Give us today our daily bread …

Making bread. It sounds easy. Therapeutic even. My grandmas used to do it all the time. I thought it would be fun. Something to fill in the afternoon and surprise the family for the soup meal that night.

Oh, but when I first tried, it was a disaster. It was like a rock! Even the chooks turned up their beaks at it. Luckily, we had a loaf of bread from the supermarket in the deep freeze to rescue the day.

But, for Francine whom I met in Burundi, there was no bread. No options. I could try making bread for a leisure activity. For Francine, daily bread was a matter of fighting for survival.

ALWS – How a house, you helped build, brought a heart full of joy

“My mum and my dad both grew up on farms. So, every school holiday I got to be hissed at by grumpy geese, plopped on by cows I was trying to milk, and shirt-fronted by rams annoyed at being penned for shearing. I also got to see lots of humble, hands-on hard work. Sunrise to sunset, no matter what the weather.” I see that same kind of humble, hands-on hard work in what Lutheran women …

Australian Lutheran World Service

One of the hardest things for me about the COVID-19 lockdowns over the last 18 months was missing out on morning and afternoon teas at Lutheran Women events. Homemade sausage rolls. Proper scones. Those little cheese and bacon toasty thingies I have never learned how to make.

What’s cooking?

When I saw Ayen preparing food for the locals in a small tin shed “restaurant” in the back blocks of South Sudan, I was amazed at her passion and joy in what she was doing.  I thought of myself at my own kitchen bench. Some of you might also have a great passion for cooking. Some would prefer take-away every night, but you may not realise that you are part of feeding the world, one …

The tailor, the queen – and you!

Above: HM Queen Mathilde and HRH Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, with Hilda far right, visit the Jitemegee Vocational Training Centre where you help support women like Faheema learn to sew. Image credit: LWF Kenya What a strange year 2020 was! Bushfires. COVID-19. Recession … Yet despite this, you and other Lutheran women in Australia and New Zealand helped make 2020 a wonderful year for many people around the world … … and the life-change you brought …

“God opened a way for me!”

Through ALWS, Lutheran women from Australia reach out to touch the lives of women in some of the world’s poorest countries. Angok Kongor, from South Sudan, shares how God has used your kindness in training her in cooking and business to open a way through all the challenges she has faced … “When I was a girl, I lived in South Sudan. My father died when I was small. He was a soldier and he …

“Only God knows why I do this!”

Above: Back row –Barossa Valley volunteers: Helen Semmler, Eileen Bartel, Marg Kaerbach, Rae Materne. Front – Ruby Kaur (India – a lead sewer of bags), Mai. Helen Semmler started teaching a former refugee new neighbour lady sewing in 2001. A year later, with Noreen Klein, this became the Lutheran Community Sewing Group. Now, 37 new neighbour ladies learn sewing each Friday, with five more ladies waiting for a space. The new neighbours come from Iran, Liberia, …

Kenyan Refugee Agnes is pictured wearing a colourful dress and head scarf, and holding a piece of colourful fabric. She is in a room where others are sewing at sewing machines.

Where I am today

What Agnes Abab suffered in South Sudan is more than any person should survive. A refugee for 20 years, life started again when Agnes was welcomed into a Tailoring Group at Kakuma Refugee camp in Kenya, supported by the Lutheran family in Australia. Here you see how love comes to life for refugees like Agnes …

“Walk My Way” participants. L to R: Greg Minge, Jenny Wood, Margaret Reimann, Heidi Schultz and Monica Schiller.

Treading the Track in “Walk My Way”, Hahndorf to Adelaide

I had often heard the stories of the early German settlers (mostly women) walking all the way from Hahndorf to Adelaide (26 kms) to sell their produce. “Wow”, I thought. If they could do it loaded with potatoes, corn, cream etc. surely it couldn’t be too difficult. And since I love walking and really admire the work of Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS), I was keen to give “Walk My Way” a go. I canvassed …

A dark Sudanese woman's hand is spread over some fabric while she sews decorative stitching on a sewing machine.

One stitch at a time

It’s six years since my mum passed away. Last weekend my sister helped dad go through mum’s boxes of sewing stuff. Mum loved quilting and collected pieces far and wide. Dad had the job of cutting them into whatever shape was needed. He’d grumble, but secretly loved working together with mum. Recently, I’ve been helping the Lutheran Community Sewing Group at Albert Park in Adelaide put together a video about their volunteer ministry to new neighbours …