My upcoming outreach to East Africa will be different
than the two I did in 1997 and 1998.
I can feel it in my bones.
And the nonprofit is different,
as I am different.
The organization has grown, to be sure.
And I?
Well, I've changed,
maybe it's growth,
I guess it depends on how you look at it.
Going through trauma,
tragedy,
hard ships,
challenges
they impact a person,
either for good or for bad
and often both.
I won't be traveling with my husband this time.
In fact, he is arriving home from his own trip today.
I won't be under his shadow.
I shared my confusion from those trips sixteen years ago.
I have considered my concerns carefully,
been in prayer.
I won't be taking antimalarial medication,
instead I'm taking Chinese herbs,
which have proven to work well
keeping the malaria parasite away.
My goal is to focus on the national staff,
the ones who do the grueling,
emotional work day in and day out.
I plan to
serve along side them
as they feed the hungry children one cup of porridge
in the Katwe slum,
also as they work with the kids,
teaching them chess skills and stradegy,
which translate well in their real life of day to day survival.
Phiona Mutesi, is a fine example of this.
I hope to visit families with staff,
encouraging them
praying with them
sitting with them in their huts.
I hope to toil with the national staff
up north,
working the red dirt of the garden
on the Koro Property.
A place where they teach people how to farm,
a necessary skill lost from years of war
and hiding from Joseph Koni.
I hope to be of assistance as the northern staff
provide trauma care for those who were kidnapped and forced to fight,
then somehow escaped.
May God's Will be done,
May the Holy Spirit work in me.
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