In November, a group of six people from the Danish European Mission visited Sri Lanka. The purpose was to meet poor Sri Lankan pastoral families who have been helped to help themselves by Danish European Mission donors. The help can be, for example, goats that can be bred, chickens that lay eggs, crops that can be grown and help to start a small shop. Pastors who plant new churches often receive only a small salary for their service, which is why self-help can be crucial for pastoral families' finances.
Evaluating projects
From Denmark, the team consisted of three student assistants, Benjamin Laursen, Hannah Debel and Thea Gamborg, Vice President Hans-Henrik Johansen and Secretary General Samuel Nymann Eriksen. In addition, our Indian external evaluator was there. He has 25 years of experience in development work and has led projects in Afghanistan and Sudan, among other places. He conducts thorough evaluations of a number of Danish European Mission's projects so that we can check that donors' money is used for the purpose for which it was given.
Vision of the visit
The meeting turned out a little differently than planned. It turned out that the pastor and his wife were carrying some heavy burdens and needed to talk about difficult things they had experienced in ministry. The Danish team listened, prayed with the couple and shared encouraging words from the Bible into their situation.
Finally, the priest said that a few days earlier he had had a vision that he would be visited by white people, but in the vision he had also seen a dark person who looked like the Indian who was on the team. We could leave the visit encouraged, with the feeling that we had walked in prepared good deeds.
