by Annette M. Funk
United Methodist Women’s’ 1998 A Call to Prayer and Self-Denial offering -- "Expanding Mission; Building Hope" -- is funding capital expenditures at mission institutions and programs related to the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries. Building projects approved for grants by Women’s Division directors in October are listed below.
International institutions
Projects at nine international properties, totaling $455,374, were approved:
Martha Landon O’Neil Center, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, $27,150: A five-room building will be constructed, which will include classrooms, dormitory rooms and a bathroom to serve women and their children during training sessions. The center provides basic-skills training for women, orphans and disadvantaged youth, including street girls; dispenses basic health services; and educates women who are victims of violence on their legal rights. This is part of General Board of Global Ministries’s new mission initiative in Cambodia, and will help establish a new institution.
Educación Popular en Salud, Iglesia Evangélica Luterana en Chile, Santiago, Chile, $50,000: This expansion includes a large classroom for training and events for up to 100 people, offices for students and volunteers, and toilets. This center provides training for people in shantytowns, health workers and students in community health groups. This building expansion will extend services to two additional districts.
Nsele Twende Children Center, Lubumbashi-Lukuni, Congo, $22,000: This grant will pay for wiring and electrical work, three bathrooms, renovation and expansion of the kitchen, repair of a dormitory roof and walls, and painting of the center. This center, located in the mountains, houses street children, children displaced by war, orphans and child victims of domestic violence. The majority served are girls. The renovation will provide a safe, warm, comfortable environment for the children’s training and studying.
Women’s Wing of Student Residence, Latin American Biblical University, San Jose, Costa Rica, $35,000: Funding will go toward construction of a dormitory for women so they can live on the campus instead of an hour away. Programs at this university emphasize women’s empowerment and gender training. At least 50 percent of scholarships awarded by the school go to women.
Central Evangelical School, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, $25,000: A roof, cistern, windows and floors damaged by Hurricane Georges will be repaired. The electrical system, water supply, bathroom and cafeteria will be improved. This 70-year-old building houses the ecumenical church school, which serves poor, lower-income and middle-class students. About a quarter of the students receive financial assistance.
Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow, India, $238,404: The infirmary building will be renovated and expanded to accommodate the zoology department, additional laboratories needed for post-graduate studies, and six laboratories and classrooms needed to start a post-graduate nutrition program. A new sewage system will be installed and electric wiring replaced. Having provided education for women in India for 129 years, the college now seeks to provide post-graduate education for women.
Lilawati Christiya Bhawan (Hostel), Lalbagh Christian Educational Society, Lucknow, India, $20,000: The girls’ hostel will be renovated, including boundary walls, water tanks, infirmary, and a septic tank and sewer line. Started by Isabella Thoburn in 1870, this school continues to provide opportunities for personal growth and academic education for 123 girls to prepare for college, university or vocational institutions.
Methodist Technical Institute, Baroda, India, $12,820: A new roof will be put on the boys’ hostel at this institution, which serves 300 boys and 100 girls. The students receive technical and vocational training to keep pace with changing needs of industry and society.
Lingayen Christian Center, Lingayen, Pangasinan, Philippines, $25,000: A building will be constructed to house the Women’s Center and Seminar House. It will accommodate 100 people for workshops and retreats, and a library. It will serve as a hostel for transients. The center’s property is held by the Philippine Central Conference Women’s Work Foundation, Inc., with an agreement with deaconesses to design the program and administer the properties. The program includes kindergarten, institutes, rallies, camping, deaconess retreats, leadership training for women and youth, and conference committees.
National institutions
Projects at five mission institutions in the United States were approved for funding for a total of $350,000:
Vashti, Thomasville, Ga., $50,000: Bishops Hall will be renovated to house administrative offices and a new Family Preservation Program.
Emma Norton Residence, St. Paul, Minnesota, $100,000: A new facility for homeless women in transition will be built.
Gum Moon Women’s Residence, San Francisco, Calif., $100,000: The building will be retrofitted to meet California earthquake standards.
Bethlehem Community Center, Winston-Salem, N.C., $50,000: The center’s facility will be expanded.
Bidwell-Riverside Center, Des Moines, Iowa, $50,000: Iowa Conference United Methodist Women, who own this center, plan to expand it.
Additional projects to be funded from the 1998 A Call to Prayer and Self-Denial offering will be considered at the March 2000 meeting of the Women’s Division.
Annette M. Funk is executive secretary for mission opportunities.