Kibera and AIDS team Update
Nick traveled to Kibera (the slums of nearly 1 million inhabitants) this week. He's visiting Margaret, doing some tests for a computer classes, and looking in purchasing clothing for the small business they'd like to begin to help with the Sex Worker Recovery Program (Renew).
The picture on the left is of Margaret in her school/home in Kibera. For those of you who are familiar with this partnership of Lahash, we are joined with Mama Margaret in the slums of Nairobi providing help for an AIDS orphan school there. The kids meet in six classrooms, have one meal each day, and learn some basic kindergarten lessons for free. The slums only has 3 official government schools available to the public. Mama Margaret wrote recently that they were 3 months behind in rent at the school. We were able to provide one month (about $120 for the 6 classrooms and home) but it would be wonderful to get a community of friends that could help with this need each month. Those that are interested can send an email to info@lahash.net

The team in Kenya have a had a busy month. Dr. Oronje went to Kericho for some training at an AIC (Africa Inland Church) seminar. The event was organized by AIC Iten, and was meant to integrate the spiritual healing that is needed when working on health issues in a community.

So the participants went through several days of training and received some certificates for the program. Oronje is back in Eldoret now working in the clinic.

Lahash Myspace Account
Lahash now has a myspace account! For those of you with myspace accounts - you can click on over to myspace.com/lahash to network with Lahash, share comments, and put us in your top 8 friends list!

Board Meeting and Paperwork status
We had our first official board meeting on Saturday, with Leisha, Karin, and Erin and I in attendance. We've signed the paperwork, and are ready to incorporate this week or early next week. Thanks for your patience everyone. Soon this organization can really get moving!

GLOBAL NIGHT COMMUTE THIS WEEK!

The Invisible Children movement is culminating this week with a march to sleep in the centers of the cities of the developed world. 31,000 people and counting. The Portland event will be held in Pioneer Square on April 29th from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM. I'll be there along with hundreds (possibly thousands) of friends. A couple others from Portland that have visited Lahash projects will be there, and my friend Erik Wecks is an organizer and speaker at the event! Come out, bring your friends, spread the word, pack your sleeping bag, and stand with the kids in Uganda that don't have a voice.



SAVE DARFUR RALLY

As the sun breaks over the Pioneer Square in Portland, we will wake up and attend a SaveDarfur rally - another very important event and cause. Darfur continues to experience "acts of genocide" - the term that gives the international community the severity of the issue without the responsiblity. The question is - if I or if you have had our hearts broken over Hotel Rwanda - why are we letting this happen again? If the holocaust fills us with pain, why do we turn our eyes from the slaughter in Darfur? And does it really have to have a neat label of "Genocide" for all of us to feel ready to involve ourselves?

These are two very important causes. They are going to be acts of community where we stand with our friends in East Africa. The awareness, the political prompting, the prayers, and the connection with the friends in Uganda and Sudan can literally change the newspaper headlines! Will you join us this weekend to change the world?

News from Kenya
Nick sent me a some new photos of the work in Eldoret. They've been using the new car to make the rounds helping out families with AIDS. The photo above is of Kitonga's family - his little girls - the youngest one is named Maggie and she was born with AIDS. The team in Kenya has been excited about the quicker response time with the car. Dr. Oronje is at a seminar this week in Kericho.

Amazing Grace Orphanage News
There's lots of exciting stuff going on with the team in Sudan and Uganda. There are several visitors from other countries going to be traveling to the orphanage this summer. They will help with teaching and music and encouraging the kids and staff.

Susan writes that most things are going well, although the blue lorry broke down, and the drought still has lingering effects on both orphanages. Susan has also asked if Lahash can consider expanding their support of the St. Bartholomew orphanage. A Canadian team earlier this year built 3 new dorms, and at this point they are vacant. Susan would like to begin accepting the younger kids - the infants and toddlers - but this requires another level of commitment from Lahash. We currently support the Orphanage there at $300 per month, but we would need another $200 of commitments to allow these orphan babies to live at the orphanage. If you, your family or your community would be interested in taking care of these kids, please contact Lahash.

Karin Rosain interviewed Emmanuel Lasu while we were at the Amazing Grace Orphanage. Lasu is a musician from Sudan who sings about the "mamaland" and his album is uniting the Southern Sudanese at this tense moment in history. You can read his personal story here.

And I've uploaded the pictures of all the Amazing Grace kids onto the web - you can read about each kid with some personal details. My goal this month is to create a program where you can sponsor the kids from Amazing Grace in the same way we are meeting the needs of the kids in Tanzania. I'll provide more details soon on that.

AIDS Medical Care Car Purchased!
Nick just sent me these pictures of the Silas Christian Foundation purchase of a used Datsun. The car will be used to make sure all of the AIDS patients in the slums of Silas and Munyaka are taken care of. These slums have very poor access, and walking at night can be dangerous. The rains make transportation even tougher. Until now the only alternatives were bicycles or calling an expensive taxi. Now Dr. Oronje and Nick are able to make quick rounds and respond rapidly to emergencies in the area. They express their love and thanks to you for the prayers and for the donation of this vehicle!

The top photo is of Nick picking up the blind HIV positive client Jennifer to take her for a checkup at the clinic. The car needs a few upgrades to get it running real well, but its already a tremendous help for the vulnerable in the region.

Trip to Texas
In 3 hours I'll be flying down to Texas for two weeks. I'll be staying at Camp Eagle, where I'll be integrating the Lahash mission and vision and partner projects into the summer program. Please pray for my flight there and the words and images and group processing that will be planned during these two weeks.

Progress on the Board and the Incorporation
Many of you will be interested to know that our board is complete! Karin Rosain will be the chairperson, Dan Holcomb the president, Erin Willett the secretary, and Liesha Adams is the treasurer.

Also, on Friday I had another meeting with our incredible lawyers, Emily and Marco, and we are days away from incorporating, finishing our bylaws, adopting them as a board, and then onto the 501(c)3 application. Please continue to pray for us as we make long term decisions regarding the structure of Lahash.

Home Front
Thank you very much to all of you for your personal support for me (Dan Holcomb). For those of you who don't know, Lahash is committed to sending 100% of donations to Africa. This means that those on staff at Lahash (currently just me) need to raise their own support. I'm raising $2000 per month, which will be used for personal expenses, travel costs, and office needs. As of April 2nd, I've been able to raise $600 per month. With a good chunk of that going just to printing costs, there is still a big need at the moment. If any of you would like to help with personal or administration costs, please email, call (503-348-7265), or write to: Dan Holcomb, 10750 NE 4th Ave, Portland, OR 97211. Thank you!