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In the fall of 2015, mission co-worker Nadia Ayoub was attending a conference with colleagues in Budapest when the city’s Keleti train station became the epicenter of the refugee crisis overwhelming Europe. She could not forget the images of children sleeping on cardboard, families with not enough to eat and the pervasive fear of what would happen next.
At that moment she felt a strong call to work with refugees.
The United States leads the world in COVID-19 numbers, with 852,610 cases and 48,295 deaths. South Korea, once a hot spot, has 10,702 cases and 240 deaths. Hong Kong has 1,036 cases and 4 deaths and Taiwan has 427 cases and 6 deaths.
Larry Sthreshley, a mission co-worker for more than 30 years in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), once more finds himself on the front lines combating a global pandemic. For years it was Ebola. Now it’s COVID-19.
Migrants are one the most vulnerable groups identified in the COVID-19 crisis, but especially so in the Philippines, where about 10 percent of the 100 million total population lives or works abroad because of poverty and lack of employment.
Long-time mission co-workers Dan and Elizabeth Turk are still separated, but at least they are now in the same country.
The Presbyterian Church of Colombia is reaching out to its siblings around the world, sending greetings of “solidarity in God’s call that invites us to do everything in our power to protect the life of the people in our congregations and neighboring communities through pastoral and humanitarian care.”
When it comes to keeping mission co-workers safe in the face of a global pandemic, there is no one-size-fits-all decision. Each situation is different, and each decision is individual.
Ruth Patterson Phipps Metzel, a retired career mission worker with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), died at Sunnyside Presbyterian Community in Harrisonburg, Virginia on March 21. She was 93.
A few weeks ago, before coronavirus took over our thoughts in South Sudan, I joined a meeting of women to talk about community development. Women gathered in a circle after the church service, many of them holding young children on their laps. I started the discussion by reflecting on John 10:10, where Jesus expressed his intention to give us “life, and have it abundantly.”
What does that mean?
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has requested that all mission co-workers with the United States as home-base (United States citizens and U.S. permanent residents) return to the U.S. as recommended by the State Department. World Mission’s crisis management team is meeting seven days a week to coordinate individually with each mission co-worker in each country to determine the best course of action.
