Quilts for Africa

By Marlene Quaroni - Florida Catholic

Photographer: MARLENE QUARONI | FC

Pat Solenski, religious education director at St. Anthony, and parishioner Stormy Schevis, quilt project organizer, pose with the three quilts to be given to the people of Kalsegra, Ghana.

Photographer: MARLENE QUARONI | FC

A view of one of the panels of the personalized quilt created by families in St. Anthony's religious education program.

FORT LAUDERDALE – Bearing three homemade quilts, six St. Anthony parishioners are on their way to visit an impoverished African village. The quilts are meant to hang in a new church built with donations from the Fort Lauderdale church.

“The quilts are a personal connection between us,” said Stormy Schevis, St. Anthony parishioner who came up with the quilt idea.

After an Advent Mass in 2009, religious education families sat in school classrooms designing 5.5 inch square blocks depicting their family life. Schevis put the 108 blocks together on three separate quilts and handed them over to Tom and Sarah Flood, who will take the quilts to Kalsegra, Ghana.

In addition, Schevis collected letters and photos from parish families to be given to the Kalsegra church. She included 700 fabric strips, ink and pens so that villagers will return the strips to Fort Lauderdale with messages and thumb prints.

The memory quilts are a part of an ongoing relationship between the two “sister” churches. As a show of gratitude, villagers named their church St. Anthony, after their Fort Lauderdale counterpart.

The outreach came about because of Father Linus Nangwele, 38, a Ghanaian priest serving at St. Anthony while pursuing a doctorate degree in peace-keeping and conflict-resolution at Nova Southeastern University.

Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO

A view of the original church in Kalsegra, Ghana, where Father Linus Nangwele grew up.

Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO

The new church in Kalsegra, Ghana, rebuilt with funds collected by parishioners, school children and religious education students at St. Anthony Parish in Fort Lauderdale.

“Father Linus is very humble,” said Maura Brassil, project coordinator. “He saw us collecting food and clothes for local charities and opened up about his dream to build a kindergarten school, medical clinic and church in his hometown. In addition, he wanted to help village farmers.”

The village church was often referred to as a “deathtrap”, said Father Linus.

“It was made of mud walls and had a galvanized roof,” he said. “Kindergarten age school children attended school under mosquito-infested trees and farmers, bent over 10 hours a day, worked with antique tools.”

Brassil spoke to St. Anthony’s pastor, Father Jerry Singleton, who gave her the go-ahead to organize a fundraising effort to rebuild Father Linus’ hometown.

“This outreach project will reinforce the universality of the Catholic Church,” Father Singleton told parishioners. “The presence of Father Linus among us was an occasion for an outreach. He put flesh on the project.”

Despite economic hardships, parishioners opened their hearts and wallets. Within six weeks, parishioners raised enough money for the project. School kids at the Fort Lauderdale school donated lightly used school clothes and parishioners filled a 40-foot container with donated items. The Knights of Malta donated a small school bus and farmers now have a tractor to work their fields.

This month, Brassil, Tom and Sarah Flood, Anne Shumpert and her two daughters, Carrie Shumpert, a registered nurse, and Anna Shumpert-Miskimen are headed to Ghana.

Father Linus and Msgr. Christopher Bazaanah, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Tamale, who is Father Linus’ uncle, will meet the group at the Accra airport. They will stay at a guest house in Wa, a large town about 20 miles from Kalsegra. While they are in Kalsegra, the bishop of Wa will consecrate the new church, said Brassil.

Father Linus has told the Fort Lauderdale parishioners he is very happy about the trip they are making to his country.

“I think the fact that we are going to Kalsegra is overwhelming to Father Linus,” said Brassil.

The school building which opened in January has attracted children from neighboring towns, she noted.

“It was built for 300 children but is servicing 600,” she said. “In addition to classes, the school serves a hot meal for the kids.”

A main purpose of the project is to empower the people of Kalsegra, said Brassil.

“We hope that by receiving, they will reach out to help their neighbors and share their gifts with them,” she said.

Their trip to the remote Ghanaian village is just the beginning of their outreach program, Brassil added.

“We are the advance team,” she said. “We plan to return, next year, with more aid.”

Brassil calls Kalsegra a holy place because six vocations have come from that small town of 5,000 people in northwest Ghana.

“The Lord has given so many callings to this small village,” she said.

Father Linus’ life, too, is a miracle. When he was four years old he became very ill and his mother, Margaret, carried him to the nearest clinic 25 miles away. She arrived 14 hours later.

Nurses declared her son dead, but she refused to believe them. The doctor agreed to perform an autopsy and discovered that the boy was not dead. The doctor performed emergency surgery and Linus spent the next two years in the hospital recovering.

As an expression of his gratitude to God, Father Linus responded to the call to the priesthood in 1993 and was ordained in 2000 in the Archdiocese of Tamale. He came to the United States in 2005 and earned a master’s degree in theology from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

Photographer: MARLENE QUARONI | FC

St. Anthony parishioners who are visiting their sister parish in Kalsegra, Ghana this month are, from left: Maura Brassil, Africa church project coordinator, Tom Flood, Sarah Flood, Ann Shumpert and her daughter Carrie Shumpert. Another daughter, Anna Shumpert-Miskimen, is not pictured but also is going on the trip.

Updated 08/17/2010: Correct spelling of Stormy Schevis