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| GPC Mission Messenger - May 2024
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"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
– Matthew 25:35
Welcome to the Mission Messenger, the quarterly newsletter of Georgetown Presbyterian Church’s Mission Committee. The purpose of the Messenger is to keep you informed on the variety of good works your support and contributions are making, and to invite and encourage your participation in whatever effort or activity appeals to you. We offer opportunities ranging from moving a refugee family into a new apartment, to donating to coat drives or diaper banks, to riding shotgun in a police cruiser on domestic violence runs. Happily, we also offer dozens of less intense opportunities to participate and engage.
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First, a brief overview...
The Mission Committee is open to all. The Committee is divided into a number of different issue areas, each with its own partners and activities. Those areas include (a) Families and Children; (b) the Homeless; (c) Education; and (d) International.
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Our newest mission partners, Community of Hope and DC SAFE
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Families and ChildrenGPC works with a variety of partners that generally support families and children. For example, two partners added just this year include the Community of Hope and DC SAFE.
Community of Hope offers a variety of programs, but one focus is fostering more equitable health outcomes in underserved areas of D.C. For example, in DC, black maternal deaths in childbirth outnumber whites by a margin of 3 to 1. GPC’s partnership with CofH hopes to eliminate or at least ameliorate this unethical inequity.
DC SAFE is the only 24/7 domestic violence program in DC. DC SAFE provides emergency shelter for victims of violence, advocacy for survivors of such trauma, and hotlines in both English and Spanish for emergency calls and protection. More details on both of these new partners are available in the article below.
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Volunteers and guests eat together at Georgetown Extends at GPC in the winter months
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The HomelessGPC has a proud and extensive history helping the homeless. Our programs include financial and staffing support for the Georgetown Ministry Center, Georgetown’s oldest 501(c)(3) serving those without shelter. Rick Lawson is GPC’s representative on the GMC board and he can answer any questions you might have concerning GMC. We also offer programs providing food services, and last year over 120 of you volunteered to serve meals at church for the Georgetown Extends program, serving 40 to 60 hot meals a night for three straight weeks. Saturday Suppers has evolved since the pandemic, but it remains a vibrant source of food and fellowship for approximately 60. Special thanks to new member Keshia Engweni for taking leadership on the Saturday Suppers effort. Please see the “getting to know” profile of Keshia below.
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Back to School fair at Excel Academy
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EducationEducation has been a long-term focus for GPC. Our two largest education partners currently include Excel Academy families and Remember Niger. We will focus on Remember Niger in a separate interview later in the newsletter. The families at Excel Academy benefit from a wide variety of GPC contributions. The Mission Committee’s assistance ranges from providing school uniforms, to Thanksgiving baskets, to restocking the school pantry, to financing staff breakfasts for annual awards at Teacher Appreciation Week. In the recent past (read: pandemic) GPC even provided substantial resources to the Southeast Collaborative for direct cash payments through anonymous donations to families in acute financial stress. And given our core calling, GPC provides financial support to both Princeton and Wesley seminaries.
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GPCers assisting with setting up a new apartment for a refugee family
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InternationalThe two largest components of our International mission are Remember Niger and the Refugee Committee. GPC also provides support to Children of Uganda to sponsor individual students seeking education, and two of our students should graduate soon. Remember Niger is GPC’s longest running international partner and enjoys widespread support throughout the Congregation. GPC provides direct support to RN and over 44 individual GPC members sponsor a student at their schools. GPC’s Refugee Committee assists newly arrived refugees with apartment move-ins and related tasks (finding a school, finding a doctor, obtaining a driver’s license, learning the Metro system --- bus and subway, ESL classes, etc.). Since its reincarnation in 2016, The Refugee Committee has helped resettle about 14 families, and is one of GPC’s most popular groups for engagement and participation.
The Mission Committee provides a handful of other organizations support throughout the year. For example, when the floods and tornadoes devastated Mayfield, Kentucky, we helped fund the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance that provided key relief. We have also provided funding for the National Presbytery Ministry Crisis Fund.
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Please Join Us!The Mission Committee is open to all GPC members. We do good, we have fun, and the Mission Committee needs your help to reach the Long Range Planning Committee’s goal of doubling our Mission effort in the years ahead. The Mission Committee aims to manifest the GPC ideal of “Serving our city; united in Christ.”
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MEET OUR TWO NEWEST PARTNERS
Just this year, the Mission Committee added two new partners whose programs provide critical assistance right here in the District of Columbia — Community of Hope and DC SAFE.
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Community of Hope is a 501(c)(3) focused on providing more equitable health outcomes to underserved communities. While their historical approach focused on health, recently they have ventured out into related issue areas that dovetail appropriately with GPC’s broad mission focus, particularly homelessness and family health and nutrition. CoH’s mission is to improve health and end family homelessness. These goals converge in CoH’s new Family Health and Birth Center, where CoH provides prenatal care to a community that encounters maternal mortality death rates in childbirth 300% higher than that in Northwest DC. CoH addresses this shocking and unforgiveable fact by providing prenatal care, counseling, and education for expectant mothers. Opportunities for congregational engagement range from donating multicultural children’s books for a Reach Out and Read program to tutoring to donating to the ever-short diaper bank.
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DC SAFE is the only 24/7 crisis intervention agency in the District for victims of domestic violence. Its mission is to ensure the safety and self-determination of domestic violence survivors through emergency services, court advocacy, and system reform. In addition to its English-based services, it also operates Accion, a Spanish speaking hotline. Last year, there were over 8,990 emergency calls to these domestic violence numbers, and over 4,100 other unique referrals. In 2020 and throughout the Pandemic, DC Safe responded to unprecedented demand as economic hardship precipitated psychological distress in relationships, including violence. In 2023, DC Safe opened its new shelter building which provides short-term shelter for survivors and families experiencing domestic violence -- a safe place. Through its Lethality Assessment Program the organization evaluates all clients for risk of re-assault or homicide using a validated assessment tool. DC SAFE offers ample volunteer opportunities. They always need help with holiday decorating; you can teach classes like art, yoga, or budgeting; or you can even ride along in the cruiser on a domestic violence run if you so choose.
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More from one of our refugee move-in days
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| MEET THE BABAKARKHIL FAMILY
The Refugee Committee assisted the Babakarkhil family’s move into their new apartment in Alexandria on a blustery Saturday in February. More than fourteen GPC volunteers, including many healthy members of the Young Adults group, gathered to move the family of five into their new digs. Father Mohammad Ewaz is a self-starter and go-getter, having already completed an HVAC technician training course and obtained a DCJS license to work as a security guard. Mohammad has two job interviews this week --- good luck Mohammad! When a GPC family generously donated a car, Mohammad started teaching himself (with one of GPC’s “NASCAR” experts) how to drive a stick shift. Mother Malalai has excelled at ESL classes and is continuing to care for the entire family. The three kids, ages 2 through 7, are adjusting to their new home and circumstances. GPC has provided rental and insurance assistance to the family as they make the adjustment to their new home. The family expressed their gratitude to GPC’s volunteers by providing a lovely and delicious luncheon of Malalai’s superb Afghan cooking. One look in the eyes of father and mother reflects an unmistakable gratitude for the generous fellowship GPC has provided.
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GETTING TO KNOW GPC LEADER KESHIA ENGWENYI
New GPC member Keshia Engwenyi is the current leader of GPC’s Saturday Supper efforts, our once monthly service providing meals for the homeless. Keshia grew up in Cameroon, and moved to Dallas when she was eleven. She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts and both an M.B.A. and M.A. in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University.
Keshia currently works at Opportunity International, a faith-based NGO that provides financial solutions and training to empower people living in poverty throughout Asia and Africa. She is a Senior Program Manager for the Digital Innovation Team at OI, focusing on using an innovative approach to building solutions that enable improved livelihoods and break the cycle of generational poverty. For example, she manages a program in Rwanda that digitizes savings groups through a linkage program with financial institutions, to secure loans for women and farmers to have access to capital. An example of how the savings group works is, when farmers need to buy seed or fertilizers for the season’s crops, they draw on the saving group’s funds for the purchases, then repay the fund when crops are sold. The digitization process allows for the data collected to be used as a credit rating system for future loans. Keshia and the OI Innovation Team are currently managing programs in Rwanda, India, Malawi, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ghana.
Individually, Keshia is a walking smile. She counts herself as a “hopeless romantic” and a “sucker for love.” Her favorite movie is “Serendipity” with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. Her favorite restaurant is the Habisha Market on 9th Street, N.W. Her favorite book in the Bible is Proverbs for its “wisdom and ways to share knowledge.” Asked why she was willing to take on the Saturday Suppers responsibilities, Keshia’s answer was nothing less than inspiring; “We live in a space where community is invaluable. Volunteering is important and bridges communities. GPC is an important community to me, so I volunteer for Saturday Suppers and the children’s ministry. Our patrons for the Saturday Suppers comprise a different community. What greater joy can there be than bringing people together. In a divided world, Saturday Suppers joins two such communities.”
Come share Keshia’s joy. Volunteer for Saturday Suppers.
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Some of Remember Niger's students
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| REMEMBER NIGER:
An Interview with GPC's Own, Robert Bell
Editor’s Note: Given the recent events and political turmoil in Niger, many of you have asked about the safety and well-being of our partners in Niger, not to mention the status of ongoing educational programs there. To address these and related issues, we thought there could be no better source than GPC’s own Robert Bell, Chaiman of the Board of Remember Niger. The following are excerpts from a recent interview with Robert at GPC that has been edited for clarity and length.
MM: The new regime recently asked the U.S. Military to leave Niger. In the absence of such troops, is Niger still a safe place?
RB: There were only about 1,000 U.S. troops in Niger before the regime change. Most were stationed there to monitor extremist groups and prevent cross-border militant incursions on the western border with Mali and Burkina Faso. That is the western frontier, and where most of the militant incursions have occurred. RN’s schools are all located in the capital of Niamey and further east of the capital. That includes the new schools in 2024 in Aguie and Galmi. So we are hopeful -- and so far our hopes have been fulfilled -- that our schools are safe. All of our schools are open and are functioning normally.
MM: Does the new regime of General Abdourahamane Tiani represent a transition to a more extreme or militant Islamic rule that could rise to concern for the programs or even safety of RN schools?
RB: I am not an expert, but I don’t think so. So far it looks like former President Mohamed Bazoum was toppled because the military thought they could -- or Tiani thought he could -- and simply assert control in a factional power struggle. Interestingly, while the schools we support were almost all founded by Christian organizations, the majority of students at our schools are Muslim. These schools are one of the great opportunities to get ahead and improve oneself in Niger. As a result, they have great community support throughout each local community, regardless of faith, sect, or race. General Tiani understands that local support, and we hope he will come to bless the schools. At the very least, we believe that he will tolerate the schools because of that strong local support. We do not perceive fundamental hostility to education like you might expect, for example, in Afghanistan with the Taliban. But this regime’s ultimate relationship with education in general and our schools in particular remains to be seen.
MM: Is Kara safe?
RB: Kara is safe, and she is enjoying her new house in Niamey. She was there for several months earlier this year, and she is going back in June. We are looking forward to the political situation becoming more settled so that we can again bring people form the US to Niger to see our schools.
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