Participant Blogs

Facts cannot explain our South Sudan journey and I am afraid my words cannot either. Returning to South Sudan after two years I was equally excited and nervous. I had an idea of what lay ahead for our team. Yet, our completely inefficient budget, the drowning of our host’s daughter, an emigration officer’s irrational behavior and the way God worked caught also me off guard. Once again I was overwhelmed by the need I saw, and I realized that my best place to start helping, is to tell their stories to the world. Summary -Overland from Kampala to Juba -Spend...

We left Masaailand with sad hearts, and left the parents and support team in Narok with even more sadness. A sponsored night at decent hotel made it a little better. We arrived in a village in the West of Kenya just before dark. This is one of the legendary stops in Explore Africa: the Simple church planting movement of Mount Elgon. Mount Elgon was opened to GCEX during a Luke 10 journey in 2007. The Explore Africa team of 2009 did Simple Church Training, then working with another contact. M***, was the translator at that training. A team member wrote...

At our next ministry point (a mission base in Northern Zambia) we were fortunate to receive a time of training so to gain a greater understanding of the east in particular the Islamic religion and culture.

Upon arrival at our new hosts in Livingstone, we were introduced to our new environment... an Orphanage that hosts 10 orphans. This is where we spent the next 5 days of our time in Livingstone.

 

It all started on Wednesday morning on the 7th of March when we saw each other again for the first time after our 8 week training in Jeffrey’s Bay.  We met at OR Tambo International Airport ready for our adventure through Africa.  All except Willy who had to take the bus to Harare, Zimbabwe to, get his Ethiopian visa.  We were all filled with an overwhelming sense of excitement and maybe a bit of “Oh Lord, what am I getting myself into?”  But nevertheless, we went through customs with our bags checked in - an average of 20kg backpacks, a 5kg food bag and a guitar and we realized there is no turning back, this is it!

 

EA has just returned from our most exciting challenge yet: a two week trip to the Transkei. You would think that we would be enjoying a bit of chill time, airing our wet tents and getting organized but instead you’ll find us squatting in a shopping centre eating scraps of bread. So how did it get to this?   Let’s start at the beginning…our attention first turned to the Transkei when we were informed of the need to fundraise for week 1 of our stay – which involved practical repair work at Coffee Bay Comprehensive Christian School (CBCCS). While dressed...

We arrived at our ministry point tired from our overland from Dar es Salaam to Pemba, in which we traveled for 3days through km's of nothing, crossing the Rivuma river in little boats, camping in elephant walkways, and braving drenching rain, but were warmly welcomed and settled in.

When we arrived in Kiminini (Kenya) at our host, we had been welcomed by his family and his extended spiritual family too: Two Mamas with the biggest hearts and smiles I’ve ever seen. They invited us to come to the village at the foothills of  Mt. Elgon just across the border in Uganda, to come strengthen and encourage some more family members. And we did.

 

Wow, what a fun and exciting time we had! This was probably the most rural and cultural EA has ever been… We drove for hours through land where there’s nothing, and then finally, you could see little red dots moving amongst goats or sheep every now and then… this was it, we’d finally reached Masaailand.

I would love to introduce to you Jerry and Christy, as well as their 4 children ages 11, 9, 7 and 3. This family comes from a continent not too far from Africa. However, they do come from a cultural background far removed from that of Africa, particularly the Ethiopian one. Ethiopia is an African country in its own world with its unique ways. As most people know, Ethiopia has its own calendar and its own time; I don’t think any other country can get as unique as that. It has a rich coffee culture mainly expressed on a daily...