FSPA ministry grants provide care, hope and fun in Zimbabwe

Arriving at St. Rose Convent in La Crosse to attend the congregation’s 2009 General Assembly and late-July Peace Conference, the small-statured Sister Laurette Sprosty carried with her a 20-pound bag full of photo albums chronicling her 26 years of service on behalf of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Zimbabwe. The weight of the bag was quite emblematic of the ministry Sister Laurette embarked on in 1983—effecting the FSPA’s mission to be a “loving presence through prayer, witness and service” in Africa.

Images of despair
Newspaper clippings in Sister Laurette’s albums follow the political deterioration of the country since she arrived to teach English as a second language through the Catholic Ancillary Teachers of Rural Zimbabwe. Outreach has become more difficult “year by year,” she says. Under the rule of President Robert Mugabe, dictatorship has overruled democracy, and the economic and medical ramifications in the country have taken a terrible toll on Zimbabwe’s people.

Once a leader in agricultural exports, Zimbabwe’s government sanctions and drought conditions (illustrated by pictures of the dusty landscape) have reduced the number of community farms from 4,500 to about 100 and contributed to rampant starvation, says Sister Laurette. The country’s currency “has literally become worthless” she reports, as inflation rates within the corrupt banking system hit five billion percent last December. Black market goods outweigh items on store shelves; what little is available comes at a very dear price. About 10 percent of Zimbabwe’s people have fled in an attempt to send funds back home, but “what happens when the money is gone?” she questions.

Some of Sister Laurette’s photos are startling; they show parents and grandparents near death, surrounded by the many children that rely on their care. “AIDS is the biggest reason for the high number of orphans,” she laments. “The government indicates that the numbers are going down but we haven’t seen it.”

In addition to the deadly virus, lack of clean water and proper sanitation breeds rampant cholera. According to a recent article posted on cnn.com, United Nations officials report that a cholera outbreak bred 98,592 cases, including 4,288 deaths between August of 2008 and July 2009. The medication required must be administered consistently and, more often than not, be taken with food to be effective. Health officials have also estimated that more than five million Zimbabweans face starvation. The culmination of these problems “is a major crisis,” says Sister Laurette.

The outcome of these human injustices, she says, is an estimated 700,000 children who have been abandoned. Orphanages are full to overflowing and many children are left to fend for themselves in the streets. “I worry,” she admits. “How can this continue? No one can predict what will happen.”

Glimpses of hope
Photographs in Sister Laurette’s albums also capture images of optimism in the many FSPA faces that appear— Sisters Donna Schwager, Betty Daugherty, Rochelle Potaracke, Mildred Tigges, Georgia Christensen, Paulynn Instenes, Ruth Winnike and Lisa Zmuda among them. At various times they’ve missioned in schools created to provide formal education (and, much of the time, food) to children who’ve come from begging off the streets. There are also pictures of a primary learning center that was built in part with funds from FSPA and the St. Ludmila Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Mission grants given by FSPA have brightened the picture for some of the most destitute children. Presently, 162 people in 20 families are receiving assistance through recommendations made by different religious organizations for an offshoot of the TAMA-care program called the Goodwill Orphan Project. Providing food, medication, clothing, education assistance and continuing education for adults (and when necessary, legal documentation), the goal for this program is to help indigent families helmed by grandparents (or in some cases, children themselves) keep families together.

No other photos capture the glimmer of hope like those taken on Fun Day. Funded for the past three years with grant money from the FSPA and support from St. Ludmila parish, the celebration began as a graduation of sorts for those exiting the program and a welcome to those coming in. Food, games and gifts of toys, balloons, sweets and socks are provided to the children who “react with such excitement,” says Sister Laurette. “Some explanation is needed but they get it, and have so much fun.”

In her photographs of Zimbabwe that span more than a quarter of a century, Sister Laurette has occasionally stepped out from behind the camera to appear in some of the images. Still, her presence and support there has been perpetual. “Living among a people struggling to survive day by day has deepened my compassion. I have seen how a smile of acknowledgement, a few minutes spent in mutual conversation or quiet empathy, a cup of clean water or a slice of homemade bread and a prayer can lighten another’s footsteps,” says Sister Laurette, “and give hope for one more day.”