Dear Loved Ones,

May the peace of our Lord be with each and every one of you. Here is an interesting story to illustrate the difficult situation we minister sometimes.

Last Saturday, I went to our close-by small market to get myself some fruit when a group of women started yelling that they have not seen me in a long time since I am gone most of the time. I started talking to one of them who said that she was sick. "What is wrong" I said to her. She replied that "the fire was eating her." Because the fire eats her, she stopped going to church and to attend the women meeting.

I did not know what else to say since I have not heard of fire eating anyone and she stays alive. I insisted trying to get a correct idea of fire eating her. She then said that the fire moves in her body and eats her. She has been to the doctor but the pills she takes don't help at all. Another lady said that she stopped seeing the doctor because of that fire.

When this second woman got into the conversation, I got an idea of what we were all talking about.The fire eating somebody means the HOT FLASHES women suffer from when they reach the menopause. I invited her to come to my house in the afternoon because I have some special water that can extinguish that fire.

Around 4:00, she was at my house. I nicely invited her in and gave her a cup of cold water. I took my time to explain to her all the changes we, as women, go through with ages. She was amazed to see that the fire eating her was a normal fact of life. She has herself believing she is sick and about to die. Then as mothers we shared our experiences, talked of everything as one can imagine two women talking.

We kneeled to pray as a closing remark. Her last word was: I AM GLAD TO GOFROM HERE WITH MY COURAGE AGAIN. NA WE ANKO=Will see you again. The following Sunday she was in church in spite the fire that eats her.

Ignorance has killed so many of our people. I was going to be one of the victims myself when I was yet to have babies. The knowledge we have gained in this field and what we are learning daily, has pushed us to move to a new level of ministry: The Community Health Evangelism (CHE).We have started the Training of Trainers (TOT) in our local churches. This program consists of helping people improve their physical (health), spiritual and social conditions.

Please keep praying for us as we struggle to get involved deep down in the life of our people.

Yours with gratitude.

Kihomi Ngwemi

Nzunga Mabudiga