Lord, have mercy on my soul! Did I give wise counsel tonight?
Last year, I met Pastor Jacky again. We had met before about 2 years earlier when she was still in seminary when my church had given a group of seminary students some financial assistance.
After finishing school, Pastor Jacky came back to the village to live and work. Initially, she was the equivalent of an associate pastor at one of the churches. Then this year she became the pastor (chaplain) at the hospital among other jobs. She is also a part-time high school teacher, part-time nursing school counselor, and etc.
Tonight, Pastor Jacky was over again to discuss projects and assistance. First, we watched a video of the 2006 Bread for the World's Letter of Offering about a project called WORTH.
After explaining the concept of the project, I started with the story of Mother Theresa and all her worldly accomplishments. I told Pastor Jacky that she could do great things for her people in Congo. But she needed to start "doing" and stop worrying about going back to school (doctoral).
I told her in Congo, education is a false sense of security. Education does not mean a ticket to paradise in a country without a functioning economy. There are no formal or traditional jobs in Congo./p>
I offered her the opportunity to lead an Women Empowerment project in the village. The project involves women literacy, business skills, and village banking (microcredit) training. This project would do wonders in breaking the cycle of poverty in the village and the region.
Pastor Jacky agreed to give it a try and start the women empowerment group in the village. I fired off an email message to the Congo Director and the international Director asking for assistance.
After some hard work and support (financial and spiritual) over the next 10 years, she could be a Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Who knows, she could be mentioned along with Muhammad Yunus and Mother Theresa.
from my HTC PocketPC!