African Soiree: March 19

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Geri LaPlaca (left), Anne Fikaris, and Vasanth Victor admire the delectable African dishes at the African Soiree

 

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Daniel Shungu, PUMC member and founder of United Front Against Riverblindness, updates the guests at the African Soiree on progress made — when $10 saves 7 people in the DNC from going blind.

Our church has been a long-time supporter of United Front Against Riverblindness, founded by our own Daniel Shungu, who has an amazing story — he took early retirement from Merck to “give back” to his home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo. One of the photos on this page shows our 2008 mission trip to the Congo. That was the year we had four (count ’em 4!) fundraisers including the African Soiree.

Above, a picture of the bountiful feast — the multi-course home-cooked African and American dinner prepared by volunteers — a major feature of the African Soirée.

This year it will be held on Saturday, March 19, 2016,  starting at 5  p.m.(doors open at 4:30 PM). As always, we are grateful to be able to stage the soiree at the Mackay Campus Center of Princeton Theological Seminary, 64 Mercer St. Princeton NJ. Tickets are $70 per adult and $35 per child atwww.riverblindness.org. For free parking, enter from College Road.

At the Soiree you can shop at our “African Market,” bid on exciting auction items, and get an update on the progress of the UFAR mission by Dr. Shungu.

To get support for the mission trip, adults and kids acted out what it means to be blind in the Congo — where riverblindness ruins two lives, the adult who is blind and the child who must leave school to lead the adult with a pole. The photo below shows how we marched through Communiversity with children leading adults to bring the message “$10 saves 7 people from going blind.”

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To get support for the mission trip adults and Sunday School students acted out Riverblindness at Communiversity. At left, Ian Griffith and in the center, the late Peter Meggitt.