In April 2026 I was invited to visit Ireland Yearly Meeting, to share about my ministry among women in East Africa for the last 50 years. I spent the majority of my time at that yearly meeting with young adult Friends (18 to 30 year olds), who had many questions and wanted to hear about my experiences, as they were all trying to discover what forms of ministry that God might be calling each of them to do.
After teaching ten years in Friends High Schools in Kenya, I felt led to return to Kenya to encourage fellow women in ministry. I had the credentials to teach at a school or work for FUM or another organization, but wanted to be more open to whatever God wanted, and what the women themselves wanted, not what I thought they needed. It has been amazing, the variety of ways God has been using us, in ways far beyond we could ever have imagined. We realized in hindsight, after we began traveling into Uganda and Tanzania, that we were following the John Woolman approach—feeling led to just go, to learn from the people, and to be grateful for any way our leadings to visit would be helpful to those people. That method works!
I have a travel minute from my local meeting, endorsed by the quarter and by Yearly Meeting). My support committee advised me to also create a support committee of leaders in Kenya to offer me and prayer support, to advise and correct me on cultural issues, guide me as to which of the places I felt called to visit were most urgent, and to provide suitable traveling companions.
I offer all New England Friends the following description of some of the very different kinds of public ministry that I never expected to be involved in, beyond the traditional preaching ministry. If any of you feel a calling to accompany me for part of my journey this or in future years, contact me.
- Support and encouragement for women in ministry. The first need for ministry was to support Eileen, a women who had felt a calling to minister in Uganda for two years, but had not done so due to being very busy in the school she had started to train Aids orphans (practical skills like masonry, sewing, hairdressing), as well as not having her own car and not sure where in Uganda to start. So we travelled together, on public buses, matatus, and motorcycles, and accepted a bed and food in any home offered.
We realized in hindsight we were following the way Christ sent out his disciples (instead of raising a big budget, buying a car, and taking a lot of stuff). When we found an issue such as a house with no toilet or latrine, instead of telling our host to wake up to modern times and build one, Eileen would say "let me tell you a story. My husband and I built a latrine and we and now our children and grandchildren have found we are so much healthier, since we built one. I see you do not have one, but I see you have stones, sand, and trees, and I could show you how to build one if you would like.'' If they chose to do so, it became their idea, not one imposed from others. We also found women who needed to be taught basic skills such as how to save some money, how to organize a gathering of women to support each other, how to keep records.
The women who travel also need support on ways to raise funds and how to report back to their local meetings. All leadership is in the hands of men, and women with skills are not often recognized or encouraged. We all were surprised to find how much more of teaching rather than preaching forms of ministry are needed to lift up other women. - Youth ministry, Faith and Play trainers. When the women began meeting in Tanzania and Uganda, we found large numbers of children coming. There was nothing offered for kids, no Sunday School. We located Kenyans who had been trained to teach Sunday schools, who then went to Uganda and Tanzania for to lead a workshop each year for local people who wanted to teach the children. In addition, we invited Melinda Bradley and Beth Collea to come share about Godly Play and Faith and Play methods of Sunday school (instead of the 1902-style preaching about a white Jesus and little white children that is still commonly used). Following the workshop, the African Quaker Religious Education Collaborative was formed, and they want further training so they can train others as well as to revise the old curriculum.
- Oral interviews and writing Quaker history. After we shared stories about Fox, Fell, Woolman (all European or American), we asked which African Quakers should the next generation of Kenyans (as well as Quakers in the rest of the world) be hearing about. Kenyans began researching in their home yearly meetings, using smartphones to conduct oral interviews of potentially important African Quakers.
After a workshop held at Friends Theological College (FTC), attenders asked the principal of FTC if he was interested in starting a Quaker Archives for Africa. This has now resulted in the formation of an active group of both older Quakers, who are writing their African viewpoint of Quakerism and Quaker history, and younger Friends gathering oral histories for the archives. They want help on how to write books as well as articles about their brand of Quakerism. The archivist is a full-time assistant librarian at the college, and needs help organizing and cataloging the materials that have begun accumulating for the archives. Someone with skills in writing and conducting oral interviews as well as cataloging could find where their volunteer ministry could be valued. - Climate restoration. A year ago in northwestern Uganda, a new Friends primary (elementary) school and Friends meeting began a climate restoration project. We helped them learn the importance of trees, and have begun a tree-planting project with advice from the local trained district forester. (I never realized that my training in environmental education would be a form of ministry!) Quaker Earthcare Witness has helped support the project, and the school and local meeting are trying to see what else they can do to help restore the climate of their area. Friends in other meetings in East Africa are also starting to figure out ways to restore and improve their local environments.
- Help for the diaspora in North America. A few years ago, when the United Society of Friends Women from New England joined with USFW of New York, several of us discovered women from Jamaica, Kenya, Cuba, and Congo yearly meetings who are now living in our area. They all came from countries where there were active women's groups. It's helped make USFW group more international, and in the process we are learning from and supporting each other. We might not need to travel long distances to do intercultural ministry.
In case any of you are interested in accompanying me in any of the above types of ministry for short times in the next couple of years, to help you discover into what kind of ministry God might be calling you, feel free to contact me. You might discover that God is calling you to use your special gifts in ways you have never considered as ministry!