Volunteer Missionary Movement

Bridges Newsletter
August 2008 • Volume 16 Issue 14

Strasser Family News from Zambia

By Arden (Susan) Strasser (VMs Zimbabwe 1988-1990)
Greetings to you from Zambia! We hope you are well.
I am an ELCA missionary, moving here from northern
California in April, 2006.
Let me introduce my family first. My wife, Susan,
works for Catholic Relief Services as an AIDS advisor.
She is the technical advisor for The Elizabeth Glaser
Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) in Zambia.
EGPAF supports programs to prevent mother to
child transmission of HIV as well as HIV related care
and treatment for over half of Zambia's populaton.
Susan’s work covers a few strategic areas including
improving the quality of counseling for HIV positive
children, increasing the number of children on life-
saving antiretroviral therapy, and overseeing public
health evaluations and operations research. Specifically, being grateful to God for strengthening our family
Susan is interested in psychosocial support for HIV relationships through talking, praying, working and
positive children as well as HIV and nutrition. goofing around.
Our daughter, Chloe, is in 10th grade here in Zambia. Along with their professional commitment to vulnerable
Chloe likes making friends, playing piano, and child protection, Susan and Chloe, have begun
polocrosse, but is most excited when she can practice coordinating the building of a playground at a Christian
driving (albeit off road!). school & vocation center for 500 orphaned, disabled,
and other children with a high vulnerability to extreme
poverty. The program is called the “Bauleni Street
Kid's Program.” It's a school feeding site for the United
Nations World Food Program. Time and space to play
Continued on page 4

Alea, 6, is in kindergarten and is learning to tie her

shoelaces and identify the alphabet sounds. I still have
to keep her firmly in the car and away from those
annoying elephants!
As with you, birthdays come and go, and we know joys
and disappointments, opportunities and dead-ends,
along with the future God lays before us. We depend on

Serving in … Living for ... Mission

Page 2
Bridges Volume 16

Executive Director’s Report

By Julia Pagenkopf
What a beautiful summer it has been in Wisconsin! I hope you have all been able to enjoy God’s blessings in nature the past few
months. It rained so much this spring, I was reminded of the verse from Isaiah 45:8 - Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and
let the clouds rain down the Just One: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a Saviour.

This has been an especially fruitful year for VMM. Our revenue for the year was $269,094, an increase of $67,886 over the previ-
ous year. Total expenses were $260,468, an increase of $4,770 over the previous year, primarily due to the costs associated with
the increased number of missioners we have in Central America. Our Net Income was $8,618. These are not audited figures yet,
so there may be some slight adjustments. Everyone here at VMM wants to give all of you a huge THANK YOU for your very gen-
erous help and support to our missioners this past fiscal year. Continued on next page
Issue 14
Bridges Page 3

We placed seven new missioners in Central America: Alicia in

Guatemala; Kelley, Paul, Daemian and Mary Foster (and their We are pleased to welcome our
three children: Thandiwe, Chesna and Aidan) in El Salvador; new missioners: Dave & Nancy
Slinde (photo left) and Danielle
and Laura and Christine in Nicaragua. The Fosters returned in
Mackey, Kelley Burns, and
July so they could expand their family and adopt three of his Jennifer Wilder (below L-R).
sister’s children after her tragic death in December. Keep them
in your prayers as they continue their experience of mission
here in the U.S. and open their hearts to a new life.

VMM will have four new missioners in the coming year, all of
whom attended the Mission Personnel Orientation (MPO)
training held in May at the Siena Center in Racine, WI. We had
the incredible opportunity to have Edwina join us for a day and
share with us how she started VMM, its early history, how the
David and Nancy
Spirit and Lifestyle was created, the value of community, and
Slinde come to VMM
the special charism of VMM missioners. It was a perfect way
from the Greater Mil-
to begin our time together! Here is a little bit of information
waukee Lutheran
about each of our new missioners:
Synod through the advice of Mary Campbell, another former
VM. Nancy is experienced as a teacher in elementary school,
Danielle Mackey graduated from St. Louis University with a
high schools and college. She has volunteered with the ELCA
double major in International Studies and Political Science.
Global Mission for Education and Advocacy, GMS
She spent a semester in El Salvador studying at La Casa de la
ELCA/Salvadoran Lutheran Synod Companion Encuentro.
Solidaridad and working for a women’s small artisan
cooperative. She will be replacing Danny Burridge in his
David has also been very involved with the Greater Milwaukee
position as the Grassroots Delegations and Tour Coordinator.
Synod El Salvador Committee, and the ELCA Global Missions
Conference in Costa Rica. He worked at Eaton Corp. for many
Jennifer Wilder just graduated from Furman University in
years in management positions, and was Executive Director of
South Carolina with a degree in Psychology. She was
Citizen Advocacy of Washington County from 2002-2003. He
recommended to VMM by a professor – David Gandolfo, who
is currently working with the West Bend Noon Rotary as Pro-
is married to former VM, Liz O’Donnell. Jennifer also spent a
ject Manager of an international project in La Granja, Nejapa,
semester in five countries in Central America. She has been
El Salvador, for a waste water collection system. They cannot
accepted by the Divinity School at Wake Forest University,
leave for mission until after January 1, but will be placed in El
which she will delay for two years while she is ministering with
Salvador.
VMM. Her placement will be in El Salvador, most likely with
our project partner, Fundahmer.
Kelley Burns also joined us at the MPO even though she has
been serving with the SHARE Foundation in El Salvador as the
Grassroots Education Solidarity Coordinator since October.
We all enjoyed the benefit of her previous experience in Costa
Rica with the Peace Corps, and her great sense of humor!

Danny Burridge, who has been the Grassroots Delegation and

Tour Coordinator for the SHARE Foundation for two years,
will be transitioning to a new role for a year as VMM’s Central
American Pastoral Associate. In an upcoming issue, Danny
will share more about what his role entails.

I encourage you to help us in our recruitment efforts by recom-

mending possible candidates to us. And we also welcome your
suggestions for potential Project Partners, whether in the U.S.
The above photo shows or in Central America. Mark your calendars for the Assembly
new missioners sharing next year. Pray for and celebrate the VMM Community!

a meal with members.
Photo right shows SVD
and former VMM
Board Member, Roger Please continue to keep our missioners,
Schroeder, presenting
during one of the MPO
and the people they serve, in your daily
training sessions. thoughts & prayers!

Visit our NEW website at www.vmmusa.org!

Page 4
Bridges Volume 16

Strasser Family News continued from cover

is essential for healthy child development and, painfully,
such structures are virtually nonexistent in the urban cen-
ters of Zambia. We have secured the land, builders, ma-
terials, and the trucks! Chloe is responsible for the de-
sign, planning, supervision and coordination, under
Susan's guidance. The playground is “built-to-last” us-
ing local materials and will have a large deck, roof,
wheelchair ramp, monkey bars, seesaw, swings, parallel
bars, tire tunnel, shaky bridge, slide, etc.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zambia, with which

I work, is committed to building village self-reliance
through micro-credit projects. I am pleased to report that
a new micro-credit program is underway, with four, 3-
day, training workshops for 90 community leaders al-
ready complete in the northwest and our local field assis-
tant, David Mangenda, hired and working.
Arden (pictured above right) discusses micro-credit
with a villager.
Susan and I joined VMM in 1987. VMM has informed
our spirituality, values, and passions ever since then.
Today, we still run into people around Africa who know
VMM and respect it, speaking of the rare qualities
VMs have. We have worked with so many different
development volunteers and professionals in Africa,
but there is often a difference between our motivations.
We believe it is the way VMM has infused in us a
special view towards the poor, towards power, and
towards love. For this we are grateful. What a privilege
to be a part of such a special international community.

People travel from far and wide to attend our workshops In Loving Memory
on micro-credit. One fellow rode two days on bicycle
through deep sand from his congregation across the bor- Sister Mhuire McLoughlin
der in Angola. We insist on women's participation, as September 14, 1931 ~ July 4, 2008
they have a better track record with micro-loans. So far,
more than 20 lending groups of participants have formed
Sister Mhuire McLoughlin, SSND,
and are writing their loan applications for our evaluation,
died at St. Michael Hospital in Stevens
and sending them in! The small businesses include
Point, WI, on July 4, 2008 at the age of
maize farming, rice farming, vegetable gardening, goat
76. Sister Mhuire has been a
selling, caterpillar selling, night spear fishing, plowing
wonderful friend to VMM and served
fields, and raising pigs.
two years with VMM in Tanzania as a
Those groups that are successful will receive $400 each teacher and LPN. Most recently, Sister
to use as loan capital which they lend internally as a Mhuire served on VMM’s Board of
group to each member. After nine months, if all the loan Directors until June 2007.
capital has been paid back plus the small interest, their
group will be awarded more capital to work with. The Eternal Rest Grant Unto Her, O Lord,
people here deserve credit. They are willing to find help & May Perpetual Light Shine Upon Her
in writing down and committing to their ideas to break
out of the cycle of seasonal hunger. †

Serving in … Living for ... Mission

Issue 14
Bridges
VMM 15 Years Later
By Rose Stietz, OP (VM Milwaukee ‘93-’95)
As a VM in the mid-1990s, I was one of the first three
“home missioners” when I responded to the call of two
pastors to come to inner-city Milwaukee to do Outreach
in the neighborhoods surrounding their parishes. That
was May 1, 1993. Since then, both pastors have moved
on to other ministries and most of the neighborhood
leaders that I worked with have since passed on to a new
form of life. I am in my third living situation — all
within five blocks of where I began my two-year
commitment as a VM.
Sister Rose (right)
stencils an angel
on the ground
near the spot
where Marque
Rodgers was shot
and left to die on
June 22, 2008
(Rodgers’ 25th
birthday) in Mil-
waukee’s inner-
city. “If they (the
angels) aren’t
washed away,”
Rose says, “there
are angels all over
the city.”
My living in, and being available in, the Harambee
neighborhood included four areas: 1.) To promote job
possibilities; 2.) To assist families/individuals in
ownership, or rental, of housing; 3.) To assist residents
to utilize skills, develop crime and drug prevention
plans, and promote drug abatement; and 4.) To promote
and encourage participation in positive youth activities
I discovered early that the neighborhood leaders needed
a competent secretary. They had squirreled away much
valuable information but were unable to utilize it to
make the changes they felt were necessary. I had
previous experience as an office secretary and access to
a parish word processor. We worked together to
challenge the neighborhood-funded community
organization.
Both congregations belonged to MICAH (Milwaukee
Innercity Congregations Allied for Hope). I joined the
Housing & Economic Development and Crime & Drugs
Task Force(s) which gave me entrée into the local
Visit our NEW website at www.vmmusa.org
Page 5
political system and name/face recognition among
elected and appointed leaders.
When my two-year commitment as a VM was complete,
some neighborhood women asked me to stay. I was
able to do so due to a grant from my Religious
Community. Over the years my involvement in
MICAH grew as I realized many of the neighborhood
problems arose from decisions made at the city, county,
state and national levels. I gradually came to the
realization that my presence/living in the community is
as important as my work there.
Today I find myself working with the police in
community policing and against police violence to
individuals and groups; working with housing groups to
rejuvenate a once nearly destroyed neighborhood and
working against landlords and speculators that continue
to profit from that very housing; working to expand
effective treatment for substance abusers who are
uninsured, or under insured, and working against drug
dealers. I’ve “integrated” the senior citizen housing
building where I live. I continue to have an office at St.
Martin de Porres Catholic Church and do much of the
planting and care of flowers in the courtyard each spring
and summer.
In addition, I’ve been part of the Call to Action Anti-
Racism Team for the past four years. For the past 15
years I have coordinated prayer vigils at the sites of
homicides in Milwaukee (on average we experience 1-3
or more homicides on a weekly basis). Though this is
only a small portion of my activities, it is probably the
one that will be my legacy when my life in Milwaukee
is completed.

Sister Rose (above center) leads a prayer vigil for
Antwone Williams at the site where he was murdered
Page 6
Bridges
What Constitutes a Project?
The Importance of Social Acceptance & Training
By Dan & Melissa Moran (VMs San Marcos, Guatemala)
In October, we will return to the US, after completing
two years as volunteers here in San Marcos Guatemala.
During this time, our understanding of problems, needs
and solutions to improve the living conditions for
communities here has gone through a gradual and
continual change, with many of our initial perceptions
now turned completely upside-down.
Upon hearing of the problems related to lack of basic
infrastructure in developing countries, the first thought
that comes to mind is the need for investment in public
works, such as water and sanitation systems, landfills,
and roads. In our two years in the highlands of
Guatemala, we have learned first hand that the
infrastructure investment, which may be desperately
needed, is only one small part of the need that must be
addressed by a particular project.
Contamination of the rivers from untreated wastewater
discharges have health impacts for all, as it is impossible to
tell what market crops were grown using the contaminated
river water for irrigation. Above Dan talks with the build-
ing supervisor for the wastewater treatment plant for the
town of San Antonio Sacatepequez.
In our time here, we have implemented family rainwater
collection projects for storage of water for use in the dry
season to raise chickens or irrigate a garden; we have
assisted in projects to bring water from mountain springs
to communities that lack piped water or sufficient supply
to serve the entire community; and we have planned and
constructed initial wastewater treatment facilities in
urban areas so that wastewater does not continue to
contaminate the rivers that are used by downstream
communities. While the investment in infrastructure in
each project has the potential to provide both health and
economic improvements to the local communities, it
Serving in … Living for ... Mission
Volume 16
Sustainability of
the water projects
means training
community mem-
bers to operate the
system. Melissa
(center in photo,
left) is providing a
workshop on how
to read engineering
plans.
remains only a “potential” improvement without
addressing the corresponding social and cultural issues.
We have enjoyed working with the social workers on
our project team on these more difficult aspects that
directly affect the sustainability of the projects -
community acceptance, self-governance, and technical
training to name a few.
It is much more important and results in more tangible
long term improvement when the community supports a
project, even if this means implementing a project in a
different way than our training and life experiences
would recommend. Listening to what a community
wants and accepts is an important part of developing
solutions to community problems. While sometimes
what a community wants is impossible (and this needs
to be discussed and explained), other times it is equally
Continued on next page
Melissa and co-worker, Osiel, meet with community
members to discuss plans for a new water supply for
the community of Panconche. Project success is
completely dependent on maintaining local
community involvement.
 Issue 14
Bridges
impossible to implement a project that by our western
ways is considered developed or improved if the idea is
rejected by the community.
A key step in improving the likelihood that an infrastruc-
ture project will succeed is training the community in ad-
ministration, operation and maintenance. Supporting long
term operation and maintenance of a water or sewage sys-
tem can be extremely challenging in communities that
lack the necessary income. Also, on the part of the com-
Dan shows Rene, one of San Antonio’s two
plumbers, how to monitor the wastewater treat-
ment process as a part of the operator training.
Two Decades After Mission
By Carol Schuck Scheiber
In 1989, my husband, Matt, and I
returned to the U.S. after spending
two years doing pastoral service in
rural Venezuela. Re-entering the
U.S. after being immersed in life
with the poor of Latin America was
challenging. We both wanted to
never lose our "edge"--the sense of
looking at American life through the
eyes of the Venezuelans we had
come to know.
Well, 19 years later, I still have the
hammock that we made in Vene- Above Carol & Matt Scheiber still live out their more thrilling to report that Matt and
zuela; it's a bit frayed, and I have to mission; but in a different way then before.
admit that my edge is in the same condition. I'm at home
in my culture, our wallet is less empty than it was back
then, and Matt no longer proposes the kind of wonderful,
harebrained ideas that 20-something guys in mission
dream up. (Maybe in another newsletter, I can share
more about his proposal that we travel around on mules as
itinerant preachers, relying on the kindness of campesinos
to get by. Maybe I'm a bad missionary, but I never went
in for that idea.)
Visit our NEW website at www.vmmusa.org
Page 7
munities, there is little understanding of operational and
maintenance needs due to lack of experience with these
types of systems. The problem is further compounded by
illiteracy in some communities, which makes written in-
structional materials fairly useless.
It is impossible to work toward improved living condi-
tions without respecting the social and cultural realities.
Our experiences have led us to further appreciation of the
mission of VMM in building person-to-person relation-
ships across cultural divides. Discovering the underlying
challenges and needs is necessary to connect and work
with those whose opportunities and lifestyles are defined
by the location of their birth.

Earn Money for VMM While Online!
Just imagine — what if VMM earned a penny every
time you searched the Internet? Or how about if a per-
centage of every purchase you made online went to
support VMM? GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-
powered search engine that donates half its advertising
revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its
users designate. Use it just as you would any search
engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and
watch the donations add up!
So today, in our 40s and putting kids
through college, we're more settled,
but we still haven't abandoned the
idea that faith can be lived authenti-
cally in many settings. Our three
children are a major focus in our
lives. Our job as a teacher (Matt)
and editor (me) also consume our
days. In addition, all of us in the
family have started to help care for
Matt's mother. At 78 and in fragile
health, she needs extra support. Part
of me wishes I had something much
I are doing with our lives. Why have-
n't we figured by now how to save lives, lift neighbor-
hoods out of poverty, leap from tall buildings? Yet an-
other part of me is content with the ordinariness. God
calls us in different directions at different times in our
lives, and it seems that faith is lived in a distinct way at
age 27, than it is at age 47. So, with or without our
edge, here we are, still believing in Jesus' promise that
through him we might have life in abundance.

 Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Permit No. 9
Greendale, WI

Volunteer Missionary Movement

5980 West Loomis Road
Greendale Wisconsin 53129
Our Mission
VMM recruits lay Christians in an ecumenical
spirit to witness to the Catholic social justice
tradition. VMM supports their commitment to
sharing their lives, resources and skills as they
collaborate with domestic and overseas
partners to promote equality, empower
sustainable human development, and challenge
unjust and oppressive social structures.
Bridges is published by the U.S. office of the Volunteer
Missionary Movement (VMM). Phone: 414-423-8660; Email:
vmm@vmmusa.org; Website: www.vmmusa.org. VMM is a
nonprofit 501(c)3 charitable corporation registered in Illinois.
We reserve the right to edit all submissions.

Executive Director: Julia M. Pagenkopf

Development Director: Kathyrn Ebert
CAFC: Betsy Gonwa Visit our NEW website:
Executive Office Assistant: Rheanna Meade
Office Volunteer: Tom Kowalski www.vmmusa.org
VMM-Europe: All Hallows, Grace Park Road, Dublin 9, Ireland

Spirit and Lifestyle

This is a continuing excerpt from “Spirit and Lifestyle” by Edwina Gateley
It is not simply a This pre-supposes
matter of handing an openness
out money, food or to the needs
equipment. of others and
It calls for the humility
more than that. to meet them
Our response is to wherever
share who we are they are at.
as well as
what we have. It calls for a spirit
of confidence and
We work side-by- poverty which is
side with the people ever ready to listen
sharing our talents, and respond
friendship and love. to others.

Serving in … Living for ... Mission