wfn.org | Short-term mission opens doors

[Beth Hawn <bethah@mbm.org>]

Mennonite Board of Missions
<news@MBM.org>

January 9, 2002

Short-term mission opens doors to lifetime of service

GOSHEN, Ind. (MBM) - Rachel Kauffman first set foot on Beninese 
soil in 1998 when she was participating in Goshen (Ind.) 
College's Study Service Term in Cote d'Ivoire.  Because of an 
interest in environmental health and because she loves to travel, 
Kauffman accepted a service assignment with a garbage-collection 
and recycling agency in Benin, a West African country two days to 
the east of Cote d'Ivoire by "bush taxi"(used cars shipped from 
Europe that serve as public transportation).

"The prospect of physical work attracted me," Kauffman said.  "I 
would rather do than sit around reading and theorizing." 
Kauffman certainly got plenty of exercise in the tropical sun as 
she entered into all aspects of the program for community 
development and environmental hygiene (DCAM).

DCAM is the community health department of Bethesda Health 
Center, a Christian hospital that Mennonite Board of Missions 
helped 30 denominations to create in 1990.  Bethesda Health 
Center is located in a low-income neighborhood in Cotonou, 
Benin's capital city.

Ten years ago Bethesda's doors opened onto streets clogged with 
garbage, as there were no sanitation services provided by the 
government.  In fact, the neighborhood was built on garbage. 
People who could not afford to buy land created it by filling 
swamps with garbage.  Bethesda's doctors soon realized that 
curative medicine was useless if their healed patients returned 
to an unhealthy environment.

As a response, Bethesda appointed Raphael Edou, a dynamic young 
Beninese agronomist with a firm commitment to Jesus Christ and a 
strong belief in the power of people working together, to develop 
a community health department for their institution.  After a 
year of listening to the community around Bethesda Health Center, 
a neighborhood of 40,000 inhabitants, Edou went into action.

Today, the garbage-collection and recycling project, along with 
its support programs, has grown into a multi-million-dollar 
nonprofit organization that employs 200 people.  Garbage is 
collected in pushcarts and then sorted manually.  Plastic is 
crushed into granulate and sold to manufacturers for tubing. 
Scrap paper is processed together with wood shavings to make 
briquette-logs for cooking fires.  A third of the garbage is 
biodegradable and is composted for use on an organic experimental 
farm.

After participating in awareness-raising seminars, the community 
elected a development association that is representative of the 
population, including women, youth and artisan groups, as well as 
the traditional elders.  When it became evident that economic 
security plays an important role in health, a community bank was 
created along with financial counseling to permit people to begin 
their own small businesses.

Research is an important component of DCAM.  Experimentation is 
continually carried out to find economically profitable ways to 
recycle other parts of garbage (metal, cloth, glass) that are 
currently being stockpiled.

In the fall of 2000, DCAM signed a contract with the municipal 
government of Cotonou, a city of one million, and became the 
official garbage-collection agency.  DCAM's experience is being 
replicated in other cities throughout Benin and West Africa.

DCAM administrators are often called upon to act as consultants 
to other agencies throughout Africa and in Europe.  Edou is 
regarded as one of the region's foremost authorities on 
environmental protection and waste management.

As a college student, Kauffman's first assignment in Benin was to 
teach English to DCAM personnel, enabling them to read technical 
journals.  However, her interest in environmental health and her 
expertise in computer technology soon pushed her beyond the walls 
of the classroom.  She was found out on the streets pulling 
garbage carts and in offices developing data-entry programs for 
the community bank.

The six weeks of her required service assignment passed all too 
quickly for Kauffman and her friends at DCAM.  After her college 
graduation, she set up her own short-term mission assignment with 
DCAM through Mennonite Board of Missions and returned to Benin 
for a year.

During this second period, Kauffman did an extensive community 
survey for DCAM and was instrumental in the transfer of ownership 
of the door-to-door collection aspect of garbage management from 
DCAM to the workers themselves.  She coordinated a seminar that 
helped to equip the teams of garbage collectors to manage their 
own business.

Her final project was to help prepare a document and video 
presenting DCAM's activities for a competition sponsored by the 
United Nations and the Dubai Municipality in the United Arab 
Emirates for "The Best Practices to Improve the Living 
Environment."  One of the competition requirements was that 
documents be written in English.  DCAM was among 40 finalists 
given honorable mention out of a field of nearly 800 entries from 
120 countries.

DCAM is competing in the Dubai-United Nations' contest again in 
2002.  This time they hope to win first place with its prize of 
$ 400,000 (U.S.).  Edou wrote to Kauffman and Mennonite Board of 
Missions requesting Kauffman's assistance once again.

Although Kauffman had just completed a year in Germany with 
Intermenno, a cultural exchange program, and had only a few weeks 
before moving to Indianapolis for further studies, she jumped at 
the chance to return to Benin.

During her whirlwind trip of 18 days, Edou and Kauffman visited 
some of DCAM's projects in five locations throughout Benin.  They 
wrote the competition document together in evenings and during 
the lulls imposed by vehicle repairs.

Kauffman returned to her home in Goshen, Ind., on Christmas 
evening.  The first week in January saw her installed in 
Indianapolis beginning studies in nursing.  Kauffman began 
college intending to be a nursing major, but later decided to 
broaden her field of study to biology.

"It was the right choice," Kauffman said.  "As a nursing major, I 
probably wouldn't have gone to Africa.  But now with the 
experiences that I have had, I see it as a profession that will 
allow me to be of use in the U.S. or internationally.  With this 
career, I see an infinite number of doors opening."

Kauffman believes that short-term mission plays an important role 
in the total mission picture.  "Short-term mission allows you to 
see mission in progress," she said.  "You need a trial period to 
see if you can handle the pressure and the lifestyle. 
International mission is not for everyone.  I probably would not 
have gone to Africa in the first place if I had had to make a 
three-year commitment.  What if something goes wrong in the 
beginning?  You're stuck.

"I can't say if my short-term mission experience is leading to a 
long term commitment.  It certainly is a possibility down the road."

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Lynda Hollinger-Janzen						PHOTOS AVAILABLE