Nyanga, Democratic Republic of Congo \u2013 When a Belgian school inspector needed to recruit singers for the 1958 World\u2019s Fair in Brussels, he entrusted the task to two missionary women, one of whom was Lodema Short. Short served from 1947\u20131981with Congo Inland Mission, now Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission \u2013 a partner agency with Mennonite Mission Network. Her musical abilities, her organizational skills and her relationships with hundreds of students enabled her to choose, and then chaperone, the nine young men who performed as the Happy Singers in Belgium.<\/p>\n
A nephew, Dwight Short of Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Florida joined the AIMM delegation that traveled to Congo July 12\u201329, primarily because he wanted to learn more about his famous aunt.<\/p>\n
Dwight Short was able to video-tape 27 interviews, four with Happy Singer members, in addition to having conversation with many of Lodema Short\u2019s students, many of whom are pastors.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe would love to know that so many of her students have ended up in the ministry,\u201d Dwight Short said. <\/p>\n
The current principal of Lyc\u00e9e Miodi, Bernadette Manya Kikungo, was one of Lodema Short\u2019s students.<\/p>\n
\u201cMama Kanamu [Lodema Short\u2019s African name meaning, \u201cTrustworthy\u201d] worked very hard here at the school to train church leaders. Even the president of our church [Komuesa] was one of her students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Short hopes to write a book to share his aunt\u2019s story beyond the family circle.<\/p>\n
Dwight Short has another passion \u2013 evangelism through sports. Although the equipment he packed was bogged down by slow shipping throughout his entire stay in Congo, the four (soccer) footballs brought by other delegation members attracted about 400 kids for a football clinic in Tshikapa. He worked with Robert Irundu Mutundu, the National President of Mennonite Youth in Congo who shares Short\u2019s burning desire \u201cto see kids come to know Christ and grow the church\u201d.<\/p>\n
In 2013, Irundu hopes to organize two football events for Mennonite youth in the interior of the country and a basketball clinic in Kinshasa, Congo\u2019s capital city. <\/p>\n
Written for Mennonite World Conference by Lynda Hollinger-Janzen, a writer for Mennonite Mission Network of Mennonite Church USA.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nyanga, Democratic Republic of Congo \u2013 When a Belgian school inspector needed to recruit singers for the 1958 World\u2019s Fair in Brussels, he entrusted the task to two missionary women, one of whom was Lodema Short. Short served from 1947\u20131981with Congo Inland Mission, now Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission \u2013 a partner agency with Mennonite Mission Network. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"network":[],"eventcategory":[],"class_list":["post-6316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n