Our Mission Center

Our mission center in Asikuma, Ghana has now been operating for just over 1 year!

We are currently home to 27 children.

In January 2015 we also completed a temporary structure adjacent to our mission center to serve as a school. This is where the children of our mission center attend and it is also open for enrollment to the Asikuma community.

For this 2015-2016 term, we have two teachers who just graduated from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa who have jumped on staff at the school. They teach along with a team of Ghanaian teachers, and are purposing to help develop curriculum and teaching strategies for the school. These two students, Mary and Anna, went on one of our trips to Ghana a few years ago and now live at our mission center while they receive this one of a kind teaching experience. You can keep up with them on their blog here: http://kccschool.blogspot.com/

This is our head house mother at our mission center, Comfort…

Jake and I have known Comfort since 2012 when she cared for our daughters at her foster home in Accra at the time. At the opening of our mission center last August we had recruited Comfort to move from her city life in Accra out to the rural village life in Asikuma to care for the children at our center. Comfort runs a great schedule at our center, and the kids noticeably thrive under the daily routine that has been established. The children know what to do, what to expect, and what is expected of them. Comfort of course loves children, and is especially fond of babies and toddlers. She really lives up to her name - is genuinely welcoming, kind, and compassionate. One thing that I appreciated when I was at our center last month was something I noticed during bath time for the little ones. Comfort had a bucket a little over half full of cold water ready for the baths. But right before starting she ran inside to grab a saucepan of water she had warmed on the stove which she then mixed in with the cold water to take the bite off. Loved that thoughtful touch.

Comfort receives a monthly salary from Acts 2 Collective and her two children Ajete and Rosemund also live with her at our mission center.

Helena is the house assistant to Comfort at our mission center.

She usually can be found in the kitchen helping to prepare the next meal or playing with one of the children. In Ghana, cooking can be an all day affair so it takes a lot of time and effort to prepare meals.

Helena also has been a big help in guiding and teaching the older girls we’ve taken into our center from Cape Coast. During my time at our mission center I noticed that Helena has an integral role of modeling to the girls how to act appropriately and manage the tasks of a woman in the Ghanaian culture. The Cape Coast girls have never been taught these things before. Now they are learning how to be nurturing and caring to the children as well as learning how to cook, clean, and act socially appropriate....much of which they learn by it being modeled and taught to them by Helena who is close in age to them.

This is not an easy undertaking and there are a lot of battles that go along with guiding these teenage girls, but Helena keeps a very light-hearted approach to it, and holds accurate expectations of them. Helena was raised in Asikuma, left for a time to attend school, and now is back and lives at our center. She is also paid a monthly salary.

This is another of our house helps, also named Comfort, but I like to think of her as Grandma.

Every home needs a Grandmother's presence to bring in softness and gentleness. Grandma Comfort arrives at our mission center in the mornings and stays until evening time before going back to her own home in Asikuma. She is there to provide an extra set of arms to hold and love on the children and also helps with the day to day housework like laundry. The afternoon that I strolled up to take this picture it was midday. Grandma was sitting outside under our wrap-around-porch in the quiet stillness of the afternoon, all snuggled in with our littlest addition to the center, Madjoa. The whole scene was just peace to me, and I loved seeing Madjoa alert and bright-eyed yet content as could be on Grandma's lap. Just how it should be. Grandma Comfort is also one of our paid staff and we are so thankful for her presence at our mission center.

Next up we have Wisdom (pictured left), James (pictured right) and Patrick (pictured center).

Wisdom is the 'man of the house' at our mission center. He does EVERYTHING! He is Daddy to the kids living at our center, handles the intake process for the children who come to live at our center, hires and manages staff, coordinates volunteers, organizes paperwork for each child, runs errands, runs kids to doctor appointments, handles community relations, oversees each part of our campus including the school, feeding program and agriculture, is a leader, visionaire and manager of our Asikuma projects, and basically keeps the place running! Our mission center is thriving in large part to how God is using the leadership and presence of Wisdom. He is a trustworthy and humble servant of the Lord. They just don't come any better.

James works for AgriHope - one of the organizations under the umbrella of Acts 2 Collective. James is from Zambia, but the Lord recently led him to pick up and move his entire life to our mission center in order to help us with creating sustainable farming. And the man is passionate about what he does! On my recent trip I received a very thorough rundown of the farming methods he is employing at our center - all the way from irrigation channels to how to blanket the crops. In as much as we know that James has come to plant physical seeds to grow a harvest, we know that the Lord has also drawn him to Ghana as an evangelist to plant seeds of the gospel in hearts. Just recently he has become friends with one of our mission center groundskeepers and has been encouraging him in his walk with the Lord via using his Iphone to translate from English to French. We love how God is using James to spread His word among our staff, and of course his crop growing skills are top of the line too! Some photos of the corn starting to grow at the mission center….

Patrick, aka 'AJ', is one of the handful of young men assisting James with the manual labor portion of the farming. This is in exchange for Acts 2 Collective paying for his school. I first met Patrick one night when it was pitch dark and I was walking back to the hotel from our mission center all alone. He had just fetched water and was riding his bike back home. He stopped to introduce himself to me the foreigner and just had the friendliest personality....like that kind-hearted older brother sorta feel. It was like God used him on my walk back to the hotel to whisper peace and that He was right there with me, watching out for me. Patrick is the definition of hard worker. I feel the Lord has opened a door for him into our center to be rewarded for how he labors wholeheartedly to provide for his younger siblings.

Our prayer is that our mission center would continue to be a refuge, set apart in the community where all who set foot on the grounds will experience life and peace.

[Pictured: Patrick’s sister Patricia comes to our mission center to help do laundry for her family.]

HIV Care ~ New Territory

Over the past month we have taken in five new children into our mission center in Asikuma, Ghana who are HIV+. Taking in HIV orphans to our center is new territory for us. We are starting to understand that the HIV/AIDS situation in this region in Ghana is more prevalent than initially thought. This is especially the case in a nearby town to Asikuma called Peki, which is a ten minute drive from our mission center. Currently we are becoming educated on the virus/disease and are working to understand the treatment options available in Ghana.

Many of the HIV orphans coming into our care have had their parents recently die of AIDS. For those families who are still surviving with the disease, they are stigmatized in their villages, which is in itself life-threatening as no one will buy the goods they sell to create a business for themselves. In the stigmatization, their opportunity to produce an income and therefore meet the physical needs of their family is not existent. At the same time, most of these living with HIV in Ghana are going untreated and unmedicated due to their situation of poverty. This means their body’s immune system continues to self-destruct as time goes by. This makes them even more susceptible to the diseases and sicknesses in the country that a ‘healthy’ immune system would be able to guard against. For young children, untreated HIV grants them a life expectancy of about 12 years.

On top of all this, we are finding that the doctors in Ghana also discriminate against HIV patients and do not want it known that they treat those with the disease. Additionally there are already few doctors in Ghana who are trained to assess and monitor HIV patients. These two factors combined have presented quite the hunt for us in uncovering access to effective treatment.

Long term, Acts2Collective is looking to develop an HIV Center/Clinic where HIV testing can be available, patients could come for checkups and have their blood levels checked consistently (imperative to the process of treating HIV with medicine), and the center would also contain a pharmacy and administer the doses for the daily medications needed – namely for the children in our mission center. The architectural drawings for the center are already complete. It will cost about $75,000 to build.

Short term, Acts2Collective needs to adequately be able to care for the HIV cases brought to us. Mainly funds are needed to cover doctor visits, medicine, and cost of physical needs for those we are caring for.

One such case is of a 9 year old girl named 'E' who is HIV+.  She lost both of her parents to AIDS and was being taken care of by her grandmother, but just two weeks ago her grandmother also passed away. Acts2Collective has been turned to for help in caring for 'E'.

Another case is that of 7 year old 'B' who is also HIV+.  He was recently abandoned by his mother in the village of Asikuma and is now being taken care of and living at our mission center in Asikuma.

Then there is 'M'….'A'….and 'J'…. The stories do not relent and the children in need keep coming. We want to be in position to provide a safe place for those turning to us for help, as well as to be able to take an offensive approach in effectively treating these children living with this virus.

HIV FACTS

HIV is spread in three main ways: Sexual contact, IV drug use (through the sharing of dirty needles), and mother to infant (through pregnancy, birth or breast feeding). HIV is not passed from one person to another by casual contact such as: touching or hugging; sharing household items like utensils, towels, and bedding; contact with sweat or tears; sharing facilities such as swimming pools, saunas, hot tubs, or toilets; or by coughing/sneezing.

HIV is not found in sweat, urine, feces, tears, saliva or snot. It is found in blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk.

While HIV may live for a short while outside of the body, HIV transmission has not been reported as a result of contact with spillages or small traces of blood, semen or other bodily fluids. This is partially because HIV dies quickly once exposed to the air, and also because spilled fluids would have to get into a persons bloodstream to infect them.

Resources:
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/
http://www.projecthopeful.org/hiv/hiv-aids-medical-facts 
http://www.bethanylifelines.org/your-childs-health/adopting-a-child-living-with-hivaids/

 

Backstory to the 1200 Club

In Jake’s words…

I remember February 2013 like it was yesterday. I was sitting in my office at Kingdom Courts organizing rosters for another basketball tournament when my phone rang. My caller ID showed the name Tim Day. It had been years since I talked with Tim and I thought the call was quite random. Tim is also an elder at Cornerstone Church so we had passed by each other from time to time within the church, but it had definitely been a while since we had talked outside of the cordial hello.

Tim was calling to tell me that Cornerstone Church was preparing to do a one time free will offering and that they would be giving all the money away. Tim also informed me that Cornerstone was prepared to give Kingdom Cares International a portion of those funds. He had no idea what the amount might be, but he did give me a couple of stipulations. Tim told me I was not allowed to just sit on the money in the bank account and with that being said he asked if I had any immediate needs and/or projects that the funds could be used for. I don’t believe Tim knew me real well at the point in time, but God is always laying projects on my heart so my immediate answer was of course we have a project (even though I had no idea at that time what we would do with extra funds). The conversation basically ended with “Ok that sounds great - we will be in touch!”

Over the next couple of months I did not hear much from Tim or the church as the free will offering had come and gone. Then in May of 2013 Tim decided to call me again and inform me that Kingdom Cares International would receive $40,000 from that free will offering. Just writing this still gives me goose bumps. Then he once again asked me if I had a project we could use the money for. Over the months in between the first phone call and this phone call God had clearly spoke to me about what we were to do with the funds. God was telling me to use the funds to build the first Kingdom Cares International Mission Center in Asikuma, Ghana where we could care for the most needy and orphaned children in this community.

There was one small problem. The vision that God laid upon my heart was a $200,000 project - not a $40,000 one. I believe I may have left out a few of those details for Tim as I just went with the flow and said we were going to use the funds to build the first ever Kingdom Cares Mission Center. The one thing God has taught me since 2008 is that if we are going to truly live a life for Christ then we have to walk by faith. David Platt in his book the “Radical” puts it this way, “We know we are doing something for God when we are in major trouble if He doesn’t show up.” The reason God asks us to walk by faith is so in the end He will always receive the glory and not the individual that God is using.

In June of 2013 when those funds were received by Kingdom Cares I knew it was time to walk by faith and pray like I have never prayed before as I would REALLY need God to show up on this one. We took the first $40,000 and purchased the land, hired the construction team, and started in on the foundation without one clue where the other $160,000 would come from. Over the next few months every time we ran out of cash God would lay it on someone’s heart to donate or a random check would show up in the mail and at a snail’s pace the project would continue. Over and over and over again, God would allow the account to hit $0.00 and then He would provide just a little more.

In the months after that first gift I would be out telling people about what Kingdom Cares was doing and how we are building this mission center in Asikuma, Ghana. Everyone’s first question to me was after it is built how are you going to meet the monthly operating cost? The truth was that I had no idea how we were going to meet the monthly operating expense (let alone actually get the mission center built)! I just knew that God was telling me to take the next step and he would work out all the details. This is where the rubber meets the road with an organization that believes in what the Bible says as absolute truth. In the world of business - with people who have resources - this ideology makes no sense and does not seem like something that would be smart to invest in. With that being said I received a lot of handshakes and compliments on what I was doing, but not a ton of outside financial support. However, I knew what the bible teaches on how we need to walk by faith and how God uses the foolish things of the world to teach the wise! I just prayed that this would become a reality with my walk as there were many nights I woke up at two in the morning wondering what in the world was I doing. I was just so thankful that during this time God’s voice was so was clear to me that I had no choice but to continue to follow the Lord’s prompting and continue to walk by faith.

Now let’s fast forward to a cold November night in 2013. It had been a long night of training at the Kingdom Courts gym and I was down to my last session of the night. As I was training God began to speak to me once again. The idea that was planted on my heart was so clear. God was asking me to start something called the 1200 club. The 1200 club would be where people could give $100 per/month for Kingdom Cares International projects and on-going operations for things like the Mission Center. I wrestled with God that $100 was just too much. Organizations like World Vision only ask for $35 per/month to sponsor a kid. $100 was certainly out of the question. I even asked God if we could just do the 600 club…$50 per/month…much more doable for people. I continued to get the same response back which was NO. I felt as though God was saying to me that I want it to be a number that when people commit to it, that it will be a step of faith into an organization that walks by faith. I believe that God does not want Kingdom Cares International to just be a place where some cool things happen internationally for the Gospel, but a place where God can use and teach others to walk by faith. With that being said I was done arguing with God and was willing to follow where the Spirit was leading.

On the way home that night I called Doug Vander Weide and laid out the 1200 club vision for him. Doug always supports my crazy ideas and gives me encouragement when I need it and it was no different that night. The next morning I woke up feeling a little crazy, but I have also gotten used to that feeling as this is a regular occurrence in my life. That morning I skipped my treadmill time at Anytime Fitness and rushed to our offices. I announced to my staff that in December we were going to host the first annual Kingdom Cares International breakfast where we would officially announce the 1200 club, and hopefully raise some additional funds for the Kingdom Cares Mission Center because the account was back on zero. Alex looked at me like I was crazy and I believe Todd may have added in that December is only a few weeks away. I guess I thank God for Ankeny Rental & HyVee catering because we pulled off that first breakfast!!

As I continued to wrestle through the 1200 club idea God told me to put the names of all the people who participate on the wall as you enter the Kingdom Courts facility. We were just going to put up one small section but God once again said, “NO, I want you to fill the entire wall” and that He would worry about the details of filling it with names. I told Greg to head to fast signs and get this wall designed and what the name plaques would look like. I praise God everyday for being surrounded by people who just say, “ok,” while I know in the back of their minds that they have to be thinking I am working for a crazy guy!

I still remember when the silver back drop of the wall was installed. It was installed without one name on it; yet I was confident in God’s voice telling me that in due time that wall would be filled with names. We kicked off the first breakfast and slowly some names were added to that wall. In March of 2014 God blessed us with a large gift that finished the mission center and names continued to be added to that wall. For over a year as I ran my training sessions on court 2 (purposefully so every night I could stare at that wall) I would see names slowly added, but would also stare at the big wall with the portion of plaques where there were no names. There were no names on the big wall for 364 days. During those 364 days there were many times that I wondered if I was losing my mind!! Then as only God would do it, the night before the 2nd annual Kingdom Cares International Breakfast the first wall had reached fulfillment at 54 names and one lone name was added to the big blank silver canvas on the second big wall. Since December, we have added 6 new names to that big empty wall with 5 new names in production to be added in the next week or so. As I stare at that silver canvas every Tuesday & Wednesday evening, I am reminded of the promises that God made in my life in 2008 when He began to teach me to walk by faith. I am reminded of June 2013 when we received that first gift from Cornerstone Church. I am reminded of that cold November night when God clearly spoke to me about getting people involved through the 1200 club. I am reminded about how God faithfully saw us through in the building of the mission center. I am reminded of how there are orphaned children now with their forever families. I am also reminded of the work yet to be done as one by one the empty spaces come to be filled.

Today I want to invite each of you to possibly take that step of faith and come alongside what Kingdom Cares International is doing and become a part of the 1200 club. God can do awesome things with our lives, but often he asks us to take the first step of faith so that His glory can fully be seen.

To become a part of the 1200 club please visit http://www.kingdomcares.org/donate/ and once on the form select Kingdom Cares, select recurring gift, and follow the steps from there.

Thank you for considering supporting our mission!

Jake

We Need 10

The operating costs for our Kingdom Cares International Missions Center and recently completed adjoining school have increased by $800 per month just over the past week.

This comes as we have welcomed 7 new children into the full-time care of our mission center last week...

as well as confirmed how we will navigate the daily and weekly operations of the school. Upon our arrival home from our recent trip, the school was completed and saw its official enrollment day last week on January 19, 2015. Over 100 children were enrolled...

Here is an outline of the program and costs for the school in excess of the general educational curriculum:

• Each student will receive lunch Monday through Saturday at the school (each student enrolled - other than those staying at our mission center - pays Ghc 1.50p for enrollment) 
• We will introduce extra-curricular activities on Saturdays for the school children. They will learn how to do beads, weave kente (traditional African cloth), make bags, and how to print on T-shirts. This is to help the children learn to support themselves as they grow. There will also be sports and games provided. 
• We will have 7 teachers for the week days and 3 teachers for the extra-curricular activities. 
• The classroom teachers will be paid 200.00 Cedis (Ghc) each per month. 
• Extra-curricular teachers will be paid 50.00 Cedis (Ghc) each per month. 
• Two women will help cook lunch for the students and will also help to bathe the children at the mission center and wash their clothes. 
• The cooks will be paid 200.00 Cedis (Ghc) each per month. 

In summary it will be a projected total of 1,950.00 cedis each month to run the school.

[In case you are wondering, 3.27 Ghana cedis is equivalent to 1 U.S. dollar]

In addition to this, we are also in need of about $200 more per month to cover the increasing costs of the food needs for the children staying at our mission center as more and more keep being welcomed in.

In light of all this, we are looking for 10 new donors to become a part of our 1200 Club.….of course more would be gratefully accepted! The 1200 Club is a 1 year commitment to donate $100 per month to Kingdom Cares International so that we can continue to fund and move forward with our projects such as that detailed above.

If you would like to become a member, or feel led to give a one-time donation, you can do so online at: https://kingdomcaresinternational.cloverdonations.com/kingdom-cares-mission-center/ [Note, in order to become a 1200 Club member select recurring donation on the form]

Thank you for your support!