Out of Africa...

After 2 days of jet lag recovery I am finally writing my wrap up email, of what I got ‘Out of Africa’. Hard to capture in summary how this trip impacted both me and the mission, but there is one thing for sure. I didn’t get out of Africa, Africa got into me. I am changed, sold, heartbroken, yet heart filled all at the same time.

The theme I walked away with was ‘I have seen the Hope of Africa first hand’. These are truly amazing people, they are uniquely gifted, anointed leaders who live on very little ($600 a month), and are impacting hundreds of thousands of kids every year. After seeing abject poverty first hand, one thing is very clear about Africa. There is not a money issue there, there is a leadership void. These national directors are and will change the face of this continent, I am convinced. It was holy ground and I was honored to be a part of it.

Let me share a brief story about one of my new friends, Benga Msoshi (see me pictured with him in the two photo’s) from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Benga is full of gratitude that God would spare his life in the midst of war for the purpose of loving Christ and loving teenagers! Benga grew up in the eastern Congo where his Dad served God in the Anglican Church and Benga at age 7 started singing in the choir. His image of God changed when war broke out around Uvira, the small town where he lived. Benga and his family walked over 500 miles on foot in the forest and without food followed by four weeks down the river Congo in a boat in search of safety and a fresh start. “It was painful then, difficult and hopeless, but today I look back and say it was grace and mercy and love.” Why? Because this experience changed his life and as he reflected on all of the people he knew who were killed or injured or lost loved ones he realized that the Lord kept him alive for a purpose.

Benga was introduced to Young Life at the University in Kenya and knew that teenagers in the Congo who had lost hope in the context of war and its aftermath desperately needed the hope that only Jesus can bring. Benga started Young Life in Bukavu in 2007 and now they have over 22 volunteer leaders, three clubs with an average of 60 kids coming to each club and in September 2009 during their first outreach camp 96 kids came to know Christ! As a result 8 new Campaigner groups were launched.

Benga and his leaders are praying to grow the ministry in the towns of Goma; 200 km north of Bukavu and Lubumbashi about 600 km south of Bukavu. Benga and his leaders are doing ministry with boldness and grace as they work under the continued threat of violence, injustice and impunity. “People are shot frequently during the night. The infrastructure is crumbling and nothing is working. We live in a town that has not had electricity and water for months now. Painful news awaits us each day but we don’t lose hope. So we pray.”

I am humbled and honored to call Benga my friend. Our only hope in Africa is leaders like Benga who are anointed, called, and gifted.

Finally, one of the reasons I went was to engage the staff around their fundraising plans for the future. Right now donors from the US pay for about 99% of the work currently in Africa. We know this can’t last, nor should it. The Africans are thankful and blessed for the generosity of their American friends, but are ready to ‘own’ this aspect of the ministry. I lead a session with them on fundraising that was met with open arms and embraced with enthusiasm. It may be 10, 20, 50, or even 100 yrs from now, but I believe Africans will one day pay for Young Life themselves. Take a listen (and look) at this short video in response to the fundraising training we did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_S5aYoIv8c

While I left Africa a few days ago, I can’t get it out of me, I am sure I will never really be ‘Out of Africa’, Africa is in me, for good.

Thanks for joining me as the journey continues….till next time..

The African Journey Continues..

Sorry for the absence but we were on an island for several days with no internet and it has been a whirlwind since we got back. Because we had leaders from all over Africa we were forced to maximize our time together-and I mean maximize.

Here is one example of maximizing our time. Steve Larmey is the only guy I know and this is probably one of the few groups in the world that could get away with this. We had a 2 hr meeting that included some vey significant topics while driving a very busy road back to Dar Es Salaam. Luckily when the driver went off the shoulder of the road and dropped down into a huge ditch we made it to the other side. The consensus from everyone in the bus after that was let’s just not worry about getting home a few minutes earlier and get back on the road. The meeting went on.

As part of the finishing BBQ we played an inter-continental volleyball game. The is the Africa team who started the game trash talking about how easily they could beat the American team. This included many chants and songs about Mother Africa.

However they met a superior team armed with unity and firepower. Note especially the American spiking the ball and the one who had just set him.

Needless to say we drew quite a crowd of people interested in watching the African team take on the US team. They were treated to both a cultural oddity and US victory. There is still some questions about the Kenyan official and the final score but we are confident that our victory will stand.

Getting the chance to eat, share stories, pray , travel, rest, study, worship, and laugh with the Africans has been a really amazing experience. I am trying to find the words to describe our experience here and the heart & quality of the leaders that care so much for the kids they work with, the countries they live in, and all of Africa. It has been a tremendous gift to get to witness the Kingdom of God in so many ways. My heart is overfilled, yet broken at the same time, is that possible??

We are out for another 2 days, as we head into the bush....Lions, and Tigers, and......

Surprise!

I am not a big surprise guy, being the only child I am, I like things planned out, in control, and basically 'own schedule'. This morning we were told we had 15mins to pack our bags and get on a bus for a 48hr trip to an island off the Tanzania coast. Ya, welcome Jamie to more 'out of your comfort zone' moments! No internet there, so this will be my last post until we are back. Stay turned on Saturday for whatever we are going to do!

So this is what it feels like to be on the amazing race...YL style..

Jamie

Africa, Day 3

Our day started with an outdoor worship service. The 13 national directors, myself, Chad, Dan, and Steve. The Africans love to sing, and singing just doesn’t happen without dancing. You can see my attempt at joining in…

One of the things that Chad and I both prayed for was the Lord to give us a special connection with one or two folks here. That has begun to happen for me with Mogus (Ethiopia national director), see pictured with me on the beach just before dinner tonight. The work in Ethiopia is one of our largest ministries in Africa. We have 12 staff, work in 6 cities, and took over 1200 kids to camp this summer. Mogus is the leader of all this. He is full of life, has a wonderful smile, and an infectious spirit about him. It costs about $600 a month to have him on staff, and $200 a month for the other staff. I continue to be amazed at the kind of leverage we get here, and the quality of leadership being raised up. Mogus and I talked tonight about funding and how they had their first attempt at raising funds in country this yr by selling self made CD’s and having a banquet. They raised about $2,000 from Ethiopians. It is a start towards sustainability. As you may know, that is one of my roles with International YL. I help our national directors strategize cultural relevant funding models.

We stayed at the training center all day today and had eggs for breakfast, pizza for lunch, and a taco bar for dinner….needless to say the Hanson kids were a little disappointment when I talked to them a bit ago about the food menu so far. (I however am thrilled!)

I continue to be amazed at the amazing faith, courage, and passion these friends have. As amazing as this place called Africa is, the most impressive part so far are these people. Full of faith, living on very little, and so full of joy, passion, and sold out commitment to a call to serve the youth of this continent.

(Chad has a bunch of mosquitos in his bunk tonight, they are so big he is calling them his flock)

Day 3 here we come..

Dar es Salaam - Day 1

Day 1 in Dar es Salaam:

Woke up this morning after a sleeping pill the night before not sure where I was, surrounded by a mosquito net, I was a bit freaked out. First thing I saw…a bit fat mosquito flying around my head. Killed it and blood went all over my hands. I was suddenly VERY greatful for the Hep A, Heb B, Yellow Fever, Typhoid fever, and Malaria pills and shots I had to take in the last month. As I took a depth breath I was at the same time greatful for how blessed I am to have access and money to those drugs, and angry/sad/scared at how many millions live in fear of what I just experienced as I woke up to this mosquito bite. Welcme to Africa.

Great time this morning with Steve Larmey (VP of Africa YL), talking about the long term sustainability of Africa YL, how we can get churches and individuals sponsoring individual staff and countries.

We headed out to one of the Tanzania YL Leadership Houses for a meeting with leaders. We spent a couple of hours singing, dancing, talking about leading young people, and praying for their leadership of Tanzanian youth. Followed it up with lunch out, had some mutton (old lamb, that tasted more like mut), we will see how it sitsJ

On the way home were surprised in the middle of the road by the band in the truck. We got pulled out of our SUV and put on the back of three bikes....Chad Watson, Dan Jessup(YL Director of Leadership Development), & I spent the next 2km on the back of the bikes following this musical truck through the streets of Dar es Salaam. You would not believe the reaction of the people along the street as we rode by with the band blaring away. Construction workers, grown men & women, and especially kids would break out in dance. It’s hard not to smile when you see joy this infectious.you see in the picture I took a short video but it has nosound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaIk99cZ2x4

Might be the greatest welcome I ever experienced. After our ride we arrive at YL Africa Headquarters & African YL Director Steve Larmey’s living quarters on the 2nd floor. The YL staff from 13 different African countries sang, danced, and welcomed us with overly kind words for nearly 30 mins. They asked us to not believe everything we read or hear about Africa and to experience it for ourselves. They made it clear that we are now part of the work they & the Lord are doing all over Africa. The quote was 'you are now part and parcel' of Africa.

So great having Chad here to reflect with….and he took 300 pictures in our first DAY!! (he was taking pictures out the car window and took one of the military HQ, but was quickly rebuked by our driving saying they may pull us over…nice Watson, nearly arrested on day 1....stay tuned for day 2...

19 days at Lost Canyon - Young Life Camp in AZ

There is nothing quite like an assignment at a Young Life property. Spending a month (19 days specifically for us this time) in close community all with the same goal of presenting the gospel to hundreds of kids, it is simply amazing. There were 3 camp weeks, two Junior High, the third a Capernaum week dedicated to those kids who often live in the shadows of society, kids with disabilities.

I will say that coming into the assignment I had no idea who Justin Beiber was. After two weeks with look at like after look alike I certainly know what his haircut looks like. Dozens of 12 and 13 yr old boys each week sported the Beiber hair cut. (See Jen Byard’s blog about this, it is pretty funny as one day she took picture of all the Bieber’s) (Jen and John Byard were on the assignment with us). Click here for a video of what 100 junior high kids in one hot tub looks like. I didn’t think it was possible, but you can see for yourself. I think the biggest lesson learned coming out of the first two weeks is how scared I am to have a daughter soon to be in junior high. Emma turned 10 at camp and she got her first iPod. (And yes, Bieber was a first download). See picture of Emma as she turned 10. As we began to prepare for week 3, I will admit I started to get a bit nervous. 250 kids with special needs, plus 200 leaders and buddies were to be our next guests. For those that don’t know, under the leadership of a great brother Nick Palermo, Young Life started ministering specifically to this kid group about 20yrs ago, under the name Capernaum Young Life. What started as one club in San Jose now has grown to the largest outreach ministry to disabled kids in the US, with another 14 countries also with ministries to these special kids. The camps 2^nd day was July 4^th. So we decided to have the first ever Lost Canyon 4^th of July parade. (See picture of the parade masters, Eric Scofield and I). My nervousness melted away as I saw the complete joy on every campers face. These were amazing kids. My favorite moment of the week came when I was in the coffee shop one night and an impromptu sing-a-long broke out. I said,’ heh, do you know Free Fallin’? Click here to watch the video. The kid in the corner that is absolutely belting it out, he was having the time of his life!!

Stay tuned as I gear up for Africa and watch for the blog posts hopefully during but for sure after! Sept 5^th -10^th…the Journey Continues…