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Final week with ChristCares.

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

This past week was full of amazing times at program with the kids, a visit with sponsored high school girls, brainstorming fundraising
ideas, and building deeper bonds with the children and staff at ChristCares Ministries (CCM). We completed the development art
project with the kids, in which we will turn their artwork into thank-you pieces for donors who give to CCM and UPI, and create note
cards which UPI will sell to benefit the ministry. The kids do not have the opportunity to express themselves through art, as it is not a subject in school, and is not seen as a matter of importance for them to learn. They had a wonderful time coming up with an idea of what they wanted to draw for their supporters, and were very proud of their final product. I will be bringing these pieces back to the States with me in May and am so excited to share their work with the UPI supporters.

We had a special day in program on Thursday, as it was a public holiday and therefore it was not mandatory for the kids to attend.

My last day at ChristCares After School Program.

However, all the kids, and more from the community came out to have a fun day filled with games, special music and dancing, and motivational talks about life goals. Two guys from a local church came with speakers and a microphone, one of them (a musician) led the kids in some music and dancing to songs that he had written. The kids had a blast and certainly found it funny when I joined them in dancing. I was privileged to talk to them about what it is that I do, and why I am here in Malawi. You see, when it comes to dreaming of what they want to do with their lives, their views are very limited as to what they see people around them doing. When asked what do you want to do with your life, they simply say one of about four things: a nurse, teacher, policeman, or farmer. CCM wants to provide them with a broadened perspective, that they can be whatever they want to be.

I was asked to speak to them about what it is that I do, and why I have come to Malawi. I told the kids of my home in the United States, college education, and the call of the Lord on my life to serve and bless others with what God has given me. I told them that I am here in Malawi to do just that; to work with organizations like CCM, to help them grow and reach more children and youth, and to spread the word about the good things that are happening here in Malawi. I encouraged them especially that in whatever they do with their lives, the most important thing is that they use their lives to bring glory and honor to God. For it is because of Him that we are alive and even have dreams, and our vocation, our ultimate calling in life, is to glorify Him and share His love with the world around us.

Saturday, I took a trip with Robert and two of the youth leaders to an all girls boarding high school located about an hour and a half
outside of Lilongwe called APU (Atsikana Pa Ulendo, Girls on the Move). We took a car down one of the only major roads in Malawi until we reached a small dirt road that 45 minutes later would lead us to APU. The road was all washed out and covered in pot holes and ponds of water because of rainy season. We passed women and children washing clothes in the streams, and men carrying loads of wood on the backs of their bicycles. There are not many high schools in Malawi, and there is much need for one in this district. A native woman from Malawi and her husband who graduated from African Bible College in Lilongwe had the vision to help girls achieve their high school education and started APU in 2009. Their website is http://www.malawigirlsonthemove.com/governance. The school is amazing, wonderful facilities, dorms for the girls to stay in, a new dining hall that is in the process of being built, and one of the most beautiful views of the rural Malawi countryside.

: The high school girls from APU, myself, and the two youth leaders.

There are six CCM girls at this high school, four of which are
sponsored through UPI supporters. The girls work very hard, and are
currently studying to take their exams which will determine whether or
not they may continue on to some sort of university education. I was
able to sit down with the girls, help them fill out their sponsorship
profiles, and pray with them about their studies and future. With the
sponsorship program that I am working on, we hope to find more
sponsors so that we can send more girls to continue with their
education at APU. CCM hopes to build a similar high school for boys
and girls in the region they currently serve within the next few
years. CCM has recently acquired land in the region in hopes to
someday build a high school, and are in the process of writing a
proposal and fundraising to make this dream a reality. Every child
deserves the right of education, and far too many children and youth
here in Malawi are denied that right due to the educational system,
and life circumstances that they were merely born into. CCM is
working very hard to change these odds for their children. I am so
blessed to have been a part of their amazing ministry, and excited to see what the Lord is going to do for them in the future.

This week I will be leaving CCM, and starting my time with Project TEACH located in southern Malawi near Blantyre. Project TEACH runs an after school program, and also a boys soccer camp and team.

As I make another transition to a new site, Please Pray:

- That the Lord brings me comfort as I leave behind the friends and
kids that I have come to love at CCM and move to a new site. That I
will come to love and cherish the relationships that are waiting for
me at Project TEACH.

- For CCM as they look forward to possibly starting a high school this
coming fall. They hope to use Robert’s church building as a facility
for classes until enough money is raised to build and start a school
facility on their own property.

- Praise the Lord that thus far I have been staying healthy, and that
the Lord has protected me in all my travels and transitions.

- That the Lord would make clear to me His path and plan for my life
once I return to the States.

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First week at ChristCares Ministries.

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

I have now been at ChristCares Ministries (CCM) for a little over a week. Living with Robert and his family has been such a blessing. Their house is very nice and is located right outside of the city of Lilongwe. They have running hot and cold water, a tv, three small bedrooms, a bathroom and shower J. ChristCares runs afterschool program three days a week, and does home visits and office work the other two days during the week. I was able to meet the three full time staff members, Robert, Peter, and Jon, and their four youth leaders and two volunteers early last week. They welcomed me with open arms, and helped me jump right into the program.

At AfterSchool Program over 80 children (grades 5-8) gather at the rented school buildings that we hold program at. We start program with lunch, serving the kids rice, greens, and either a small piece of meat, or beans. The children disperse into the open area roofed pavilion, sit on the floor and eat their lunch. Every day a group of the children are responsible for cleanup of the dishes, and to bring them back to the head teacher’s house where we borrowed them from. After lunch all the children gather in one big group, divide into rows, sing camp songs accompanied by some sort of dance moves. This is one of my favorite parts of program, they have such beautiful voices, and the songs they sing are so wonderful! My favorite song, which I also learned in Chichewa this week, is “my home is beyond the sky’. The children sing this song which about how their home is in heaven beyond the sky, that they are truly strangers here on earth, and that their true home is in heaven with the Lord. I am planning on recording this song on my camera this week and hope to figure out how to post a video of it for you all to see for next week’s blog. It is breath taking to hear the children lift up their voices together, they are so talented!

The rest of the afternoon consists of tutoring time. The children disperse by class into different rooms in the school houses, sit on the floor, and participate in a lesson that one of the leaders or youth leaders teaches. I was able to teach a class this week to some of the children who are struggling with reading English. I help them with word pronunciation, and sounding out certain letters, they really struggle with the difference between the letters R and L. After tutoring, program consists of counseling, bible lesson, or recreation, depending on the day. The children have welcomed me into their lives with open arms, asking an array of questions about the U.S., and my time thus far in Malawi. They come to program with bare feet, ripped and dirty school uniforms, books in their hands, and smiles on their faces. Program is by far the best part of my week here.

On Friday, instead of having program we as a staff took about three hours in the morning to visit the homes and families of some of the children. The purpose of home visits is to build meaningful relationships with the parents and family members of the children, talk to them about their child’s home life, behavior, academic progress, and to hear feedback about program. We walked all morning long down red dirt paths, through corn fields, and into three small villages where we stopped by about 17 of the children’s houses. Most houses are made of mud bricks, with thatched or metal sheet roofs, and consist of two or three rooms. There are chickens, goats, ducks, and donkeys running around everywhere. Most of the time both parents are not at home during the morning hours, they are either at work, drawing water, or at the corn mill, but we were able to meet with about 13 of the parents or guardians of the homes that we stopped at.

It was a very eye opening experience to be able to visit the homes of our kids. To see where they are coming from, and meet some of their parents and families. These children come from circumstances that from the very start of life are very hard. The basic right of education is something that not every child has access to, and the chances of their academic success and future are few. This however, only goes to show me the great need for programs like ChristCares, programs that will encourage and support children both academically and spiritually, to promote their successful future.

However, the success of our programs only go so far. Once the child ends 8^th grade they take their high school entrance exams, in which their score determine whether or not they get into high school, and which high school they may attend. Many families cannot afford to send their children, and so their fate is to be a high school drop out, and usually is to work on the family farm. ChristCares is working hard to change these odds for the children in our programs, in which I was able to witness the success of this past weekend. Robert and his team at ChristCares worked hard to find about 18 sponsors for girls who went through the CCM program, and could not afford to continue their education onto high school. These sponsors pay for the girls tuition, in which they attend a boarding high school here in Lilongwe. I am working with CCM to gather profiles and other information about these girls for their sponsors back in the US. The sponsorship program in which I am working with the various UPI sites on, will be implemented beginning with these girls, who already have sponsors.

My visit with the sponsored high school girls at Nazarine Highschool.

The girls were so excited to have me visit. Since they live at school they don’t get to see their families very often, and rarely have visitors. I only wish I could visit them every day, share in their smiling faces, and encourage them in their studies. They bombarded me with questions as I helped them fill out their profiles, and took their photos. They all want to come to the US someday to visit me, and asked if I would please move to Malawi to work at their school. They are the most deserving young ladies, who have so much potential. I praise the Lord for the sponsors who enable them to continue with their high school education, and I know that their future is much brighter because of this program.

The Lord is so good to me, and has allowed for me to humbly be a part of the lives of the staff and children here at ChristCares. What a joy it is to work towards a brighter future for the children and young people of Malawi. This week I look forward to attending program, finishing up some child sponsorship odds and ends with various children, and working with the staff on some fundraising projects.

As I enter this new week, please pray:

- That the Lord prepares the way for the success of the Child Sponsorship Program in the US. That He goes ahead of the work here and moves in people’s hearts to become sponsors for the children and ministries here in Malawi. Pray that He provides time, and a way to successfully promote the program this summer.

- For guidance and direction for me as I begin to think and pray about where the Lord will lead me when I return to the States. That He opens doors, and guides my steps.

- Praise the Lord that the rainy season has been consistent, and that they corn crop which sustains most families is doing very well and should produce a good crop come harvest in May.

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Goodbye to Rise and Hello to ChristCares.

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

This week was full of different emotions. It was an amazing week because I really started to feel comfortable in Madisi and at Rise. I was able to lead devotions for the youth leaders and also teach a bible lesson in AfterSchool Program one day on humility (Philipians 2) to the kids. It was also a very difficult week as it was my last week at Rise, which was hard for me to say goodbye too, and also a very sad event happened in the life of Tinashe’s family. Her sister in law (Grace) who is married to her older brother, and is mother of Tinashe’s 9 year old niece, passed away this week from some sort of cancer after about two or three weeks of treatment. In Malawian culture it is very important for the family to come stay with the person or family left behind of the loved one. So Tinashe needed and wanted to be close to her brother and family as they prepared for the burial of Grace. Tinashe left on Tuesday afternoon for Lilongwe, where she stayed with her brother and family as they waited for the body to be transported from a hospital in Zambia back to Malawi, and prepared for the burial.

My family at Rise. From the left... Ruth, Tinashe, Me, Chikondi below me, and Za.

It truly troubled my heart to see how sad Tinashe was, and also because I had just meet Grace’s 9 year old daughter Gift, the weekend prior. My heart truly goes out to their family during this time of need and I spent much of my week praying and thinking of them asthey were together. I missed Tinashe very much as I held down the house with her sister Ruth and her nephew Chikondi. She has been a great friend and mentor to me as I start off my journey here in Malawi. Teaching me important cultural things to be aware of and helping me figure out my way in society here. She is such a wonderful woman of God and I have been blessed to be able to stay with her. She truly challenges me as her faith and love for the Lord is so strong and evident in her life. She is always praying to the Lord for even the littlest things, thanking Him for a safe journey to and from program, and simply just praising His name for His glory and mercy towards us. It was difficult to spend most of the week without her.

It was hard to leave the kids, they were extremely sad that it was my last week with them. I was so encouraged by the time that I was able to spend with some of them during tutoring in program. I was able to take some of them aside one on one and practice reading English with them. They are doing well in their English studies, but it is hard for them to focus on the areas that they struggle in a group setting, so I was able to take time with them on the areas they struggle. The progress that they made even within two weeks was amazing. They work so hard to be successful academically, and it is encouraging to see Rise assist and encourage them in their education in a society where it is so hard to achieve academic success.

I leave Rise with a hopeful heart that the development projects that we worked on will help them find funds to continue with and grow their wonderful ministry, and with great expectation and hope for the child and high school sponsorship program. I hope to be back to Rise to visit for at least a day or two before coming back to the States, and will stay in communication with Za and Tinashe as they continue on with ministry in Madisi.

Saturday morning Robert (the director of ChristCares) the ministry I will be spending the next two and a half weeks at came to pick me up. I am living in his home with him and his wife Sheila, who just had their first baby girl, Mercy, last week. Along with Robert, Sheila, and Mercy, lives Sheila’s sister Pemphero who is 16, and two other high school/college age friends and helpers around the house, the boy, Innocent, and the girl Felista. There house sits right on the outskirts of Lilongwe, the very small capital of Malawi.

Me and two of the beautiful girls from program.

Robert serves as the Director for ChristCares, and also serves as the lead pastor of a local church which I attended this weekend. The church was built by and is served by Korean Christians in a complex along with a hospital and school. I am already starting to feel like home with Roberts’s family, and am so blessed to be able to serve along side of such amazing people.

One thing that truly challenges me and makes my heart so happy is the idea of family, and community here. So far, both at Rise with Tinashe, and here at ChristCares with Robert, my whole idea of family has changed. These people I lived with over the past three weeks open their hearts and their homes to so many people, and treat them as family, living in true community. They live with their brothers and sister, nieces and nephews, youth and friends. Both Robert and Tinashe have taken relatives or simply people in need from their communities into their homes to help them have a more successful future. They help pay school fees, feed, pray with, tutor, encourage, laugh with, and treat them as family.

What a beautiful picture of the body of Christ, the church. Not in the sense of the word that the church is a building that we gather in on Sunday mornings, but the idea that the church, is truly the body of Christ. That we are His hands and feet here on earth, living out love the way that He called us to; Sharing love and community with those around us through actions, meeting each other’s needs, helping each other with problems, praying with and for one another, etc… That what we have is not our own, our blessings and everything that God has given us should be used to bless others and share with them the love of Jesus. What an amazing example of Christ’s love. I am so blessed to be a part of this body of Christ here in Malawi.

Please Pray:

- For Tinashe and her family as they continue to cope with the loss of their sister-in-law, daughter, wife, and mother: Grace

- For my transition into ChristCares Ministries here in Lilongwe. That I would be able to build meaningful relationships with the kids and leaders, and that we could work out some meaningful development programs

- For details of my Visa to go through as I need to reapply for the visa this week

Posted in ChristCares Ministries, General | 1 Comment »

Week two at Rise Malawi Ministries

Monday, February 14th, 2011

I am now at the mark of two weeks here in Malawi. This week will be my final week with Rise Malawi Ministries here in Madisi, and Saturday the 19^th I will be moving to the next site, Christ Cares. Christ Cares is located outside of the capital Lilongwe. I will be working at their afterschool programs, with HIV/Aids prevention, and with 10 young women who Christ Cares employs to help them pay for their school fees.

This past week at Rise seemed to go by quickly, as we were busy with program and fund raising efforts. I am beginning to feel more comfortable here; I am able to say the local greetings in Chichewa (the local language). It is a sign of respect and the locals really appreciate it when you are able to greet them in their own language. The kids at program have seemed to get over their shy and fascination stage and are not joking with me, teaching me games, letting me tutor them in English, giving me hugs and showing me love. I am able to help serve food to the kids during lunch time, which I love to do! They are so grateful and pass me by with

Afternoon lunch time at program

big smiles on their faces as they return to their seats with their plates full. Another one of my favorite times during after school program is scripture memory. The kids are split into 6 or 7 groups and each given different versus from the bible to memorize. They take about 15 minutes or so to practice with each other and the youth leaders the memory versus. However, I can barely stay in the small two room school house because the kids are yelling at the top of their lungs the word of God. They make up songs, and beats, and repeat as loud as they can their specific memory verses. After time is up each team must recite their verses, and get awarded points depending on how well they do. It is beautiful to see and hear these amazing kids get so excited about the word of God!

Art time at program. I had the kids make drawings for the donors.

I was able to make some good progress with Za (Rise’s executive director) this past week on fund raising efforts for the ministry. I worked with him to write a proposal and fill out a grant application, which he cannot send in quite yet because they need to be fully registered as a 501 c3 nonprofit organization, which they are in the process of being approved for. Once they are approved for nonprofit status he will send in the application and proposal, which we will complete this coming week, and Lord willingly receive some grant money to help continue with and grow the ministry.

We also worked on ideas for the child sponsorship program and talked about the importance of what a program like this could be for their ministry. Tinashe, Za, and I had a few meetings this week to discuss the importance of development and the potential for different programs and fund raising ideas. I hope and pray that as time goes on that these ideas and programs are able to become reality and allow Rise to not only sustain its programs but grow and expand its ministry to more children and youth of Madisi and the Dowa region.

This week I was able to spend some more time with the youth leaders, helping them with their studies and talking with them. One of the youth leaders named Chikondi has been a youth leader with rise for the past two years, but is not able to help out with program as much recently because he was accepted and received a scholarship to go to African Bible College in Lilongwe. Chikondi and I sat together in the office of Rise flipping through the local news papers to do research for a paper that he was writing, and discussing our opinions of Rise. He asks me of what I think of the ministry and I ask him how he got involved and what the ministry means to him. Chikondi tells me of what his life was like before Rise; he just barely graduated from high school due to financial struggles, it took him longer to graduate then hoped for because he had to take some time off from school to get enough money to return.

After high school Chikondi had no hope of going on to college because of finances, so he decided to follow his passion into ministry, and began to work part time for various ministries in Malawi. After about a year or so of working here and there, Chikondi found Rise ministries. Rise encouraged him to become a youth leader at their afterschool program, and told him that they would help tutor and mentor him so that he could take the college entrance exam and possibly receive financial aid to attend college. He couldn’t turn this opportunity down and began to work at Rise. After a year of working at Rise, studying and tutoring under the guidance of Za and Tinashe, Chikondi took the college entrance exam and was able to score so well that the African Bible College in Lilongwe gave him a scholarship to go to school there. He is now in the middle of his first year at African Bible College studying Christian Ministry.

Chikondi expressed to me his extreme love and gratefulness towards Rise, and believes that he could not be where he is in life today without it. Chikondi is only one of the many stories of the changed and blessed lives of many children and youth that are a part of Rise. I am so blessed to be able to be a part of this ministry, and to be able to assist them in their pursuit to maintain and expand their programs here in Madisi Malawi.

Please Pray:

- For my last week here at Rise, that I am able to accomplish the fund raising and development projects that I started to work on with Za. That these projects would start being implemented soon, and will be successful so that Rise can find more funds for their ministry.

- Please pray that Rise Malawi Ministries is approved by the government to be a registered 501 c3 nonprofit organization soon. Their application and information is in and they are simply waiting on approval from the government.

- For the hunger of the families here in Madisi. As it is rainy season, their crops are growing but not ready to harvest until May. They must live off of the remainder of last year’s crop (which at this time of year is not much) to sustain their families until the new harvest.

- For my transition to Christ Cares Ministry this coming Saturday. That the transition would go smoothly and that the Lord would prepare my heart for a new living situation, friends, and ministry.

- Praise the Lord for the wonderful hearts of the people here, for their love and faith in Him.

Posted in ChristCares Ministries, General, Malawi, Africa, RiseMalawi | 1 Comment »

Kelly’s Journey begins in Malawi, Africa!

Monday, February 7th, 2011

The Journey begins here in Malawi Africa. I arrived safely at the Lilongwe airport Tuesday afternoon after two long days of travel. Everything went smoothly, except for when it came time to claim my luggage, it did not come. It turns out that my bag was still in South Africa where I had a connecting flight. They said that it could possibly come in on Thursday, it is now Saturday as I write this and my luggage still has not arrived. I am able to make due because I have three outfits from my carry on, but my malaria medication which I am supposed to be taking is in that bag. As you can imagine, this has caused me a bit of stress over the past few days, but I know that the Lord is my strength and my protection, even He is bigger than malaria and I know that He will protect me.

I am living in the home of Tinashe, one of the leaders of the Rise Malawi Ministries where I will be serving for the first three weeks. She shares her home with her younger sister and nephew. It is a three bedroom home, with an indoor toilet, cold shower, sitting room, and Kitchen. The walls and floor are cement, each room has a bed, and if you are lucky maybe a shelf or small table to hold your things on. My room has a single bed and a window. There is no fridge or stove in the kitchen, Tinashe has an electric two burner stove that plugs into the wall and a sink. There is a small dirt yard in the back where her nephew has planted some corn and Irish potatoes. This house is considered luxury in this village, and I feel very blessed to be able to stay here. We have internet on one computer in the office which runs out of the other leader Za’s home, and it is very slow.

Rise Ministry serves as an After School Program and Summer Camp for 72 children in the village of Madisi. Rise serves children who fit the criteria of falling behind academically, and who live in homes that are under the average level of poverty. There are many children in Madisi who fit these criteria, but Rise only has enough staff and resources for 72. Every week Rise holds After School Program from 2pm – 5pm. I was able to attend program two days this week, and have been so encouraged and blessed by what I have seen.

Each afternoon, program begins with lunch for the children. It is in the middle of rainy season, and is the time in between planting and harvesting the main crop maze (corn) for the season. Most families are subsistence farmers, meaning that they grow enough for their family to live on, and if they are lucky have enough left to sell a little. Many of the families are running low on maze stored from last years harvest and are cutting down on the number of meals a day. For many children, lunch at program is the first time they have eaten for the day. We typically serve rice, and some sort of protein such as eggs or soy, and cooked green cabbage. The children are very well behaved, they come into program, sit in organized rows by grade in the one room school building which consists of cement walls and floor, no shelves, seats, or decorations on the walls, and a single chalk board in the front of the room. We rent this school building to have program in. They file out the door rinse off their hands, and down the line where they are served their lunch. They sit in their rows, eat quietly, clean up and wash all the dishes.

After lunch program consists of a time of tutoring, as the children are divided by grade and disperse to other school buildings for lessons with the youth leaders. They are tutored in all different subjects, and are taught both in English and Chichewa (the local language). The children do very well with English, they are able to ask and answer questions. However, they are not fluent by any means and use Chichewa to speak most of the time.

Education is looked at as a treasure, something that is so valuable. It is the key to a hopeful future. The children are eager to learn, asking questions, and listening intently. They want to go to school, they desire education, but unfortunately education is not something that is easy to get in Malawi. Many times children have to stay home and work on the family farm or help with household chores instead of going to school. Education especially after elementary school is something that only some can afford. The government decides what high school the children may attend depending on what they score on their end of year exams, and many times families cannot afford to send their children to these schools.

Depending on the day of the week, program consists of recreation outside, scripture memory, bible lesson, spelling bee, counseling (where they discuss issues such as domestic violence, academic excellence, HIV prevention, personal higyne, self esteem, etc…), and testimonials. This week I was able to witness testimonial time, in which children volunteer to come up front and tell how they have seen God work in their lives. Some of the stories this week consisted of; Kingsley a little boy who praised the Lord because his mother was very sick and was throwing up, he and his older brother prayed for her and soon after she was completely better, a little girl named Mawi was bitten by a wild dog on her leg, and she praised the Lord because her wound did not get infected and healed quickly, another little boy met some hyenas when he was walking back from his families garden on Tuesday, he quickly took another road and he was praising the Lord that the hyenas did not bother him. These children have such faith, trust and love the Lord with all their hearts, the Lord is very real in this place.

The Lord has revealed to me almost immediately the reason He has me at Rise these first few weeks. Rise received news this week from UPI that their funds are quickly running out. As of the end of this month, they will not have enough money to continue to run their ministry. The agreement with UPI was that UPI would fund them for three years to start this ministry, and after three years, they needed to find a way to sustain themselves, and UPI would help. The three years has now come to a close and Rise does not have many funds in place to continue on with their work. This is exactly the reason that I am here, to work with the leaders of Rise and the other ministries, to help create programs that will help them be more self sustaining. I have already begun to work with both the leaders here to reach out to their 70 donors to ask for help with funding. We are also going to work on applying for some foundational grants, creating and child sponsorship program, and possibly setting up a micro business within Rise to help generate funding. This was my mission, I knew the Lord had called me here to do in the first place, but it was made clearer to me the urgent need for this kind of service for these ministries.

Please Pray:

That my luggage would be sent from South Africa and would arrive very soon
That the Lord would continue to protect me from sickness as I do not have any of my medications with me
That the Lord would provide funding for Rise and that the projects that I work on with the leaders will be successful
For the children of Rise, that the Lord would continue to bless them through program and provide for their every need.

Posted in General, Malawi, Africa, RiseMalawi | No Comments »

Christmas Change Challenge!

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

There is a buzz around the Camden Forward School at UrbanPromise and it’s all because the Principal, Ms. Baker, told the kids about a boy named Harold.

Harold is a 12 year old boy in Malawi. He begins his morning chores before the sun rises, fetching water, collecting firewood, and tending to their small garden. He prepares breakfast for the family and begins his long walk to school.

Harold is an orphan. His parents died when he was young. He then lived with his aunt who also became ill and died. He now lives with his grandfather and 6 younger siblings and cousins. Harold’s grandfather is old and unable to care for the family.

This makes Harold (at just 12 years old) the primary caretaker!

With all that is happening in Harold’s life, he still does not miss one day of AfterSchool Program. He knows that when he goes to AfterSchool program, he can play, learn, and eat a full meal!

Ms. Baker told her students that it costs just 82 cents to provide one meal for Harold and asked them to help collect change. The kids of the Camden Forward School took this charge seriously, bringing bags of change each day, carefully tallying the new total for each class. By the 4th collection day, the kid’s collected over $370, more than the average Malawian makes in one year!

I’m touched by the spirit of the kids of the Camden Forward School! They gave generously in a spirit of kindness. Now they’re hoping we can set-up a video conference for them with Harold next month!!

The grand total of their collection: $628.61, which will purchase 766 meals!!

I hope you will partner in this effort to ensure that Harold and all the kids we serve in Malawi will have good food to eat this season!

Would you consider matching the collection of one of the classes?

K- $33.72
1st – $40.61
2nd -$31.12
3rd- $109.56
4th- $90.46
5th- $60.06
6th- $83.78
7th- $128.40
8th- $50.90

Total: $628.61

Donate Online

P.S. Thanks to those of you that have already given, we now have enough for more than 3,300 meals! We need to fund 6,700 more meals to make it through the rainy season in Malawi.

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An Overwhelming Sense of Blessing.

Monday, November 29th, 2010

An overwhelming sense of God’s presence and blessing has swept over me this past week. Programs are over for the year, and I am preparing to leave Honduras this coming Friday. This past week I have completed some promotional and informational brochures for UPH, celebrated Thanksgiving with the UPH staff and friends, and went on a wonderful staff retreat. My heart has been so overwhelmed this past week with some many emotions, in reflecting on my time here, leaving this place on Friday, what the Lord has done, and what He is going to do.

Luis's first Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie

This past Thursday our staff of 7 along with 6 other friends from Copan gathered to celebrate a Thanksgiving meal together. We worked in the office all week on final year business things; closing out the books, finishing up evaluations with families and kids in our programs, finalizing some brochure and promotional pieces, working very hard to leave for break having everything wrapped up and ready to go when the staff returns in January. After work on Thursday our UPH staff and friends gathered across the street at my host Aunt Carla’s house. She cooks all my meals for me here and graciously offered to us her roof as a space for us to have ourThanksgiving meal. We do not have access to a space big enough for 13 people to sit down and eat together, so we gathered on Carla’s roof. Everyone made one or two dishes to bring to the meal, along with drinks and pie’s.

Earlier that day I was feeling a little homesick as I had called my family and talked with them right before they were going to sit down for their meal. That night, my heart was filled with so much joy as I celebrated a day of Thanks with my Honduran community and family. We shared stories of Thanksgiving traditions, successes in ministry, jokes, and the things we are thankful for. My Honduran friend Luis joined us that night for his very first Thanksgiving, his first pie, and traditional thanksgiving food. The table was filled with conversations in both Spanish and English, with people of different ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, beliefs, and walks of life. It was such a collaboration of so many joyous things, of true community and a family brought together by the Lord. I felt the love, and joy of what it means to have fellowship with God’s sons and daughters from such different walks of life than my own. We have so much to be thankful for, and the thing that I think really struck me that night was the blessing and opportunity God has given me to be a part of spreading His love to the people of Honduras. That He has given me this opportunity to serve Him in so many ways through UPH, and life here in Copan. That is what filled my spirit with so much joy that night; that the Lord has called me to help spread His love to others, and has been working through me to bring His kingdom here on earth.

This past weekend was the end of year UPH staff retreat, a time set aside for reflection, celebration, evaluation, and planning for the future of UPH. We stayed at a coffee plantation and farm a little over an hour outside of Copan with a friend of the ministry Carlos. We spent some time reflecting on the success stories of the past year of ministry. The ministry of UPH can be very discouraging sometimes, when teachers don’t want to work together with our afterschool programs, kids are disrespectful, and fight, ministry is rewarding but can also be discouraging at times. We took time to write down and talk about success stories from the past year, thank the Lord for bringing them about, and being encouraged by the accomplishments of UPH this past year. We talked about our programs, about the frustrating school system and lack of curriculum in the Aldea’s that we serve. We brainstormed ideas and ways to get more buy in from the local teachers and schools, how to change the failing school systems, and how to grow our programs this next year.

Along with a lot of work we also had delicious meals together, freshly grown and brewed coffee, horseback riding, and picking coffee on the plantation. We were able to spend some time with Carlo’s family who run a little rural tourism company out of their house, farm, and plantation. They are also believers and were such a joy to be around. They welcomed us into their home, cooked us our meals, gave us a tour of their plantation and farm, and made us feel like family. We were able to take about an hour to go to the coffee

One of the little girls working in the coffee plantation

plantation where we joined with some of the workers in their gathering of the coffee berries. I was able to work with a little girl who was probably around the age of 13. It is now break for many of the public school, in which many of the kids from ages of 11 and up work for their break. Many families rely on this their kids work to help feed and sustain their families. I could hear the kids laughing in the forest of low lying coffee bushes. They were running around in bare feet with big baskets full off coffee beans, ready to turn them in for profit to take back to their families.

This reality of the lives of many families of Honduras is another reminder of the many blessings that I have. That I was given an education, that I had the opportunity to be a kid without a care in the world, that my family could provide for me, that I was given the opportunity to become anything I wanted to be. I have been so overwhelmed this past week with the reality of blessing and opportunities that I have and don’t deserve. God is so good, and I am the luckiest person in the world to be able to serve Him in such a way. That I am able to bless, serve, and share His love with others through the blessings that He has given me, and that is our calling and challenge to you. To use the blessings that God has given you to show his love to, and bless others. I will leave this place on Friday with a full heart, having learned and being challenged by so much, praying that the things the Lord has done through me in this place will make a difference.

Please pray:

- For Luis as he is going to be taking his test that determines whether or not he will get into university or not on December 5^th. He has been studying nonstop for the past two weeks and is very nervous for the exam. However he was very encouraged and blessed when I told him how my friends and family were praying for him.

- For my last week here in Honduras, and my transition into this next phase or being at home, and then going on to serve in Malawi. The I will be able to healthily process all that the Lord has done and showed me in the past two months

- That details and plans for my time in Malawi will continue to come together. I will be meeting with Lindsey, the director of UPI a lot during my short time back in the states to work out important details for my time of service in Malawi.

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Youth Retreat in La Ceiba!!

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

The days are flying by as I count down my last two weeks here in Copan. Things have been very busy with trips and special end of the year events with the youth and children. Thank you for all of your prayers over the past week. I am fully recovered from my sickness and am feeling so much better. I am so thankful for the return of my health as there are a lot of things that I need to accomplish over my last two weeks.

Since I last wrote I was not sure if I would be able to join the youth leaders from our program on their end of the year youth retreat. Our youth leaders are paid staff members of UrbanPromise Honduras. They work in our after school programs and summer camps with the children that we serve, planning and teaching classes, mentoring kids in homework, teaching Bible lessons, acting out skits, and simply loving the children and the community we serve. The youth are also poured into by our staff and given leadership training, help with high school and possibly college prep, fellowship opportunities, and much more. The youth leaders are a significant and important part of our organization and truly make a difference in the lives of the children we serve.

Since I was feeling better last week I was able to join the retreat in which we traveled 9 hours to the town of La Ceiba, a little coastal town. We spent our first night in the house of ministry friends who run their own nonprofit organization for the deaf in La Ceiba called Signs of Love. They were so gracious to us and let us pile our group of 17 into their office space as a place to stay. They lent us their 15 passenger van for us to use as transportation and joined us in a few of our activities. The second day we traveled to the Jungle River Lodge in a national park in La Seiba. The lodge was right along a river, with a breathtaking view of the rushing river below, large rocks and bolders, and beautiful trees all around. We jumped off rocks into the rushing water, swam, and went white water rafting. The youth had the time of their lives, full of fun, fellowship, training, and debriefing.

The retreat was intended to be a time of reflection on the past year, evaluation, and self- reflection and rejuvenation for the youth. The theme was puzzle pieces, and how each one of the youth is so significant in God’s eyes, each one fulfilling a significant role in the lives of the children that we serve and in our staff. The youth leaders truly were so blessed by this retreat. They were able to fellowship with one other in the love of Christ, search within themselves to find out more about who they are and who they want to be, and reflect upon the amazing things that the Lord has done in their lives over the past year. It was such a unique and wonderful thing to be a part of, to help them process a lot of these things and encourage them as they look towards their future.

These next two weeks will be filled with lots of administrative and office work for me. I am hoping to finish the two brochures that I have been working on this week which will include information about UPH programs and will be used as promotional materials both here in Honduras and in the United States. I need to finish them this week so we can translate them into Spanish and send them to print before I leave. I will also continue to work on details for a potential “Promise Partner” program forUrbanPromise International and will be brainstorming and putting together more details as the ideas for this program unfold.

This coming weekend we look forward to a two day staff retreat in which we will reflect on this past year, evaluate our programs, and look and plan for the coming year of UPH. This will be a very crucial time for the staff here. We will work very hard and hopefully come out of the retreat with a rejuvenated vision for the coming year of UPH.

Please Pray :

- For details to come together for my time of service in Malawi. I am still in the process of working out all the details for this time and need prayer for discernment and ease of details to come into place

- For these next to weeks to be very productive as I finish up my projects here and prepare to leave

- For our staff retreat coming up this weekend. We will be taking time to reflect on the year and to plan and pray together for the future of UrbanPromise Honduras

- For Luis as he continues to study and prepare for his upcoming exam on December 5th

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A child’s eyes wide open.

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

“A child’s eyes wide open”; this one phrase encompasses my last week here in Honduras. We began our end-of-the-year field trips with the different groups of kids this week. For many of the children, it was their first time out of their aldea, and it was my first time visiting the field trip sites as well. What an experience to see many first- time things with these precious children.

The middle-aged kids took a day trip to the Mayan ruins and the hot springs. We crammed about 10 kids and 6 leaders into a travel van and took off for our adventure. At the Mayan ruins we met up with our very energetic and captivating tour guide. He took us all around the ruins, telling stories, asking questions, playing games, and teaching the kids about the amazing history of the Mayan people who lived in this place literally 10 minutes from Copan. After our time at the ruins we traveled about an hour outside of Copan to a natural hot springs park. There we grilled hot dogs and ate bananas for lunch and played in the natural hot spring pools, and went on a short tour of the more expensive part of the hot springs with natural waterfall massages, quiet pools to soak in, and other beautiful natural sites. The kids had such a wonderful time playing and splashing in the warm water, enjoying a nice lunch together, and simply being kids, which they are not given the opportunity to do very often.

Friday afternoon we left with the old kids for a four hour trip to the closest big city to Copan, San Pedro Sula. Our first stop upon arrival was the mall, with a food court, movie theater, and bright stores with new shiny things. My favorite thing to experience with the kids for their first time was the escalator and the hand blow dryer in the bathroom. They thought these were two very amusing things. We ate dinner in a food court where they could pick whatever they wanted for dinner, and took them to see a movie–a real movie in a theater. They hardly knew what to do with themselves in the theater because they were so full of excitement. We saw Nanny McFee, a very fun kids’ movie that they all enjoyed. We stayed in Pastor Lee’s house, a friend of the ministry who runs a bilingual school about an hour outside of San Pedro Sula. He had a big house with some extra rooms with bunk beds and a big yard for the kids to play in.

Saturday we piled back into the van to head to Tela, a beach town about an hour away. Again, the beach was another first time experience for most of our kids. They loved playing in the waves, burying each other in the sand, and finding little rocks and seashells along the shore. That night back at Pastor Lee’s house he led a devotion with the kids, encouraging them to take hold of the dreams that the Lord has placed on their hearts, to trust in the Lord, and to work hard to accomplish their dreams. Sunday we took the kids to the best anthropology museum in San Pedro Sula, ate bagged lunches and headed home. Saturday night I came down with some sort of intestinal sickness. I had not been as careful with the things I ate that weekend, so it was probably a bug of some sort. The kids were so sweet to me, giving me hugs, telling me to feel better, giving me the best seat in the van so I could try to rest, and showing me their love through their hugs and smiles.

It was just an amazing thing to see these kids experience so many things for the first time this past week. Their eyes were literally opened up to so many new things these past few days. Many of the kids who come to our programs don’t have the same opportunities as most children that you and I come in contact with in the States. They go to school, help their parents gather food and firewood, make meals, clean the house, take care of livestock, and raise siblings. They are given so much responsibility at such a young age that they barely have time to simply be kids. This is something that we try to provide for them at UrbanPromise Honduras–a place to dream, to have fun, to be given new experiences, and to just be kids.

I would love to write more but I am still recovering from being sick the past couple of days and am still pretty weak. If I feel better later this week I will be joining the youth on their end-of-the-year retreat to La Saba for a few days. I hope to write again sometime next week.

Please Pray:

- For my health and strength to come back after being sick for the past few days.

- For the UPH staff as we take some time over the next two weeks to evaluate and plan for the future of UPH and what next year’s programs will look like.

- For wisdom and discernment as I continue to work on a sponsorship program for UPI.

- For details to start coming together for my time of service in Malawi starting in February.

- Praise the Lord for the wonderful experiences that the children have been able to have over this past week–for their dreams and big hearts.

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A Lesson from Luis…

Saturday, November 6th, 2010

I can’t believe I am saying this, but as of the end of this week, I am at the halfway mark of my time here in Honduras. It feels like it has been so long and yet the idea that in a little over a month I will be leaving this wonderful place behind makes it seem so short.

Last Saturday we took the children from Camp Hope on a very special field trip to El Jaral, a small water park about 30 minutes from Copan. We gathered 40 of the children and crowded into 3 smallish bus-like vans to drive to El Jaral. Some of the kids had never been outside of Copan and the surrounding aldeas before, and this trip was simply beyond exciting for them. We spent the rainy morning, and sunny afternoon chasing the kids around the water park, catching them off of the 3 water slides, hearing the laughs and screams of children whose experience that day was probably one of, if not the most exciting thing they have ever done… It was a wonderful end of the school year trip!
This week the rest of the UPH staff has been in Camden, NJ at the UrbanPromise Conference. Since we do not have programs this week, my sole responsibility and focus has been office work. I am continuing to work on our current fundraiser for the special field trips coming up in about a little over a week. Currently we have raised $1,500 towards the trips, which you can read more about on the UPH website at http://www.urbanpromisehonduras.org/ . I have also been working on the Child Sponsorship Program ( I think I am going to call it Promise Partners) Program for UPI, and a brochure for UPH. The goal for my time of service with UPI over these next couple of months is to create a Program that will help UPI in Honduras and Malawi be more financially stable. I am working to create a program that links donors up with the children from UPI sites in hopes of bringing in more funds to help both UP Honduras and Malawi continue to reach the children in the communities they serve and grow their programs.

I have had a bit of extra time on my hands these past few days in which I have been able to study my Spanish With Luis, my Honduran friend who was my Spanish teacher for my first week at the Spanish school Guacamaya up the road) and I help each other study. Luis is a good friend of the UPH staff here in Honduras. He has lived in Copan for the past few years and has taught himself English through much practice and by working at the Spanish school in Guacamaya. Luis was born in Honduras, his parents were divorced when he was a little boy and he lived with his mom and sisters in San Pedro Sula (a bigger city in Honduras). His mother moved to the United States when Luis was about 12, and left him to live with his 4 older sisters. Through the strength of the Lord and a lot of hard work, Luis graduated from high school, but was not able to go on to the university because no one could support him to go. After high school Luis moved to Copan in hopes of learning English because he believed that if he could learn English it might help him get into the university. Luis is now 23 and is practically fluent in English.

In the café, our conversation turns from studying to our life goals. His goal is to be able to speak 5 languages by the time he is 35. He will take a test in December to see if he can get into the university and will continue to work and use the little money he has saved up to pay his way through.

Luis tells me of his frustration with life’s unfairness and asks, “Why am I so unlucky, and why are others so lucky?”
This is a question that has been rolling around in my head the past few days. It’s something that I don’t think anyone can explain. Why me? Why was I born in the United States and handed the opportunity of education and a degree? Why did I go to a school that had books and more than one teacher for every 3-5 grades? Why did I have access to clean water to drink and nutritious food that allowed me to grow as a child? Why was I was born into a Christian family? Why me, and why not Luis, and why not the little boys and girls here in Honduras and all around the world, and what does this mean for us?

In conclusion to our conversation, Luis tells me of his philosophy. You see, Luis wants to learn so many languages so that he can help others. He already uses his skills and knowledge of both English and Spanish to help in medical brigades here in Honduras. He travels with doctors and nurses to help translate as they serve the medical needs of the poor. Whether we are “lucky” as Luis would say in life or not, our calling is to use what we have been given to reach out to those who are less “lucky.” Whatever we have been given, our calling is to use it to show the love of Christ to others. If everyone lived their lives this way I think the world would have a lot less “unlucky” people.

Please pray:

- For Luis as he prepares for his big test in December that determines whether or not he gets into the university.

- For the money to come in for our upcoming field trips with the kids of Camp Hope.

- For the UPH staff as they are at the conference in Camden. That they Lord rejuvenates them and sends them back to Honduras with new energy and motivation to press forward.

- For details of the “Promise Partner” program to come together as I continue to work on creating this program.

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