Monday, July 31, 2006

Jo visits the Silas Christian Foundation
Jo French (working in Tanzania with the Mennonite Church of Dodoma) recently visited the friends in Eldoret Kenya to see the work they've been doing there and to encourage the team. Jo has some beautiful photos on her blog, and I've reposted a couple here:


Nick holds one of the young kids from the slums of Silas and Munyaka.


Jo holds a baby that has been brought in for medical treatment at Dr. Oronje's clinic in Munyaka.


Mary, Nick, and Dr. Oronje check out the location of the clothing store they hope to purchase.

Friday, July 21, 2006


News from Kim Davey
Kim Davey, a friend from Imago Dei, is living with the orphans in Uganda and Sudan for a month and a half. The following are excerpts from her email this morning:

I was quite excited to land in Africa. I could not help but smile, I was finally in Africa after all of these years. After collecting my luggage and going through customs I saw the sign reading “Kim Davey”. I have never loved seeing my name in print more.

I stayed five days in the capital city of Uganda, Kampala. I stayed in a sort of makeshift orphanage where about seven or eight children live. These children are not able to move to the other two orphanages because they are being tested for AIDS. One or both of their parents died from the disease and it is not yet determined if they too have the disease. Please pray for these beautiful young ones.

On the first night that I was there the older girls braided my hair and the little ones sat and petted my head.

I also attended the local church. It was so amazing that I don’t think any words I know can describe what it was like to worship with those people. They were dancing, clapping, singing, and worshipping with their whole heart. I could not help but cry. The minister spoke on Romans 15 and encouraged us to mimic our missional Lord. Our God is good!!!

I am now in Adjumani. Susan, who I have been with the whole time, is wonderful. She treats me like a daughter, constantly encouraging me to eat, eat, eat. I swear that I will come home as big as a house. I also met Ezbon. I was so surprised when I met him. He is nothing like I imagined. He is SO young. At first, he reminded me of a GQ model. He is so popular here. I have grown to really enjoy him. His personality and excitement is contagious. There are also two other very nice men here and they look after me like I am a child. I feel very, very safe.

Today I start teaching English to the children and some of the helpers including one 17 year old boy. I will not tell you all of his story, but know that while Susan explained this boy's story I had to keep from crying because he was standing there. Please pray for him. His name is Francis. His story, for some reason, touched me more than even the movie-like images of the dirty, half naked refugee children.

After playing Crazy Kickball with the kids, I was so happy. I love it here!!! It is so beautiful. Although I am not yet used to people looking at me everywhere I go and children yelling “muzungu”, I have found the people so warm and friendly. It is good.

Please pray for not only the children here in the orphanage, they are well cared for, but also the street and refugee children. Please pray for them.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

The State of Southern Sudan
Susan Tabia mailed a bunch of new photos to me this week. She describes the following pictures with these words:

"These vulnerable children in Kajo Keji need humanitarian help (clothing, food, school supplies). These orphans are taken care of by an old grandmother. They stay in their small hut that needs to be repaired." - Susan Tabia

"Leya Poni is a 74 year old woman. She is a leper, and her children have developed the same illness. She needs a house (hut) and other humanitarian assistance." - Susan Tabia

Susan Tabia and her team of widows and caretakers meet with these people regularly for prayer and counseling. Lahash has a leper assistance program that you can give to, and also a widows fund. Today in Tennessee a group of schools will be pooling together resources for a "Cash For Lahash" garage sale to help the widows in need. Thanks to Nora Loane for putting on that sale!

Tuesday, July 18, 2006


Community Progress in Kenya
Nick and the team in Eldoret Kenya are focused on making changes on a system wide level. Recently the Silas Christian Foundation organized a collection of young people to help pour back into the community rather than staying idle. Unemployment is high in the area, and keeping the youth occupied and focused on community projects provides a world of hope and change for the city.

Dr. Oronje took the picture of this man below. He's a beggar in the city. Notice his diseased foot, the 50 cent shirt, and the cigarette in hand. Nick mentions the following in his most recent email:



This man has made me loose sleep for the last four days. My brain is fighting trying to see what can I do to change his life. He just begs for money here at the Munyaka bus stop. Then the money he gets he uses for smoking. I was wondering how people can be good samaritans by giving him money for smoking instead of buying food and clothes for him. Just imagine - look at his legs - zoom in and you will clearly see the way this guy is feeling pain inside his body. Thank God because you are the way you are.

I have talked to many people here to see how can we help this guy coz the life he is living is not life. This is near to death. I have told others the story of this guy and its like no one wants to care for him. It's not that he doesn't have a family (he does) but no one minds - which is very bad. I just wanted you to see this photo - maybe it can educate other people so they'll learn that it's good they say thank you to GOD.

Saturday, July 15, 2006


Cash For Lahash Yard Sale
Kate Goodell found the Amazing Grace Children's Choir video online several months ago. This past Saturday she and the friends there in Orlando organized a yard sale to raise money for the kids in Sudan and their destroyed school building. Kate send me these photos this morning! Relevant Magazine Article Here

A couple of months ago, my friend Ally (who also attends Imago Dei) organized some of the high school students at her school in Gresham Oregon to raise money for school supplies for the kids in Sudan and Uganda. She was able to raise $500 for the cause!
We went to the local Fred Meyer about a month ago, and picked out a bunch of school supplies and a few gifts. We then packaged those up and sent them with Kim Davey who has just arrived in Uganda this week. She'll be donating them to the orphan children over the next month.

Thanks so much to Ally and the friends in Gresham - and to Kate and all the friends in Orlando Florida!

For more photos on what's been happening across the United States this year, visit the new Partnership Photo Gallery!

Some other Africa Links
BBC Photo Gallery on Hunger and AIDS in Swaziland
And a new film coming out about AIDS in Africa Dear Francis

Tuesday, July 11, 2006


Morse High School students in Bath Michigan took part in The Memory Project and painted some beautiful artwork for the kids of Amazing Grace orphanage. I just received a box of the paintings this morning, which we will take to Uganda and Sudan with us on our next trip. Thanks to all the students who participated!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Updates from around the world

Camp Eagle, Texas
Camp Eagle has teamed up with Lahash this summer to raise awareness for the programs that we are running. Camp Eagle has about 1000 kids coming through and the youth will raise money for a new infant home in Sudan that Susan has been dreaming about.

Florida "Cash for Lahash" garage sale!
Kate Goodell from Relevant Magazine will be raising money with friends down in Florida for the school needs of the kids in Sudan. Kate recently wrote an article on her plans this summer for the sale -

Cash For Lahash

Uganda and Sudan
Michael Christmas and Chris Westbrook have returned from Uganda! They left just over a month ago for a two week stay at the Amazing Grace Orphanage. While they were there they helped with some teaching, and left a guitar for the kids for music lessons.

Kim Davey (a friend from Imago Dei) will be traveling to Uganda next week. She'll be living at the Amazing Grace Orphanage and St. Bartholomew's Orphanage for 3 weeks each. Kim will be teaching the kids and staff English.

And Becca and Brandi will be traveling to Gulu for the summer - they left from Seattle yesterday. Becca (another writer for Relevant's online magazine) will travel to Amazing Grace to see if she can conduct some interviews. You can follow the two ladies on their journey with the blog: Unwritten Memoir

Kenya
Please pray for the team in Kenya at the moment. They've had two sudden deaths of close members in the community. Dr. Oronje is still grieving the loss of his daughter, and Josphine (from the Renew Program) lost her nephew who she was taking care of. The team is emotionally and physically exhausted through the illnesses and funerals of the past week.

New York
Tara Suri and her class from New York will be raising funds for the children of St. Bartholomew's! You can check out Tara's website with information on the partnership with St. Bartholomew's here. Hope Initiative

Interested in Joining Us?
There's a lot going on at the moment here at Lahash - thank you to all of you for your support and encouragement and prayers! If anyone would like to get involved on a deeper level, here are some things you can do!

* Join the weekly prayer email (just send an email to info@lahash.net saying you'd like to be on the prayer email list)
* "Friend" us on your Myspace account - and then add us to your top eight!
* Contact Dan Holcomb for more information on how you can be a representative in your community, your school, or your church
* Host an event (A garage sale, a dinner, a house party) and raise awareness and funds for a particular project

I hope you all have a wonderful summer day!