LDS Church Provides Water for African Orphans
March 25, 2010 by admin
Filed under Mormons Serving Local Communities
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has helped fill an essential need for 960 children at the Vulamasango Primary School in Kanyemazane, South Africa.
Elder F. Michael Watson, a Church leader who oversees Southeast Africa, was on a visit to the school to thank administrators for allowing the Church to use the school for church services when he learned the city routinely interrupts the school’s water supply without notice. This action has prevented the students from having a cooked meal and using the restrooms. Many of the children are orphans, and the only meal they receive each day is school lunch. The Church donated a 5,000 liter emergency water tank to fill in the gaps when the water is turned off. The Church also gave all 960 students bags containing basic school supplies and special toys for the preschool children.
The children can speak English today because of the efforts of the missionaries from the Church. A certificate of appreciation was presented to the Church from the Mpumalanga Department of Education in recognition of the outstanding partnership and support in school development and for bringing hope and relief. A chorus of the school children sang to their headmaster, Rafael Phiri, and other students dressed in costumes and performed their local native dances.
The Church has two small congregations in the Nelspruit region. Two of the six full-time missionaries serving in the area are invited by the school to teach English classes two days a week and hold a devotional at the school every Wednesday. Elder Watson and his wife, Jolene, were accompanied at the event by public affairs and humanitarian missionary couples based in Johannesburg and other missionaries serving locally in the area.
Humanitarian aid in the form of disaster relief, medical supplies, clean water, wheelchairs and school supplies has been a great help to the residents of the area. The Church donated a substantial amount in humanitarian aid in 2009 to 19 countries in Southeast Africa.