Q&A with Missionary Kim Part 2

Missionary Kim and Missionary Ahn under the papaya tree in their backyard

By popular request, here are some other details that Missionary Kim shared with me regarding her ministry. In addition to the church they established in Makungu in 1997, Missionaries Ahn and Kim also started and manage the Good Samaritan Dispensary founded in 2002, the VETA Nuru Kuu Technical School founded in 2006, and the Good Seeds Microloan Project founded in 2008.

1. How did the Good Samaritan Dispensary come about?

When we first came to Makungu, a woman named Mama Kitabu (Kitabu's mom) would come and observe us. We couldn't communicate, but each morning she would bring us fresh water that she carried on her head in a bucket. We were so grateful. All we had to offer in return was bread that we had brought to eat ourselves. But we needed to eat it too, so we were only able to offer her maybe half a loaf. She had never seen bread before. We showed her how to eat it by putting a bit of sugar on it. The bread was so tender compared to the boiled corn and grains they traditionally eat here and her children loved it. After our initial time in Makungu, we posted a local Tanzanian missionary to work there and we returned to Dar es Salaam. However, this missionary had twin boys and one had died and so we returned to Makungu.

When we returned, we expected Mama Kitabu to visit us daily, but she only came once and didn't come again. We heard that her child had been sick and later we heard that the child had died. That made Missionary Ahn and myself consider "What did God really want us to do here?" and we prayed about this. At the time, the nearest hospital from which to obtain antibiotics was six hours away on a bicycle and the roads were terrible. There were no locally available antibiotics and these pele were dying without ever hearing the gospel. So Missionary Ahn and I decided to build a hospital. The clinic was actually built in 1999, but we couldn't find a doctor willing to work in this rural part of the country until 2002. We had no money and no supporters, but we built it on faith.

2. How did the VETA Nuru Kuu Technical School come about?
Because of the low rate of literacy here, the gospel was always shared orally. But in order to teach the gospel properly, you need to be able to read the Bible. Then the word will travel from your mind to your heart. That's the idea. When Missionary Ahn and I decided to start the school, she said "When you first came to Tanzania, wasn't it to originally help me start a school and that was the first thing you wanted to do way back then?"

The school started out as a three year elementary school aimed at teens and older youths who had missed their opportunity to attend traditional schools. We taught them in three years what is covered in seven years at regular schools. There were children who went to regular Tanzanian schools for years but couldn't read any Swahili or English and could barely write their own names, but they would come to our school and learn to read after just a few months. The parents were thrilled about that, but this was a very small minority. This was because once they completed their elementary school education, it added no value to the family's livelihood. These teens were the most useful people of their households. They can farm the land, tend the cattle, fetch and transport water, and most importantly, run errands. This role is very important since the infrastructure for communication is not too good here so the youths were used to relay messages to people scattered across the towns. And the school was holding onto this most valuable source of communication. The people of Makungu have lived this way for hundreds of years, and thought school was a good for their children in theory, but couldn't afford to have them tied up for three years and not work. And the effort required to run the school successfully was too substantial to warrant this type of reception. So we came up with the idea of a one year technical school. Here, people would not only learn to read, but would also learn a trade that can result in income. We currently teach sewing and incorporate classes related to Christian doctrines into the curriculum.

3. How did the Good Seeds Microloan Project come about?
In 2005, Missionary Ahn and I attended a seminar for missionaries in Pasadena CA held by a well regarded Christian organization called OM. There was much talk about the “ｰRice Christian”｡ｱ in China during this semina– ? people who only come to church when they get a something for free, like rice. But we didn't wan“ ｡ｰrice christia”s,｡ｱ we wanted something different. So we started the microloan project by offering somethiwofold. On one hand, we offer the gospel, and on the other hand we offer them a way to survive. We wanted to give confidence. We wanted them to see this microloan as God's money and see it work in their lives and transform them.

It's like a revival meeting when the loans are given out with the whole town gathering and the elders “ｰpraising the Lord”｡ｱ We instruct them on how to use and not use the loan money. Matthew 13:8 says that with a small seed, you can reap a crop 30-60 times what you invested. Of course money has its inherent problems. But I believe that even with theseroblems, this is God's work and I have confidence that things will work as He intends. If God is willing, things will work and if He isn't, then it won't. We went through four rounds of loans. During the first round, we charged 7% interest. The bank was charging 24%. We were paid back 100% in round 1, 98% in round 2, 76% in round 3 and 88% in round 4. Obviously, we lost some money, but we see this as part of God's work. Some people say we're profiteering from being missionaries. But what we were doing was giving people empowerment.

As an example, one bucket of peanuts can be bought for 1200 Tshs in the rural areas about three hours away on bicycle and sold at the weekly Makungu market for 2800 Tshs. They may not sell all their goods, but if they manage to sell everything, this is big money for them. Our microloan enabled people to purchase these peanuts at a lower price and with a bit of extra effort to obtain them, sell them for a profit. And we have seen some people succeed at this.

Part 3 of my interview of Missionary Kim will be published shortly. If you have anything specific you'd like to ask, please let me know and I'll do my best to include their answers :)