Greg Harper helps create hope for tiny African village

Through ongoing Malawi mission, church group reaches out to impoverished village, and brings hope

Greg Harper, 52, has been a police officer for almost a quarter of a century, most of which has been spent with the emergency response unit (ERU, commonly known as the “SWAT” team). In a nutshell, when the public needs help they call the police, when the police need help they call the ERU. Greg is currently the unit commander for York Region, directing the handling of high risk situations. And if you were to meet him, you would feel most reassured that such a strong, calm individual with integrity to spare is directing a crack team that helps keep us all safe.

His caring nature led him to embark on a mission trip in the summer of 2006, instigated partly by his own personal faith journey which began following the death of a friend early that same year. He became a committed Christian, and joined a church. Eleven members of that church group, under the leadership of Minister David Sherbino, organized themselves to go on a mission to Kasenjere in Malawi to help the villagers finish a church that had been started over 10 years before. Greg and his wife Geri were two of the missionaries.

Greg had never really travelled before, and certainly not to a third-world country, which made the whole idea daunting to him. Until his return from Africa in September 2006, he did not realize it was to be a life changing experience. It was a humbling experience for Greg to see first hand how people struggle just to survive. It made him realize how lucky we are in Toronto, and how much many people take for granted. Predictably, he felt anger towards waste, ignorance, selfishness and complaining that prevails in parts of the westernized world.

“The biggest misconception about mission work, and I didn’t tune into it myself until the second time I went, is that it’s not about going and doing things for them – to build a school or a church for example, things they really can do for themselves,” said Greg. “What is more important, more impactful for them, is the time that we spend together: the fact that we travel all the way across the world just to be with them, and that they are not forgotten.”  (Continued, next page)

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