church
02 - Meeting w/ Welly DuToit (Pastor, Walvis Bay North Church)
06 - God's Answer Businessmen's Conference (Bruce Wilkinson)
07 - God's Answer Politicians Conference (Miles Monroe)
14-16 - Leadership Conference (Oshakati Dutch Reformed Church)
16 - Preach at Oshakati Dutch Reformed Church
23 - Preach at Khomas Community Church

WORK OF OUR HANDS MINISTRY

Related Photo Galleries: | Work of Our Hands - People | Work of Our Hands - Products |

NEED FOR OUR MINISTRY

Until 1990 (independence), employment opportunities for blacks were restricted to menial, unskilled labor. Today the seeds planted by apartheid have grown into a legacy of poverty, and worse, a poverty mentality. Above all else, there is a sense of hopelessness that life will ever improve.

For this reason, the concepts of entrepreneurism and self-employment are relatively foreign to the native population. Their lack of employable skills keeps them stuck within a highly dependent mindset. They feel their fate is predetermined, and there is little they can do to improve their lot in life. Work of our Hands seeks to change that mindset by developing the artistic and handcraft skills (primarily of women) and demonstrating how these skills can be used to make a better way of life for their families.

This need exists throughout the country. Unemployed families are everywhere. The need is so overwhelming; one could easily be discouraged from even beginning. Yet large projects always begin with small endeavors and people committed to making a difference.

OUR MISSION
The mission of Work of our Hands is to provide hope and dignity for the unemployed through the creation of cottage industries, which produce handcraft products for local and international markets.

We envision a holistic ministry that teaches handcraft, basic life skills, and business skills, as well as addresses the educational and spiritual needs of participants. Skills alone will not overcome the apartheid legacy. The greater challenge is to impart new life skills, and a new way of thinking.
Our further mission is for each project to become self supporting. That is, not dependent on W.O.O.H. to continue. Our goal is to develop interdependent entrepreneurs. Small businesses that can cooperate to buy supplies and market their products, but that operate as separate business entities.

Many here say our goals are too large, indeed un-doable! I, Val, hear constantly about how ”it’s been tried before, it can’t work; a project never out lives it’s founder” etc. I hear about how lazy the native population is, how unmotivated, and how crafts won’t sell in Namibia. We have already proven crafts do sell in Namibia, although granted the market is small. As to the lazy and unmotivated part, since we do not pay individuals to be trained, those without any self motivation are naturally weeded out of the program. Each individual either has their own business, as with the bead ladies, or they share supplies, as in Five Rand, and are paid when the items they have made are sold. At this point they receive all the money for the item except for the cost of the supplies they have used.

So, are our goals too large? Is the job indeed un-doable? Only time will tell. All I, Val, know, is that I believe in it enough to give myself, and my prayers fully to it! With God all things are possible, and I believe He has uniquely gifted me, and sent me to Namibia for such a time as this.