Boys’ Orphanage Progress!

Posted by christine, August 29, 2008

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The boys’ orphanage construction began several months ago, and in spite of the genocide, slavery and political unrest all around us in Sudan, the boys will soon have a safe home.

Our partner Kevin in Sudan took this photo as he and his wife were flying over the orphanage in July. The boys’ dormitories are the two long buildings laid out in “L” shape near the bottom of the photo. As you can see, the first one already has the roof on. At the time of the photo, the second one only had the foundation built; but, as of now, the walls are nearly complete!

Thank you for your giving which makes this possible!

Sarah: Story of Rescue and Prevention

Posted by christine,

We received this story from one of our partners on the ground in Sudan, Kimberly Smith, in the village of Nyamlel.

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I heard the trucks rolling through Nyamlel. Knowing they would be full of former slave women and children, I ran to the market to meet them. By the time I arrived, most of the women had climbed down the sides of the tall trucks and were sitting on the desert floor – watching the beating take place.

My eyes zeroed in on the angry Muslim truck driver who had sold passage to the women escaping slavery. These women had ridden high on open-air trucks sitting on top of large bags of cargo from which they would sometimes topple to their death on the desert floor.

The angry Muslim man was washing the sweat from his face with not some small sense of indignation. During the time it took me to get to the market, he had beaten one of the women he transported. An infant laid on the ground near her. Apparently, her older son, near starvation from the journey and whom she had birthed through the rapes of her “Muslim Master,” had torn into and eaten from one of the many 50-kilo sugar bags on top of which they sat.

I received no answer when I asked, “Where is the boy now?”

My memory latched onto the face of a small boy. I imagined it to be the hungry boy who stole some of the sugar he had sat upon. The boy in my mind had no hands. I never found the literal boy.

I learned the woman’s name was Sarah. She seemed to be in shock and would not talk to me. Sarah’s future did not offer much hope because her husband (who still lived in Nyamlel) had already been informed that her “illegitimate” son had “stolen” some sugar, and she was marked as a sex-slave by the Muslims. Her husband sent word that if he found her in town, he would immediately sell her to the next slave traders who came through. He said that Sarah brought him great shame.

Thanks to your generous donations, our partners in Sudan have an active fund for slave repatriation. For $1,000 we can build a home for women like Sarah and help to re-establish them in a supportive community. In Sarah’s case, we built her home in a separate village so that she is protected from slavery. She is in a small community of other survivors – learning to thrive.

VIDEO: New Education Project in Ambo, Ethiopia

Posted by christine, August 28, 2008

We’re excited to welcome our first project in Ethiopia! Check out this video created by MC Member, Jacob Snodgrass, who was on our Mocha Club Ethiopia trip #4 in August. The video includes MC Director, Barrett Ward…

Ambo, Ethiopia is home to an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 orphans. 265 of those children are being educated and having their basic needs met by the Kale Heywet Church (”KHC”) in Ambo in conjunction with Compassion International. They are either single orphaned, double orphaned, or living with no/low income families that can not provide for their children’s education. With the growing number of children now at the KHC school, current classrooms do not provide enough room. It is not within the strategic plan of Compassion to fund the building of the school. There is also a demand by the government that the KHC provides appropriate educational facilities. Currently, a foundation for the new school building exists which had been built by the KHC, but they do not have enough funds to finish the project. This is where Mocha Club comes in!

>> Check out Jacob’s guest blog for his thoughts on the trip and how his life has been changed.

>> View photos from Ethiopia Trip #4!

GUEST BLOG: ‘I was able to Serve, Love and Learn’ by Jacob Snodgrass

Posted by christine, August 27, 2008

Editor’s Note: Jacob Snodgrass was on our Mocha Club Ethiopia trip #4 from July 29th-August 7th, 2008.

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Jake with a child in Ambo, Ethiopia

Hi, my name is Jake Snodgrass and I am the Pastor at Ames Baptist Church in Oklahoma. It is hard for me to put into words clearly what the trip to Ethiopia did for me. There were many great things that I was able see. First, I was able to gain an appreciation for the work that Mocha Club has done and is doing in Africa. I also met great people that were fellow team members, ministry partners and leaders of local orphanages and programs. Secondly, I was able to see guys that I brought on the trip excel in loving others. All of these things served to bring clarity about what Jesus wants me to do.

When it comes to trying to follow Christ, I often overcomplicate it and become burdened really quickly by my ‘change the world’ visions. I become overwhelmed by the question, “Who is my neighbor?” and in my exasperation, I fail to be a neighbor to the guy I pass on the street. Wanting to fix everything, I end up doing nothing.

In Ethiopia, I learned that I could start by just doing something and allow God to use me however he wishes. I trust God. I trust that my hour spent in silence sharing pictures with a ten year old boy with HIV at Big A Hope in Addis Ababa accomplished what God wanted to accomplish. I trust that playing soccer in the mud with street boys in Ambo accomplished what God wanted to accomplish. I trust that my simple $7 dollars a month and my begging others to join me will accomplish what God wants it to accomplish. In my desperation to make a difference sometimes I simply have to be available and trust God.

Being available and trusting God also opened my eyes to some truths about the people I encountered in Ethiopia. Upon arriving home most people have said to me that a trip like this should make me grateful for all the things I have. I am certainly fortunate in many regards, but what I want most is Christ. More than anything else I want more and more of him. What I saw in many Ethiopians was that their lack of “stuff” allowed them to see Christ and encounter Him more deeply. I saw in many of the children, leaders and pastors that Christ had so deeply affected their lives that their joy was overwhelming despite impossible circumstances. If the things I have keep me from finding all my joy in Christ, then I don’t appreciate it, I hate it, or at least I hate what I have made it. I want what they have. I want more of Christ. In Ethiopia I was able to serve, love and learn. What a difference two weeks makes!

GUEST BLOG: ‘I Used To Be An Orphan Too’ by Dana McIntosh

Posted by christine,

Editor’s Note: Dana McIntosh was on our Mocha Club Ethiopia trip #3 from July 17th-26th, 2008.

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Dana with some children in Ethiopia

When I decided take this trip to Ethiopia, I had no idea God would use the Ethiopian people to help me see things about myself and about Him.

There are many scenes from my two weeks there that will be forever etched in my mind. I will never forget the huge smiles of those children who gathered around the buses upon our arrival. I will be reminded of the huge circle we made in the middle of the field, where we held hands, skipped around, with children singing in their native tongue. I will remember the church filled with so much rejoicing that my Bible vibrated. But, most importantly, I will remember the laughter of the children who seemed unaware that they had life-threatening diseases, were covered in mud, or had little to go home to.

To be honest, I wasn’t especially compassionate about the children at first. Everything I was seeing was exactly like the pictures I had seen on TV, but now it was in my face. The difficult images were confronting me, telling me that this impassioned, complacent person was not the person I wanted to be. I prayed that God would lift me out of my complacent state. It wasn’t until the next day, when our group was praying for the adoption process in Ethiopia that God spoke to me saying, “You should care about these orphans, because you used to be one.” It was then that being a child of God made sense to me. I began to see these kids through His eyes, and I wanted to give love and time to them, because I realized that is what I had been given by my Heavenly Father. He has fathered me, redeemed me, and restored my once-broken relationship with Him.

One of the obstacles was that my tendency to want to “do” things and talk to these kids through the language barrier kept me feeling like my time spent with them was wasteful. I prayed that I would learn how to be still and just be with them. I wanted to be able to show them a love that didn’t require words. At one of the orphanages, a little girl sat by my feet and dropped a ball through my hands for what was probably an hour. Her face lit up with joy with every drop of the ball, as if every time she did it was the first time. I realized God was telling me, “This is what I desire with you. I want you to just be still, sit at my feet, and forget all the distractions around you.” I was welcomed by these kids, not because of what I have, but because of who I am. And God thinks of me in the same way.

For me, this trip was more than just 10 days in Africa. This trip made me happy, made me sad, and made me see my God. I believe great outward change will come from the inward transformation I experienced when I was there. As I come back into American life, I have the great responsibility to act on what I experienced in Africa.

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