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The Oakville Beaver, W e d n e sd a y A u g u s t 6, 2003 - C3 Chartwell youth pastor moving to Malawi Volunteer trainer for Iris Ministries, build orphanages By Shelly Sanders Greer S P E C :L \ L T O T H E B E A V HI < At the end o f A ugust, D avid Morrison, youth pastor at Chartwell Baptist Church, will trade his com fort able middle-class life in O akville for the challenges offered in rural Bangula, an African village in Malawi, close to the Mozambique border. He and his wife Joanna have been to A frica before, to visit, but this is different. T his tim e their three young children are com ing and the family's stay will be perm anent, with no salaries and no guarantees. Once David arrives, he'll set up basic amenities such as housing, vehi cles and telephones in preparation for his fam ily's arrival at the end o f September. They will be raising an ini tial am ount o f $70,000 to cover travel exrpcises. supplies and equipm ent. The Morif.ons will continue to raise funds to cov?r their living costs, estim ated to be $60.0(1) a year. The family will be renting a brick house with plum bing in the village until a permanent hom e can be built. In September, he starts his full-time volunteer position as director o f the Iris M inistry Bible S chool in B angula. training and developing Malawi pastors (leaders) and providing hom es for the growing number o f orphaned children. Iris M inistries, an interdenom ina tional mission, began in 1980. In 1995. Iris M inistries took over a neglected orphanage w ith 80 children in M ozambique and the num bers quickly grew after years o f brutal civil war. Iris M inistries has expanded to 5.000 churches in M ozam bique and neigh bouring countries, and cares for I.(MX) children. Bangula. located in the southern area o f Malaw i, has suffered terribly over the last three years w ith H ooding and famine. There is also a huge num ber o f orphans, estim ated to be two million, out o f a total population o f 11 million, by the end o f this year because o f the AIDS crisis. Morrison says that 18 per cent o f the population have AIDS and the elderly have been looking after orphaned children. "There are some villages where the oldest people are young teens." said David. "H alf the kids die before age five. Much o f our passion is to rescue these kids, to provide support and edu cation so they have a chance to grow up." Although the hot clim ate and risk o f malaria are concerns o f the Morrisons, their com m itm ent to the A frican people, especially the children, outw eighs their fears. "Taking the kids to an area that is vulnerable w eighs heavy on us." said David. "O ur kids will see things they've been insulated from . W e're taking a serious look at malaria prevention and will find the right anti-m alaria m edica tion." The African seed was planted in Joanna's heart as a child, when she spent time there while her father, a doc tor. w orked as a missionary. Joanna grew to love the people and the culture and found that, later in life, her experi ences affected the choices she made. "I want my kids to have a wide open view o f the w orld." she explained. "To live simply so others can live." Like Joanna. David had a strong Christian upbringing and spent his sum m ers as a cam per at Pioneer Cam ps. Eventually, both becam e counsellors and met w hile w orking at a cam p. Intrigued by Joanna's enthusiasm about Africa. D avid w ent for the first tim e in 1991. and again in 1995 and 2002. "I'v e seen a very disturbing side o f A frica, travelling to refugee cam ps, but I've grow n to love it." says Morrison. "P eople are desperate, starving and hungry. Several orphanages have res cued kids out o f garbage dumps. But now there are over 5.(XK) Christian churches as ;1 result o f the Iris Ministry and three Bible schools for training pas tors." W hen David headed hom e from a trip lo Africa in October, he knew his family needed to be there. He told Joanna to start packing when she picked him up from the airport. Joanna agreed and they both realized it would soon be time to tell their children - Patrick. 7. Daniel, 5, and Kalina. 3. "The kids have heard stories about Africa and are quite excited." he said. "They'll probably be the only white kjds for miles and miles. T h ey 'll have to learn a new language - Chichew a - but they'll probably learn it faster than us!" Sonya Lafleur · Special to the Beaver The M orrison family, David, Jo a n n a , and children P atrick . 7, Daniel, 5, and K alina, 3, will be m oving to Africa perm anently, leaving behind th eir com fortable O akville hom e. M orrison is the youth pasto r at C hartw ell Baptist C hurch. David will move at the end of A ugust, his fam ily will join him a t the end of Septem ber. Though they are excited, they have expressed som e fears. Joanna said that Daniel is anxious about the food. "H e asked me if we were going to starve." she said. "H e'll get used to it and I will be taking a bread m aker as well as a case o f peanut butter and jam . He loves fruit and there will be all kinds o f fruit in season - mangoes, papaya, oranges and pineapple. There is a western gro cery store in the city so we will be able to get a few treats." P reparing for such a m ajor life change is proving to be a huge under taking for the entire family. First there are the imm unizations - lots o f them to protect against malaria and other harmful diseases. Then there are the tough choices about what is taken and what is left behind. M ost o f the furni ture and all o f the appliances are stay ing. and many o f the kids' toys will be given away. "We are taking necessities and a few toys," says Joanna. "B ikes were a diffi cult decision. None o f the kids there will have bikes, but I can 't imagine say ing no to bikes." To keep organized. Joanna has three boxes per child - going, storing or giv ing away. In the going box she's pack ing two years ahead, especially shoes, as there is a problem with worm s and feet in Africa. S he's also packing birth day and Christm as presents as the near est town will be hours away and it will be difficult to obtain special items. Joanna has hom e schooled her chil dren and plans to continue in the morn ings in Malawi. During the afternoons, she plans to get to know people, devel op some type o f children's program and create a com m unity library. Joanna will be busy but admits she'll miss her close group o f friends and her family. " In Africa, men are educated more than women, and it takes a long tim e to establish relationships with women. In O ttaw a my kids have 11 cousins under the age o f eight who they will miss, but my mom and dad are planning to com e visit for Christm as." This is a perm anent m ove for the M orrison fam ily, w ith visits hom e planned roughly every two years, as it costs m ore to travel back and forth than it does to build a house in Africa. "O ur kids will see a lot." said David. "I hope they develop a selflessness to give to others. I hope they recognize that the value in life is not things, but is helping others. We want to help the Nationals (Africans) develop as leaders. We want to make life different." The M orrisons w elcom e any finan cial contributions to help make their goal o f saving children a reality. Donations can be made to Chartwell Baptist Chureh. 228 Chartwell Road. Oakville, ON, L6J 3Z8. Please make cheques payable to Chartwell Baptist C hurch and designate M orrisons Ministry' in Malawi on the m em o line. Tax receipts will be issued. O ther welcome donations include books for the future library, five fold-up chairs, cotton rugs, a big bug tent, dead bolt locks, and a satellite phone. O ther item s required and additional inform a tion about their venture, can be found on w w w.m orrisonafrica.com . Rebound Centre to benefit from third annual Bronte Harbour Twilight Run The third annual Bronte Harbour on Saturday Sept. 6 w ill, as in past years, raise funds for RebourUers Canada, a organization for ehildhxxl cancer survivors w ho are coping with brain and neurological damage caused by their radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Rebounders Canada, founded about 1) years ago by survivors A ndrew and J ·1 Sprawson o f Oakville aims to build tlv Rebound Centre, a drop-in rehabilitaion facility to help other childhood cincer survivors on Kerr Street. Land fir this project has already been obtained near Prince Charles Place. The centre will include a workshop, cottage industry, small restaurant, and retail store. Products and services are to include crafts, w ooden furniture and toys, sewing and sim ple fashions, horti culture. and in the restaurant, soups, sandwiches and desserts. It will also Miave 8 - 10 apartm ent units. The goal o f the Rebound C entre is self-sufficiency and building self·steem and a feeling o f self-w orth imong childhood can ce r survivors njured by their treatments. The 5-kilom etre race, plus a twokilometre walk, will start and finish at the Bronte branch o f the Royal Canadian Legion at 79 Jones St. The race will begin at 7 p.m., and the walk leaves at 7:10 p.m. Entry fees for the run are $25 for the run and S20 for the walk to Aug. 30, and $30 and $25 afterw ards. "All o f the proceeds. 100 per cent of the m oney w e collect, w ill go to Rebounders," said John M cKinnon o f The Running Com pany. His son. store manager Steve M cK innon, race coordi nator Brian Bidwell and Bill Ford o f the Halton Regional Police Service and Bronte Legion also helped organize the annual event. T-shirts will be given to the first 2(X) registrants. The tw o runs to date have raised about $8,000 for Rebounders - $3,<XX) the first year and about $5.(XX) last year. Saucony m erchandise will aw arded to the top three male and female finish ers in the race, and the top male and female finishers in 10 age categories from under 19 to 60 and up. Both the race and the walk will fol Twilight Run low routes through historic Bronte and its scenic har bour. The race route is east on Lakeshore Road, south on T hird Line, and w est on M arine Drive with a loop past the Bronte O uter H arbour Marina. 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