To Africa and Back
Well, I’m back after having spent two weeks in Africa. It was such an incredible time, but way too short.
I was going with a group that Bare & Hatchet partners with called Venture Corps. Going on this trip really helped me to get a better understanding and grasp on what V.C. is about, who they are helping and what their goals are. In this post, I am going to highlight my experience and what it meant to me to be able to go on this trip. And in the following weeks I will give a more in-depth look at the leaders Venture Corps partners with.
One of the groups that Venture Corps partners with is called Springs of Hope. They are located in Machakos, Kenya and the home is headed up by one of the most beautiful souls you will ever have the privilege of meeting, Mary Musyoka. We spent three days getting to know Mary and the girls in the home. The rest of the time was spent traveling throughout Uganda and getting to know Ronnie Matovu, another of our partners and executive director of Serve for Hope.
Mary is such an incredible woman. Without knowing it, Mary was a catalyst for an enormous change in my life. The first day I met her she mistook my name for “Treasure” instead of Tricia. I corrected her and didn’t think much of it. Then, we got to talking and very simply put, she determined that based on our conversation she was right in having called me Treasure in the first place. She introduced me to everyone as Treasure without a second thought and for the next three days (I should really say the entire two weeks because everything was a learning experience), I was caught in a whirlwind of finding self worth. For the many of you that don’t know, I don’t have parents. I have struggled a lot with finding myself and finding a place that is my own. I had no idea that God was going to send a group of 20 girls ranging from 3-16 to teach me where my place is. The girls started asking me questions slowly over the time we spent with them, and when the topic of parents came up I wasn’t exactly sure how to approach it because they are children and at least here, in the US, my experience has proven that it is taboo to talk about death with children. I felt a nudging in my heart though that it was alright to let them know my parents have passed and immediately these girls started asking more questions- “what about your brothers? sisters? aunts? uncles?... Who takes care of you?” and when all I could do was kind of nervously laugh, the girls just SWARMED me and immediately started doing my hair, holding my hands and just overall comforting and taking care of me. It is an experience I can honestly say I will never forget.
That was how it was for the whole trip. Seeing the culture and experiencing the amount of care each person takes with the other was absolutely mind blowing. More than that, their relationships with God are more than just relationships. It is their way of life- God just is. He is in everything and there is no question about that. I was able to have really deep conversations with a few of the children and young adults that Ronnie cares for and I can actually say there are so few words I can use to accurately describe the reality of the depth at which they all touched my heart. They all have such powerful testimonies, and here that would be the first thing that most Christians would highlight about themselves- but for them, it was so subtle which made them that much more powerful.
I absolutely fell in love with the culture, the people, the language and the hearts of those I got to know while I was there and I cannot wait to return.
Be on the lookout next week as I talk about Ronnie and his NGO, Serve for Hope! I’m so excited to share more of his vision with you all!
Written by: Tricia Kaufman
Photo by: Lauren Lehman
