July 30, 2008

Living a Life of Service
Jeanette Kraus works with United Methodist Women to provide international aid…

Jeanette Kraus has been a part of the Ohio Wesleyan community for more than 35 years. She also is very involved in United Methodist Women and other Church-affiliated organizations.

Photo by Cole Hatcher

Her ties and titles run deep, including having been involved for more than 20 years in the election of bishops in the Church’s North Central Jurisdiction. For the past three years, Kraus has taught mission study courses addressing globalization and its impact on individuals from a Christian perspective. In September, she will teach her first class on Native American survival.

But there’s one title of which she’s especially proud: Kraus is a Women’s Division director for United Methodist Women. But just what does that mean?

“I jokingly say I’m a corporate director,” Kraus says.

The Women’s Division is overseen by 50 directors who represent all United Methodist women in the United States and its territories. Incorporated in New York, the Division handles international outreach projects and oversees investments in excess of $20 million per year.

Kraus’s eyes grow moist as she talks about the impact of the group’s work.

“We seek to improve the lives of women, children, and youth,” Kraus says. “We have 103 associated institutions and are involved in more than 200 project sites internationally.”

Examples include Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea, which was founded by a traveling missionary in 1886 with one student. Today, it is the largest institution of higher education for women in the world, with more than 15,500 students.

The Women’s Division also works to help children in Africa who are made orphans by AIDS. In some areas, Kraus says, the oldest surviving child becomes the head of the household—regardless of age. If the child—often an infant or toddler—is unable to maintain the family home and tend any farmland, both become property of the government.

“Through our association,” Kraus explains, “volunteers come in and live with the children, helping them to stay in school. We create little micro-managed agriculture businesses to maintain their land. Our volunteers, in effect, become employees of the children.”

Kraus encourages others who are considering becoming more involved in service to make the plunge.

“You can be sympathetic,” she says, “but you need to become engaged, too.”

– Cole Hatcher