Sunday, June 10 - 2018 saw a manifestation of love by the Dorcas women of Salima SDA zone when they cheered the sick and performed a number of charitable tasks at Chipoka Hospital. Clad in their bright uniforms, the women joyfully sang all the way to the targeted facility where they undertook general cleaning services. Joy, gratitude and conviction was visibly witnessed by the shared happy moments between the women, patient guardians and hospital staff.

With its roots in Battle Creek, Michigan, USA, in1874 in the home of Mrs. Henry Gardner, Dorcas was started by a group of women. It was first called Dorcas and Benevolent Association; eight women were charter members and Martha Byington Amadon, daughter of the first General Conference president, John Byington, was the first president. Activities included making garments and supplying food for needy families, caring for the fatherless and widows, and ministering to the sick. When the Home Missionary Department (now Sabbath School and Personal Ministries of the Seventh Day adventist Church) was organized in 1913, the Dorcas Society work came under that department’s leadership.

The “objective of the Dorcas Society is to help people physically and spiritually, in the name and spirit of Jesus. Its concern is for every case of need, irrespective of creed, class, nationality, or ethnic origin. The society attempts to meet emergency needs not provided by other agencies.