|
Holloway Tells of Mission Trip at UCC Brunch |
|
|
|
|
by Mary Jo Cunningham
|
|
Friday, 05 September 2008 |
An ecumenical group gathered to hear Lori Holloway, a former resident of Ellinwood and a retired Great Bend teacher, give the presentation at the Immanuel United Church of Christ Annual Brunch on Sept. 4.
She said she had always wanted to go to Africa and took 12-day trip with the Book of Hope and the Assembly of God Church. "To go on a mission trip has always been in my heart."
 As she spoke, a slide show was on the screen in the background. The group she was with distributed booklets to the various schools and an orphanage. She said there were many AIDS sufferers in the area and the orphanage was filled with AIDS babies. "The children are anxious to know the Words of God," she exclaimed. "They don't have anything but they are happy, the most loving people." The group took many gifts for the students and teachers, including salvation bracelets on where each bead stood for a portion of the story of Christianity.
The schools are quite poor with the teachers teaching from magazines instead of books. The students carry everything they own in their bag. In one place, people bring food to the school and the students pay for their lunch. After school, there is a feeding station for the students. Despite all this, Holloway emphasized, it is a culture of music and singing. They are very friendly.
 Photos showed the dirt roads, tin roofed small homes and animals in the African refuge where the group got to hold the young lions. Holloway showed a notebook and purse of skins she obtained in Africa as well as a painting on a leaf, and an ebony cane. The clothes she wore were from South Africa. The group eagerly examined all the items from her mission trip.
The church hall was decorated in lime with a floral theme for the brunch of various coffee cakes and fruit cups.
 |
