Home from Ghana, Off to Chad

Jake, Justice, and JJ, along with the rest of the team, returned from Ghana earlier this week on late Tuesday afternoon. I encountered more than one set of tear-filled eyes as some of the team members recounted stories to me as we waited in the baggage claim. I’m hoping that some - or all - of the team will be writing up their trip highlights for me so we can all get more of a glimpse into what they experienced. For now I’m letting them catch their breath, sort through their pictures, and allowing their hearts to work through emotions and thoughts. Can’t wait to hear from them!

As I write this Jake is actually flying back to Africa, this time to the country of Chad.

 

Last year, Jake got connected with Athletes in Action (AIA) and was able to attend their ‘World Coaching Academy’ in Dayton, Ohio. The academy brought in AIA staff from all over the world for a few days of biblical and basketball coaching training. That trip opened the door into Jake being offered this opportunity to go to Chad on behalf of Athletes in Action. AIA was looking for someone who had experience in Africa, who could lead a coach’s academy for their ministry that they hope to grow in Chad. This is a sort of exploratory trip for AIA as they’ve never sent a staff member to Chad before. Of course, Jake’s ears tend to perk up when he hears that word exploratory! He’s always been a man of adventure who finds joy and excitement in paving the way in unknown territory!

In fact it was 4 years and one month ago that Jake boarded his first ever flight to Ghana, Africa. That first sending out was God’s answer to Jake’s plea of longing to be shown that there was more. The daily hum drum of living the Christian life seemed boring to Jake compared to all the other things he had encountered in his life…namely his exhilarating basketball career. He was at a crossroads, and cried out to God, asking Him if there was more to following Him than going through the motions of reading his Bible and trying to apply the truths. God answered by launching us into an adoption, and in the midst, opening up Jake’s eyes (and mine) to a hurting world. A hurting world dependent on and longing for the Christ-follower’s obedience to bring God’s will on earth as it is in heaven. From there we could not imagine the ministry that God had planned. I see this trip to Chad as a continuation of God’s answer to show Jake the high of choosing to follow Him.

AIA does have one in-country staff member in Chad (his name is Marc), so he will be hosting Jake. The purpose of this trip is that Jake will be leading a 4-day coach’s clinic in which he will basically be training the basketball coaches in the country. He will be teaching them drills, walking them through player and team development, and then each evening they will have a discussion table over the various things taught that day. Jake and Marc’s hope is not only that doors would be opened to develop basketball, but that these coaches would open their hearts to the greater teaching that Jake and Marc desire to share: That the coaches would know the Lord loves them and longs to have a relationship with them. That the Lord offers not only forgiveness of sin, but a newness of life. That the coaches would understand they can live their lives with a significant purpose and that this would overflow into the way they coach.

Please join with me in praying to that end for these coaches. Pray also that this clinic would be used to glorify the name of the Lord in the country of Chad. And pray for the Lord’s blessing and favor that as Marc and Jake step out in faith, that they will experience a deep intimacy with the Lord that will overflow into the lives of those they interact with.

Lastly, I did hear from Jake in the middle of the night and en route to Chad his plane had to make an emergency landing on a small island called St. Jean because someone on the plane had a heart attack. The travel stumbling blocks continue! Oh the stories Jake will have to tell after this month….I’m sure it will make for some good blog posts. Please also pray with me for Jake’s protection, that he would not become weary, that his body would hold up through all this travel, that even these travel woes would have meaning and bring opportunities for Jake to share his faith, and that God would push him through to Chad in His perfect timing.

My Mom's Updates from Tanzania

My mom will be blogging about her trip here once she gets back, but I thought it would be fun to post some of the little updates she has sent over the past week. :)

Friday, June 8 email:
Jambo! We arrived safely, all bags accounted for and got to the Safari Centre late last night. We are all sleeping under our mosquito nets in bed.

Today was filled with errands and a lot of market shopping, buying large quantities of rice and vegetables. Tomorrow we have our big cooking day for the Compassion International kids.

Internet is very sparse. I'll email more if we get a chance.

Thanks everyone for your prayers! ~Lori


Saturday, June 9 email:
It's 4:25 on Saturday afternoon and we made it back to our hotel for the day. We left early in the rain, got to feed lots of hungry children and sing, dance and squeeze and hug many of the little ones at church. What sweet-sweet kids, who sit for hours in the church and do not wiggle or squirm. Met a little boy, Calvin, who sat on my lap the entire day :) He was probably 4. Amazing process of cooking pounds and pounds of rice by the local women on an open fire. Also asked someone their name in swahili and she was a young beautiful woman, who helped cook. Esther was her name, she said "Estah".

We're starting to figure out the internet finally.

Tomorrow, back to church and another orphanage. Our team is awesome. Everyone is doing well, everyone is healthy, Praise God.

Hope Jayla had a great dance recital!

I have a whole new appreciation for the 'bumpy road' saying...Lordy! More like rocks and ruts. Wait till you see the video.

Love You! ~Mom

Facebook status: Greetings from Arusha and Jambo! We are all doing well, great teamwork feeding hundreds of kiddos today and singing in Swahili, praising God. Every day is an adventure. As the kids were coming through the line today, I heard a voice reminding me to 'Feed my Sheep'. Love and Hugs from Tanzania!


Monday, June 11:
Facebook status:
Greetings from Arusha! We had a long day at the clinic while the rest of the team split up for school and hospice visits. Everyone doing great, adventure and blessings around every corner. Highlight yesterday was orphanage, playing with kids and doing our Jonah bible study. Have you ever acted like Jonah?


Tuesday, June 12 email:
Jambo! It's Tuesday afternoon and we have accomplished our task of shopping at the market for food and delivering it to Faraje Orphanage. The amount of food we delivered will feed the children for a month. Then what? Breaks your heart to see school age children not going to school because the orphanage cannot afford to send them, let alone to pay their own teacher. They eat porridge for lunch and rice for supper. There were some very bright kids at this orphanage when we did our Jonah bible study with them. One older boy could read english, but again, cannot go to school because of the fees of primary school.

Going to the market is always an adventure, but we are welcomed always, with smiles and "Jambo" which means hello.

Yesterday was really interesting as I spent the day at the hospital with the orthopedic surgeon and Gayle, the team leader. We got there in the morning for Chapel and then saw patients all day long, until 6 pm! Very long day, but very eye-opening to the type of care people get here. They think nothing of waiting in the xray waiting area for 3 hours for an xray. We were the impatient ones.

We've been eating really well. Last night to Nick's BBQ, outdoor grill where a few had talapia/veggies and some had chicken. The food tastes very much like our food at home. One night we ate at a chinese restaurant which was very good too. Sometimes we eat at the outdoor patio here at the hotel, the Safari Centre. It is pretty authentic as far as the surroundings. This is our last night here before we leave for the STEMM children's village/orphanage tomorrow morning for 3 days of work and play. When we return to the city of Arusha, we will stay at a different hotel next week.

We have some of the funnest drivers who haul us around all day long. They are funny, and come to the orphanages with us and play with the kids too. Today on our way back from the orphanage we saw poinsettias growing wild, avocado trees and banana trees. It is pretty lush around here as far as green plants and flowers, almost tropical.

Love to everyone! ~Mom

Facebook status: Jambo! Met some new friends today at the orphanage. Never enough hugs and squeezes for them. So hard to leave them and say good bye.


Wednesday, June 13, email:
Jambo! Sitting in the middle of Africa, on wifi! We made it to the Stemm children's village, visited the classrooms in secondary school, came back and took our paints to the classroom to stencil the alphabet on their walls.

The donkeys delivered the firewood for our bonfire tonight. It cost 8 dollars for 2 donkey's-backs worth. Haha. This area is different with much more livestock here.

We got to see the sun set over the African plains tonight. ~Mom

To Tanzania She Goes

Today my Mom will board an airplane and head miles and miles across the ocean, to a far off, dusty land…

 

This is a trip in which my Mom is allowing her faith to guide her completely out of her comfort zone. I cannot even tell you how going on this trip is SO NOT something my Mom would normally do. Going to Africa. With a group of strangers. 2 ½ weeks far, far away from home. To comfort, hold and care for the sick - the modern day ‘untouchables’ - the least of these - the down trodden – the abandoned – the suffering – the oppressed. Her courage to go on this trip is the evidence of a mighty God working inside of her – teaching her to rely on Him, and proving to her heart that He can do POWERFUL things through her if she rises up and says, “Yes, Lord! Use me! I will be Your hands and feet here in this broken and fallen world.”

You can read about how this trip came up for my mom in my words here and in her words here. She is traveling as part of a medical missions team with an organization named STEMM which stands for Siouxland Tanzania Educational Medical Ministries (http://www.stemm.org/). My mom did not have the money to go on this expensive missions trip. But, as we trusted He would, the Lord provided every single penny she needed by way of fundraising. It was more proof that yes, God desires His followers to reach out to the nations, in His name, and He will do what is needed to make it happen.

Here are some details of her trip itinerary:

-June 6 leave Minneapolis to Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro. Tanzania is 8 hours ahead of Iowa time.

-One of the team’s first projects will be market shopping to buy ‘groceries’ in order to cook for about 250 Compassion International children.

-The team will also lead bible study, and play with the children. The team will be working out of the Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre’, ALMC Hospital. Children in the community suffer from both congenital problems like club foot and acquired deformities such as skeletal fluorosis. In this area, fluoride comes down out of the mountains into their drinking water, and leaches the calcium out of their bones making them soft. Other skeletal trauma is common from burns as a consequence of open fire cooking among the Maasai children. This is one of the reasons that STEMM was founded in this area of Arusha by an orthopedic surgeon. The team will hold ortho clinics (assessments for the patients pre and post surgery), some team members will help the surgeon in the operating room during surgery, they will visit the plaster house (where the children live after surgery if they have a cast – they don’t go home until they are healed – they live at the plaster house until the casts come off), and they will also be going on hospice home visits in the surrounding villages to administer hands-on nursing.

-Since STEMM began its ministry in 1997, they were only aware of what at that time was a relatively small orphan problem. Little did they know that within the next five years, the orphan population would explode through Africa due to the widespread HIV/AIDS epidemic. The experiences in the local orphanages prompted STEMM to build their own orphanage, Stemm’s Children’s Village (SCV), to be run like a home. They are in the early phases of building this village and when filled to capacity it will house 180 children. This orphanage will not only save children from starvation, exploitation and death but also will provide a Christian environment for them to thrive. My mom’s team will be spending much time at the children’s village: interacting, playing and doing bible studies and worship time with the kids, and also doing more hands-on nursing like administering worm medication. They will also be gifting the orphanage with children's bible stories in their native Swahili language. :)

-Other general activities: The team will regularly be purchasing food and cooking meals for various orphanages in the area, they will administer growth and development assessments on children at the orphanages, lead bible studies with the children, and will lead worship at church services.

-For 3 days, June 16, 17, 18, the team will take a break and be on Safari, seeing a few of these sights: Tarangire National Park, walk through farms to see agriculture, Masaai village, Mivaleni lake and waterfall. This is their time as a group, to decompress and grow as a team before they head back to Arusha on Monday 6/18 to complete their remaining days of work.

In one of her recent blog posts, my mom laid out the most perfect prayer request heading into the trip….in her words….

We are the Lord’s servant every day and moment of our lives. Although on our trip we think we are going to the ‘multitudes’ I’m reminded not to miss the ‘one’ along the way, for whom Jesus also died. My prayer is to surrender my agenda and needs so that I don’t miss what God wants me to do each day. Help me to see the ‘one’ here and there. Each of you can recite the same message…as you serve each day and moment of your life. The one, for me, is Edward, who came right up to me and grabbed my hand. He is a little boy living in Cape Coast, Ghana, Africa and I think about him every day. Because I missed the ‘one’ along the way. So for Edward, I will be hugging more and reading more and sitting down to hold more children.

I can just picture the dark chocolate eyes and little brown faces that will capture my mom’s heart. :) This trip will be woven with such intimate workings of the Holy Spirit – I can’t wait for my Mom to experience those personal moments in which it seems as if Jesus is right there – disguised as a child.

Dear Mom ~ I cannot think of any better encouraging words to send you off on, than those found in the lyrics of this song…..

We are the change
the world is waiting for
We’ve got a love
the world is desperate for
We will lead
and take to your streets

Now’s the time for us to rise
and carry hope and let love shine
and show this world that mercy is alive

Now’s the time for us to rise
and carry hope to hopeless eyes
and show this world that mercy is alive

We’re not afraid
we will abandon all
to hear your name
on lips across the world
we will run
in the wake of your love

Fill our hearts with your compassion
let our love be active here

We will go
where you tell us to go
We will speak of your very Word
We will move
when you tell us to move
We are yours
(The Church by Elevation Worship)

Therefore, go, and be a light unto these people....

 

Sierra Leone and My Bucket List

Well, you can probably guess what item on my bucket list I will be checking off just by reading the name of this post! Coming up in March 2011 over spring break, I will get to take my first ever trip to Sierra Leone, West Africa!!! I couldn’t find a good map showing both SL and Ghana so here are two images showing each so that you can see where they are in comparison to one another….pretty close:

All of the trip planning/details are still in the works, but an exciting opportunity has come up for Jake and I to spend about 1 week’s time serving at an orphanage in Sierra Leone called The Covering. The Covering is part of an organization called The Raining Season, which I have blogged about before. You can read about the Raining Season by clicking here. The Covering has an awesome blog which you can check out here: http://savetheorphan.blogspot.com/

There are many purposes for this trip, and let me start by saying, no, we are not leaving Ghana in the dust!!!!! In fact, the main reason for this trip to Sierra Leone is to get our feet wet in an orphanage setting which will ultimately benefit the project we have started in Ghana. You may remember me saying that Ghana has very few orphanages because many have been shut down due to ill and corrupt practices. In fact, one of Ghana’s most celebrated orphanages, The Osu Children’s Home in Accra, was recently the target of a 7 month undercover investigation in which there were horrifying findings of the treatment of the orphans residing there. You can find the article about the investigation by clicking here. The title of the article is ‘Undercover in the Orphan’s Home of Hell’ if that gives you any idea of the details you will be choking down as you read.

Anyways, you know from my previous posts that it has been on the radar within our Ghana project to start a home for orphans in Ghana. Our initial vision was to have the orphanage alongside the academy/school which we bought the land for on one of our previous trips. However, God completely guided us in a different direction for the orphanage home following our visa disaster trip in June. In the months following that trip it became clear that the idea for the orphan home was not to be a long term vision….instead it could be started now. I am going to be detailing this more in some upcoming posts. God’s guidance for the orphan home has really been spurred by the events surrounding the initial visa disaster with Justice. If it weren’t for our unfortunate visa delay in June, none of this orphanage stuff would even be rolling yet…..but it is…..and I can’t wait to tell you more about it!

Jake is also gearing up for his next trip to Ghana coming up at the end of December this year. I decided to sit this one out since I will be accompanying him on the trip to Sierra Leone. Jake has wanted to do this trip in December as an outreach opportunity for any of the kids/coaches in his Kingdom Hoops program. To date there is 1 other coach going, 2 girls from his 8th grade girls team, the Vanderweide family (they were going to be the host family for Prince) and my mom is also going! There are a few others pending. My mom has already been blogging about some cool and personal things that God has done to reveal to her that He has a clear purpose for her to go! I believe she is also going to be blogging some more this week about the trip details. You can find her blog here: http://odlemountain.blogspot.com/ I’ll also be blogging some more about the trip hopefully later this week. :)

International Day of the African Child coming up June 16th

This is a video Kofi shared on Facebook:

Shopping to Benefit Africa

The other day when Jake brought in the mail, there was a wonderful surprise waiting for me in an enveloped package. It was this beautiful bag that a friend had sent me:


This isn’t just any bag. When my friend bought this bag, she actually had made a life-changing purchase! Let me explain. The girl that makes these bags brings home fabric scraps from her frequent travels to Ghana! Then, she turns the fabric into bags/purses and other items. She then sells her bags on www.etsy.com and donates the proceeds to impoverished schools in Ghana that are run by this organization: www.futureleadersofghana.org. This is so cool, not to mention I LOVE THIS BAG! Since you already know that my purses are usually a little on the large size (large enough to fit a baby doll and a youth sized basketball) this will surely become my purse! I also will use it for a beach bag this summer, and my tote for the tournaments that will house all of our toys, coloring books, and kiddo necessities for days spent at the gym. When I opened up this package the scent of the fabric literally took me back across the oceans right smack to Ghana. Yes, this fabric still has a Ghanaian scent! It is certainly traditional, and as the girl who makes the bag says ‘How cool is it to think that somewhere on another continent someone is wearing a dress cut from the same fabric that is on your purse?!’ To get to this bag on Etsy type in ‘Hip Tribal Print Purse’ in the search bar and it should take you there.

Well, getting this bag was so exciting, and it made my mind start thinking about all of the other places that I know of in which you can purchase an item and the proceeds benefit an African cause. Here are a few more:

Amani Africa (http://www.amaniafrica.org/index.php)
Remember me telling you that if you teach an African woman to sew it would CHANGE her life completely because she would be able to provide for herself and her family? Well, this project is living proof. Per the website: Amani ya Juu (which means “higher peace” in Swahili) is a sewing-marketing-training project for marginalized women in Africa. The main center is located in Nairobi, Kenya with sister centers in Rwanda and Burundi. The project serves two purposes. First, Amani gives African women the opportunity to improve their sewing and marketing skills. The women gain experience in purchasing, bookkeeping, skill training, quality control, management and design. Second, Amani aims to sow seeds of peace in the hearts of the women as they grow in community and in their faith together. As part of the daily activities at the center, the Amani women participate in singing, praying, Bible study and visiting one another in their homes. Amani is committed to fair trade, providing a just pay and holistic development, which contrasts dramatically with the unjust conditions these women are confronted with outside of Amani. As the women learn practical skills to improve their quality of life, they also experience God’s healing, moving them beyond their traumatic and difficult pasts. Among other things, the income Amani provides allows these African women not merely to survive, but to meet basic health care needs, education for their children and adequate housing.
Pretty sweet, huh? Over Christmastime I was sent a link to their store, specifically regarding these cute African dollies:

If we were adopting a girl, purchasing one of these dolls would be a MUST on my list of things to have for her. Funny because right before I was sent this link, I had actually just purchased a doll very similar to this on Pottery Barn for Jayla for Christmas….only I paid an overpriced amount, and the proceeds didn’t go to anything great except for Pottery Barn to make more overpriced items! :) The Amani store also sells many other beautiful items such as bags, jewelry, home décor/kitchen items, etc….all of which you can order online. Here is the link to their shop: http://www.amaniafrica.org/ashop/index.php

The next shopping opportunity that came to my mind is right up the road from my house located in Ames, IA at Burgie’s Coffee & Tea Company (located on South Duff). The owner, Steve Burgason, is a family friend of ours. His son Jordan used to play for Jake and is now playing college ball at Lipscomb in Nashville, TN. Steve’s store has partnered with Ames Highschool and Global Builders to raise money for schools in Uganda. When you purchase a bag of their Ugandan Bugisu coffee beans the proceeds will go to this cause. He does not have an online store, but if you live in the area, stop by his store to purchase some and find out about all the awesome things Steve is doing to help Uganda….through coffee!

My mom also noticed a lady selling these baskets http://www.africanbaskets.biz/index.html at the farmer’s market in Des Moines last summer. These baskets are made in the village region of Bolgatanga in Northern Ghana and are made out of Ghanaian Kinkanhe Straw. This straw gets transformed into beautiful baskets through basket weaving technique.

Bolga Basket International also operates on fair trade prinicples and the Ghanaian families who weave these baskets are paid wages that exceed the local rate. BBI also plans on developing a fully equipped weaving center in Ghana which would include all of the necessary weaving materials in-house, an on-site school and free transportation to and from outlying villages. Purchasing one of these baskets provides a family in Africa with a brighter future! They do not have an online store, but if you keep your eyes peeled this summer, I bet you will run into someone selling these!