During my last trip, I had the good fortune of addressing graduates of the New Life Christian Church's Widow Tailoring School. It was impromptu, but a special time indeed.
Enjoy!
-Ryan
Showing posts with label forgotten voices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label forgotten voices. Show all posts
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Greetings from airport - again
After a wonderful meatball sub & avacados & salad meal with sugar mango pudding for dessert, we couldn't sleep with excitemtn - though we all tried. We were all too excited to sleep. Excited to finally be in Africa and pumped to continue getting to know one another. Already the conversation has started about how we can use our collected gifts to help tell the stories of people we've met already.
Stories of kids here always amaze me. About 150 kids were there for the first day at Aurora Primary School yesterday. Aurora is a K-7 school about 30 min from the airport, set on a beautiful farm. It will be two weeks until they have a better understanding of the count. Kids come from 30 kilometers away, some by foot or bus. We got to meet all the kids informally, in a mass setting while they were playing a game. The energy of screaming kids is always reenergizing. Many don't have parents, or have parents absent or abusive. It was clear that Aurora was a place of healing for some and will be for those that arrived yesterday for the first time.
It is always good to see my friends, the Walkers, who lead Aurora, but especially good. There is so much going on in their lives. Please join me in praying for a house closer to the school, building construction & adjustments underway, and plans to floor classrooms and pay more teachers. Some of ths they don't have funds for, but the are faithful people. We look forward to being ambassadors for them as we return to share their stories.
James rose early this morning to the sounds of birds outside. Rob managed to go back to sleep after awaking. I slept soundly until 15 min before we left for the airport. :) Oops. Just picked up some muffins and OJ at the airport lounge so, Katie, you don't need to worry. We will also eat on the plane. We leave in 50 min for Zambia. Excited to see Remmy again.
Thanks to the Lockwood family for picking us up, feeding us, and housing us. We are so thankful for your love and support. Without your assistance and encouragement - "a welcoming place" - we would not enter Zambia as refreshed as we are this morning.
Lots of love to you all. Thanks for joining us on the journey.
Until Zambia,
Ryan (for James & Rob)
PS if you follow our tweets - but especially for our wives - we wisely decided not to buy Ferraris at the Ferrari store. In fact, we managed to tick off the woman mopping the store. She scowled us out before we could even seriously consider it. :) Alas, another day without ferraris. :)
Stories of kids here always amaze me. About 150 kids were there for the first day at Aurora Primary School yesterday. Aurora is a K-7 school about 30 min from the airport, set on a beautiful farm. It will be two weeks until they have a better understanding of the count. Kids come from 30 kilometers away, some by foot or bus. We got to meet all the kids informally, in a mass setting while they were playing a game. The energy of screaming kids is always reenergizing. Many don't have parents, or have parents absent or abusive. It was clear that Aurora was a place of healing for some and will be for those that arrived yesterday for the first time.
It is always good to see my friends, the Walkers, who lead Aurora, but especially good. There is so much going on in their lives. Please join me in praying for a house closer to the school, building construction & adjustments underway, and plans to floor classrooms and pay more teachers. Some of ths they don't have funds for, but the are faithful people. We look forward to being ambassadors for them as we return to share their stories.
James rose early this morning to the sounds of birds outside. Rob managed to go back to sleep after awaking. I slept soundly until 15 min before we left for the airport. :) Oops. Just picked up some muffins and OJ at the airport lounge so, Katie, you don't need to worry. We will also eat on the plane. We leave in 50 min for Zambia. Excited to see Remmy again.
Thanks to the Lockwood family for picking us up, feeding us, and housing us. We are so thankful for your love and support. Without your assistance and encouragement - "a welcoming place" - we would not enter Zambia as refreshed as we are this morning.
Lots of love to you all. Thanks for joining us on the journey.
Until Zambia,
Ryan (for James & Rob)
PS if you follow our tweets - but especially for our wives - we wisely decided not to buy Ferraris at the Ferrari store. In fact, we managed to tick off the woman mopping the store. She scowled us out before we could even seriously consider it. :) Alas, another day without ferraris. :)
Monday, November 15, 2010
On to Zambia!
After 6 days in Zimbabwe traversing between multiple project partners including Foundations for Farming, Mtshabezi Secondary School, and The Rock Church among others, the team from Forgotten Voices has moved on to Zambia. You may have noticed from their tweets that the team's schedule has been incredibly busy, a roller coaster ride of mixed emotions as they reunite with old friends and also become reacquainted with their hardships.
Today the team has landed in Ndola to visit the Theological College of Central Africa and meet up with Zambian Program Director, Remmy Hamapande. Leading up to this trip, Remmy had the opportunity to visit the United States for the first time, speaking at numerous events and learning a lot about America culture (and enjoying no small amount of pizza along the way!).
Tomorrow the team will visit Lubuto Church of Christ, an hour and a half drive from their current location in Ndola. Through partnership with Forgotten Voices, Lubuto Church of Christ has been able to send over 80 orphans to school, provide sewing and empowerment projects to 32 widows, and construct a hammer mill for the community.
With the hammer mill in place, the church is now able to generate enough income to sustainably provide for the orphans and widows it currently supports. This project is a powerful example of what successful international partnership can look like, a model that Forgotten Voices is seeking to replicate elsewhere. It's important to note that the ideas for these self-sustaining projects are generated and spearheaded by the local people, as they clearly know what's most needed in their own communities. Forgotten Voices can then act as a conduit for their plans to become a reality.
Please continue to keep the Lubuto Church of Christ in your prayers, as well as our team. May the team's visit provide encouragement to the local community and leadership there as they seek to empower a growing number of orphans and widows across the region.
You can also keep up with the team's journey on facebook as they continue their time in Zambia.
Today the team has landed in Ndola to visit the Theological College of Central Africa and meet up with Zambian Program Director, Remmy Hamapande. Leading up to this trip, Remmy had the opportunity to visit the United States for the first time, speaking at numerous events and learning a lot about America culture (and enjoying no small amount of pizza along the way!).
Tomorrow the team will visit Lubuto Church of Christ, an hour and a half drive from their current location in Ndola. Through partnership with Forgotten Voices, Lubuto Church of Christ has been able to send over 80 orphans to school, provide sewing and empowerment projects to 32 widows, and construct a hammer mill for the community.
With the hammer mill in place, the church is now able to generate enough income to sustainably provide for the orphans and widows it currently supports. This project is a powerful example of what successful international partnership can look like, a model that Forgotten Voices is seeking to replicate elsewhere. It's important to note that the ideas for these self-sustaining projects are generated and spearheaded by the local people, as they clearly know what's most needed in their own communities. Forgotten Voices can then act as a conduit for their plans to become a reality.
Please continue to keep the Lubuto Church of Christ in your prayers, as well as our team. May the team's visit provide encouragement to the local community and leadership there as they seek to empower a growing number of orphans and widows across the region.
You can also keep up with the team's journey on facebook as they continue their time in Zambia.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
