Mission Update
In Williamsburg County, S.C. –- where farmers on tractors are a common sight -– Regina Nesmith has used a grant from the Women’s Division to bring health initiatives important to an area isolated from information and preventative health care.
Ms. Nesmith was recipient of the Women’s Division’s 2001 Theressa Hoover Community Service and Global Citizen Award.
Ms. Nesmith worked through churches, which she has found eager to help. She developed a congregational survey on health issues to ensure she was meeting the area’s needs.
Through a series of educational workshops, personal testimonies and health-screening opportunities, she has been training members of rural, African-American churches on HIV/AIDS, cancer awareness and prevention, diabetes, hypertension, nutrition, security, money management, free community programs, and legal aid. Her goal is to empower participants to continue education and health screening within their communities.
Among those Ms. Nesmith enlisted to share their stories at workshops was Debra, a recovering drug addict. Speaking to a packed church about HIV/AIDS, Debra said:
"Since 1996, I had been shooting dope and living on the street. I even asked friends to bring me drugs in the hospital."
When she was diagnosed as HIV-positive five years ago, she asked God for help.
"The biggest problem I had with HIV/AIDS was a lack of education," Debra said.
Besides finding speakers like Debra to give testimonies, Ms. Nesmith uses creative teaching techniques. For example, she uses a necklace with various size beads to show monthly growth of breast cancer to demonstrate the need for monthly self-examination.
Though Ms. Nesmith has completed the portion of her work funded by the Hoover grant, she plans to continue the work.
The award honors Theressa Hoover, retired chief executive of the Women’s Division, for service to the division from 1948-90 and to national and international ecumenical efforts. It is given annually to a woman age 21-35. For information, go to http://gbgm-umc.org/UMW/theressa.html .
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