Greenhouses enrich lives at church mission

With support from the Yambasu Agriculture Initiative, two greenhouses at Zimbabwe’s Hanwa Mission are helping to fight climate change and grow education at the mission’s schools.
Tichaona Cornelius Dzvinamurungu, an agriculture teacher at Hanwa Secondary School, demonstrates how to use a hand-held hoe in one of two new greenhouses at the United Methodist Hanwa Mission in Macheke, Zimbabwe. The greenhouses are the result of a partnership between the community, Zimbabwe Volunteers in Mission and the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries through its Yambasu Agriculture Initiative.
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Six Years, No Solution: A 500-Gallon Tank Carries Hope to West Virginia’s Forgotten

McDowell County is one of the poorest in the U.S., and the communities of Anawalt, Leckie and Gary are some of the hardest hit by the current six-year water crisis. All have Methodist churches that are part of the Welch Charge.

To ease the burden of residents who have to purchase many gallons of drinking water weekly, the Welch Charge contacted the West Virginia Conference Disaster Response Coordinator, Jim McCune, for help. McCune’s United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) connection put him in touch with Global Ministries’ Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) program. 

A WASH grant allowed them to obtain a 500-gallon “water buffalo.” The conference disaster response team arranged to fill the portable water buffalo from the Welch water system, the county seat of McDowell, and transport it to Gary, where residents have been supplied with refillable containers. Residents of all three towns can come to get water, and volunteers will also continue deliveries for those who need it. Meanwhile, residents, including church members, continue to advocate state and local officials for a permanent solution to their aging, compromised water infrastructure. Full Story