Waiting to speak in TsabongThere’s hazy sunshine and a good breeze the day I’m to address the annual conference of the Mothers’ Union in Botswana. In the hall are MU representatives from neighboring South Africa, clergy from a range of faith groups, the chief of Tsabong (which has been hosting the assembly), and John Toto, who represents in the national legislature the district in which Tsabong is located (and whose mother was a devout member of the MU.) All of us have a role to play in the day’s proceedings: Invocations and salutations are offered, and a few final reports made. My words are the only ones that must be translated, and I’m grateful for the translation service of a woman nicknamed Pigeon, a sweet-natured person I know from Gaborone, the capital city. I offer greetings from the groups I’m representing, the North Carolina and Botswana Companion Diocese Link Committee and the Episcopal Church Women of North Carolina. 
Addressing the Mother’s Union with help of PigeonI describe the place from which I come, for North Carolina is as foreign a concept to them as Botswana was to me before my first visit in 2008. I note that while an ocean and a continent physically divide us, we have spiritual unity, and I repeat the words their bishop, Trevor Mamba, spoke in North Carolina when the companion relationship between our dioceses was formalized in 2008: “We must all live together. Through unity of purpose, we can come together to accomplish great things.” And then I share some examples of the way the women of the Episcopal Church have done great things, among them the United Thank Offering. Begun by women more than a century ago to benefit the entire church, the UTO is intended to be a year-round prayer discipline for adults, youth and children alike. 
Sharing the story of the UTOEvery time a prayer of thanks is said a coin (or more) is to be dropped in the UTO box: Thank you for the sun, or the rain, or good health, or the birth of a child, or a kind gesture, or food, or a caring teacher, or friends and laughter. The money is collected twice a year in parishes across the country and used to fund projects at home and throughout the Anglican Communion. I hold up a UTO box and drop in a Botswana coin. Many small coins add up. I say, “Thank you God for the people of the Diocese of Botswana, for their welcoming spirit and open hearts.” I put paper money in the box and leave it with those at the head table. As I take my seat a woman next to me whispers, “do you have more of the boxes?”