MISSION NEWS
WEEKEND FOCUS
A refurbished surgical ward at
Gahini Hospital in use
Saturday–Sunday 6–7 February
BLOOM WHERE YOU’RE PLANTED By Garry Ion, who has now returned to the UK after spending 25 years helping churches in Africa to undertake building projects In Uganda, I had a fridge magnet which said, “Bloom where you’re planted!” I was reminded of this when a sunflower popped up unexpectedly in a garden urn I planted shortly after I returned from Uganda. At first, I thought the seedling, growing among the begonia plants that I had planted intentionally, was a weed. I nearly pulled it out, but thankfully my parents recognised it to be a sunflower, so we left it to grow. Call it a sign, a gift from God, and probably a snack a frustrated bird dropped, it reminds me of God’s enduring love. As Bishop Francis de Sales put it over 450 years ago, “The love of God has been poured into our hearts by his Spirit dwelling in each one of us, calling us to a life of devotion and inviting us to bloom in the garden where he has planted and directing us to radiate the beauty and spread the fragrance of his providence.”
Pray for God’s guidance as PRAY Garry chooses to bloom where he is planted and considers his next steps.
Photo: Garry with a sunflower at his parents’ 4 home4in Penrith – both seeking to bloom where they are planted!
Patient care improved in Gahini Mission partners Catriona and Steve Bennett’s Improving Access to Safe Surgery project has been able to move forward by God’s grace throughout 2020, despite Catriona and Steve being on leave in the UK for six months. While still in Rwanda in 2019, anaesthetist Catriona and general surgeon Steve began working to improve care for surgical patients through much-needed upgrades to Gahini Hospital’s surgery and orthopaedic wards. Building work started at the end of 2019, and new equipment started to arrive in March 2020, but then
Prizes for pioneers Two students on CMS’s Pioneer Mission Leadership Training have won awards for initiatives launched during lockdown. Rachel Summers, CMS MA student and graduate of the St Cedd Centre, was given a Lockdown London Tree Champion award for helping people notice trees. On her walks around Walthamstow, Rachel chalked the names and characteristics of local trees on the pavement. This grabbed the attention of social and traditional
Catriona and Steve returned to the UK for six months. In their absence, the hospital’s high dependency area was equipped and quickly received its first patients. Newly qualified doctors began to once again come to Gahini for surgical training. The hospital was also allocated intern doctors, bringing added teaching responsibilities to Catriona and Steve, who are both passionate about training. Catriona and Steve are hoping to further improve access to surgery at the hospital through the addition of more specialist staff as well as training in critical care for current staff to enable them to make the best use of the facilities and maximise the benefit to patients.
media, and of the London Tree and Woodland Awards. They highlighted: “The fun and simple method of identification was eye-catching for people exploring their local area, possibly for the first time… raising the profile of the urban forest, giving some fun facts and helping us to appreciate the nature around us.” Meanwhile pioneer vicar Adam Gompertz, who developed the REVS initiative for classic car enthusiasts while studying at CMS, launched REVS Limiter – a Facebook live event in May, which
