The Companion Synod Program coordinated by the Division for Global Mission connects the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with churches worldwide in a web of partnership. When he visited the United States in 1994 on a Metropolitan Washington, D.C.-sponsored exchange, Iileka became interested in the Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers program as a training tool for Namibia's deacons. With a population of 1.6 million, Namibia has some 500,000 Lutherans. Most of their deacons are women who range in age from 19 to late 60s. Many of them walked to the training site where we were.
Most deacons have three years of training, much of it hands-on work.
Our effort pointed them toward expanding community participation for caregivers and caregiving. Their can-do attitude is infectious. But none that will keep us from achieving it. The Companion Synod Program exposes ELCA members to the new ideas and enthusiasm of sisters and brothers in partner churches worldwide. That's a network worth developing.