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UPI Fellows experience American Holiday Traditions

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

When our fellows come from other countries to work with us, they have the opportunity to learn about the American culture and experience many “firsts” including their first American holidays. Charity (from Uganda) shares about his first Thanksgiving experience.

My first ever Thanksgiving celebration!

It all started with several mini-Thanksgiving dinners… then four big Thanksgiving celebrations with the AfterSchool program kids and their families… and the grand finale on Thanksgiving Day!

Initially, I watched others prepare seven turkeys for the first AfterSchool program feast and observed the American tradition of preparing turkeys. I then observed more closely as I inquisitively watched Garret (one of the Camp directors) stuff several more turkeys, little did I know that the following day was going to be my turn to spearhead the turkey baking crew for yet another thanksgiving dinner! With Garret’s strategy fresh in my mind, I managed to bake my first ever gigantic turkey which took at least five hours to prepare!

I was overwhelmed by more than 10 invitations from friends who were willing to celebrate Thanksgiving with me! I managed to spend Thanksgiving weekend with two families.

A friend of mine, named Denise, invited me to spend Thanksgiving Day with her family in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Denise’s father picked me up and we made the trek to Bridgewater. I was welcomed by very jovial and wonderful people at Denise’s house. I felt so good, loved, and secure.

A few minutes after our arrival, a very big golden-colored-nicely-baked turkey was laid on the table ready to be feasted on. The previous days I had been enjoying turkeys but this one looked extraordinarily delicious. It was not long when we were all called to sit around the dinner table to begin enjoying the nicely baked turkey. Denise’s father opened up the meal with a prayer in Spanish (of which I did not understand and my friend had to translate afterwards.) After the prayer, Denise’s mother unsealed the turkey out of a transparent bag, and as she did, the aroma of the turkey filled the room and I couldn’t wait to get a taste! In addition to the turkey, Denise had prepared homemade stuffing which tasted so good that despite my full belly, I had another helping!

Needless to say, the feast was a wonderful. This was a very warm feeling for me. I had never experienced anything like this huge celebration for Thanksgiving and all the traditions that accompany it.

Black Friday!

After Thanksgiving dinner and ice cream for dessert, my friends asked if I would want to go out for Black Friday. With all my innocence and naivety about this American day, I joyfully embraced it with passion and excitement. We went to the Mall (Best Buy) at Mid-night, and to my surprise, there were already more than 100 people lining up outside the mall! We later discovered that the first person in line arrived at 10:00am on Thanksgiving Day! That was hilarious!

So, in true Black Friday tradition, we stood in the growing line, anticipating the 5:00am hour when the doors to the Mall would open. When they did, the crowd swarmed in and started shopping. As for me, I roamed around Best Buy observing this phenomenon and I was stunned by how much money people could spend in a short amount of time. Carts were overflowing with 50 inch LDC TV’s, two to three laptops each, video cameras, and all sorts of electronic.

That experience blew away my mind! It was fun and crazy. I had a wonderful experience with these American traditions… all that just within 12 hours!

By Charity Alinda

UPI Fellow 2009-2010.

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Terror behind the Walls—Trip to the Haunted House

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Halloween is not something we care about in Kenya. Very few people back home even know what it is all about. My interaction with this scary season was only on TV and books; my favorite being a comic known as Archie. Jughead, one of the characters visits a haunted house with talking gigantic spiders hanging on cobwebs as long as ropes, ghosts, Dracula, skeletons, talking mirrors and all. Jughead however is not shaken by any of these and at some point even asks the Dracula whether the stuff coming from his mouth (blood) is some jelly or something. And if so, could he also have some of the stuff and some Halloween cookies? He leaves all the scary people frustrated.

Based on Jughead’s experience, I quickly sign up to take kids to the haunted house at Eastern State Penitentiary, a closed prison declared as “the most haunted” in the US by the Travel Channel.

We are on our way there, Wednesday night in a bus full of excited kids. I am seated next to Patricia the only fifth grader brave enough to go. In the middle of a conversation she whispers, ‘Miss Winnie are you scared?’ I laugh out loud. ‘Who? Me? Scared? No sweetie! This entire hullabaloo about prisoners haunting the prison is all exaggerated. It will be nothing scary.’ She holds on tight to me and says that she will hold on to me that way as we go through the corridors of the prison.

The penitentiary is in Philadelphia’s Fairmont district, with an exterior resembling a fortress. Albert and Boston, camp directors pay for the tickets and we are ushered into the prison doors. Patricia reminds me that we are about to see ‘terror behind the walls’. There have been many reports of paranormal activities in this prison but I am not scared. We are divided into groups of six.

As we enter into the dark corridor, I feel a shudder go through my spine. A ghostly music fills the darkness, shadowy figures move along the wall. I hold on tightly to Patricia. ‘Miss Winnie you are scared!’ I just nod. My nod is interrupted by a piercing scream made by a shadowy figure with an ashen-white face with hideous scars streaks of dried blood. We scuttle through the corridors—I am screaming on top of my lungs.

Other shadowy figures appear from the corners and skeleton hands unexpectedly emerge from behind the walls trying to grab us as we flee. My scream goes a notch higher and my pace fastens even though it’s impended by Patricia who is clinging tightly to me. We run in the maze of sinister passageways to the prison infirmary where spine-chilling figures clad in hospital gowns with streaks of blood, and opened up bodies lay chained to the small beds.

Eastern State penitentiary was operated under the Pennsylvania system from 1829-1913. This system used by the Quakers required that inmates be kept in solitary confinement and were not allowed to communicate with anyone.

Prisoners were locked up in their cells except one hour when they left their cells with their heads covered in a hood to prevent them from seeing other prisoners. The prisoners’ cells had a toilet, a table, bunk and a Bible. This solitary confinement was meant to make the prisoners find God. However, this did not bear fruit and most sane people became mad. In hopeless need for human contact, the prisoners would whisper through vents or tap pipes. If caught the price would be very cruel. This included being dunked into an ice cold bath tub and being hung overnight from a wall. This punishment known as the ‘water bath’ was popular during winter months. The ‘mad chair’ was another brutal way to punish prisoners. They were strapped to a chair for days (without food or drink) so tightly that they could not make the slightest movement. Another deadly punishment included being put for weeks into ‘the hole’, a dungeon with little air and no light. Prisoners who violated the ‘no communication policy’ got the ‘iron gag’. They were strapped high behind their back, with chains on their wrists. An iron collar was clamped onto the tongue of the prisoner. Most bled to death.

As we scuttle through the dark prison corridors, the reenacted scenes with actors clad in orange overalls and hoods, screaming, howling, shaking chains, with some on hanging on the walls crying for mercy, my terror disappears and in its place comes anguish and pain. My pace slows and I pause to look at the faces behind the hoods.

When we come out of the prison, I realize that Patricia eyes are wet. “You are crying Patricia, what’s wrong?” Looking at me she says, “You are crying too.” I touch my face and it is wet. “Miss Winnie, I am crying because it I feel so bad they treated the prisoners so cruelly. Did you see their faces? Did you see the man who was chained to the wall? Did you see them clinging to the bars? ” I tell her I saw all that but remind her they were acting. “But they just portrayed what used to happen, didn’t they?” I nod realizing that this girl is thinking the same thing as me.

We walk to the bus, still holding each other’s hands. As other kids excitedly talk about their experience at the haunted house, Patricia whispers, “Miss Winnie, I will start praying for people in prisons”

I squeeze her hand tighter and close my eyes in prayer.

By Winfred Kiunga, UPI Fellow (Kenya)

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The 5th Graders’ cake Fight

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Growing up in Kenya, I had experienced fruit fights and water fights. Tropical fruits like mangoes, avocadoes, bananas, plums, oranges, passion fruits etc, were usually our weapons of fun. Everyone in our neighborhood grew them in plenty and so there was always an extra overripe one to throw at a friend. There were also homemade bombs for our enemies^__ for neighborhood bullies especially. This is how we made them (Kindly don’t share this secret recipe). We gathered rotten eggs (sometimes we had to lift the chicken as they were sitting on them to hatch) and ashes. We put two eggs and a handful of ashes into a thin plastic bag and tied a knot to close the open end and the bomb was done. We shadowed the selected bully (I won’t mention names) then attacked from all corners with our bombs. They would explode on their faces and then we would run. The end result: an egg-ash faced smelling bully. What a joy we had!

We had Miss Megan’s birthday on Thursday and I bought a cake to share with our kids. We (the kids and I) planned to surprise her so we hid the cake in a different room and covered it well. We acted ‘normal’ when she came in, i.e. kids sang ‘happy birthday’ and gave her cards that we had made the previous day in her absence. She didn’t suspect anything. The kids did their homework and did not even whisper to each other mysteriously.

After homework time, all the kids followed me to the room to get the cake. Ms Megan was busy pinning their days’ point on to the chart so she didn’t notice we were away until we came in with the cake. She was genuinely surprised and overwhelmed. In the course of sharing the cake, Emmanuel, one of my favorites (all of them are really) ‘accidentally’ smeared Miss Megan’s face with some icing. She was at first stunned, then amused. Her response^__smearing back, brought fun-chaos (as I like to call them) and within seconds of the initial attack, all kids were ‘caking’ each other in the face. I got busy documenting such a hilarious moment; for my days at Urban Promise are made of these moments, which remind me so much of my childhood’s setting, though it is an ocean away.

Emmanuel helped clean up after there were peace talks between Ms Megan and the kids and there was cease fire; for as much as we also have fun at camp, we also teach values such as cleanliness!

By Winfred Kiunga

International Fellow

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Cross-cultural perspectives from a former UP Intern

Monday, September 14th, 2009

Last year, Molly McCormick (Left) interned with UrbanPromise. She shares about her experience and learning as she worked and lived with our fellows from Malawi, Africa….

Growing up in a military family, I was traveling much of the world before I could read and write. Learning that the world has much to offer, I had grown up being around diverse groups of people; and at an early age I learned to value being around people who speak different languages, practice different religious beliefs, and eat different kinds of foods. Interning at Urban Promise Ministries in Camden, New Jersey, I have had the unique opportunity to not only learn from, but to live with two people from Malawi, Africa. Mwai and Vincent are natives of Malawi, the country in Africa known as the “warm heart of Africa.” I was truly able to expand my knowledge about life in Malawi, learn about cultural traditions, and even taste some of the staple foods that Mwai and Vincent were accustomed to daily.

    Coming to America for a year long internship is completely courageous. If I were to put myself in the shoes of Mwai or Vincent, life would definitely have its struggles. Much of this year I thought more about my own journey and my own experiences; but too much avail, I discovered that it is important to learn about other people’s culture, but more importantly it is imperative to put your feet into someone else’s shoes, the only way to fully grasp the complexities of their every step. Fitting into the American Culture, eating foods you are not used to, venturing on streets and sidewalks unfamiliar were common daily activities around Camden for Mwai and Vincent. Less thought goes into these such things for me because this, [America] is territory I have understood for years.

    Viewing life through the angle Mwai and Vincent walked everyday is something valuable like discovering a ruby never discovered. Why? Because now I see the worth and value of having conversations with those who are not from America, those who have never been to America, nor seen the things I have seen or experienced life quite like I have, knowing what to expect with the nuances of American Culture. Ask someone what their homeland is like, invest in someone because living in America is not the easiest thing to do if you have never been here. Relating to International people is not difficult if you put them first, and have a true desire to see what their life back at home is, what home looks like, what kinds of foods are found in their country and ask about the culture of their particular country. Another intern from Malawi, Willie, had great patience for my “ignorant questions” that I was often embarrassed to ask. “Where do you get your groceries from?” I asked, “We have Shop Rite, and 7-11″ he replied. “Oh, Malawi has 7-11’s??” I was shocked. You would be surprised and probably, like me, very intrigued about these countries in which our international friends reside. Many Americans have very jaded perspectives of African countries and only think of war, HIV/AIDS, and famine. Willie assured me Malawi is a beautiful place, and it is peaceful. He has not witnessed war in his country.

     What a challenge to come willing to serve a God who may not share all the details of his plan with us, yet asks us to willingly follow. To me, Mwai, Vincent, and Willie have a faith I rarely see, but that I strongly admire. These three individuals were constantly uncomfortable in a community that I rarely struggled to fit into. God called them to come, and they came. God called them to learn and they are now doing. God asks us all to have faith, and to follow him, and when I put my feet into the shoes of Vincent, Mwai or Willie I start to see the utmost faith and commitment they have to putting their concerns on the back-burner for the sake of the children and people of Malawi, and for the Glory of God.

Blessed are the feet that bring good news, and blessed are those who love, and sacrifice for others.

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Anticipating the arrival of Cohort 3

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

Promise Mchenga, a graduate of ABC, has been working with ProjectTEACH in Malawi. Next month, he will start a fellowship with UrbanPromise International.

While it’s sad to see our fellows leave after one year at UrbanPromise, it is exciting to see them begin their new ministries and to invite a new group to the U.S. for a year of training. This year, 7 individuals have been invited to serve with UrbanPromise. Five graduates (four men and one woman) are from the African Bible College in Malawi, one man is from the Ugandan Christian University, and one Kenyan woman joins us after teaching at Bates College in Maine.

Shoni is our fellow from Kenya. She interned with UrbanPromise this summer and will continue with a UPI fellowship this fall. Charity is joining us from Uganda and is due to arrive on September 7th after visiting a friend in Minnesota.

Our five new fellows from Malawi are on hold, however, due to new visa regulations. Requests for visas are in process and we hope for their acceptance ASAP! At this point, they will arrive late, but we hope that they are here shortly after other interns arrive at UP. In the meantime, they are helping our leaders in Malawi in their programs. This is a great opportunity for our new fellows to learn about the work and begin to develop a vision for this work. It is also a great asset to our leaders who have extra hands on deck for a couple of months!

Please pray that our group will arrive safely and that all of our Malawian fellows will be approved for visas soon & help us welcome them when they arrive!

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Thousands of Miles Away

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

The more one travels the more apparent it becomes; the world is big, cultures do vary, but people will always be people. The aura of Africa entices many, and the West has succeeded in sensationalizing the continent. Yet, as you walk through the markets, sit in the classrooms, or drive down the roads, the mysticism disappears and life, as it has been, and will be, emerges; natural, normal, ordinary. To step into peoples lives and immerse in their reality for a while is a unifying experience. It congeals the notion that we are all God’s children, sharing our joys and hardships with those around us. And it underscores that we are all in need of love and grace.

Several planes and a day later we are back in America. We saw and did so much that our trip felt long, yet saddened that it is now over. There were a lot of highlights that will be cherished, yet the pervading remembrance centers around the demands UrbanPromise International and its ministries are fulfilling. The Malawian children and their communities are so eager to embrace the programs. It is hard to understand, born and raised in America (the land of opportunity). We are indoctrinated from an early age that if you want it bad enough, it can be achieved. In Malawi, there are obstacles, hindrances, and circumstances that if your lot is not right, your future is set, and it doesn’t matter what your dreams may be; unattainable is a reality. That is why each Malawian fellow that comes to UrbanPromise to train and learn has a remarkable testimony. Each has a story of God’s hand directly in their lives lifting them up to the one percent of Malawian citizens who earn a degree. And that is why each fellow has a desire to give back, to be God’s instrument in removing those obstacles and changing the circumstances of Malawi’s next generation. Undoubtedly the difficulties run deep and wide, yet in less than a year, since the introduction of these ministries, hundreds of children and several communities have been influenced. The opportunity for growth and the impact on Malawi remains vast and immeasurable. The appreciation for what is being done, however, is well understood.

It truly was a spectacular journey.

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Retreat at Lake Malawi

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

Cohorts 1 and 2 around the table

The retreat with cohorts 1 and 2 at Lake Malawi was a success. A lot of good information was shared as well as a refocusing on how these ministries can most effectively raise funds and reach as many children as possible. As mentioned earlier, the demand for what these ministries are doing is so high in Malawi that it really comes down to the monetary support they get from UrbanPromise International, and individual supporters like you.

The lodge that we stayed at was relatively nice, although no internet available. A moment of concern resulted from its “cash only” policy (not uncommon). Malawi’s biggest bill is the 500 Kwacha = $4 US, therefore, a retreat for 15 people, food and drinks, conference room and extras was going to cost a decent amount. Getting all that cash together was literally going to take a suitcase to hold it all. Luckily, the manager was accommodating and we worked out a wire transfer payment. Nevertheless, a cash based society with its biggest bill equaling 4 bucks is a hassle.

Its winter in Malawi, but the temperatures remained in the 70s. The lake was a little chilly, yet, we jumped in anyway. All last year, the fellows talked about how beautiful Lake Malawi is, and they were right. So, it was necessary to take the plunge. It didn’t feel right to have traveled so many miles and not to.

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Got Internet?

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

Three post in the last 24 hours . . . That’s right, I have wireless access! Oh, the joys of being connected.

Orientation with Cohorts 2 and 3 in a nutshell

Cohort 3 from left to right: Moveti, Promise, John, Doren, Malason, (not pictured: Charity from Uganda)

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Orientation Time

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

The African Bible College campus is beautiful; lots of vegetation, and even some wildlife running around. On the drive back from Madisi, I was thinking to myself that I bet the landscape looks much different during rainy season. Currently, Malawi is at its end of winter. The landscape, therefore, has been rain deprived for months and is dry, dusty and brown. I can only imagine the rich greens and wild flower aromas that fill the air during other times in the year. Malawians speak of how there are so many mangoes in December and February that they just fall from the trees in excess. Yum! Avocados, guava, oranges, and other delectable fruits abound when the rain comes. If/When we return, there may have to be an alteration to the time of year we do.

Cohorts 2 and 3 have gathered for an evening and morning of orientation. It is fascinating to observe the characteristics of the two groups. Cohort 3 is anxious, nervous, excited, and eager to embark on their journey to America; where most of them cite their enthusiasm to absorb as much as they can and continually learn throughout their time. Naturally, they have many fears; mostly surrounding the cultural differences between themselves and the children they will be working with in the afterschool programs. Yet, there is also great exhilaration in the thought of flying for the first time, or walking through snow. Although, Peter from cohort two advised that yes, it is fun to witness snow, but after that, they will just want it to go away and get warm again.

Cohort 2 has definitely come a long way since first stepping off that plane one year ago. They have shared incredible wisdom and insight about their year at UrbanPromise and it is clear that they all matured in many ways. The opportunity and experience that these fellows receive at UrbanPromise truly is unprecedented.

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The Journey Home

Friday, June 26th, 2009

group54 Last weekend, with the big yellow van packed from floor to ceiling, we headed to the airport where the interns would begin their 24 hour journey home. As we were driving down I-95, in the midst of a few different conversations in Chichewa, one of the girls started to sing, “Palibe ofana naye, palibe ofana naye, palibe ofana naye”. This song, one of my personal favorites in their repertoire since the beginning of the year, has taken on new meaning. The group sang this song at dozens of churches, it is track number 6 on their CD, this is the song that they sang at my wedding last October, and the song that my great aunt calls “the banana song”. One by one, the other interns joined in the chorus until it was, once again, a harmonious medley that sent chills down my spine.

While it does sound like they are singing about bananas, the song is in Chichewa and it says that there is no one in the world like Jesus. Not in Camden, in Wilmington, in Malawi… no where. Yet, anybody can know Jesus from anywhere. It’s amazing! Our interns are now back in Malawi with their loved ones. They are half-way around a world that seems so big, but they are still worshiping the same God.

My husband, Andy, and I will be visiting our four ministries in Malawi during the month of July. Follow our journey on our blog to hear what is happening on the ground!

-Lindsey Markelz

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