T Minus One

Tomorrow is the day! Gwen, Jenifer and I leave Oak Harbor at 8 AM on Monday to head to the airport. We are all packed and ready to go. Our bags are stuffed and weight exactly 50 pounds each. The next post you read will be from Tanzania.

I would like to thank the Oak Harbor Church of Christ for all their encouragement and support. In just a few weeks they donated just over $600 that will be sent to the Moshi Church of Christ for their building fund. If any of you reading this happen to live in Oak Harbor and are thinking about attending a church I would like to encourage you to give the Oak Harbor Church of Christ a try. If you have been to other churches in the past but left feeling empty or judged - please do not give up on church - give us a try. This church is filled with real people - not people pretending to be something they are not. Jesus does not require us to pretend to be perfect. He knows and everyone else in this world knows we are all human and we all screw up!!! Thankfully Jesus loves us in spite of our screw ups - and we should love each other in spite of our screw ups! If you are unsure, have not been to church in a long time or have never been to church please know that the people of the Oak Harbor Church of Christ will welcome you just as you are. Church is a great place to learn more about Jesus and to get to know others. If you would like more information you can go to http://www.churchofchrist-oh.org/. We look forward to meeting you.

Next stop - Tanzania!

Light of Children Orphan Home

Below is a portion of the latest newsletter from Phil and Amy Carter about the orphanage.

The “Light of Children” Orphan Home
We have made huge progress in the planning and implementation of the orphan home here in Moshi. This is a work that I have partnered in with a local tour company operator here in Moshi. His name is Keshange. He and I go years back to 1999. Keshange founded this orphan home earlier this year and asked me if I wanted to help with this work. He knew of my work in Kenya with orphans and of our love for children in general. So we started to make plans and dreams for the children’s home.

In March of this year we met with local lawyers and drew up the documents for the Tanzanian government and for the lease agreement on the orphan home. Right now the children sleep on the dirt floor in the open air breezeway of a mud dwelling. They are all street kids who have no family to care for them. Some come from abandonment situations but most come from parents who have died of AIDS. In fact, two of these beautiful children are infected themselves and will likely die before they reach 10 years old. The situation for these children is bad, but we are working hard to change this. We have paid rent on a dwelling that was used for a bar in the past. It is an open hall that needs walls built in and renovations before they can live in it. Things like plumbing, running water, electricity, and bedding are needed. The owner of the dwelling has extended us a five year level rent lease in the amount of just $44 per month. He is so excited about the building being taken from the devil and used for God’s children. He has even extended to us the permission to make any renovations and changes to the building that we wish.

The building will be able to house more than 24 children comfortably. Right now we have 13 boys but we see a day when girls may be added. It is very rare to find a girl in the streets here because they are easily taken in by people, but boys are not so lucky. However, we are adding a special bunk room just for girls. We pray we will never need it and it will remain empty because that means there are no girls in the streets. But we want to be ready if the need is there. I have also made arrangement with the best doctor in town to treat our children for free and we have gotten the government to agree to free education also. They have only one condition before the children can go to school, the must be living in a home first. This is our priority now, to get them into the home. But first the renovations must be done to make the home safe and livable. To do this we need help. A team of volunteers from the Oak Harbor Church of Christ in Washington State are coming out in October to help us with this work and with the Haruma Christian Pre-School project. The team will be focused on outreach through their manual labor at the home and school. We are excited for their coming and for the work they will do. The renovations will cost us around $14,000. We have already raised $1000 towards this goal.

Safari Life

Here are a few photos from the safari I took in March. They were all taken in Northern Tanzania and will be a big contrast to city life.

What Can I Do To Help??

I have had many people ask me what they can do to help. The most important thing you can do is to pray! Pray for our safety - Tanzania is a relatively stable country but there is a lot of poverty and we don't look like locals. Pray for our health - there are many little bugs and parasites that our bodies are not used to. Pray for our guidance - please ask that God guide the work we do so that it will be beneficial to his kingdom.

The other thing you can do is to make a donation to one of our projects. Anything you donate will go directly to the project you choose; church building, school, or the orphanage. Nothing will go to our living or travel expenses. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation you may send your check to Africa Now Ministries, c/o Karen Cox, 1000 NE Koetje Street, Oak Harbor, WA, 98277. Please make your check to Africa Now Ministries and note in the memo line where you would like your money to go - church building, school, or the orphanage. Any amount will be greatly appreciated and will go a long way toward making life just a bit better in East Africa.

The projects we have going are simply a stepping stool to help the local people create a better life for themselves. There are many Moshi citizens involved in each project because if the local people do not take ownership of each project there is no hope for a sustainable long term project.

Getting Ready

We leave for Moshi only 4 weeks from today. Our team is busy getting ready and making sure we have all the necessary items we will need for 5 weeks away. In East Africa the women dress much more modestly than we do here in the US and as we are trying to work within their culture it is important that we respect the differences. Basically our dress code is to always cover the knees and shoulders, wear nothing too tight and nothing with a low neck line. The most difficult for me has been that women wear long skirts even when doing manual labor. I have been searching the thrift shops for simple skirts that go down to the ankles. I think skirts will be much cooler than pants but since I have the thighs of a linebacker I am also looking for something cool to wear under the skirt to prevent chaffing. It has been an interesting search and I have tried everything from cut off pantyhose to men's football underwear - so far I think the cheap, cut off pantyhose will work best.

It is also cultural to give a gift when invited to someones home. I have had a good time shopping around for proper gifts. With Phil's guidance, I have purchased a variety of nice kitchen towels, some beaded bracelets, fun key chains, bouncy balls, and nice ball point pens. It was much easier to buy for the women and children than it was for the men. My mom has sent me some of her beaded watches to take as gifts and a client of mine gave me 10 My Utmost For His Highest books to give to any of the congregation who might want them. Many of them do speak English so I think they will enjoy this book. I also have crayons, pens, pencils and paper for the kids in the orphanage.

How can we benefit the people of East Africa without trying to turn it into a little USA? I feel it is so important to be of help within their culture not to change their culture and to give people a step stool so they can make their own changes. 5 weeks is not much time to do anything but hopefully this will not be the last time I am there. I will do my best to spend this time getting to know the people and their culture. Hopefully God will open a door while I am there and show me a path that will enable me to work more closely within this wonderful country.