Helping Hands goes coast to coast
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Mormon Helping Hands is becoming increasingly familiar to government, civic and community leaders throughout the world. They welcome members wearing yellow T-shirts coming out for this day of service carrying brushes, rakes, shovels and — depending on the country — machetes for cleaning brush alongside roads and streets.
In Africa on Oct. 27, however, members took Mormon Helping Hands farther than their communities or nations' borders. They took this day of service from coast to coast.
Some tens of thousands of members of the Church in the Africa Southeast and Africa West areas, under direction of the area presidencies and with guidance from Africa public affairs, spent that Saturday volunteering what might be hundreds of thousands of hours of community service. They came out in droves in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Kenya and Tanzania — just to name a few.
From southeastern Africa up to the east coast across to the west coast members volunteered at hospitals and orphanages, cleaned marketplaces and roads, repaired utilities at schools, served at senior citizens residencies and just showed up where they were needed in an effort so huge it sparked news stories across the continent and even brought out the first lady of Botswana to thank the volunteers.
"Extraordinary," was the way the Mormon Helping Hands day of service was described by Elder William W. Parmley of the Seventy and president of the Africa Southeast Area. "It was so gratifying to see how happy the saints were to participate in this program. Their infectious enthusiasm caused many others to join in."
In fact, according to Elder Adesina J. Olukanni, Area Seventy and director of public affairs for Africa, a good percentage of those tens of thousands that day were not members of the Church. For example, in Botswana, some 50 members of a small branch started the day. Soon, neighbors began noticing the work and joined in. By the end of the day, some 150 were working together. Responding to an invitation by the branch president, most showed up the next day for sacrament meeting, filling the chapel to overflowing.
"The turnout was overwhelming," Elder Olukanni, former counselor in the Africa West Area presidency, added. "In numerous cases, more than the sacrament attendance in a lot of places."
He added that in news reports in Nigeria, government leaders, judges, leaders of other faiths and local chiefs expressed their surprise at so many members of one church serving the community.
"Everyone was blessed by the opportunity of following the example and invitation of the Savior in serving others," Elder Craig A. Cardon, a counselor in the Africa West Area, said.
The original Mormon Helping Hands in Africa started out small, then mushroomed. Planned as a South Africa project, according to Elder Eric C. Jackson, Africa Southeast Area public affairs missionary, serving with his wife, Sister Kaye Jackson, the idea was first promoted to cover the southeast area, then, during a May seminar in South Africa for national directors of public affairs, the idea was proposed to take the day of service Africawide.
To qualify for a Mormon Helping Hands project, Elder Olukanni explained, a branch, ward or stake had to partner with the community, an institution or another church for the service project.
This qualification and the results fulfilled what Elder Parmley described as the two-fold purpose of the Africawide Mormon Helping Hands: First, he said, was "to help clean up and beautify selected areas in Africa. We wanted to follow the counsel of King Benjamin: 'When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God."' Second, he said, was "to help further bring the Church out of obscurity in Africa."
The results speak for themselves. A few days after the event, a government leader called stake public affairs director Henry Shong-Ako in Accra, Ghana, and said, "Thank you for exposing me to your Church." He added that he was prepared to help the Church in Ghana, including the acquisition process for new buildings.
A government leader from the Ife Central Local Government in Nigeria estimated the Church saved the government some half a million naira (about $4,000).
In Johannesburg, South Africa, after members repaired utilities at the Riversands Primary School, the principal posed for pictures and said, "I can't believe what you have done. I can't believe the great and fantastic things you've done for the children here. I can't wait for Monday to come for the children to come and see what happened here.
"I pray for God to bless you and all your people."
• Information for this article also came from Elder John Bingham and Sister Jo Bingham, public affairs missionaries in the Africa West Area; Elder Walter and Sister Dorothy Sudweeks, Kenya public affairs; and Wahab Abayomi Omiwole, director of public affairs in the Ile-Ife Nigeria District.
E-mail to: julied@desnews.com
