Work Permits and a Red Moon!

Peter's email yesterday said "I've got your work permits in my hand!"

This was definitely the best news of the day :-) We Bordens (still in the States preparing to move to Tanzania) hooped and hollered and then sighed one big sigh of relief.

Wild Hope had been notified that our work permits were approved some time ago but then there were a few little complications. I will not elaborate except to say they were par for the course. They were enough to make us hold our breath and pray quite a lot.

And the red moon?

Many of you will already know that a strong part of the vision of Wild Hope is to receive teams of young people into our community and allow them to participate with us in what God has led us to be involved in there in East Africa. We know that Africa has so much to give and we are thrilled to be a part of bridging Africa with Europe and the States. We are very pumped to be able to pour into these teams during the short time that we have them with us.

One of the networks God has tied us into is the 24-7prayer movement. With 24-7's emphasis on prayer, mission and justice, we have like hearts and minds. If you are not familiar with this wild and wonderful movement, please check them out and please read Pete Greig's book, Red Moon Rising, about what God is doing in this generation. (And while we're at it, let us also recommend Pete's new book, God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer. It's really good!)

Well, all of this is to say that we're excited to be on our way to join the rest of the Wild Hope family in Tanzania soon.

Peter and Tammy said that on the night of the day that he recieved our work permits they looked out and noticed a big red moon rising. A lunar eclipse has painted the moon and while we're not saying it MEANS anything, maybe we shouldn't say it was just a coincidence either. Whatever it was, it certainly made us smile :-)

Oh Lord, thank you for letting us be a small part of your big plans to bless Africa!

(Photo by Jeremy)

ABC

The young shepherd boy's face broke into a brilliant smile as he handed Peter his crooked herding stick. Peter had jokingly asked him to give the stick to him in exchange for something that he might like from the big city, Arusha.

Holding the stick, Peter now asked him what it was that he wanted from the city. "A book," he said immediately. Surprised, Peter asked him if he knew how to read. "No," he replied, "but I want to learn". Peter promised him that he would bring him a book.

As the boy ran off to attend his now wandering goats (with his single piece of worn cloth tied neatly over his right shoulder) Peter couldn't help but smile. That small boy on the dusty plains (with a huge desire to learn) is the future of Africa. Wild Hope is now talking with the elders of his village about just how the close to 200 children there can get the education they need. Our prayer is that that little boy's trade of a herding stick for a book will be the beginning of the equipping of a whole new generation in that area.

Education is key for transformation in Africa!

Recently, when we asked a high level government official how Wild Hope could best serve the community, we were told that thousands of elementary school graduates are not able to attend high school simply because there is not enough room in existing classrooms. "Anything you can do to help with this problem will be a greatly appreciated help."

In Wild Hope's first short year in Tanzania, we've had the pleasure of providing 3-Phase electricity to a local high school and a protective building for their water pump so that they could pump water to the school. We have led several weeks of after school programs in local schools, provided math curriculum to the Engewua Primary School, built on-going partnerships for development with several schools and donated sports equiptment to two others. Additionally, we have assisted the Joshua Teacher's Training College with teaching and the provision of electrical back-up systems to ensure internet connection for the teachers and students at their colleges.

We are delighted to see educational initiatives going forward and greatly blessed to be a part of them!

Big Party for Small Stars

Wild Hope proudly sponsors the Small Nyotas (Small Stars) soccer team of Arusha.

These guys from the struggling neighborhood of Unga play on an under-17's league team coached by a dedicated and very-young-himself local.

We love that involvement on the team is giving these young men a sense of self respect and self worth, a new level of personal discipline and something to look forward to and be proud about. We love the way we see this team being used to raise the standard of hope in the community. We love that we helped to sponsor the East Africa Youth Football Tournament and our Small Nyotas came in 3rd place!

Picture it: one day you're on a rag-tag team in mismatched t-shirts playing in one of the worst areas of town. Not too long after coming into relationship with Wild Hope, you have uniforms and you're playing in a beautiful and impressive stadium, taking third in a major tournament!

Most games are still played on the haphazard field down in Unga, but we're seeing good stuff happen on this team.

A few weeks ago Wild Hope celebrated with them by throwing them a Soccer Banquet at a local restaurant. Peter wrote that they had a blast! Skyler printed team and individual photos for everyone and there were t-shirts for prizes.

Keep the Small Nyotas in your prayers. They live in a community ravished by HIV/AIDS. We want to see their whole lives transformed and there's only one way to go.... Up!

A Thousand Words

If a picture is worth a thousand words than this photo needs no story.
Suffice to say that sometimes just getting out to the places where Wild Hope is involved is a story in itself! (That's the Russell family plowing water with their car.)

Christmas Angels!

The Team here at Wild Hope is very excited about angels!

Allow us to tell you why...

These 6" angels, (plus a slightly larger version and some Christmas stars) are made by a group of financially struggling Maasai ladies that are friends of ours. Over the years we have helped them market some of their traditional bead work and provide a little income for themselves. But during this last year we've encouraged them to a new level!

Julia Veenstra, an American artist living in East Africa, is a friend of Wild Hope. Julia has a passion for the work of local artisans and for creativity to be released and used. She has a passion for women to be helped and for local women to find ways to support their families.

In September Wild Hope hosted our six Maasai artisans friends and Julia for a weekend of training and fellowship. As mentioned, Wild Hope has been able to facilitate different opportunities for these ladies to sell their work, but this was the first time we planned a seminar for them to improve and market their wares.

With Julia's artist eye and knowledge of western markets to guide them, the ladies designed this Christmas Angel. Isn't' she beautiful? You can click on the photo for a larger view.

We wish we could offer these to you for sale (and hopefully we will one day) but our production levels are not up to exporting yet. However, these pretty little ornaments have been selling like hotcakes in Kenya this season. And guess what! A brand new little gift and coffee shop in Arusha, Tanzania is opening and planning to stock them immediately as well.

We are so pleased to have just sent $1,000 of profit to this small group of artisans. Do you have any idea how much money that is to women who live on about $1 a day? Even divided between the six of them, this is a huge blessing of provision. For those of us who have stayed in Maasai villages and experienced life among them, there is a tremendous sense of joy as we think of how this income will help.

What is it we've heard Bono say?

"Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Give a woman micro-credit, she, her husband, her children and her extended family will eat for a lifetime."

The Wild Hope Artisans project is in a seed stage. We are praying and working toward training more women and expanding the work. We're looking down the road to Christmas 2007 and wondering how many more this project will be blessing by then.

Praise God with us for the assistance this job-producing micro-enterprise has already brought... And for what it will do in the future!

Sarah's Glasses

Sarah was excited to get her new glasses but when Tammy arrived to take her to the optometrist she was scared to leave the confines of her small mud and wattle home next to the dirty river in Arusha.


Sarah's old glasses were insufficient to give her the sight needed to visit her neighbors or get out to any other location and so, over the years, Sarah’s world had become smaller and smaller.

Finally, Sarah’s glasses with the one missing arm were lost totally.

Despite her nervousness about leaving her familiar quarters, Sarah knew her need was too great to ignore. Tammy had been to visit Sarah several times and Sarah had come to trust her. And so, at last, they set off!

After a challenging and sometimes comical journey of getting fragile little Sarah down the narrow lanes, into Wild Hope’s big white vehicle and through the busy streets of the city, the doctor was able to quickly prescribe the needed lenses. It wasn’t long before Sarah was trying on her new glasses. As she put on the new pair, she looked up at Tammy and exclaimed "Your eyes are blue!"

Tammy drove Sarah to have a celebratory lunch and Sarah began seeing and greeting old friends on Arusha's main street, a place she had not visited for some 10 years though she lives only a mile away!

The widows living in the broken-down quarters of Arusha have so many needs. Thank you for helping us help them!

There We Were and Here We Are

Well, this is us! This is the Russell and the Borden families. But this was a really long time ago :-)

I think this photo was taken in 1991. There are eight kids between our two families now and these three boys are in high school and college today.

I guess dreams take years to shape. Our two families have been loving Africa for a very long time. We have spent many years serving on that beautiful continent. And during those years God was preparing our hearts for the Africa of today.

Africa today is looking at 40 million AIDS orphans by the year 2010. 40 million!

Wild Hope is in Africa to respond to this and to other serious issues of poverty, poor education, lack of resource, and spiritual hunger.

Do we think we are the answer to Africa's troubles?
We're not that presumptuous!

But we know that God is crazy in love with the people of Africa. Their issues are on His mind. So we proudly take our place among the hundreds of organizations, the thousands of individuals who want to give their lives to make a difference.

That's what we're up to.

It's a Wild Hope.
But He's a Wild God.