“Helping women deliver their babies leaves me in awe of the simple, yet complex miracle of birth,” said Gerberich, who studied nursing at ˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř in Harrisonburg, Va.

Gerberich had this privilege through her participation in , ’s international service program for young adults from Canada and the U.S. She is one of 13 SALT participants from the East Coast region finishing their one-year assignments in July 2014.

She serves at a clinic run by , an organization that provides free, holistic health care to about 10,000 people each month. In addition to helping with births, Gerberich staffs an antenatal clinic for expectant mothers and cares for adults and children living with HIV and AIDS.

Gerberich, who is a member of of the Brethren in Bethel, Pa., said that her experience at Faith Alive has shaped her both personally and professionally.

Before her SALT term, she was uncertain about whether to continue education as a family nurse practitioner or to train as a nurse midwife. Now, because of her experience working with mothers at Faith Alive, she hopes to train as a midwife soon after returning to the U.S.

She dreams of one day teaching other nursing or midwifery students, perhaps in international contexts. She said, “I want to bring nursing students to places like this and walk with them through their experience.”

In Jos, Gerberich goes to church with the family of one of the first babies she helped to deliver, and she recently attended the child’s congregational dedication service.

Watching the dedication, Gerberich was “grateful for the baby’s life and for having a part in welcoming him into the world.”

During her final months at Faith Alive, Gerberich will work with Monika Neufeld, a SALT participant from Winkler, Manitoba, to develop a curriculum to serve as a resource for Faith Alive’s antenatal program. She hopes that doing so will allow her to give back to the community that has taught her so much.

Courtesy of Mennonite Central Committee, June 9, 2014

Contributing to the university’s efforts at , Derstine placed four bee hives on the grassy hill north of ˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř’s (EMU) seminary building. Derstine has been training an undergrad student, Tessa Gerberich, in caring for the bees. In the spring, they expect to be joined by others interested in tending the hives and extracting the honey.

Derstine has been keeping bees since he was 15 years old. He now maintains 40 hives. His fascination with bees began in 10th grade when a teacher mentioned that you can buy anything from the Sears and Roebuck catalog, even bees. Derstine found the catalog and the bee equipment and has been hooked ever since.

“Bees help keep me in touch with the natural world,” said Derstine, who admits that he would otherwise spend most of his time with books and computers.

“My hives are in beautiful locations, so even going to visit them gets me out of my routine of office and home,” Derstine continued. “It keeps me in touch with the cycle of the seasons and attentive to the weather, much like farming would. I’m always paying attention to what is blooming.”

Caring for bees also makes Derstine more conscious of environmental issues. “Bees have been the canary in the coal mine for environmental issues. Part of my purpose in keeping bees is to be reminded of the responsibility I have to the environment and to pass that on to others.”

Derstine has had a number of opportunities to mentor beekeepers, both students and community members.

“I feel like this is a broader purpose for my beekeeping. I’ve never wanted to be a large producer, but I get great satisfaction out of assisting others as they learn.”

Beekeeping also provides a good metaphor for teaching seminary students to be good ministers.

“Beekeeping is good practice in managing your own reactive responses,” said Derstine. “If you can’t manage your own reactions with bees, they are able to sense it. If you move back too quickly, for example, they are attracted to that movement. Good ministry takes similar management of your own anxiety.”

He joked that perhaps next semester he would include a session with the bee hives in his mentored ministry and clinical pastoral education classes.

Derstine’s bee hives are just a few of the ways EMU is attempting to be more sustainable. The campus also features five vegetable and herb gardens that students, faculty and staff tend and harvest, as well as fruit trees and asparagus hedges and raspberry bushes.

Valley colleges and universities are uniting to fight depression and suicide, and they are doing it in a special way.

˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř is using origami to raise awareness for suicide and depression.

As an EMU student, Tessa Gerberich, folded one of her many origami cranes, she was reminded of why she is making them.

“The subject is one that is pretty dear to my heart. When I was 13, a cousin that I was very, very close to committed suicide,” said Gerberich.

She’s part of a group trying to make a 1000 cranes for an event called “Walk for Hope.” The idea is to raise awareness for depression and suicide.

“The legend is that if you fold a thousand paper cranes, you can have a wish. This wish is typically connected to health and long life,” said Suzy Hostetler, a representative with Walk for Hope.

Every Valley university is taking part to hit that goal, but students at EMU are getting a head start before the event next week.

The cranes came in many shapes and sizes, and it all went to the same causes.

That was what made doing this so special for the students involved: especially for Gerberich, who was reminded of a friend going through depression as she folded.

“She always really likes when I fold her cranes and send them to her. So I guess I think a lot about her a lot as I do this. So it does mean something to me,” said Gerberich.

One thing organizers love is all the different schools coming together for one issue.

“It’s been a lot of really good work together: which has been a really neat thing to see. To my knowledge, this has not happened with all the schools doing something like this together,” said Hostetler.

Walk for Hope will be held at the Downtown Farmer’s Market in Harrisonburg on Saturday, March 31st from 9 a.m. to noon.