News Briefs for July 15, 2016
Stories from Jamaica, Ohio, India, California and Ghana
Good Samaritan Inn, the homeless shelter and community service center operated by the Adventist denomination in central Kingston, Jamaica, has added a health center that provides pre and postnatal care, dental care for children and adults, and other medical services. The clinic is “commendable [and] a true manifestation [of] partnership in building our country, and improving the well-being of our fellow men,” Andrew Holness, prime minister of the island nation, said in an official statement from the Jamaica Information Service. Dr. Eric Nathan, the chairman of the board for Good Samaritan Inn, said it is a dream realized. The center was established in 2007 by the denomination’s East Jamaica Conference.
Teenagers are the main source of volunteers that operate the community food pantry at the Adventist Church in Lima, Ohio, reports The Lima News. The program provides food to about 400 families a month, including many of the working poor. “My grandpa introduced me to it,” Scott Fuqua, a 15-year-old church member was quoted by the newspaper. “I’ve always wanted to help people. When I saw the smiles on the people’s faces and how we were helping them, I had to keep coming back.” The pantry operates in the Midwestern U.S. city two Sunday mornings each month and also provides donated clothing and personal items. Fuqua’s grandparents, Jerry and Sandy Hunt, are the co-directors.
A healthy fast food snack and a number of media projects were launched by Adventist organizations during a recent visit to Pune, India, by Dr. Geoffrey Mbwana, a vice president of the denomination’s General Conference. Known in Maharashtra State as “wada pav,” the snack product will be distributed in several different varieties. The media projects that were launched include a television serial that presents the gospel using the Holy Spirit as a hero and Satan as a villain, a new app for three operating systems of Smartphones that will enable Adventist media programs to be more widely available in 15 languages, a movie script on the life of Christ written by Rajendra Pillai, and an opera that will present the great controversy theme developed by Lenny Kisku, reports Dr. Edison Samraj, director of the Adventist Media Centre in Pune. (Thanks to Dennis Dean Tidwell for this information.)
Emergency medical supplies were donated by the Glendale Adventist Medical Center in southern California for victims of the war in the Nagorno-Karabakh region between Azerbaijan and Armenia, both nations in central Asia who were once part of the former Soviet Union. The emergency supplies are needed to treat civilians hurt by gun-shot wounds, burns and explosions. Transportation and contacts on the ground were organized by the Armenia Fund, an international charity based in Glendale (California).
Hart Adventist Hospital was opened in Kumasi, Ghana, on Monday. It is named after Dr. Richard Hart, president of Loma Linda University and Adventist Health International, who was present for the ceremonies. It is the ninth hospital in the Ashanti region to be built by Ghana Adventist Health Services, reported Nhyira radio (104.5 FM) broadcasting in the city. Patricia Apiagyei, member of parliament from the area, and other civic leaders participated in the event, as well as Pastor Kwabena Annor-Boafo, president of the denomination’s South Central Ghana Conference.
