Vol. XXXIII, No. 22 (1495)
July 3/16, 2000
FOURTH SUNDAY OF ST. MATTHEW
Epistle: Romans 6:18-23. Gospel: Matthew 8:5-13
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IN THIS ISSUE:
1. UGANDA ORPHANS.
2. LIVING IN
TOYLAND.
3. WEST COAST
MINI-CONFERENCE.
HAMPTON — Cheryl Kouninis opened up her home last month to local residents wishing to learn more about the plight of orphans in Uganda, Central Africa.
Since then, local families have reached out and offered to sponsor a number of Ugandan children through a church-sponsored program.
Attending Kouninis’s informal meeting was the Metropolitan Ephraim, the Head Bishop of the Holy Orthodox Church of North America and Ugandan physician Rev. Dr. Joachim Kiyimba.
“The average life span in Uganda is currently 45 years, having dropped from 65 years twenty years ago,” explained Kiyimba. For a country roughly the size of the state of Oregon, Uganda has an astounding number of serious diseases. Malaria, yellow fever, tuberculosis, sleeping sickness, and cholera are just a few. The most predominant, however, is the AIDS virus. On average 5,500 people a day die from AIDS alone. The three major causes of AIDS in Uganda are polygamy, prostitution and the pernicious superstition that if a man afflicted with AIDS has relations with a virgin, he will be healed.
“Thus, the disease spreads like wildfire,” said Kiyima. Accompanying Metropolitan Ephraim and Kiyimba to Hampton was Father John Fleser of Saint Anna’s Orthodox Church in Roslindale, Boston, and Boston schoolteacher Eutychios “Nick” Kalogerakis.
During the session, Kiyimba passed around photographs of some of the children served by the two orphanages he and Metropolitan Ephraim established. ( This is an error made by the reporter. The orphanages were established by laypeople in Uganda) It was after seeing a video documenting Metropolitan Ephraim’s visit to the orphanages that Kalogerakis, who himself was orphaned during the second world war, became involved in the efforts in Uganda.
“The video
really
struck a chord in my heart,” said Kalogerakis. That chord induced
Kalogerakis
to begin fundraising for the orphans. Along with Fleser, he came up
with
the idea that if they could get 120 individuals to commit $20 per month
to sponsor each of the orphans, they could support the children with
much
needed medical supplies and food. “$20 really isn’t that much,” said
Kalogerakis.
“It’s only about 68 cents a day. Less than the cost of a cup of
coffee.”
Kalogerakis has already attracted 60 sponsorship commitments in the
Boston
area and four commitments were made locally as a result of Kouninis’s
coffee
morning.
One was Lynn Blume of North Hampton, who
describes her commitment to sponsor a child as being “divine
intervention.”
“My family had budgeted dollars to give to our church for a specific
project,”
said Blume. “The project ended up being completed while we were away
and
our money wasn’t needed. Now it’s as though God is saying I don’t need
it here, but it’s needed over in Uganda.”
Hampton Falls resident Debbie Ghigiliotti was so touched by a photograph of two young sisters, orphaned at the ages of three and six months, that she sponsored them on the spot. Ghigiliotti, who has three daughters of her own, said she felt that “Dr. Kiyimba has a good heart, and I feel good that the money we’re committing will go directly to the two children.”
The total lack of administrative costs is also what excites Kouninis about the sponsorship idea. “Most of the organizations that advertise for sponsorship of overseas orphans have huge administrative expenses and very little of the sponsorship monies go directly to the child”, said Kouninis. “With the sponsorship of these children in Uganda, there are no administrative costs. The children get the benefit of all of the sponsor’s donation.”
As well as using the sponsor’s dollars to buy food and medical supplies, the purchase of livestock such as pigs, goats, chickens, etc. is also being considered. “The overall purpose is to assist the people in Uganda, in a variety of ways, to become self-sufficient,” said Fleser.
“Money we raise will also go to buy grinding mills so they will have the ability to grind their grain and use the mills as a source of income for the people in the area. Eventually we would like to see the people function with only a minimum amount of financial support from us.”
Editor’s Comment: For information on how you can adopt an orphan, or assist this missionary and charitable effort, you may write, or telephone, or e-mail Eutychios Kalogerakis, the chairman of this committee:
E. Kalogerakis
1007 Centre Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
(617) 522-4161
sofoteros@aol.com
Funds may be sent to: St. Philaret’s House
Checks should be made payable to: Holy
Metropolis of Boston (HOMB) and ear-marked: “The Benevolent
Missionary
Society”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
2.LIVING IN
TOYLAND
(Christian News,
October 23, 2000)
Many parents read John Rosemond’s syndicated column in the papers.
Rosemond is a family psychologist who recently wrote a piece on the epidemic of boredom among American children.
He takes an informal poll, he says, when traveling overseas or stateside, asking audiences, “Do your kids complain of boredom?”
Without exception, parents in other cultures say, No. In fact, they don’t even get it. “Boredom and children? They don’t go together.”
He takes a second poll among American parents who reared their children in the ‘40s and ‘5Os: “Did your kids complain of boredom?”
Not very often, they reply, because they had a stock answer for complainers: “If you’re bored, I’ll find something for you to do.”
For folks in their mid-40s, “How many toys did you have?” Answers range from zero to ten. “We took a cardboard box and made something out of it.”
Current studies show that the typical American 5-year-old has accumulated 250 toys. That averages out to nearly one toy per week. And they’re bored!
The question should be put to bored and boring adults:
Does contentment come from having more toys?
More TV? Eating out more often? Larger wardrobes? Bigger mortgages, longer weekends, more exotic hobbies and vacations?
Of course not.
Contentment
is from within. Most of us know that. We just don’t live like we know
it
and believe it.
Boredom isn’t the root problem. Idolatry
is. An “idolater,” in Bible language, is one who puts things in the
place
of God in his life.
Boredom comes from trying to fill spiritual hungers with material things—fleeting, transient and perishable things. It never works. . .for long.
Contentment is not native to us. We are not born with this disposition. Babies demand instant gratification.
St. Paul says: “I have learned the secret of contentment whatever the circumstances.”
St. Paul wasn’t born with it either. He “learned” it.
If you grow up at all, it’s because you “learned” that the world does not exist for the sole purpose of making you happy.
One “learns” that the Father knows who we are and where we are, what we really need and in what measure we need it. It’s a lesson in faith.
Christ Himself so
fills
the gaps and holes in our lives that, come what may, prosperity or
adversity,
we can still be content.
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3.WEST COAST ORTHODOX CONFERENCE
St. Demetrios Parish of Pomona, CA, will host an Orthodox mini-conference February 16-18, covering a wide-range of subjects, including “Attractions of the new Age,” “ Parenting and Parental Authority” and “Living an Orthodox Life in a non-Orthodox World.”
Invited conference guests include Metropolitans Ephraim and Makarios, Bishop Moses and Frs. Panagiotis Carras of St. Nektarios Parish of Toronto and Nicodemos Gayle of St. Seraphim of Sarov Parish of Richmond, VA.
There is no charge to attend the conference, and activities are being planned for children, so parents are urged to bring children. Some free housing also is available for conference-goers.
For additional information, telephone
Nectari
Liberis at 1-714-964-5453, or E-mail for information at
sdc@socal.rr.com.