Getting real

Lizzie with street children

She explains, “The girls work in a factory making Freeset Bags from Jute, giving them the choice to work decent hours for decent pay, to re-establish their dignity in their community and to learn to read and write”.

Whilst BMS sends many volunteers and teams to India each year, this has been the first time that a short-term worker has gone to Bolivia – a nation rich in natural resources, but where 60 per cent of its population live in poverty.

David Hargrave spent eight months there in a centre for children who, for many different reasons, were not able to live at home.  

“Some had parents, some didn't and many have seen things that no child that young should see”, he says.

“The turnaround in the kids’ attitude towards me was amazing. At first I was regarded with caution but, after three months, things began to change. I can honestly say I will miss the place.

“I hope that I was able to give them the attention they deserved, introduce them to a few new experiences – like banoffee pie – and show them something of God in how I was with them”.
 
David, from Weymouth, went to Bolivia as part of his German and Spanish languages degree at Exeter University – it’s something that BMS is committed to doing with students, including those on medical electives.

Once someone gets a taste for overseas mission, it can be hard to give it up! A growing number come back to BMS to repeat their volunteer experience.

Claire Baines

Claire interviewed teachers and doctors who worked for INF and visited Green Pastures Hospital in Pokhara. She says, “This was a really thought-provoking experience. I finally learnt what it meant to dedicate your life to Christ through the witness of doctors and patients at the hospital”.

As she returns on a team to Brazil for a third time this summer, Claire, from Milton Keynes, feels the volunteer programme is a vital part of BMS’ bigger picture.

“Getting out into ‘frontline’ mission allows you to throw yourself into something that perhaps you never thought you could achieve. It lets God show you new and amazing gifts.

She adds, “The programme allows Christians from different countries to overcome boundaries and be encouraged by one another, and it’s also a great way of highlighting the needs of the wider world to churches in the UK through people who have lived the experience and shared it at home”.