Welcome to Graceview Missions. Our mission focus is to improve the lives of vulnerable children in our world. Currently, we support children in Blantyre, Malawi, and in Puvirnituq, Nunavik. The Mission Committee members are Joan Duncan, Anna Cherniak, Nancy McPherson, Margaret Munene, Maureen Screen, and Robin Telfer.
We meet on the third Monday of each month.
Malawi is a small landlocked country in south central Africa. In 2011 a Mission team from Graceview travelled to Malawi to listen and
learn about the plight of orphan and vulnerable children caused by HIV/AIDS. In the years since that visit, the Graceview congregation has supported the St. James CCAP church in Blantyre, Malawi and their operation of the Tiyese Children’s Centre. There are currently forty children registered. Three women look after the children, one takes care of the kitchen and two are classroom facilitators. The children are provided with a uniform and school bag every two years and attend the centre each weekday morning during which time they have a nourishing meal.
Akileni Vincent, at 1 year and 7 months is the youngest attending Tiyese.
Here the Tiyese children are assembled with their foster mother Dorothy Manyozo just before their morning meal is served.
Five year old Innocentia Gawami is the oldest of the Tiyese children.
Geographically and culturally, the village of Puvirnituq in Nunavik near the eastern shore of Hudson Bay could not be farther away from Malawi, but here is another location to find Graceview’s Missions at work.
The village with a population of under 2000 has a history with troubled young people.
Anna Cherniak, a longtime member of Graceview, taught at Iguarsivik School for 10 years. She has recently retired and has joined our Missions Team and amongst other endeavours, will continue to advise us of the needs of the young people in the community.
The work of the Missions Team at Graceview encompasses the Inuit village of Puvirnituq in Nunavik, Quebec. Puvirnituq can be found just above the 60th parallel along the west coast of Hudson Bay.
Here the children find it challenging to attend school and to learn. Our mission is to encourage students to stay in school and participate in activities that promote happiness, friendship and good values. Our goal is to support these activities.
Anna Cherniak has lived and worked in Puvirnituq for ten years. Now retired, she continues to work as a Missions Team member at Graceview by keeping in close contact with the school. The Missions Team continues to support the needs of young people in the community.
Winter comes early in Puvimituq. Inuktitut is
the first language on the welcome sign.
The Iguarsivik School has about 300 students and 25 teachers. A history of violence and substance abuse
in the community creates problems at school.
Puvimituq is on the Povungnituk River about 15 km from the coast of Hudson Bay.
Jerina Gacherii Kirema, is a second-year student at Outspan Medical college and is pursuing a three year and three months diploma course in health record and information technology. She is 21 years old and was born at Tharaka Nithi county, Tumbura village in Kenya.
After completion of high school education, it took about a year before she joined college. She had a dream of becoming a health worker to support her family. In her own words, “I worked so hard not just to complete high school, but also to be able to help my family. To raise money for college, I had to work as a domestic worker for about six months, to get some money for joining college.” It should be noted that domestic workers in Kenya are very poorly paid.
Jerina is now a second-year student and is struggling to pay school fees and risks dropping out of college due to lack of money. Her total school fees for second year is 116,000 Ksh. Out of this sum, the AIC pays Ksh. 30,000 The support from the AIC will end upon Jerina attaining the age 22.
With the help from Graceview Presbyterian Church Jerina will now be able to complete her studies.