Getting Around

When I went in to get my vaccine shots prior to coming to Kenya, the nurse cautioned me that, "although it's important to be wary of diseases like yellow fever and hepatitis, the #1 cause of fatalities for volunteers/travelers like myself is from motor-vehicle accidents." After being in Kenya for a few weeks, I can completely understand why.

The drivers here are insane and there are extremely lax "rules" of the road. Right of way mostly depends on where your vehicle resides on the motor vehicle food chain (aka how big your vehicle is). There are no stoplights in the town that I am in; instead, they primarily use roundabouts. Most roads also don't have any lines on them so vehicles will cross lanes onto oncoming traffic fairly regularly. Many of the roads are also littered with potholes so in many cases, drivers will drive on the side of the road, where the conditions are better, than the road itself. There are also extremely few crosswalks so pedestrians cross the street wherever they please (I thought the jaywalking in NYC was bad). One thing that I keep getting confused by is where I look when crossing the street. Like Britain, people drive on the left side of the road (supposed to at least) which confuses my American sentiments.

Nonetheless, I have had to get around the city somehow and so here are the different types of ways we have been getting around.

"Boda Boda" - The main way I get around is by taking rides from people on bicycles. They have a seat in the back where you can sit and usually have some handles to hold onto and cost around 20-30 KEN per ride (~$0.25-$0.40). We probably pay more than locals since we're mzingus (foreigners).

I sometimes wish that we had our own bicycles instead of having to pay for rides but apparently, another volunteer in the past bought her own bike but it was quickly stolen. The few days that she was actually able to get around in it, all the boda boda drivers would shout at her, saying that she was "stealing food from their mouths."

group of boda boda drivers waiting for a customer

"Piki Piki" - These are motorbikes and are apparently a fairly recent introduction to Kisumu. As in the picture, the passengers do not wear helmets and have only the handle behind their seats to grab onto. Some of the piki drivers drive really recklessly, speedily weaving inbetween lanes and the rest of traffic. I personally feel the least safe on pikis and try to avoid taking them whenever possible.

hold onto that piki!

"Tuk Tuk"- These are essentially covered trikes and I guess theoretically they aren't that much safer than pikis but when you cant see everything around you that could potentially collide into you, sometimes ignorance is bliss. :)

In truth, they are larger and therefore more easy to spot by other drivers and less likely to get into the blind spots of other motorists on the road. This is the first thing that we took when we got off the Kisumu airport. These are nice to take when you have a bunch of stuff with you (ie: groceries) and can't ride on a boda boda.

tuk tuks are actually sort of cute

"Matatus" - These are minibuses that we use for longer trips. They will essentially drive around looking for passengers and then drop them off en route while looking for even more passengers. Therefore, although most matatus are technically supposed to hold maybe 12 passengers, there have been instances where I have counted up to 24. I posted a video below which shows what it looks like from the back of a matatu. It doesn't include the 5 passengers who then got onto the van at the next stop (with 3 holding onto the outside). Matatu drivers are notorious for speeding down the streets and driving extremely recklessly. Please pray that I stay safe!!!!

Land Cruiser - Finally, CHI owns a land cruiser which was donated as a gift to CHI but has been in the shop nearly half the time that we've been here. Nonetheless, when functional, it helps us go to a lot of the more rural areas outside of Kisumu. I definitely feel the safest in the land cruiser and I was able to behold the awesome power of 4-wheel driver yesterday as we plowed through crazy muddy and bumpy off-road terrain.

Nice pictureque "commercial-worthy" image of the Land Cruiser

Christ's Hope Team

One of the questions that I get a lot is who is here in Kenya with Christ's Hope International. It's been a long time coming but thought I'd introduce the people to you. I probably should have done this like within the 1st week but I didn't have a good picture until now hehe.

Beginning from the left, we have

Pastor Martin - He's the director of the Kenya branch of Christ's Hope International. He's married to Mamma Josky who is also in the picture. As you can probably tell, he is a native of Kenya and he's also a pastor. We visited his church the first Sunday that we were in Kenya. He's the last remaining son in his family as his brothers all passed away due to HIV/AIDS. As a result, he and his wife "inherited" a large number of children as soon as they were married (taking care of his orphaned nieces/nephews). I forget exactly how many children they're taking care of in the house but it's a lot (Ok, I just asked someone and they said it was 22(!!!!!))

Michael Kim - Michael is the other volunteer who is staying here for the same time as me (until the end of may) and like me, he is also Korean. He hails from Atlanta, though he travelled around a great amount growing up since his father was in the military (he was born in Germany). He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute (so he is a reserve officer in the US army) in 2009 and just turned 23 last Friday. He will be attending medical school in August at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine and would eventually like to become an orthopedic surgeon . He says that he likes cars, he hates chemistry, and that he likes tennis - he also wanted me to mention that he went to jump school (so he jumped out of a plane as part of his training).

Since we're both volunteers, we have similar roles and responsibilities. For some of the activities, we are scheduled together - but more often than not, our schedules are alternating by week. So one week I'll go to Nyahera while he goes to Manyatta and then vice versa the next week.

Marieke - Marieke is a nurse from Holland and also stays in the house that we are living in. She's 21 and has been in Kenya since August of 2009 and is staying here for a full year. She originally came here with her cousin Anna who briefly went back to Holland but will be returning soon. Marieke is also a volunteer. Crazily enough, she found out about CHI through the internet while she and Anna were looking for organizations where they could both serve together given their different professional backgrounds (Anna's job is in human resource management). Since she's been here for over half a year, she's been showing me the ropes around Africa.

Denise - Denise is from America (Wisconsin) and like Marieke, is also a nurse. She has been in Kenya for 1.5 years. She was actually the first person from Christ's Hope that I met since I met her at Urbana and the person I spoke to about the organization. Prior to CHI, in the United States, she worked at missions to the Navajo but felt that she was being called to Africa. She's the volunteer coordinator here and sets our schedule. She's also a crazy driver lol.

Mamma Josky - Mamma Josky's name is actually Edith but in Kenya, women who have children are called Mamma and then the name of their 1st child (Josky is the name of her 1st son). She's in charge of the Children's ministry aspects of Christ's Hope International called Our Valuable Children (OVC) and is married to Pastor Martin

Desmond - Desmond is from Northern Ireland (very important that it is distinguished from regular Ireland). He is the coordinator for the Care and compassion arm of CHI which is the segment in charge of the home-based and hospital care for HIV/AIDS patients. Although he doesn't live in the CHI office with Mike, me, and Marieke, he lives in a house next door which is all inside the gated area. He also usually has a patient living there with him who he takes care of (feeding, cleaning, clothing, etc). He just Kenya left today to go to the United States for the next 3 weeks where he will be be visiting his supporters as well as different churches and friends. We're all not sure how Care and compassion is going to go without him but God will provide!

There are also many local volunteers who are not part of the CHI staff but have chosen to dedicate their time and relevant skills towards helping the mission of CHI. They will usually accompany us when we visit the different mission areas whether it's the home of a patient, the hospital, the orphanage, or remand center.

Internet connection

Hi everyone,

sorry that I havent updated in the past few days - apparently a major underwater cable was severed resulting in a non-working internet connection. Fortunately, it looks like it's fixed now so I'll be updating again soon!

-Andrew

More than enough

Once a week, we visit "The Rock," a foster home run by an American missionary named Elaine to house street children. Some of these children ended up as street children because they were orphaned, some because they ran away, and others for reasons that I probably can't even imagine. Whatever way they ended up at the center, the (~20) children - ranging from about 4-17 are clothed, fed, and educated by this remarkable woman. Beyond that though, I was most surprised by how well-behaved these children were despite their backgrounds: it was clear after speaking with them (especially among the older ones) that their faith in God played a strong role in their lives and that they were sincerely grateful for the things that this missionary and other volunteers had provided.

At this foster center, we share a bible lesson with the kids centered around 1 letter of the alphabet which corresponds to an attribute of God beginning with that letter (This system was apparently designed by John Piper so it's legit). We then read relevant bible stories, sing songs, do arts&crafts, and whatever else we come up with. Last week we went over the letter B - that God is Bountiful - and sang the song "More than Enough."

Initially, I felt a bit awkward and a bit disingenuous teaching the children that God is more than enough. Here I was, a foreigner from the United States who never experienced the kind of conditions that these children had experienced, telling them to be thankful for the blessings that they did have. In an area where most of its inhabitants would never have the opportunity to step foot outside the continent, my mere presence was an unabashed announcement that I had greater financial means than most people they knew. Their fascination with our digital cameras (something that these children might never own) - to the extent that they would swarm around us for a chance to use it - only highlighted this sentiment. What if Warren Buffet came up to me and told me to be happy with what I had - how insulted would I feel?

Crowd of kids gathered to try use the camera

He really wants to use my camera

Upon further reflection though, it made me realize that perhaps it was precisely this position that could allow me to make the claim that God is bountiful. It is this position that allows me to recognize that "yes, even this much will not satisfy the unending thirst for more - in the US and around the world, there are people with more money than I can even fathom who will still find that amount inadequate." If Warren Buffet told me that even his wealth was not enough to fill the hole in his heart, perhaps I would feel more convicted rather than insulted.

It made me recall something that my pastor said about false idols (a favorite topic of his): All idols will eventually disappoint you in some way - money, beauty, relationships, marriage - and can never take the place of the true Redeemer. He noted that even his own marriage which is, "as good as any he's known," could not have been enough to satisfy. I think if Larry King (who has just filed for his 8th divorce) said the same thing it would have had a very different effect.

The truth is that I think many of these children already knew about the lesson that we shared that day. They exhibited a gratitude in seeing their life changed - from living on the streets to having a home with a bed, clothes, and food to eat - and I think they knew the lesson better than I would ever know.

"The future is what you make it..." (Part 2)

Continuing my previous post, I noted that there were several characteristics of the poverty that I have seen so far in Kenya that have shown me that so much of our own successes are the result of factors beyond our control and, to a large extent, that we are not masters of our own destiny.

No reason to take a long-term approach

When I was growing up, my parents constantly stressed the importance of education and working hard (Yes, it's very stereotypically Asian). I knew that if I applied myself and strived to work hard at school and in other areas, I would probably achieve a certain degree of success. I essentially had a "roadmap to succeding in America" showing me that I should do A, B, C and avoid X, Y, Z. Furthermore, there were plenty of examples that my parents (or the Korean newspaper/radio) could point to, and eventually that I could identify on my own, to show this to be true.

I know that I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here since I have not actually "made it," but I'm pretty satisfied with where I am currently in life (God will probably humble me greatly for writing this). And although it required a lot of hard work, there were rewards along the way - whether it was approval from others or even financial rewards - letting me know that I was on the "right path." This roadmap, along with those intermediate rewards made it much easier to take a long term approach, eschewing certain short term pleasures for the bigger prize down the road.

However, for most of the children we have been working with here, I can't really see that they could be that successful even if they worked very hard. Even if a child wanted to excel at school, they would run into a corrupt system, finding out that their grade is based more on whether or not they are willing to have sex with the teacher than on merit. They would also find that the intermediate incentives to stay on a right path would be minimal or non-existant, especially in light of the larger issues that generally follow poverty - ie: how meaningful is it to get straight As when you must tend to your HIV+ baby brother that you alcoholic mother has been neglecting. Furthermore, there are few role models around them that they could look to as examples of success. Given a nebulous long term outlook, where even working hard and making the right decisions is unlikely to bear fruit, it is unsurprising that countless children get off the "right path" (if that path even exists).

In the past, I would look down on people who were lazy and went for quick pay-offs rather than striving towards a larger goal, but more recently, when I was living in East Harlem and now in Kenya, I see that the fact that I even had a "roadmap" to begin with and was able to prepare for my future was more a function of birth and not merit.

The extreme consequences of poor decisions

Moreso than the lack of reasons to make the right decisions, I was shocked by what happens when these people make the wrong decisions. People learn from their mistakes; it's a part of maturing and growing up. However, in many cases, due to the extreme nature of the consequences for poor decisions, people essentially do not have second chances.

3 examples:

One of the coordinators at CHI, who has lived in Africa for ~7 years told us that in some parts of Kenya, if you are caught stealing something fairly expensive, a guard will not hesitate to shoot you on the spot. I think that many people (myself included) have stolen something at an early point in their life, for which they were probably punished and then learned that it was wrong and not to do it again. Imagine if you had been killed or crippled because of that mistake

I also mentioned the Remand Center in an earlier post, that it houses children as young as 4 yrs to as old as 19 for crimes ranging from petty theft to assault. Imagine that as a 4 year old, not really knowing any better, you stole something off the street and ended up at this center. You would experience bullying, teasing, and much worse - sexual assault, molestation, etc. In short, you would be psychologically, emotionally, and physicially scarred for life because of a little mistake. Unsurprisingly, most children end up returning to the Center for another crime after being released.

Finally, given that roughly 70% of the people in this area of Kenya are HIV+, the consequences of poor decisions relating to sex are more likely than not fatal.Anywhere in the world, when children are growing up and reach a certain age (especially males), sex will occupy a significant portion of their thoughts and some will experiment. This happens everywhere - Africa, Asia, the inner cities of America, white-suburbia, wealthy private school kids, etc - but a major difference is that while the children of wealtheir families will probably not contract HIV (due to probability and sex better education) and have the chance to learn from their mistakes and regrets, the poor people here face an extremely bleak set of odds and consequences. The coordinator at CHI said that, "it's like playing Russian Roulette, except that 4/6 of the chambers are loaded instead of 1." Furthermore, for girls with more means and opportunities, if they happened to get pregnant, they could make their problem "disappear" and get a second chance. More often than not, the poor girl will likely have the baby and lose her childhood as a result. (btw, I'm not condoning abortion, just pointing out a major difference)

As successful adults, it is easy for us now to condemn those who commit crimes, have unprotected sex, or make other types of bad decisions, forgetting that we arrived at our current states by learning from our mistakes - which in itself is a luxury that was granted to us by factors outside our control. I used to think that the best way to battle crime was to institute harsher punishments - and this may be true in some cases - but now I also see that it is essential to have a system that offers second chances.

Spirit of poverty

I won't write much about the final aspect of poverty that I have witnessed here because I think it would be more controversial and I also have not been in Kenya long enough to digest this. By spirit of poverty, I am talking about how it seems that some of the poor have essentially "given up", and resigned themselves to the cycle - believing themself to be worthless and incapable. Hope is absent and help is in the form of the wealthy and capable foreigner.

"Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one"

Tim Keller, the pastor of my church in NYC, pointed out in a number of his sermons that we as Americans (and even more so as New Yorkers) embrace the ideals of individualism and the notion that the future is what we make of it; in short, that we are masters of our own destiny. He cited the quote in Back to the Future where Doc Brown tells Marty, "the future is whatever you make it; so make it a good one," characterizing our future as some sort of wholly pliable piece of clay for which we are the potters. The corollary to this kind of viewpoint is of course that if the outcome of one's life are not favorable, then we must have somehow screwed up somewhere along the way - either through poor planning, laziness, poor execution. On the other hand, in cases where we are successful, we take full responsibility for those accomplishments, inflating our own egos and patting ourselves on the back.

However, Dr. Keller reminds us that while our own efforts and talents are a component of success and building our futures, they are disproportionately small compared to the myriad of external factors completely outside our control such as where we were born, what kind of family we were born into, the time period in which we were born, etc. Accordingly, so many aspects of our futures were predetermined, even before we could open our eyes.

If we are potters, then for some individuals (ie: trust fund babies), their clay was largely already shaped for them into Ming Dynasty porcelain vases such as this one:

(apparently the most expensive vase ever, worth over $10 million)

For other unfortunate individuals, their clay was of such poor quality to begin with that they could never even hope to begin shaping it. This is the kind of thing that I have been seeing and realizing more and more while in Kenya. When I see some of the conditions that the children live in and the difficulties that they face, I don't know what to realistically hope for them. Is it a life where they can live with a loving family? Maybe a home where they are not abused? A future without HIV? Certainly not living in the suburbs in a house with a 4-car garage, a white picket fence, a beautiful family, and a golden retriever that greets you every morning with a newspaper in its mouth.

It hurts me to say this and I hope that I am wrong, but it seems that no matter how hard some of these kids worked or how many "right" choices they make in their life, the ceiling of reality would quickly crush any lofty ambitions and keep them trapped in the cycle of poverty.

Remand Center (Juvenile Detention Center)

Image of woman and child outside African Church

Children playing on the street in the slums

A hospital waiting room

children outside their home (?)

Little orphan girl

So how should I react to this? Surely, I should be (and I am) grateful for what I have given, but beyond that, I'm not so sure. I see more clearly now than ever that we are not masters of our own destiny but rather recipients and stewards of an amalgam of favorable gifts, conditions, and blessings. Indeed, there have been several characteristics of the poverty here which have been particularly revealing during my time here: the lack of incentive to make right choices, extreme consequences of poor choices, and the spirit of poverty. I will write more about these more in a future post

A familiar face

Sometimes, when you're in a foreign and strange land, it's comforting to see a familiar face :)

1 Week Later

It's been about 1 week since I arrived in Kisumu and I've seen and experienced a lot here thus far. Before, I update the blog some more, I thought I'd give a big of a sense of the place I am staying in at Kisumu.

I am living in the Kenya office of Christ's Hope International (CHI) which is in a neighborhood at the intersection of the nice part of the city (Milimani) and the slums (Nyallenda). Here are some of the scenes of the slums.

On the flip side are the homes in Milimani which are gated residences and are pretty fancy. Needless to say, the disparity between the rich and the poor is extreme and further accentuated by the overlapping proximity of the 2 communities. I remember feeling this way in NYC everytime I passed E 96th street (the border between the Upper East Side and East Harlem) but for sure, even some of the worst places in East Harlem like the projects would be major upgrades to people who live in the slums.

Since even gates aren't enough to keep unwanted intruders out from the residences, people have come up with some clever (and lethal) ways of supplementing the barriers, including the use of glass shards (as with our gate) or barbed and/or electrically charged wires

One of the main things that people seem to want to know when I talk to them is what the living conditions for me are like. The good news is that I am not living in a mud hut with no electricity or water (unlike some of the people we have visited in the Kenya countryside or people living in the slums). Unsurprisingly, the living conditions here are worse than my home in NJ and in NYC (both the Olivia and East Harlem) - I think the biggest thing for me here is the lack of water pressure; it's like trying to shower in a drizzle. Nonetheless, considering that many people in the area do not even have showers or even access to hot or even clean water, I am grateful for the modern conveniences that we do have.

here's a view from right outside the gate

This is what you see when you go inside (video)

Here's where I sleep, complete with mosquito net

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions - I'll try to update the blog more frequently!

Colored Pencils

Besides the first day where I visited the hospital, most of our days have been spent working with children in various parts of Kenya. So far we've been to 3 different places and will be visiting these areas every week: The Remand Center (a juvenile rehabilitation center), a school in Nyahera (a rural area of Kenya), and a school in Mambo Leo. In all of these areas, we shared a bible lesson plan and then afterwards, the children were given coloring sheets related to the lesson and colored pencils to fill the blank spaces.

The Remand Center

The Remand Center is a juvenile rehabilitation center. Most of the children in there have been placed there for things ranging from petty theft to assault and the range of the children's ages is extremely wide (~6-19 yrs old). This was the first place that we visited and so it was the first look at how impoverished the conditions could be. I saw some children with open wounds that definitely looked like they had not been cared for days. The idea of putting 6 year olds in the same area as 19 year olds seems crazy to me. Even in Korean school, where 7th graders whose Korean sucked were put in 3rd grade classes, there was a big bullying problem; I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like for a 6 yr old kid to be there.

Nyahera

To get to this school, we travelled ~1.5 hours out of Kisumu via "ma-ta-tu", a public minibus that drives maniacally (more details on forms of transportation in Kenya in a future post). The children in this program are sponsored by a woman in the UK who lost her son to an accident and has been supporting these orphans in his memory. All of these children have lost one or both of their parents to HIV/AIDS.

I was told by the program director (Mama Joski) that the program is split into 4 phases progressing from identifying the children in need, providing them food, promoting hygiene, and then providing support in the education of the children.

Mambo Leo

We were greeted in Mambo Leo by singing and dancing which was a welcome (and very cute) sight.

Again, here the teacher (Lillian, a volunteer with Christs's Hope) gave the lesson and then provided coloring sheets and the same colored pencils for the children to complete the exercise.

Hopefully Michael doesnt get mad for posting this picture up, I just thought it looked hilarious. (no fear though, he had full control of the kid) By the way, if you want to visit Michael's blog, it is at http://dekompress.blogspot.com/

I named this post colored pencils because a major part of what we did at these places (which will sound sort of dumb) is to sharpen the childrens' colored pencils. At the remand center, each child was given 1 colored pencil which they could exchange for another color by standing in a line. There were only 2 sharpeners (the small kind that you use by manually turning it between your fingers) for the 50 children and to maintain a degree of order, the volunteers stood infront while the children lined up to have their pencils sharpened. In reality, the lines were more like mobs of children, sticking their pencils up trying to get our attention while we furiously attempted to do a half-decent job of sharpening the pencil at hand. By the end of the day, one of the sharpeners had broken. At Nyahera, the situation was the same, except that we had only 1 sharpener, which was later lost before leaving, so that at Mambo Leo, we had to use razor blades to sharpen the pencils. Although pencil sharpening sounds so trivial, in many ways, this situation really embodied a lot of the thoughts I had around what I saw over the past few days.

I thought about how when I was going through school, everyone probably had their own pack of colored pencils - both at school and at home. In most cases, we had electric sharpeners or at least a decent one in the back of the classroom or maybe a small one of our own. These aren't laptops or even textbooks, but rather relatively inexpensive equipment that I took for granted. That even such inexpensive throwaway supplies were so rare demonstrated the hardship and disparity in opportunity that these children faced.

Beyond seeing this disparity firsthand (which is something that we already know), the more important thoughtoccured while standing in the middle of the crowd of children, trying to do my best to sharpen the pencils one at a time. Everytime I would finish sharpening one pencil, another pencil or 2 would shoot up infront of me. I wondered what if instead of sharpening pencils, I was providing food, money, clothing, medicine, or any other number of things. What if instead of 50 students, there was an entire family, village, city, or continent to help. And what if this situation wasn't some lesson that would end at the hour, but was a situation with no set end time, potentially lasting forever. This really simple, almost ridiculous situation, made me think of how overwhelming it is to try to help people - not only due to the sheer size of the problem but also due to uncertain means of accomplishing it.

As embarassing it is to admit, in NYC, I rarely gave money to homeless people because (1) there were so many that the situation seemed hopeless and (2) I was not convinced that my money would be used properly or would even benefit the recipient. In Africa, as in other areas that require support, there are so many complex problems and a multitude of other barriers/obstacles underlying those problems (ie: corruption), that addressing only the onstensible issue seems foolish. I began to wonder what it really means to truly help someone: do you address the issue at hand? do you go to the root of the problem? how do you even do that while respecting another culture and not imposing one's own? what can/should you even expect?

Maybe a solution to the colored pencil dilemma would have been to just give the children crayons instead.

Getting Eaten Alive

I'm getting eaten alive. Fortunately not by any wild animals but by mosquitos. Here is the defense against them for now...

Hopefully DOOM and my malaria prophylactic medicines do their job.

Safe Arrival - Prayers and Praise

Praise

Safe Arrival:
I just wanted to let everyone know that I arrived in Kenya safely last night without any major problems. In fact it was actually a very smooth trip overall with all of my flights arriving sooner than expected. None of the luggage was lost and we found the driver pretty easily. I say "we" because I came on a flight with my teammate Michael Kim who is from Atlanta. (I never met him until yesterday. Also, I will probably put up a post about him and other teammates w/ pictures in the future)

Because we flew into Nairobi late in the night, we spent the first night at a hotel near the airport. After about 3 hours of sleep, we woke up at 4AM to eat a delicious breakfast and make an early morning flight from Nairobi to Kisumu, the city that we will be working at for the next 8 weeks. Here is a picture of Kisumu from the plane. Kisumu is on the western side of Kenya and borders Lake Victoria

Humbled by Support:

Today in Kisumu, I was able to visit the hospital and some patients. I'll write more about those experiences in the future but for now, I just wanted to take this time thank you for the overwhelming support that you provided in reponse to my original e-mail. Initially, I had some reservations about asking for donations, especially when a friend of mine strongly suggested that one should not ask for financial support if they have the means to fund the trip entirely on their own. Nonetheless, the mission organization advised against funding the trip solely on one's own dime so i e-mailed out, thinking I might be lucky to get about 50%

Needless to say, I have been utterly humbled by your support - not only financially, but also in the form of donations, e-mails of encouragement, and messages promising prayer. Donations ranged from $10-$1,000 and exceeded the budget. Upon reflection, I feel like a recipient of grace, of something given freely and undeserved, and at great personal sacrifice to the giver. Indeed, I am humbled by the recognition of that sacrifice: I know that contributors included individuals affected by the recession, students with no form of income, individuals unsatisfied with their bonus, those who are already stretching their means through tithing, and those saving up for their own mission trips.

In addition, God knows our sins and our imperfections but chose to sacrifice his only son to give us Grace at no cost to ourselves. As friends and family, you too are aware of my weaknesses and know that I am imperfect, but just as Christ's sacrifice has endorsed us and moves us to live a life that reflects his love, I see your "grace" as an endorsement, despite knowing my weaknesses, that will remind me to work harder and more faithfully

Prayers

And so, I request your prayers - that during my time in Kenya, I would continuously fix my eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith, and not be married to my own ideas of what I will get out of this experience. I also ask for protection (the area can be dangerous and I am particularly concerned about potential transportation related accidents), courage (being in a new country with many unfamiliar faces and customs can be overwhelming), and wisdom.

By the way, I can be reached via e-mail and gchat pretty easily. Although much of the infrastructure here is definitely 3rd world, the telecom infrastructure is surprisingly amazing. I signed up for the international unlimited data plan through my blackberry so I will be signed on (although I may not be able to respond b/c it might be dangerous at certain places to take out my blackberry). Please feel free to comment, e-mail, or gchat - I enjoy receiving them and want to make sure I remain in contact!

Kenya Missions Trip through Christ's Hope International

Dear friends and family, brothers and sisters,

It’s a bit sobering to be contacting all of you, especially those with whom I have not spoken to recently. If that is the case, I hope that this e-mail will update you on my life, inform you of an amazing opportunity that the Lord has planned in the future, and to respectfully ask for financial and spiritual support.

Kenya

As some of you may or may not know, I will be going to Kenya in early April through the end of May on a missions trip with an organization called Christ’s Hope International. Through this missionstrip, I will be reaching out and sharing the gospel, working with individuals living with HIV/AIDS and helping to provide home-based care and HIV/AIDS education by ministering to them physically and spiritually. Although leaving my job and life in NYC to go to Kenya may seem like a huge step (which I would agree), it was a decision made through prayer and recognizing the Lord’s hand in every step leading up to this decision.

I spoke with a pastor a few months ago regarding my desire to serve in missions and he stressed the importance of making sure 3 criteria are met: a desire to serve, opportunity to serve, and support.

Desire:

As most of you know, I have been working at a healthcare consulting firm since graduating from College almost 2 years ago. This is an experience that I have appreciated in having the opportunity to learn about the business side of healthcare and also for the chance to live in NYC in financial independence. In New York, I found an amazing church through which I was able to mature in my faith and also met some incredible friends who never cease to impress me with their accomplishments, humor, faith, and generosity. At the same time, I felt that God was telling me that I was becoming complacent with the comforts and idols of city life. I also felt a strong sense that the work I was doing was not truly glorifying to God; the bulk of my day was spent in an office and in my busy schedule, God was relegated to Sundays and the nights I had small group meetings.

Accordingly, last March, I began volunteering at an HIV clinic in NYC through my church at a program called Gift Hands. Through this program I was able to serve and minister to those living with HIV through art. Still, in prayer, I felt that the Lord was challenging me to get outside of the comforts of New York and to seek Him through ministry to others.

Opportunity:

In order to confront this challenge, I decided to attend Urbana last December, hoping that I could see if missions was what the Lord was really telling me to do and if that was the case, to find out where I was supposed to serve. The chief theme of the conference, that “The word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14) resonated strongly with me. Just as Jesus had become present in the flesh when ministering and healing others, we as servants were challenged to be present in the flesh to serve. At Urbana I met with and spoke to representatives of Christ’s Hope International, a global ministry specifically dedicated to: “Bringing the life-changing message of Jesus Christ to people infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS through discipling and care giving, presenting them perfect in Christ Jesus.”

Support:

Accordingly, I am attempting to follow this calling by serving with CHI; I joyfully pray that God would give me a servant's heart, to enter this service with the intent to fully glorify Him and to myself nor to pursue any alternate idols. I have put in my notice to resign from my job and have subletted my apartment for the remainder of my lease. These logistical matters have been settled but I ask for your support – both financial and spiritual.

I ask for prayer for myself, the ministry, as well as those whom I will serve. I don’t know what can be accomplished in 2 months but I know that through Christ, “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength” (Phillipians 4:13). In many ways, I expect that just as much of a change, if not more, would work through my own heart than those who I serve. I also ask for prayers of strength: I do not feel like the most qualified person, but I find encouragement through the Lord’s repeated patterns of carrying out his will by using broken instruments.

The entire trip will cost roughly $4,000 total which includes lodging, food, transportation, airfare, and required vaccines/medicines to enter Africa. No matter what, I will be paying about $1200-1500 of that cost out of my own pocket (for vaccines and airfare) as well as the remainder of what cannot be raised. If you feel led to donate any amount to this effort, you may do so by following these directions. By the way, I should point out that my birthday is coming up soon, March 23^rd

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Donations can be made on the www.christshopeusa.org web site by credit card by following this link. If possible please make the donation by April 1^st, 2010:

http://www.christshopeusa.org/10206/donate/Donate_Online

In the FUND drop down, please select “Support a specific person” and in the DONATION DESIGNATION field, please write the trip code and my name (201004KEN – Andrew Lee). Once you enter the amount, please click “Make a donation” and the amount will be added to your “shopping cart” where you can follow the check-out process. For the tax savvy, Christ’s Hope USA, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and so donations are tax deductable.

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If you have made it to here through this long e-mail, I want to thank you for reading this far! I also want to thank you for the impact you have already made in my life – you are on this e-mail list as a brother or sister who has played a role in shaping my life in some way. I am hoping to set up a blog with pictures, reflections, and artwork so please stay tuned for more information on that!

Love in Christ,

Andrew Lee

PS. If you have any questions about the missions trip or about my life in general, feel free to reply to this e-mail or give me a call!

If you would like to find out more about Christ’s Hope International, please visit

http://www.christshope.org/