Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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San Francisco Examiner - December 1, 2007
Mike Silvestri, msilvestri@baltimoreexaminer.com
When he hugged her Friday at Calvary United Methodist Church in Mount Airy, Mink said, President Bush wiped more tears from his eyes. Then she cried.
"He's just such a down-to-Earth guy," said Mink, who, along with other missionaries and church leaders, met privately with Bush. "I was just so moved. You can tell he really cares."
Bush, commemorating World AIDS Day, visited the church because of its support for Children of Zion Village, an orphanage in Namibia, Africa.
In a 10-minute public speech in the church's gym, Bush urged Congress to double America's emergency support to AIDS-ravaged areas throughout the world to $30 billion over the next five years. He cited grim statistics: The number of people in sub-Saharan Africa receiving AIDS treatment has climbed to 1.4 million, from 50,000 five years ago.
"We dedicate ourselves to a great purpose: We will turn the tide against HIV/AIDS once and for all," Bush said.
Mink, of Rising Sun, helped build the 57-child orphanage, started by Mount Zion Methodist Church in Bel Air.
Calvary United members, who have traveled to the orphanage several times to help children, found some of them under bushes and others who had been sold into slavery, said Sarah Dorrance, a church member who has visited the village twice.
"Foot soldiers in the army of compassion," the president called the Calvary United members.
"Think about that," he said. "People from this part of Maryland took it upon themselves to travel to a far-away land to help orphans to say, 'I love you,' to inspire through their compassion."
Members of the church teach classes equivalent to elementary, middle and high school levels, build shelters and help the children find work in the 17-acre village.
Volunteers also plan to build a preschool and kindergarten for the children.
"I don't want people to think it's just a place where the kids are warehoused," said Kevin Meadows, a Mount Airy school teacher who spent two months in Namibia last summer. "They provide the basic necessities, but they provide so much more."
Village children call Mink "Momma Rebecca" and her husband "Poppa Gary." Everybody else is known as either an aunt or uncle.
As the president concluded an informal discussion with several missionaries and church leaders, Mink said, he put his arm around her as they walked up stairs and told her, "You're one of our heroes."
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