| By
Michael Wacht
LAKELAND — Fernando is about 14 or 15 years
old. He lives in Muxungue, Mozambique, Africa, and has about a
sixth-grade education. He has spent nearly half his life in the midst
of armed conflict.
When the Rev. David Beers, pastor of Silver Palm
United Methodist Church in Homestead, met Fernando last month, he said
he understood more clearly why the Florida Conference is building a
school in Fernando’s home town. “When I looked into his eyes, I
knew education was not even a possibility for him,” he said.
Beers is director of the Florida Conference’s
United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM). He and Ray
Bartholomew, a member of First United Methodist Church, Ft. Myers, and
director of the Ft. Myers District UMVIM, traveled to Africa April
11-26.
The two were on a “search and relate”
mission, according to Beers. They met with government and church
leaders in the Northern Conference of the Mozambique area of the
United Methodist Church to facilitate the construction phase of the
Bishop Cornelius L. and Dorothye Henderson Secondary School and bring
a progress report back to Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker and delegates to
the 2002 Florida Annual Conference Event.
They also visited the site where the school will
be built, using funds raised through the Council of Bishops’
Initiative on Children and Poverty and Hope for the Children of
Africa.
“When this school is built, it represents what
the program says, ‘Hope for the Children of Africa,’ ” Beers
said. “Realize the effect this [initiative] is having on the
children of Africa—with the children being forced to work at such an
early age and the conflict they’ve seen—for us to go in and say,
‘We want to make a difference. We want to give you hope.’ ”
Fernando is typical of the boys in Muxungue,
Beers said. He has completed his education and has a job that helps
him support his family. He manages a group of younger boys who sell
roasted cashews and local produce and products to motorists and bus
passengers who stop in Muxungue on their way to or from Maputo, the
capital, on National Highway 1.
The boys especially seek out white faces in the
cars or busses because they usually belong to wealthy South Africans.
They don’t even dream one of the faces could belong to an extremely
rich American or European.
“To allow these children to have an education
and participate in the local community and economy is an act of
service to God—not in a general way, but in a very specific way in
which he’s called us to respond,” Beers said.
The school will be the first secondary school
built within 300 kilometers of Muxungue and will provide a seventh-
through 10th-grade education for children of that area. It will
include classrooms, dormitories, a kitchen and dining area, and a
chapel, Beers said. The school will also become the center for
church-related ministry in the community and may house an evangelism
institute and a clinic.
Beers said the local government is very excited
about the school and what it will mean to the area. The district
administrator, who is similar to a county commissioner in the United
States, met with Beers and Bartholomew and “emphasized the
government was intentional about and saw the benefits of working with
the United Methodist Church,” Beers said. “It will be mutually
beneficial to get the school built. It will benefit the children from
the whole area who…can progress through grade 10.”
The highway that runs through Muxungue is a
major artery between Mozambique and its northern neighbors, Beers
said. The area is expected to grow rapidly, and the school will help
train the government and business leaders who will manage and lead
that growth.
The local government increased its grant of land
to the school, Beers said. Originally the church was given one
hectare, or 10,000 square meters, but that was recently increased to
four hectares. The local government has also dug a well on the
property that will provide water for the school and surrounding
community.
Beers said local companies are now clearing the
land, doing a topological study of it, and buying and placing property
markers. Local companies will also do most of the construction, but
will provide step-by-step plans for the Florida Conference to approve.
The Mozambique government will also approve the plans.
In a meeting with Muxungue’s administrator,
Beers and Bartholomew were welcomed as members of the city. “He
said, ‘Before today there were 64,500 people in Muxungue. Today
there are plus two,’ ” Beers said. “They welcomed us into their
community, and I think that extends to the entire Florida Conference
as we’ve all given to help build this school.”
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Photo Courtesy of the Rev. David Beers |
| The Rev. David Beers, pastor of Silver Palm United Methodist Church in Homestead, recently visited Muxungue, Mozambique, to meet with local leaders and visit the site of the Henderson Secondary School. Beers was asked to unlock and help bless the house of a member of Muxungue's United Methodist Church. |
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