Nurse heading to Kenya to assist Nick
CarrieAnne Bentley is a nurse from New York who has been working with YWAM's Beautiful Gate AIDS home in South Africa. She will be flying into Nairobi in September to join Nick and Dr. Oronje with their work with the AIDS patients in Eldoret.


New Dodoma Photo Gallery up!
Jo French just sent some beautiful new photos of the Lahash Child Sponsorship Program in Dodoma Tanzania. The kids are receiving medical care, food, and school assistance through North American sponsors. One of these sponsors just dropped out, so there are two children now who need a sponsor. Email me if you'd like care for one or both of these children through the program.

Sudanese Orphan Sponsorship
Stephen Alvarez is a photographer who shoots for Time and National Geographic (to name a couple). In 2002, he traveled to Uganda and visited the Amazing Grace Orphanage. His stunning black and white photos capture the bleak reality of life caught between the two civil wars - one in Uganda, and the other in Sudan. Stephen and his wife April are hosting an exhibit in Tennessee, and the proceeds will be sent through a partnership with Lahash to the children at Amazing Grace and St. Bartholomew's. This will inaugurate the new orphan sponsorship that Lahash is about to unveil. Children in Uganda and Sudan can be sponsored at $30 per month - providing school funds, food, clothes, shoes, and medical essentials.

And some more photos...
I've had a flood of beautiful photos in the office here recently! Chris Westbrook returned from Uganda and the Amazing Grace Orphanage - and sent me his artistic and colorful photos. The photo below is of the Amazing Grace compound at night.

The next photo below is when they went out on the water on Lake Victoria.
And finally, Jo French sent me a collection of photos - the picture below is of one of the kids in the Dodoma Sponsorship program receiving a medical checkup at the church. I'll have the photos in online galleries in the next few days for everyone to see.

Rain Rain Rain
The team in Eldoret Kenya is swamped with precipitation at the moment. Dr. Oronje reports that they can't use the little white ambulance regularly because of the conditions of the roads - it takes too much time to keep digging out.

The team has added 4 more HIV positive clients to their rounds, and have been using the ambulance to bring many of them in for medication and checkups at the local hospital. This past week one of the clients, a lady named Josphat, who has been on ARVs (Anti Retro Viral - AIDS medicines) was found dead on her guinea sack that she used as a mattress. Unfortunately she had been taking some alcohol on the side with her ARVs, and her body gave out.
The work continues in earnest tending to the sick and testing for the the presence of HIV. The baby below is being tested for AIDS, and was found positive. The baby will most likely have another 5 to 10 years of life.


A story of Hope!
This is Mary Nyambura. She is a grandmother who is HIV positive and has been sick with TB for the last 3 months. Mary is the caretaker for 5 of her grandchildren - two who lost their parents to AIDS. Mary has been improving significantly over the past several months - due to the daily visits from the Dr. and through the donations of food through Lahash. Thank you to all of you for your role in this community's development! Nick and the doctor ask for prayers for these faces, and especially for the upcoming funeral for Josphat.

Uganda News
Brandi and Becca are two young ladies from the Portland area who are traveling in Uganda for a couple of months working with orphans. They've been in the city of Gulu recently, and made a stop at the Amazing Grace Orphanage and met up with Kim Davey from Imago Dei. They update their blog fairly regularly - with real honest and touching comments from both of them. They've also just updated a photo album!
The photo above is of Brandi, Susan Tabia, and Kim Davey at Amazing Grace Orphanage. The photo to the left is of Brandi holding an orphan.

AIDS and Jo French
Did you know 40 million people have AIDS?
Did you know 14 million kids have been orphaned by AIDS?
Did you know 3 million people died this year from AIDS?

Jo French is back in the United States for a couple of months. She's currently attending an AIDS conference in Toronto, Canada. You can follow along with the conference blog here. The statistics above are some of the numbers the conference is reminding people to absorb and take action on.

Portland News
This Sunday I'll be presenting to Imago Dei community on our art exhibit coming up this fall. Look for our news in the bulletin and catch us for a chat after the services. The black + white exhibit is at blackwhiteafrica.com
Later that evening, Erin and I will be presenting at Vibrant Community about the vision of Lahash and some of the video from our last trip.

Kenya
Nick reports that rain is dousing the countryside these days. Yesterday he and Dr. Oronje were making the rounds in the little white ambulance, and it was rainy and dark. The car slid into a ditch and they decided to sleep in the car for the night.
As they tried to catch some sleep in the little seats, they observed numerous men sneaking women in and out of homes for sexual encounters. Often they would go to the homes of men that worked night shifts.
The lady below is a sex worker that is asking Dr. Oronje and Nick for help. She has two kids and claims that it is only because of the kids and not being able to feed them that she is a sex worker.

The fellow below is drinking down some frothy "Kumi Kumi" which is the local beer in Kenya. He told Nick that the women that sell the beer wait until the customers are drunk, and then steal their belongings. He said sometimes he spends his whole salary on beer money, and so his wife began selling herself as a prostitute. He eventually chased her away and now lives alone.


Nick also wanted to post this note on the blog: "To all sex workers in the world. Know this. Prostitution does not pay, you will reap a harvest of tears and pain if you survive to tell the story."

Uganda and Sudan
Susan reports that Kim is loving Sudan at the moment. Kim will be returning shortly back to the United States, and will decide then if she will end up being a nursery school teacher in southern Sudan - any teachers want to join her?

Michael Christmas and Chris Westbrooke sent this photo of their time in Uganda last month.


And some final news
There are so many exciting things happening here in the Lahash hub and across Africa - that sometimes it's tough to know what all to talk about. This past week has seen more friends join up with the Lahash team, a woman from Denmark is donating 600 pairs of reading glasses to the friends in Sudan, a local lady offered her screen printing services, and a more parterships with churches opened up! I truly can't even keep up with the emails and assistance and interest. Thanks to all of you for your participation. Thanks for being a part of the hope in Africa. Please continue to pray for the partners in East Africa, peace in Uganda, and for good decision making on the part of the leadership team in Portland.

Sex Worker Season in Eldoret Kenya
It's time to harvest wheat and maize (corn) in the highlands of Eldoret, Kenya. This means a large influx of truckers coming into town to carry away the grains, and extra money for the farmers in town. Unfortunately, this also means the "parking girls" or prostitutes of the nation flock to Eldoret. AIDS and STDs are transmitted. Nick and the team there will be speaking and counseling the women and men of the area to avoid these behaviors - the behaviors that lead to death.

Nick spoke with a coffin builder the other day, who said he actually prays for the people of the region to become sick and die - he says he needs money for his kids school fees. "Bwana, imagine what people can say!" writes Nick.

Oronje's son Ferdinand is sick at the moment, and they ask for prayer for his health.

Mama Margaret wanted to share this note with the team:
''As you abound in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence and in your love for us - see that you abound in this grace also. God is able to make all grace abound towards the Lahash team, that you always have sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work you are doing."

beauty * culture * war * aids * hope

Our family. The people next door - and around the world. All colors, all races, all tribes. And on our world stage, Africa stumbles - a magnificent beauty with a history of culture, laughter, and life. Crushed and in pain, the continent cries for help. "My sister was raped, my mother died of AIDS. My brother is a child soldier, my children are sick with malaria."

And what is our response? Can we - the honored and blessed and healthy and well fed - leave our family behind at such a time as this?

Not this year.

This October the people of Portland Oregon are banding together in support of the kids, the widows, the sick, and the helpless in Africa. We will not stand by as the coffins increase. We join with the thousands of heroes across the ocean and pledge our prayers, our hearts, and our help.

This October Portland will host an art showcase. We want to honor the people, the beauty, and the culture of Africa. And we cry together as war and AIDS devastate the land. And we unite as one, black and white, in hope for tomorrow.

This October painters, poets, filmmakers, sculptors, musicians, and art fans will convene to celebrate, mourn, and act.

Contact Lahash at info@lahash.net for more on how you can volunteer to help, submit artwork, or join your community in the effort this fall!