Certainly all of humanity is bound by threads of common experience. Perhaps none is more devastating than the ravages of the disease we call cancer.

In the US, we have made great strides in health care. Today, 95% of women diagnosed early enough with breast cancer will survive the disease.

But in Serbia, as in other parts of the world, the statistics are exactly reversed; 95% of women diagnosed with the disease will not survive it. This simply does not have to be, and folks across Ohio are doing all they can to make a difference.

The change comes about because of the ambitious mission of Ohio Conference’s SARA program—Sharing America’s Resources Abroad, a direct mission outreach of our Ohio churches.

In 2004, our churches and members reached out to the Mali Idjos health center in a rural region of Serbia, to provide a much needed mammogram machine. Fifteen thousand people are served by this clinic, and the machine is only the third one in the region, the first in a rural area.

Our visit to the clinic last May allowed us to witness the machine being brought on line. We were told that the first mammogram was given to a woman who serves the hospital as a cleaning person.

Through SARA’s help, 60 physicians were educated in a seminar for mammography, and SARA has provided the means for several doctors to come to the US to learn the latest techniques in cancer diagnosis and reconstructive surgery—techniques that they are now teaching to other doctors across the region.

Our mission team also met a remarkable woman, Eva Berenji. An English teacher by profession, she has started the first-of-its-kind cancer center, providing a cancer hotline and information brochures in Serbian and Hungarian, and raising public awareness through walkathons and high-visibility interactions within the community.

"Changing the culture is hard work," she says. "People here don’t want to even talk about cancer. We need to help them see that they can do something about it, and that early detection can save their lives."

Eva was trained by the American Cancer Society to do the work; her transportation to the US was provided by SARA.

Serbia is just one of the many places SARA members are sharing America’s resources in health care and education.

A recent estimate of the incredible power of leveraging your gifts shows that, in the 20 years of the SARA ministry, over $40 million in services and resources have been provided around the world.

To learn more about last year’s trip to Serbia or how you can participate in the SARA’s many programs in other areas of the world, please plan on coming to Amherst Congregational UCC at 5 pm on April 30. Curt and Nancy Ackley will share pictures and stories of the trip.

Rachael and her mother, Nanette, members of Sycamore UCC, traveled with a group of 14 people to the Ukraine on a tour sponsored by Sharing America’s Resources Abroad (SARA), the Ohio Conference medical mission.

For the first few days, the group stayed and worked at the Good Samaritan Orphanage in Nagy Dobrony, a well-run, church-sponsored home for girls where SARA has established strong ties and provided assistance for several years.

The orphanage has modest but comfortable guest quarters for those who come to volunteer their time. Later, the group rented rooms in a private home where SARA travelers have stayed in the past.

Rachael was motivated to make the journey by her pastor, Diane Thomas, who has been to Ukraine several times on SARA-sponsored tours. Diane’s descriptions and photos of the places and people she encountered inspired Rachael and her mother to make plans to go along on the next trip. "I thought it would be fun to go over there with them," said Rachael.

The experience proved to be just that – and somewhat more. Rachael and her mother went along to help teach English to students and to English teachers who needed to improve their skills.

Some of the instruction was simply providing comfortable ways for teachers and students to talk to each other in English. One of the family's neighbors is a person who enjoys crafts. "She ordered some craft projects that I took along to do with the kids," Rachael said.

"While they were doing crafts, and other activities like card games and singing, they spoke only English," explained Pastor Diane.

Rachael also took along a poster she made in third grade about a trip to Washington, D.C. She did a "show and tell" for the teachers and students, sharing a little about the United States and giving them practice listening to English.

The travelers made a brief visit to a state-run orphanage in the mountains which has extremely limited resources and staff and desperately needs the help that SARA provides. "The Good Samaritan Orphanage is very nice, but the one in the mountains is pretty sad," Rachael said.

During the months before the trip, Rachael helped to raise money for travel expenses. "My 4-H Club donated $75 to my trip, and some of my friends in 4-H donated their own money. I took money of my own, too. We gave some of the money to the orphanage, and used some of it to buy gifts for the people we stayed with," she said.

The Ukraine was very different than Rachael expected. Although not what she is used to, the food proved to be quite good. "Most of the food is Hungarian," she explained, "and they use a lot of paprika. In the house where we stayed, the wife was a really good cook and she got upset if you didn’t eat a lot, so we did."

Rachael and her family visited Denmark last year to attend the wedding of a former exchange student who had lived with them. She was struck by the differences between the two countries and by the poverty that is evident in much of the Ukraine.

Even though Rachael was nervous before leaving the U.S., she is very glad that she made the trip and would like to go back.

When asked about her favorite part of the experience, she couldn’t choose just one. "I liked all of it," she said. "It was fun to be at the orphanage with all those girls. They were trying to teach us some Hungarian, but it didn’t go very well. When we left, some of the girls ran up and gave us hugs."

Dental equipment and computers were delivered this fall to a new hospital and dental clinic in a remote Honduran jungle, thanks to several generous donors and Sharing America’s Resources Abroad, the medical mission sponsored by the Ohio Conference UCC.

The dental equipment was donated by Dr. Ilmars Kalnins, who recently retired and closed his Mansfield, Ohio dental office. The donation was secured by Alan Mikesell, dentist, SARA supporter and member of St. Paul UCC in Wapakoneta.

Mikesell; his wife Elaine, a retired UCC pastor; and son Phil, also a dentist, have served as volunteers at a dental clinic housed in the Hospital Loma de Luz in Balfate, Honduras. Mikesell knew that the equipment was much needed at the struggling medical facility being established in the remote, heavily populated, very poor agricultural region.

Mikesell asked his friend to donate his equipment to SARA, and Kalnins agreed. After the instruments and supplies were inventoried and sorted at Mikesell’s office, everything was moved to the Gossard Moving Service warehouse to await shipment.

Six IBM computer systems were also donated by SARA board member, John Gilberg, to be used in Hospital Loma de Luz.

In August, John Gossard, a member of Westminster Christian UCC and a North American Van Lines agent, shipped all the equipment to Biloxi, Mississippi. From there, the Dole Corporation shipped it the rest of the way in an empty container headed back to Honduras.

Hospital Loma de Luz, completed in January 2003, was built by the Cornerstone Foundation, a non-denominational Christian mission organization. The 50-bed hospital provides modern medical care where, before, there was no accessible medical care within a day’s travel. It serves more than 1,000 patients each month.

Thanks to Dr. Ilmars Kalnins, Gossard Moving Services, Inc., the Dole Corporation and, of course, to SARA, for helping the Cornerstone Foundation provide medical treatment for the people of Honduras.