A Motorcycle for James!

What a great pleasure it was for Wild Hope to be able to partner with Reality church in Carpinteria and the Russell kids to provide much needed transport for our great friend, James Ole Kukan.

James is one of those golden people, a man of integrity who has lived his values with grace and consistency over all the years that we have known him. It is our great privilege to have him on our board of trustees here in Tanzania. His spiritual oversight of our Artisan Project participants is invaluable.

Caring for the needs of multiple congregations over many miles out in Maasai, James has a whole new freedom to get to these far flung places now that he has these snappy wheels.

Of the many things we appreciate about James, his wisdom and insight into how best to bring appropriate, effective, lasting assistance to Maasai communities is one that we call on again and again. James is a gift to Wild Hope and to his people. We love that we get to be a part of providing this gift for him.

Proud Graduates :-)

Education is such a luxury! In developed nations we hardly ever realize the privilege it is to have easy access to learning.

The team here at Wild Hope is extra proud of our adult-learners who have been gathering faithfully to study in Torosei, Kenya. In the photo above you see the 7 recent graduates of the first phase certificate level of the International School of Ministry. These men, leaders in local churches, have worked hard because they know how important it is to be trained in solid foundations if they are going to encourage others in their growing faith.

To set the scene, imagine that you live hours from a power line, a paved road, a bookstore or a library. Imagine that donkeys had to carry large solar batteries out to your location in order to get the one solar powered VCR and television set in the area up and running so that you could watch classes taught in your 3rd language, English. Imagine that the motivation to learn, to keep up with the reading and to take the tests, was to know that you were better prepared to serve others in your remote church community.

Completing 19 trimester-long classes to earn their certificates, these men deserve to be very proud of their accomplishment. Throughout this season they have studied a wide variety of topics from surveys of the Old and New Testaments to the integrity of a leader. Drawing together to encourage each other took on a whole new level of meaning in this small group. When one classmate did not pass the final exam of the final course, the guys agreed to all repeat the course together to help ensure that this colleague finishes successfully. Now that’s school spirit!

At Wild Hope, we believe in the development of local leaders and that takes many forms. Our thanks to Christian Assembly in Eagle Rock, California, for the financial gift that secured this college level course as well as the DVD player and television set. Thanks, also, to Jeff James for accompanying Peter Russell on a wild motorcycle trip out to Torosei to get the solar power up and running again.

As the fruit of this course is felt throughout the network of churches in that region and 10 new students sign up to take the course, we are blessed to be able to facilitate training and maturation among indigenous leaders.

Photo: Peter and Tammy Russell with the graduates on location at Torosei where the Russells lived for many years during the 90’s.