THROUGHOUT the pandemic, a team from Enniskillen Methodist Church has been putting “love in action”, helping members of the church community and beyond with a number of innovative projects.

Reverend Lorna Dreaning, minister of Enniskillen Methodist Church and a chaplain at the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH), outlined some of the projects that the team – comprising around eight church members – has been working on.

“We have been very industrious; I can’t really say we have gone into lockdown,” laughed Rev. Dreaning.

“We’d been trying to come up with ideas to keep the work going here in the area. Really, what we call it is ‘love in action’,” she said, explaining that initially they set up a food bank, primarily providing for the vulnerable and aged members of the congregation.

“So, that was one of the practical ways and then at Christmas time we put hampers together and we went round to about 50 people, just to try and lift their spirits,” Rev. Dreaning added.

Most recently, the church has been raising money to buy computers that are then being donated to families in the community to help with home schooling.

Rev. Dreaning explained how this initiative came about.

“I’m still a chaplain up at the hospital, in the SWAH. I was in one day, and I was talking to a young mother and she really was in tears.

“She happened to say – and she wasn’t asking for computers or anything like that – but I could see she was really upset and she said to me that she was really struggling with home schooling.

“They had one computer between the four kids, ranging from 18 down to nine.

“I got a few people together and we managed to get our hands on some reconditioned computers,” said Rev. Dreaning, noting that they have so far partnered with Jones Memorial PS, Lisbellaw PS and Derrygonnelly PS, and that 14 families have availed of the computers.

Rev. Dreaning then received a phonecall from a representative of Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief organisation. “They had heard of our project and they asked me if they could donate brand-new laptops to us.

“They have donated six new laptops so far, and are sending more,” she said, explaining that the church plans to partner with more schools to distribute the computers and laptops.

Challenges

Talking about some of the challenges she has faced as a minister during the pandemic, Rev. Dreaning said: “I think the longer it has gone on, the harder it has been to maintain a ministry.”

She explained that one of the lifelines is the weekly live-streamed Wednesday night sing. “I’m not a singer – my husband is a singer – but we sit at an organ and we play old hymns, and we have about 3,000 to 4,000 people watching us.

“We try to make it lively; we try to have a bit of fun and it really is lifting a lot of people that are on their own. They feel like we’re sitting in their homes talking to them,” she said.

As a chaplain at the SWAH, Rev. Dreaning covers the whole of the Methodist district in Fermanagh.

She says that the lockdown has made carrying out her pastoral duties difficult, as the only way she can keep in contact with patients and their families at the moment is by telephone.

“It’s difficult, because I had a man pass away [recently] and he died of Covid-19.

“He was an elderly man who hadn’t been in hospital at all, and then all of a sudden he found himself in, and Covid took him in four or five days.

“It was really hard, because he was so close to his family – they had looked after him all of his life, and they couldn’t get in to see him.

“They were allowed to see him for an hour, but that was it. They weren’t there when he passed away, and that’s a very difficult thing.

“I find that very distressing for families, especially for close families, and it’s hard for us because my initial reaction is I want to run to the hospital to hold his hand and to pray with him, and read with him, and yet there’s no way we can do that at the moment,” said Rev. Dreaning.

She added that she has a lot of respect for the healthcare staff, who go above and beyond.

“The doctors and the nurses – they need a lot of praise.”