Women At Risk (photo courtesy of The Mocha Club Experience)

So today, the first day of the new year, we are leaving Nazaret, where we visited the “Women At Risk” Program.  Our hearts are full, our spirits high from sharing our time with our African sisters.  It was so rewarding to visit a program that I personally donate to, as do many of my family and friends. These women have all come out of prostitution and major life challenges, most of which are beyond our comprehension. A few of our goals were to serve these women, to share our love and faith, and to open our hearts to the lessons they can teach us.

I have to say, one of the highlights for the entire team was our time praying, singing and dancing with these women.  We understood why our Ethiopian teammates called us “firengies”. They celebrated their faith and their gratitude with a passion that was liberating.  This is something we all hope to take back with us, and more importantly to share with all those with whom we cross paths.

To get into our servant mindset, we decided to have the male members of our team wash the feet of the Women At Risk and for the female members of our team give them manicures, pedicures and facials. For us, it was so humbling to sit at the feet of others.  The women expressed gratitude for our willingness to show our love and servanthood which helped to confirm their worthiness.

On a personal note, I was most taken by the testimonies of these women.  One in particular stays with me. Early on, this woman’s life was filled with difficult challenges that included the death of a parent, and sexual abuse and homelessness that ultimately led her to prostitution.  To her, this was the only way to be able to eat and survive.  It was her courage and her leap of faith in God that led her to to the Women At Risk program. Through the support of the program and the word of Jesus Christ, she graduated and went on to work at a bakery where at night, she would see other women on the streets.  She began to realize what God had in store for her.  She started to reach out to other prostitutes and share her story. She now works at the Women at Risk program where she continues to support and enable these women to live better lives. She, like all the women, ignited our desire to take action to serve and support others in need, wherever in the world that may be. One person can really make all the difference for so many.

Our final hour with the women involved a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony which was, hands down, the best coffee ever.  We prayed over our gratitude for our time together and how we changed each others lives. We said our goodbyes, with long hugs and tears, and know now that we have African sisters that we will carry in our hearts forever.

Acholi Church from grateful inconvenience on Vimeo.

I Need You More (Mocha Club, Uganda) from grateful inconvenience on Vimeo.

Today, the Mocha Club team traveled into various parts of Gulu, Uganda, and we were introduced to a few of the partner projects supported by Mocha Club. Both run by Action International, one is a school and the other an orphanage. Our main reason for the site visit was to check out the areas where we’ll be painting murals, but we spent most of our time being loved on by the amazing kids there. Some of these kids have lost their parents during the war, and they are still looking for them. Others are the children of “child mothers” – girls who were taken advantage of and forced into early motherhood.

We couldn’t get over how truly beautiful these children were…their eyes are unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Their resilience and joy…wow.

Check out this video of Mark Wagner’s visit to Gulu last year, which shows you the people and places we are visiting:

I befriended one little boy today named Jasper who was probably 4 years old (you can see him in the video above).  I am told that his mother would beat him a lot in the marketplace, so thankfully he is in the care of the Home of Love now. He was very quiet. He never spoke a word. He wasn’t one of the kids who were cheering and laughing and climbing all over us… he sat alone, so I had to go to him. After receiving awkward silence after trying to talk to him, I could tell quickly that love had not been a regular part of his life. He did crack a smile when I put my aviator sunglasses on his face…I think he liked that. So I just sat there rubbing and patting his back and holding his little hand. Next thing I knew, he wouldn’t let go of it! I can’t wait to return on Sunday to hang out with him again.

A few of the guys will wake up at sunrise to get an early start on the first mural project at the school, and then the rest of the team will join them later in the morning. While most of the team is painting, I will be working on a few video projects for Mocha Club.

And sorry for the lack of photos and video…the internet connection is very slow here and we have limited time but I’ll work on posting some in the next day or so.   Please continue to pray for us…that the mural paintings will go smoothly and quickly, and that any video capturing we do here will be well received by the local community and that we would capture the stories that will rock a lot of people’s worlds back home. The Home of Love and school’s funding has drastically gone down because of the economy, so you can be praying for that as well. They’ve nearly shut down multiple times. If you feel the need to give, you can join Mocha Club or give a one-time donation.

‘Til next time…

Three flights & four airports… that’s been our life for the past day. But after enduring the long flights, catching up on in-flight movies we’d not seen before, and experiencing a taste of Europe in the Amsterdam airport, we finally arrived in Kampala, Uganda on Wednesday night.

Signs everywhere were welcoming us with the East African phrase “Jambo!” (meaning, “Welcome!”) It was all very surreal; were we REALLY in Africa? It didn’t feel like it. Still, we were excited, wide-eyed, and exhausted. The only downside, one of team members had lost her luggage. But other than that, we had made it safe and sound.

It was a dark journey to the hotel. The first thing I noticed was the night sky. The stars and the crescent moon were brilliant! The ride to the hotel was exciting…random people darting across in front of us, passing cars and barely dodging oncoming traffic, being cut off on every turn…it was the all-too-familiar experience of 3rd world driving. No stop lights. No stop signs. And lanes? Well, those are just a suggestion. My favorite part of the experience was hearing the shouts and squeals of those with us who had not yet been blessed to have this type of traffic experience. We’re not in Kansas anymore.

As I’m writing this, it’s Thursday morning, and most of you are fast asleep waiting for the day that we’ve already begun. I woke up earlier than normal (6am) but have enjoyed the peaceful morning. This place reminds me of my trip to Papua New Guinea…the sights, smells & sounds are very familiar to me. You really can HEAR the day waking up…exotic birds chirping and cawing, roosters going ballistic, and a baby crying in the distance. I can’t make out the smell, but it’s that fresh Saturday morning scent you smell when camping, laced with a little smoke. It’s refreshing. And the morning sky…wow…one of the most dynamic things I’ve seen in a while.

The hotel we’re at is a “guest house” so it’s a very communal experience. The coffee is amazing, and the aroma from the kitchen down the hall makes your mouth water. The ladies working here have made this tortilla bread style something-or-other with egg wrapped up in it…I put honey on mine. Oh yeah.

I’m not a morning person…but this place could turn me into one.

We’ll hang out here a few more hours, waiting in hope of the arrival of Genevieve’s missing luggage. Then we will depart on the five hour journey to the town of Gulu in Northern Uganda. This will be our main destination and the home of Village of Hope and Home of Love. Most of our days will be spent painting murals in the children’s home and teaching art classes for the kids. And with a team full of musicians, I’m sure there will be a few impromptu concerts.

I’m very expectant here. I don’t have specific expectations, but I expect God to do great things. He has always proven faithful when we make ourselves fully available to Him. My eyes are wide open and I am ready to experience both the beauty and tragedy in northern Uganda. My only exposure so far has been through the stories of “Invisible Children.”  I watched the original documentary years ago with some very close friends, one of them who is with me on this trip (Nate Griffin, my business partner). During that same time, our friend Barrett Ward had started Mocha Club, and we (Nate & I) started supporting it right away. So it is very exciting to finally travel with Mocha Club to Northern Uganda!

We cannot wait to meet the people of Gulu and to love on the missionaries and children at the orphanage. But more than that, we cannot wait to be changed and to experience for ourselves that we really do need Africa more than Africa needs us.

By the time you read this blog, we will be somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. The end of our trip will have come and gone and we will have our suitcases packed with souvenirs. Probably for you. You deserve it, after all.

Words can’t fully express how we feel. In fact, we just met with an American who lives here in South Africa and she talked with us about how to come home to you and tell you about our trip. Because there aren’t enough words, in English or in Xhosa, to explain it, but we’re going to want to talk. Or maybe we won’t. I don’t know. I just know it may be hard and frustrating and a slow process. Sure, we’ve only been gone for 14 days, but it’s felt a lot longer. And we are different. I am different.

So instead of words, we offer this parting gift…

Thank you, Mocha Club. Thank you for reading this blog – we always felt like you were right here with us. Thank you for supporting these projects and these people. Thank you for helping us to realize we need Africa more than Africa need us.

With sincere gratitude,

Annie

It’s really challenging to sum up a weekend retreat with 70 kids from a local township (kind of like a slum), 10 counselors, and 10 Americans (who don’t know exactly how to run a kids retreat).

So let me begin like this – I think it will get the blog-a-rific juices flowing. Here are some keywords from our weekend:

70 kids.

Baloney.

Laughter.

Hot dogs.

Beautiful singing.

Sunshine.

Xhosa. (The language they speak. The language we don’t speak. A wee bit challenging.)

Dancing.

Sports.

Baloney.

Oh wait. Did I already mention baloney? The kind of baloney that comes in one big log that we have to shred ourselves. A log the size of a kid. And we went through four logs. Because I’m pretty sure we served it every meal. On buttered bread. And the kids loved that junk. I mean, LUH-HUVED it. Like, 2 sandwiches at lunch kind of loved it.
We, on the other hand, not so much. But we served it. Betsy called it a “yule-log of baloney”. Minus the holiday joy.

If there is one thing that kept us going over the weekend, besides the nutritional blessing that is baloney, it was the constant opportunity to be smiling or laughing.

Because of those kids.
I don’t know how to describe the children. The right words aren’t coming to my mind. Cute? Sure. They were. But it was deeper than that. Sweet? Absolutely. But it was a deeper sweet than what we are used to in the States. It was this deepness of spirit and soul that may only be found in Africa. Smart? Giving? Kind? Loving? Accepting? Yes. They love each other, care for each other, and still had space in their kid-sized hearts for us.

They were awesome. They could not have been more grateful for the opportunity to go on a retreat. Many of them don’t get three full meals a day and we provided that, with the side of a baloney sandwich, and fruit throughout the day. Many of them don’t have adults that have the time to sit beside them and hear their stories, but we did, even if it was in broken English. We sat. We played. We danced. We sang. We hugged. And hugged. And hugged.

Was the weekend exhausting? For certain. It was all sorts of amazing, but it was all sorts of tiring as well. It’s hard to love and control and entertain that many children, while washing all 90 dishes and cups and silverware by hand after every meal.

So today we are tired. But it’s that happy tired. The peaceful tired. That tired that comes with the knowledge that maybe we packed our suitcases, flew across the ocean, and landed in South Africa just to see those faces. Hold those hands. Fill those bellies.

I’ve said thanks to Barrett about a hundred times for this trip. For Mocha Club. For what they do. For how they help. But I wanted to stand on the top of the monkey bars at the campground and scream in the general direction of Nashville. While children played chase with Andrew and Adria, made instruments with Ernie and Quinn, while Betsy and Marisa made another round of baloney sandwiches, while Ellie taught the kids to make bracelets, and while Emily and Darci did arts and crafts.

I wanted to stand there. And yell to Barrett. And to you. And to your $7.

And say thank you.

This is Africa.

That’s what we keep saying to each other and to ourselves. Africa is laid back. Africa is flexible. Africa goes with the flow.

So you may need to remind me. This is Africa.

Here’s what happened. We heard rumblings of a “camp” this weekend that we might be helping at. Ok, cool. We can play a game or something. No biggie.

And by “helping”, it actually means that we are going to spend the next two nights (Friday and Saturday) at a campground with over 80 kids and we are TOTALLY IN CHARGE of a weekend retreat.

Well. This is Africa.

So right now, as I’m writing, the team is sitting around the table and trying to decide what games to play, what crafts to do, and pretty much how to make sure 80 African kids have an awesome time for 48 hours.

I’m tired just thinking about it.

But I bet it will be awesome. After all, this is Africa.

We’re tired today. Adria and I have spent about 30 hours editing an auto mechanic curriculum manual. Yeah, two days ago I didn’t know a gearbox from a chassis, and now I do. I’ll fix your car if it breaks. But I’ll be honest, I definitely am more skilled with manual gearboxes than automatic. So just take that into consideration.

The job creation project here in Khayelitsha is starting a training school for young men — teaching them how to repair all sorts of cars. Elijah, the local man who works in the car shop for African Leadership, has written the book that will be their training guide.

Challenge #1: He is from Malawi. So he speaks English as a second language.

Challenge #2: Did I already mention that he tried to write a book in English?

Solution #1 and #2: Meet Annie and Adria. They edit books for a living in the United States. So for the last four days, we’ve been editing a book about a topic we don’t really know (cars) written by a guy who speaks English as a second language.

And the hilarity ensued.

But the book is done. Yay! The rest of the team worked their fingers to the bone (I think that’s a weird saying) finishing up the rest of the preschool. All that is left for tomorrow is to finish painting the outside of the preschool and then paint the walls inside. It looks beautiful – I can’t wait to show you. Video to come Sunday.

Speaking of, I hope you enjoyed the videos yesterday. Ernie did a great job. I hope you cried. As for our “day in the life” video, I just hope you smiled. And maybe laughed. Cause we sure did.

We head out of town tomorrow and won’t be back until Sunday afternoon. So that will be our next opportunity to blog. Sorry to leave you for a couple of days, but after all, this is Africa.

~ Annie

Here are the latest videos from the South Africa team! One from MC Sponsor Ernie Halter, and one from our trip blogger and MC member, Annie. It’s great to see the team having so much fun while connecting with the African people they are serving!

We spent this morning traveling to three different 7th grade classrooms to help teach character education. We were told on Monday that our topic would be “availability”. Uh…. what? “Availability”? Pretty much we had to teach on the importance of being available to people who ask for help- like parents, friends, teachers, and neighbors.

And by the way. Here’s some fun facts for you- each class has about fifty students. You heard me- 40 7th graders and NO TEACHER. I know ten Americans that were a bit nervous about this idea. (And we have ten team members. You do the math.)

Here’s where things get hilarious.

We were told to plan for 40-minute blocks- so we did. Betsy and Emily both gave a short testimony, Ernie taught the students to sing “Lean On Me” in three part harmony, Quinn told about the little boy who gave Jesus his lunch to feed the five thousand, and then Ellie taught them to make a “helping hand” craft/game thingy that they loved.

And it lasted 40 minutes.

Then the teacher said, “I would like you to teach for another hour.”

EXCUSE. ME.

I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to entertain fifty 7th graders for 40 minutes, but once you survive that, an ADDITIONAL hour feels like a nasty, nasty future.

As a former elementary school teacher, I was elected the ringleader of this circus, so I definitely began to sweat a little bit at figuring out 60 more minutes of an entertaining show.

We survived it. Ernie sang another rousing round of “Lean on Me”. We reviewed over how we can be available to the people in our lives. And we let them sing a song to us in Xhosa (their native language). Then we pretty much shuffled our feet, looked nervously at each other and our watches, and allowed the students to act nuts.

It was not the highlight of my teaching career. But it was funny.

The rest of the day may have been the highlight of my teaching career. We went to another school and taught two 7th grade classes the same lesson. These literally did last only 40 minutes, which was a relief. The kids loved us and squeezed us and told us how happy they were that we were there.

It was a full day. I can’t wait to show you the updated pictures of the preschool we are completing. It’s looking great. I won’t say that Marisa is challenged in her zebra drawing skills… I’ll just let you judge for yourself whether it’s a zebra or a tiger head on a striped cat body. Whatever.

Each night, sitting around the dinner table, we list our highs and lows. It was overall such a great day that everyone raved about their high moment, then said, “uh… I don’t really have a low… maybe it’s that I woke up late?” That’s a pretty good day.

Some people said, “My only low is that I haven’t gotten to spend any time alone in six days”. So our team has been sitting in ten different spots for the last hour, just enjoying the quiet.

It’s late. I’m the only one left awake. There are one hundred other stories I could share with you from today- my mind has spent most of the evening shuffling through them to pick which ones to write about. About the cute children? About a mechanic that’s writing a curriculum for a mechanic school? About how much Asian food we’ve eaten? About gluing tiles to the floor while simultaneously gluing your gloves to your pants?

All of them are worthy stories- because every story is about a life. A face. A family. A new friend.

~ Annie