SNU and Bethany First Church join together in Swaziland Partnership

Bethany, Oklahoma

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Eleven Southern Nazarene University (SNU) administrators, professors, and one student will head to Swaziland, Africa, on Tuesday, July 29, through Saturday, August 9. The Swaziland Partnership is a cooperative effort between the Swaziland Church of the Nazarene, Bethany, Oklahoma, First Church (BFC) of the Nazarene, and Southern Nazarene University.

The goal of the Swaziland Partnership is to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS in Swaziland through the development of key spiritual, compassionate, and educational resources.

Brad D. Strawn, Ph.D., dean of the Chapel, and vice president for Spiritual Development at SNU, is serving as the Swaziland team Go Leader.

“My role as leader of the educational team is to oversee the delegation and to facilitate SNU employees meeting with appropriate Swazi leaders. I will be with a special delegation meeting at the U.S. Embassy to discuss government funding for these projects,” Strawn said.

The following make up the delegates from SNU to Africa: Davis Berryman, vice provost for Professional and Graduate Studies, Beverly DeVries, Education professor, Carol Dorough, chair of the SNU School of Nursing, Tom Herskowitz, chair of the School of Business, Jason Hubbert, associate for Spiritual Development and SNU adjunct professor, Paul McGrady, assistant athletic director, Nancy Rizkalla, director of Morningstar Institute, Brad Strawn, vice president for Spiritual Development and team leader, Kendra Thomson, director of Operations and Outreach, and Megan Vickers, SNU student and president of the Acting on Aids Chapter.

DeVries will be participating in discussions on the HIV/AIDS curriculum and graded Sunday School material in partnership with nursing and theology.

“My specific goals as representative of the Education Department include: meeting with the College of Education and the Board of Governors. Evaluate their library, Information Technology, and textbook,” DeVries said. “I’ll visit the Nazarene elementary and high schools to evaluate for potential internships for SNU students. I’ll also meet with an individual about housing possibilities for these school internships as well as check on the possibilities for SNU faculty to do sabbaticals.”

Over the last decade, many Nazarenes have invested in missions. In looking at the Swaziland and HIV/AIDS crisis, many now have more knowledge and increased compassion for the Swazis. The Swaziland Partnership allows SNU and BFC to gain hands-on knowledge as they try to reduce the HIV/AIDS crisis through spiritual, compassionate, and educational resources.

Overall goals, some short-term and some long-term, will be prioritized, consolidated, and refined following the summer trip. Included in the list of overall goals are: health and nursing, harmonizing of the three Swazi colleges, pastoral care curriculum, teacher training college/SNU education, Morningstar, spiritual development, and compassionate ministries.

Professor Nancy Rizkalla, who recently joined SNU as the director of Morningstar Institute, will join Tom Herskowitz to explore options for SNU students to do possible international internships with the Morningstar Institute in Africa.

“We will be meeting with area leaders in micro-finance and vocational training. They will include practitioners from Non-Government Organization’s (NGOs), ministries, and universities, both in Swaziland and South Africa” Herskowitz said. “We will be visiting two universities that offer training in micro-finance.”

In addition to schools, the team will be visiting clinics and churches as part of the overall effort to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS in Swaziland.

HIV/AIDS is one of the greatest humanitarian crisis in the history of the world. Studies state AIDS has killed more people than all the famines, floods, natural disasters, and wars in history--and there is no end in sight.

Nowhere is the devastation of this disease more obvious than in Swaziland. The small Southern African nation holds the unfortunate distinction of having the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in the world. An estimated 42 percent of the population is infected. A 15-year-old has only a 20 percent chance of reaching 35. An estimated 15,000 households are headed by orphaned children.

“When we first began this journey of looking at Swaziland and the HIV/AIDS crisis,” said David Busic, senior pastor at Bethany First Church, “most of us were ignorant and apathetic about what was happening in our world. Now we have some knowledge and compassion. We don’t have all the answers, but we know we can do something. We must do something.”

BFC is building upon their strong history of work in and for Africa.

In 1985, seeing a great financial need for the project, the church pledged to provide $100,000 (U.S.) over two years to begin Nazarene work in Kenya.

According to BFC, the church raised the funds above and beyond their normal missions giving. Not only was BFC able to open the work in Kenya, but also the entire East Africa Field. Today, Africa Nazarene University is located in Nairobi, Kenya, and more than 97,000 African Nazarenes are living in the region.

Prayer is requested for the team and for the Swaziland Partnership as over the next several years the partnership plans to:

• Work with clinics, churches, and schools
• Work with the Nazarene hospital, providing maintenance and equipment as well as mentoring relationships with our doctors and nurses.
• Work with at-risk children: orphans, Vacation Bible Schools, sport camps, and teaching life skills
• Work with the AIDS Task Force: home health care, HIV/AIDS education
• Work toward the formation of a new university

For more information on the SNU Go Team, contact Brad Strawn at the SNU Office of Spiritual Development by calling 405-717-6216 or emailing bstrawn@snu.edu. For more on BFC's efforts, see bethanynaz.org.
--SNU, Bethany First Church Communications

 

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