Earlier this month, the CMSI family lost one of its much-loved elders, with the passing of Rev Canon Raymond Smith, who previously served as General Secretary of the society. A number of former and current CMSI staff, Mission Partners and members attended Raymond’s funeral and thanksgiving service on 23rd July in Christ Church, Delgany. Raymond’s successor as General Secretary, Rev Canon Cecil Wilson, shared the following words of tribute: Raymond Smith graduated from Trinity

Tuesday 23rd July My dear friend Heather left one week ago. I have missed her enthusiastic approach to life and her great sense of humour. This is my final day in wonderful Kathmandu. It has been an amazing three weeks and I am extremely privileged to have returned to SDSS and participated in outreach, fellowship and providing physiotherapy to children at SDSS and Pharakilo Ghar. One of the outreach projects is with a farm in Lele (approximately one hour from SDSS, although t

CMSI is asking for prayer for its partners in DR Congo, as the Ebolo outbreak is declared as an international crisis. Archbishop Masimango, Bishop Bahati, Bishop Desire and Bishop Isesomo head up our partner dioceses in DR Congo, representing Kindu, Bukavu, Goma and North Kivu. As of 17th July, the location of these dioceses is within the designated Ebola international emergency zone. The crisis has been ongoing and growing for over a year, and is complicated by insecurity an

As we travel home, Team SMILE would like to share our personal reflections about the wonderful, once in a lifetime, experience that we have all enjoyed. We have really valued the support that you have shown to us in our posts up to now, and hope that you enjoy these reflections and think of us as we travel home. The posts will be grouped in our 'travel families' starting with Mr. Hamilton's family, then Alice's family, then 'The Doc's'... ​Mr. Hamilton What has stood out fo

One week on and what a week it has been! I have been doing exercises with the boys and girls at Pharakilo Ghar. They have loved our company and Heather organised a music system to be purchased so the girls (and the boys) could exercise through dance. On Tuesday, in the pouring rain, Heather visited some of the homes in the community for people living with leprosy while I visited HRDC - a hospital which treats children with orthopaedics conditions such as clubfoot. There is a

Saturday 13th July It's Saturday and three out of four of our team have sermons to do for tomorrow and they're all at different times in different churches, so it's bed late and up early for us. We bandy about the word 'privilege' - this is a privilege, that is a privilege - but to be here, to see our Zambian brothers and sisters and interact with them in the way we are, is an honour. Today we stocked up on supplies for our guest house and we wanted to give Lyn a night off fr

Sunday 14th July Over the past two days the team have been in Oltiasika which is in a very remote part of Kajiado District. Our journey to Oltiasika began with a 6.30am wake up call, much to our dismay. To break up our travels, we stopped off at another ACK guest house, at which we were served delicious chai tea and pastries. It was amazing! Further along the road, we stopped again at a tourist shop which had lots of handmade goods and it was a great opportunity to brush up o

Thursday 11th July Our second day is drawing to a close in Kitwe. Because we'd next to no sleep during our time getting here, our first night's sleep was deep and today we needed time to just adjust and do those practical things like luggage retrieval and food supplies. The Bishop led the four of us in morning reflection. It was encouraging and helpful. Our luggage appeared and so Keith and I went to collect it while Bishop Trevor, Noreen, Hazel and Lyn went and bought suppl

Wednesday 10th July Kwaheri Rafikis! Today, we said a tearful farewell to our Oloosuyian family. During the short time that we spent at the school, we formed such strong and meaningful friendships. The bonds that have been created will be long lasting and cherished by the whole team. Our leaving service, with the girls, was held in a classroom. When we entered, we were touched to see that the girls had taken the time to scribe each of our names in glitter. Thirty-one personal

With only two workdays remaining, it was a surprise for Ronnie to set the challenge of painting a mural at the main entrance to the dorm. A permanent fixture for many years, the mural is one of meaning. The central focus of the mural is Bear, our school mascot. Bear was chosen as a fun way to represent the entire LGS body back home. Here in Kenya, LGS and Oloosuyian are one family and so Bear represents that link. The two school names, Oloosuyian Girls and LGS, are included a

The CMSI team to Zambia has finally arrived in Kitwe after an extremely disrupted and complicated journey that took 48 hours. Here are a few initial reflections from Rev Aaron McAlister. Wednesday 10th July Kitwe, Zambia is full of diverse horizons. Off into the distance one might see streets full of cars and buildings, a city struggling to find its way in a busy, ever-changing environment. But look again and you might see a different horizon, one filled with relationships wh

After our weekend off, the early alarms returned for our penultimate day of work at the school. After all our hard work digging trenches last week, we were faced with the challenge of laying the water pipes. Interestingly, there were many ideas and opinions on how the 100m long coils of pipe should be laid. We eventually were able to figure out a successful tactic, and even removed a knot in the pipe (thanks to Mr Hamilton). In the girls’ dormitory, Laura began work on a mura

Sunday 7th July Today was always going to be a good day because we were treated to an extra hour in bed! This gave us the energy that we needed to keep up with the girls at Oloosuyian, as we joined them for their Sunday worship. A group of us performed 'What a Friend we have in Jesus', in Swahili, which was well received by everyone at the school, especially those who understood it! We were amazed at how the girls embraced their worship and so inspired by their enthusiasm. Th

The sights, the sounds, the smells, the traffic, the heat and the rain... where do we begin? After almost 24 hours of traveling - and having had everything pass smoothly through customs - we were met at the airport by B, who greeted us with the traditional garland of flowers. Over the first few days we met church members, leaders and staff of SD Church. On Saturday we attended a two-and-a-half-hour service and saw their new building which they hope to begin using next week. W

It was with heavy hearts this morning that we drove to Kayole for our final visit. Lucy started off our meeting by rallying the young women, telling them that the sky was their only limit, that they needed to dream of bigger and better things in order to succeed and improve their lives. Louise reinforced this, she told the ladies that their vision was to enable girls to stay in school, continue their education and to succeed in their exams. She told them that their potential