Introduction of Katherine Parker

Katherine T. Parker, missionary with the Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church, serves as part of the Community Health and Agricultural Development (CHAD) Initiative of the Methodist Mission in Cambodia.

Katherine is involved in organizational development of the Social Concerns Committee (SCC) of the emerging Methodist Church in Cambodia. Working with a national team of pastors, the SCC works to help local congregations articulate and practice a theology of reaching out in Christian love to neighbors to realize God's promise of abundant life for all. Katherine helps develop food security and "livelihood" cooperative projects - cow, pig, chicken and duck raising, rice co-ops ('banks'), vegetable farming, and various small business projects through savings and credit groups.

Katherine also works with local congregations to help ensure their communities have continued access to biologically safe drinking water. Access to safe water in Cambodia is complicated by seasonal flooding, a high water table, and groundwater that is contaminated in many locations with naturally occurring arsenic. Katherine helps provide tools for local communities to assess and monitor their risks.

Native to California, Katherine comes from a family with deep roots in United Methodism on the West Coast. Two grandfathers, a great-grandfather, an aunt and several cousins have served as United Methodist clergy.

Katherine attended Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. While in Cambodia She completed her thesis for a Masters degree, also in Biology, from California State University, Sacramento.

Active in the church since childhood, Katherine from a young age wanted to be involved in mission work. In August 2000, after completing college, Katherine began service as a Mission Intern with the General Board of Global Ministry's Young Adult Program.

Her overseas assignment, as part of that program, was with the Asian Rural Institute in Nishinasuno, Japan. After 16 months Katherine returned to the U.S. to serve with the Practical Farmers of Iowa in Ames. She completed her Mission Intern service in May 2003.

Katherine’s home church is Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church in Mill Valley, CA. She has been involved in the life of the church in many ways: serving with the California-Nevada Annual Conference's delegation to General Conference, the conference's Board of Church and Society, the Golden Gate District Council on Ministries, and as a local church volunteer organizing mission trips.

Read Katherine's blog at http://bokashi.blogspot.com
Katherine Parker is available for Covenant Relationship support in California-Nevada Annual Conference , Oregon/Idaho Annual Conference , Pacific Northwest Annual Conference .

Make an online donation to: Katherine Parker #15187Z.

Introduction of Irene Mparutsa

Irene Mparutsa, a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, serves in Phnom Penh, Cambodia as the Community Health, Agriculture, and Microenterprise Coordinator with the Cambodia Mission Initiative.

Ms. Mparutsa was born in a mission hospital in Mutoko, Zimbabwe, and has been in mission all her life, serving mostly in health ministries, and as a Global Ministries Individual Volunteer health advisor in Cambodia since 2003. Her father was among the first group of African pastors to be ordained at the Old Umtali Mission in 1912; her mother was one of the first African women to become qualified as a trained teacher. She was one of 13 children born to her parents.

Trained as a nurse, midwife, and public health professional in England and Norway, Irene has worked in Zimbabwe, Zambia, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. She was affiliated with the International Federation of the Red Cross in Geneva from 1989 to 1995. In 1999, she went to Cambodia as a health program coordinator with Christian Outreach Relief and Development (CORD), a three-year assignment that turned her toward missionary service.

While the world is her home, Irene remains a citizen of Zimbabwe and counts the Zimbabwe West Annual Conference as her own. She speaks Shona, English, French, Zulu, Nyanja, and Khmer, the latter being the language of Cambodia.

After studying at Old Mutare Mission, Nyatsime College, and Ranche House College in Zimbabwe, Irene received her nurse’s training at Guy’s Hospital and other institutions in England, and earned a certificate in public health from Oslo University.

She has one grown son, Tichafara (which means “joyful anticipation”), and three grandchildren.

”[After the CORD contract in Cambodia], I wanted to return to Zimbabwe to serve as a Missioner of Hope…I found myself increasingly drawn to do missionary work here [in Cambodia]. Though not certain about many things, I am certain that I am where God wants me to be. I also believe that God is using the Church to bring healing and hope to the nation of Cambodia.”

Make an online donation to: Irene Mparutsa #15086Z.