[img_assist|nid=7868|title=Help for Zimbabwe|desc=About a dozen people participated Jan. 7 in an effort to pack and seal 950 boxes of goods, all of which will fit in a 40-ft. shipping container, to be sent as missions cargo to Zimbabwe.|link=none|align=right|width=640|height=480]By Karen L. Willougby, Managing Editor
PINEVILLE – A teacher in a poor village in Zimbabwe writes in chalk on a wall. That’s been the type of “book-learning” students have had.
However, when a school in Grant Parish closed, they gave their books to Shepherd Ministries International (SMI), and those books were among the boxes of items packed one recent Saturday.
About 950 boxes will be needed to fit in one 40-foot metal container that will be loaded onto a cargo ship to sail to the southern African nation.
“We just try to do what we can,” said Ruth Craigo, a volunteer with the organization founded in 2001.
SMI president Arthur Mazhambe, who is also chairman and assistant professor of business in the Business Division at Louisiana College and a native of Zimbabwe, leads the seven-member board. He goes to Zimbabwe each summer to distribute the contents of the containers as well as to do evangelism, leadership training and community enhancement through SMI.
“We sent three containers in 2010 and one last year,” Craigo said. “We could send many – we have hospital beds, Bible-based curriculum and much more ready – but it costs $18,000 to ship a container and to distribute the contents, and we just don’t have the money.”
SMI, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit, operates off donations. To offset these, this year the organization is bringing in Comedian Carl Hurley as a fund-raising event. Hurley will reflect at 7 p.m. Friday, March 23, at the Pineville High School auditorium, “on life as viewed by a native of Appalachia with a singular sense of the absurd,” Craigo said.
Tickets are $25. Mail check to SMI at 257 Stilley Rd, Pineville LA71360.
“We have small regular donations,” Craigo said. “We’re really counting on this [fund-raiser] to help us with some things.”
The Zimbabwe-bound container this year will be stuffed with birthing kits to provide a clean environment for women as they give birth, layettes for babies, medical supplies, personal care items, household items, clothing, books, Bibles and other supplies to support pastor training, fabric to be given to those who sew as a way to make money, toys, school supplies and more.
In addition to sending shipping containers, “we support seven indigenous pastors and two nurses [who serve] at two clinics in a poor section of the country,” Craigo said. “We also have gotten solar-powered recordings of the Bible in local languages.”