~Pat McPhee

As we watch, with concern, our rising numbers of COVID cases here in B.C., we can’t help but compare with the stats coming out of El Salvador.

The tiny, impoverished country of 6.5 million souls is roughly two-thirds the size of Vancouver Island. Last week, B.C. (with a population of about 5 million) had just over 5,500 cases of COVID versus El Salvador’s confirmed cases of 25,600.

Despite their government’s three-month total lock-down at the beginning of the pandemic, the health care system collapsed weeks ago and people no longer go to the hospitals or for testing, but rather stay at home and try to recover there. And so, their numbers are likely much higher than those reported.

We recently received e-mails from Wendy Hernandez, staff person at FUNDAHMER (the organization that facilitates First’s sister community relationship), and from Adonay Miranda & Ismael Artiga, university students who live in El Triunfo.

They report that some people have been sick but are recovering at home and, so far, the majority are practicing safeguards and managing to stay well.

Students at every level will be finishing their school year, which runs from February through December, in a virtual way. This is an excerpt about the difficulties inherent in virtual schooling from Tim Muth’s blog, at www.elsalvadorperspectives.com :

“In a country where internet is not universal and most people access online content only over cell phones, the switch to virtual learning has been a challenge. A recent article from FOCOS TV reported that only 1 in 10 Salvadoran households have an internet-connected computer but 9 out of 10 have a cellphone that they now use for access to schooling . . . Most public school interaction between students & teachers occurs through WhatsApp.”

If you are interested in reading the entire article and related resources, it is on the above link dated August 25.

School-aged children and youth in rural El Triunfo are at an even greater disadvantage due to the lack of resources for computers, printers, and cellphone data plans, and poor signals and internet coverage.

In spite of those obstacles, Adonay, who is in his fourth year at the University of Central America (UCA) studying Economics, completed the first semester with good marks and has started his second term in July. He was sad, however, that some of the professors at UCA had died of COVID leaving “a huge void”

A couple of Sundays ago in the lectionary we heard the emotional story of Jacob’s reunion with his brother, Esau. They hadn’t seen each other in years; now they were grown men with families of their own. When they reunite, we are told in Genesis 33 that Esau threw his arms around Jacob and they both cried.

One of the most difficult things about living through this pandemic for many of you has been the sense of isolation—being unable to come to church, to see friends, or have visits from family who live in other parts of the country—or even in the same city!

Because of the concern over spreading the virus to loved ones, many sacrifices have been made including giving and receiving hugs! That is why it was such a joy to watch as Susan and Nicholas were reunited last week for the first time in many months.

Because Nicholas has cerebral palsy and is immune-compromised, in-person visits have not been possible, out of an abundance of care for his physical well-being. But the picture says it all—how important this reunion was for both of them and their emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being!

The story of Jacob’s reunion with his brother continues this way: When Esau looked around and saw the women and the children, he asked, “Who are these people with you?” And Jacob answers, “These, sir, are the children whom God has been good enough to give me.”

Esau seems astonished by this proof that so much time has gone by since the brothers were together last. For many of you, watching your grandchildren grow and change is a delight—but watching it on Facetime has been no substitute for real-time! We long for visits that include real hugs!

As we all wait for a time when our social interactions can be less-restricted, we can rejoice in seeing this reunion of Nicholas and Susan.

~Cheryl Perry

I was asked to share the titles of the books I mentioned in
Sunday’s reflection.

They are Final Gifts: Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs, and Communications of the Dying by Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley (1997, Bantam Books) and
Convictions: How I Learned What Matters Most, a memoir by Marcus J. Borg (2014, Harper Collins).

And I also thought I would share the following list of questions. One of the most effective ways of getting insight into dreams, particularly if the dream is difficult to interpret, is to work with a friend, or friends, who support us as we explore our own dreams.

We can often gain tremendous resources by taking the time to explore all facets of the dream. Those supporting the dreamer listen carefully while the dream is described and ask questions so they understand for themselves the imagery and feelings experienced. A good way to increase your ability to remember dreams is to value them.

One way to do that is to keep a dream journal. If you are interested in interpreting your dreams, or want to help another person explore theirs, these questions might help you as your think or journal about them.

• How do you feel in the dream? What is the predominant feeling?
• What is the main action/theme/activity of the dream? (It may help to give it a title, as if it were a painting or story or movie. Ask yourself: What single issue or insight brings the dream together? Where is the main energy?)
• Who are you in this dream?
• Who are the others in this dream? (Describe them and their relationship to you, qualities, contexts—as they may be ‘stand ins’ for others or for aspects of the dreamer’s own self.)
• What are you doing and not doing in your dream? Are you active or passive in this dream, and why? Are you resisting or in tune with what the dream is doing?
• What issues need resolving in this dream?
• What new ways of understanding/new actions are presented in your dream?
• Does the situation or issue in the dream feel familiar or relate to anything going on in your life right now?
• What is similar in this dream to other dreams? Have you ever had a dream like this before?
• Why do you need this dream now?

What a person desires in life
is a properly boiled egg.
This isn’t as easy as it seems.

There must be gas and a stove,
the gas requires pipelines, mastodon drills,
banks that dispense the lozenge of capital.

There must be a pot, the product of mines
and furnaces and factories,
of dim early mornings and night-owl shifts,
of women in kerchiefs and men with
sweat-soaked hair.

Then water, the stuff of clouds and skies
and God knows what causes it to happen.
There seems always too much or too little
of it and more pipelines, meters, pumping
stations, towers, tanks.

And salt – a miracle of the first order,
the ace in any argument for God.
Only God could have imagined from
nothingness the pang of salt.

Political peace too. It should be quiet
when one eats an egg. No political hoodlums
knocking down doors, no lieutenants who are
ticked off at their scheming girlfriends and
take it out on you, no dictators
posing as tribunes.

It should be quiet, so quiet you can hear
the chicken, a creature usually mocked as a type
of fool, a cluck chained to the chore of her body.
Listen, she is there, pecking at a bit of grain
that came from nowhere.

~Baron Wormser

Baron Wormser has been a librarian, teacher, and poet laureate in Maine, where he also lived with his family “off the grid” for a time. This poem is perfectly suited for an age of pandemic and “social distance” – partly because it exalts an ordinary, solitary act, and partly because it helps us see again that such acts connect us in all kinds of ways with all kinds of people. And the poem’s theology is a tour de force: “the pang of salt” is surely as powerful and persuasive an argument for God as any!

~Shirley Piedt, Outreach committee

One of the challenges during COVID has been providing housing and programs for people who live outside. It goes without saying that preventing an outbreak of COVID-19 among those living outside is prevention for all of us.

You may recall that First United hosted a film called Us and Them over a year ago to help us understand how it is that folks become homeless, and the complexity of providing supportive housing.

The Journey Home Society became the backbone organization tasked with moving forward with strategic goals which were established after a lengthy consultation with many groups and citizens including churches, businesses, and people with lived experience of being homeless.

The following link provides background to the main report and strategic goals https://www.journeyhome.ca/

As Cheryl has adapted Tuesday and Thursday Outreach services to accommodate safety and hygiene, so have other housing and outreach services pivoted to continue to meet the needs of folks living outside.

It has become even more obvious that all people are best served when they have housing especially as so many of the usual services were either closed or reduced with physical distancing requirements in place.

To better understand the challenges and successes to date with the response to COVID in the homeless and support sector, the following summary was completed by three researchers from UBCO; Dr. Jordan Barbando, Dr. John Graham, and Kyler Woodmass who comprise the Kelowna Homelessness Research Collaborative.

CHALLENGES FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS: • Building and maintaining close relationships with service users • Social distancing within existing spaces and between service users • General safety (for all), and violence against women • Delays in mobilizing infrastructure and technology areas that service providers found challenging are: • Building and maintaining close relationships with service users • Social distancing within existing spaces and between service users • General safety (for all), and violence against women • Delays in mobilizing infrastructure and technology

SUCCESSES: Local support and sector collaboration • Mobilizing housing and hotels • Remote channels for connectivity • Circulation of public health guidance • Implementing hygiene centre and plexiglass

OPPORTUNITIES TO SCALE UP: There was a long list of suggested practices and infrastructure that included: medication delivery systems, alcohol management program, mobile isolation trailers, increased access and supply of safe substances, tent and cart storage, providing teddy bears, information boards, and service user cellphone allocations. The focus areas for further collaboration revolved around access to food services, water and hygiene stations.

NEEDS FOR SUMMER/WINTER: One of our main goals was to identify priorities in sustaining the response into colder months and through a potential second wave: • Continued communication • Mental health supports for providers • PPE / sanitizer cost and availability • Maintaining and increasing housing • Funding for additional costs

What this summary illustrates is that needs for people living outside and service delivery is different in this time of pandemic. As a church involved with outreach to this vulnerable group, we continue to ponder what our role can be moving forward to fall and winter. If you have questions or are interested in being part of next steps contact Shirley at [email protected]