Artisan Project Grows!

The lovely ladies brought their lovely work by the donkey load!

Tammy and Wild Hope's dear friend, Julia Veenstra, spent the weekend together working on new product ideas, quality control, and other areas of training.

Remember back in December when we were projecting that the project would soon be helping more than these six original ladies? Well there are now 32 additional Maasai women benefiting from our Artisan Project.

God is good! Hurray!

Chase's Perspective

Just to refer you to Chase Russell's blog Superman Digital Movement. With such a great title you might get the clue that Chase is a creative and fun 8th grader and his take on what's going on in Tanzania is fresh. Having just read his three most recent posts, we thought you might enjoy hearing from one of the younger members of the Wild Hope community.

Enjoy!

Lots of Gear!

Wild Hope was just given 250 nice soccer jerseys, plus LOTS of shorts, socks, warm-up outfits and goalie gear!

The lovely Lynzi Blacker of u2u donated what she had collected from the AYSO league in Santa Ynez Valley so that we can outfit future teams!

The photos above show our Small Nyotas before uniforms and after :-) These uniforms were brought over in a separate donation by another group. Now we have matching sets for an additional 8 teams, and many more in mixed batches.

We are so thankful to Jez and Lynzi at u2u!

God is With the Poor

Just to share this clip of Bono accepting his award from the NAACP a few days ago.

Wild Hope won't be getting an award or an ovation. Still, we are proud to take our place among those who have committed their lives to bring hope in Africa.

Why? Because we believe in the call of Isaiah 58 to spend ourselves on behalf of others. This is OUR calling. Insignificant as we might seem in the face of the crisis in Africa, we respond.

We know that God is in this because, as Bono says in his speech, "God, my friends, is with the poor and God is with us if we are with them."

That's where we want to be.

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!