New Work

Hello Everyone,

I have made the sad but exciting transition out of ALICT to full time work at Kuyasa. I miss my friends from many nations and have been emailing regularly with many of them.

I want to thank all of you who were willing to help my friends that were mentioned in the last entry. One in particular is still in great need. He works as a Missionary in northern Ivory Coast and is struggling to feed his family and keep a roof over their head. I wish that all of you could meet him, he is the most gentle, humble and full of faith man I have ever met. His trust in God is amazing. Please let me know if you would like to get in contact with him or would like more information about him. I would love to help him find some on-going supporters. I will be sending a portion of my tithe to him.

I am in my second week at Kuyasa. I have been praying and thinking through all the options with both Kuyasa and continuing with projects linked to ALICT. I have been observing the Kayamandi community as well as Kuyasa and another NGO in Kayamandi called Prochorus. I have a lot of amazing options and everyone needs help, of course. The difficult thing about everyone needing help is that it is easy to do things because others express a desperate need and sympathy is very compelling but, it is important to take the time to find what will be the most effective in this context as well as, what God has put in me to give.

I have been using a lot of the information I received in training at ALICT to connect to the community, do research and network with different NGOs. The strategic planning of projects is also something that is and will continue to be a really important tool in the next several months. It is important for me to be able to finish what I begin here and ensure that my objectives are realistic. The following is the narrowed list of projects that I would like to be involved in over the next two years. Exploring the specifics of each project, my role and the partners I will be working with will be the focus of the next few weeks. Please pray that I would have wisdom and understand how to use my time the most effectively.

• Creating and illustrating 14 page manual for children and youth on creating Food Gardens to be used in schools in Madagascar and other Africa nations
• Research and writing of Policy & Procedure, Program and Job Descriptions for Kuyasa
• Research and recording a transferable model for the Kuyasa Programs and set-up
• Continue to help the young woman here who I met thought ALICT working to begin her own business and community classes in sewing
• Participating in the creation of 16 weeks of Trauma Support Group curriculum for ages 8-12
• Conducting a Trial of the curriculum here in Kayamandi in partnership with the Child Rape Services through Prochorus
• Enhancing Workshops for parents and Orphan Caregivers
• Creating curriculum for Parenting Workshops
• Teaching and creating an annual curriculum for the Crafts and Fine Arts Program
• Participating in the research and writing of a Musical that will tell the story and history of the community of Kayamandi
• Helping to direct and coach Kayamandi Youth in the preparation and performance of the Musical

I have also been helping with the Learning Center and Feeding Programs here. Each day approximately 250 children come to Kuyasa to receive a hot meal, approximately 40 stay regularly for tutoring in academics. This is not what I want to be doing regularly, but they really need help and we all fill in where there is a need. I will also be helping with the Kuyasa Kids Performing Arts Group, offering some technical support for local shows. They have two this weekend.

Please pray that God will help me say no when I need to and set limits with my time. Thank you all for you prayers and care. I love you all and will try to post again next week.