We Celebrate!

It's so good to stop and celebrate!

We threw a "Staff Appreciation, Christmas and Goodbye Danny" party not long ago :-)


New Wild Hope shirts were a hit :-)


Lovely Faith, our bookkeeper.


Some of the men took over the roasting of the goat.


Josephine and Lillian enjoy the stories.


Thanks, Danny, for all your help with everything! (And, yes, we'll get you another FANTA right away!)

Not long after our staff party, the Nyota Football and Leadership Academy took time to celebrate a good year together.


Future soccer stars?


Cool enough to be a star already!


The younger kids cheer the year.


Peter gives an overview and look ahead chat.


Chase helps give out awards.


Steve with Oscar and Mama Oscar. Steve lived with this Nyota family during his 6 week home stay.

All the festivities reminded us that we have so much to be thankful for!

We Harvest the Beans :-)

The April/May rains failed in parts of Kenya and Tanzania, leaving many of our friends struggling as the dust blows where grass should be growing for their weakening herds.

With this reality close to us, we don't take for granted the rains that we received on Wild Hope's acreage outside of Arusha. For whatever reason, this general area was blessed with quite a decent rainy season and we have been harvesting the first fruits off of the land.

What a precious thing to be involved in the rhythm of the earth as dry ground softens under the rain, nourishing the hidden seeds and encouraging them to sprout and grow. What a lot of fun to watch the plants mature and produce and then to finally bring in a harvest.

Our bean production (grown amongst the maize and replenishing what maize depletes) wasn't on a very large scale but we're pleased with it none-the-less. We celebrated the good gifts of our Creator as we enjoyed our first meal with home-grown beans in our burritos.

This is a beginning for us. We look forward to years of multiple types of harvests grown in sustainable, environmentally responsible ways. With hunger and the degradation of the land being ongoing concerns in sub-Saharan Africa, we hope to work together with our neighbors to see these issues decrease.

We sure wish you could stop by for a plate of beans and rice with us :-)

Dreaming Bigger :-)

The Nyota Football Academy is dreaming bigger dreams. Why stop with just over 100 young men being coached in soccer AND life skills? Why not press out, expand boundaries around our ideas and reach for the stars?

Our stated purpose is to transform a community through sports-based character development and life-skills training. And that's been off to a great start. We believe that Whole Life Coaching can train Africa's next generation to be leaders of influence on a community and a national level. We want to see these young men live up to the name Nyota, ("star" in Swahili) and be just that on the field and, even more importantly, in life.

In order to implement the dream, we have qualified coaches teaching skill and strategy to our U-10, U-12, U-14 and U-16 teams. Along with the soccer skills, we provide after school training modules to insure that these young athletes have what they need to reach for all of their potential. The foundation of education is still not strong enough in Africa so we're also keeping kids in school with our scholarship program. The Nyota Scholarship Fund helps current students on track and gives assistance to those who are looking for further training after graduating.

But why stop here?

The Nyota guys and all of us at Wild Hope are excited about our friendship with the well-experienced leadership of MYSA in Kenya. As we've invited them down to get to know us, they are calling up bigger dreams in all of us. We'll be talking much more about this as plans get under way but here's a little taste of the ways our dreams are taking shape...

Let's build a real football pitch (soccer field) with level ground and drainage!
Let's start this September with 30 boys teams and 5 girls teams!
Let's get more intentional about HIV awareness training!
Let's up the ante on community service and get all the kids involved!
Let's have 50 boys teams and 10 girls teams by 2010!

We're excited :-)

If you want to know more, please write us at team@wildhopeinternational.org

Dry Fruit Goodness

A couple of posts ago we mentioned Wild Hope's new income-generating project for women.

Safari Snacks is the new initiative that employs 2 local women in need. The ladies are busy drying fresh local fruit (mango, banana and pineapple) and selling it in our neighborhood grocery store. It’s a very popular product with tourists and locals alike and, at this point, we can't always keep up with the demand. We are being approached to expand and grow this project into a larger industry.

We would love for you to be praying for this project. We need wisdom as to HOW and WHEN to expand so as to benefit more women through training and employment. We need wisdom regarding our role-- when we stay with something and when we let it become its own thing alongside of Wild Hope. We want to see the project include some level of spiritual nourishment as the number of involved women grows. We already know that these 2 lovely ladies share their hearts and lives and encouragement with each other as they work and laugh and pray together.

We are so pleased to be a practical help to women in need. Thanks for your prayers.