Rose Slavkovsky travels to Africa

Rose Slavkovsky (left) recieved a warm welcome in Africa. photo provided Eleven years ago Rose Slavkovsky became involved in the Sisters Act, a local talent show aimed at supporting the work of the Good Samaritan Ministries (GSM).

This summer the Sisters High School senior became the first ambassador from Sisters to visit African countries that have benefited from the Sisters Act.

A group of six, mostly from the Portland area, were led by Betty Mitchell, International Director and founder of GSM. Their primary mission was to visit the Good Samaritan Ministries centers in African countries.

The centers vary in their emphasis, but according to Slavkovsky, "The Good Samaritan Ministries focuses on meeting the needs of the communities in which they are located. They are not an evangelical mission. It's more like teaching people to help their neighbors."

One center included a tailoring school for widows, who were taught to sew so they could support themselves and their children. Some centers had a school, or orphanage, others just a church. One included families who host drug and alcohol addicts and help to rehabilitate them.

Slavkovsky remembers, "We have been involved with the Good Samaritan Ministries since I was five years old. The first Sisters Act we put on was to raise money for airfare to fly a school director here from Uganda for training."

That first Sisters Act, conducted in 1994 at Sisters Elementary School, was so popular that it had to be moved to the high school. Each year part of the proceeds of the show was set aside to assist programs in Uganda.

In 2003, bunk beds and mattresses were purchased for an orphanage in Masaka, Uganda. The 2004 proceeds went towards a well for the school and orphanage in Masaka.

Slavkovsky observed, "The community that has grown around this school is huge. There is so much support for the school. The farmers in the area supply the school with beans, their staple food, and they know the school will pay when they can."

Sisters has been helping communities in Africa for a long time, but nobody from Sisters had ever gone to visit. The Slavkovskys have had many visitors from different countries stay at their home and they would always ask, "Oh, when are you coming? Come stay at my home."

Slavkovsky said, "That influenced the trip a lot. The opportunity was open for me to go, so I jumped on it."

The group visited Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). They visited only one day in Congo -- Goma, a border town. Two years ago a nearby volcano erupted, covering the town in lava.

Only the tops of buildings could be seen. The GSM center in Goma is concentrating on rebuilding the community.

The thing that most impressed Slavkovsky about her trip?

"There is a lot of love in the African culture. We were received warmly everywhere we went.

"There was always a little reservation in my mind. We are from America, the richest country in the world. Are they even going to want to respect us because of how much we have and how much we take for granted? But the reactions were always very human."

She said the people of Masaka were very receptive when told about the work done in Sisters. They clapped and smiled.

She added, "The culture of love was very evident and alive."