Woman named Daphne puts her love into action
PHOTO BY BOBBY ROSS JR.
Daphne German
At the Hemley Road church fellowship hall, Daphne German shows off a wall of pictures that display hurricane relief workers and bayou baptisms.
Daphne German
At the Hemley Road church fellowship hall, Daphne German shows off a wall of pictures that display hurricane relief workers and bayou baptisms.
BAYOU LA BATRE, ALA. - This impoverished fishing village 130 miles east
of New Orleans needs Jesus. Daphne German has no doubt about that.
Even before shrimp fisherman Lam Luong was accused Jan. 8 of throwing his four young children off an 80-foot-high bridge to their deaths, German was working hard to bring hope to a community still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
“To me, when we’re out delivering food or clothes ... we’re witnessing for Christ,” said German, a mother of seven and grandmother of 17 who came here two years ago to help with the relief effort — and stayed. Since Katrina, dozens of Churches of Christ and relief organizations have sent volunteers to clean and repair homes. Members from across the nation have played a role in the new Hemley Road church, which met on the beach, under a carport, in a member’s home, in rented halls and even on lawn chairs before members raised $125,000 to buy an old Methodist church.
But neither the new congregation nor a relief work dubbed “Bayou Recovery Project” would exist without German, said Carol Ogle, a relief ministry coordinator for the White’s Ferry Road church in West Monroe, La.
“Daphne loves people and puts that love into action by giving herself unselfishly to help and teach them,” Ogle said. “She has been able to use virtually every resource she could find to help in the repair of damaged homes and crumpled lives.”
German picks up vanloads of residents for Sunday worship and cooks for teenagers before each midweek Bible study.
The congregation has baptized more than 30 people — many in a bayou near the bridge where the children were tossed Jan. 7. Billy Spaulding, a post-Katrina convert himself, baptized a woman and four students on a recent Sunday. All had studied with German.
That same week, German and other members brought homemade cakes and cases of water to the family mourning the deaths of the four children.
“It’s affected our community with the loss of these babies,” German said. “I will say that it’s helped church attendance. We’re letting (the children) talk about it and draw pictures and trying to let them understand that these babies are safe in the arms of Jesus.”
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Even before shrimp fisherman Lam Luong was accused Jan. 8 of throwing his four young children off an 80-foot-high bridge to their deaths, German was working hard to bring hope to a community still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
“To me, when we’re out delivering food or clothes ... we’re witnessing for Christ,” said German, a mother of seven and grandmother of 17 who came here two years ago to help with the relief effort — and stayed. Since Katrina, dozens of Churches of Christ and relief organizations have sent volunteers to clean and repair homes. Members from across the nation have played a role in the new Hemley Road church, which met on the beach, under a carport, in a member’s home, in rented halls and even on lawn chairs before members raised $125,000 to buy an old Methodist church.
But neither the new congregation nor a relief work dubbed “Bayou Recovery Project” would exist without German, said Carol Ogle, a relief ministry coordinator for the White’s Ferry Road church in West Monroe, La.
“Daphne loves people and puts that love into action by giving herself unselfishly to help and teach them,” Ogle said. “She has been able to use virtually every resource she could find to help in the repair of damaged homes and crumpled lives.”
German picks up vanloads of residents for Sunday worship and cooks for teenagers before each midweek Bible study.
The congregation has baptized more than 30 people — many in a bayou near the bridge where the children were tossed Jan. 7. Billy Spaulding, a post-Katrina convert himself, baptized a woman and four students on a recent Sunday. All had studied with German.
That same week, German and other members brought homemade cakes and cases of water to the family mourning the deaths of the four children.
“It’s affected our community with the loss of these babies,” German said. “I will say that it’s helped church attendance. We’re letting (the children) talk about it and draw pictures and trying to let them understand that these babies are safe in the arms of Jesus.”
Related Stories:
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READERS RESPOND
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feedback that promotes thoughtful and respectful discussion. Letters and comments should be 750 characters or less and may be edited for length or clarity. Comments to the print or online edition are considered to be letters to the editor and may be published.
3 years later and Daphne is still at it!! She invited me to teach the smallest ones 2 years ago and I am still able to serve the lord thru this church that I love. I have seen and clearly felt the hand of God working through every person willing to give theirself time to give and a time to take. The food and clothes giveaway are high quality and much appreciated by the community as a whole. I just wanted to give a positive update to the help given to this small community of diversified households.
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Sheila Braswell Hemley Road Church of Christ Grand Bay, Al - usa October 26, 2011 |
feedback that promotes thoughtful and respectful discussion. Letters and comments should be 750 characters or less and may be edited for length or clarity. Comments to the print or online edition are considered to be letters to the editor and may be published.
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