Participant Blogs

"What we do, does not define who we are. What defines us is how well we rise after falling." It has been a while since I've seen words come to life in such an inspiring way. Rwanda is a beautiful chapter in this journey. So beautiful that there aren't any words to truly express how much influence it has had in my own thoughts and especially my relationship with our beautiful Saviour. I look forward to more chapters with you in it. You have taught me so much. Not only about your people but also about myself. I loved spending...

    We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place. We stay there even though we go away, and there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there. Kenya is such a place. It is truly like Narnia.  There is something beautiful  about Kenya that is thousands of years old. Too old to be truly captured by poems and songs. Loved by everyone, loved so very deeply. Kenya is everything real in a world of make believe.    But even though I left some part of me behind, I also found...

  Why do we make life so complicated? Why do we so easily make mountains out of mere ant hills? It is not supposed to be this difficult and I dare say it is rather tiring to worry about everything all the time.    My stay in Egypt these past two weeks has been a time of growth and transformation. Firstly I would like to mention that all the pictures I have seen, all the history that I have read and heard throughout my years of study about this wonderful place, I could have never imagined it to be so...

A 24 year old girl has recently discovered after years of living in "poverty" that she won the lottery at the young age of 10.   She never checked her bank account to see how much she was actually entitled to. She was living like all the other people around her, according to the standards of her immediate reality. She did not realise that she was actually free from the rules she had made for herself. She was free from a life dictated by checklists that everyone around her was striving for. She had it all along but she just...

             Names are not always what they seem. For most of us it means identity and belonging. The identity that names give speak of description, which in most cases leave the negativity of prejudice and pride behind and also often leads us to form a stereotype.    During my stay in Macedonia I was introduced with the thought that people and places are more than just a name. Macedonia for instance, may be known for it's rich history and important people, but for me Macedonia is like a good find in an antique store...timeless and...

After an excruciating two days of travel by bus and train and hanging out at various interesting stop over stations, we arrived in Macedonia in the middle of the night - tired, dirty and hungry. Our moods were immediately lifted when we were welcomed by our friendly hosts who received us at the train station with big smiles and joyful hearts. They treated us to a midnight feast of the biggest hamburgers we have ever seen and it was not long before realized that Macedonia, like the Middle East has a very late night culture. Nothing happens before 10 in...

Morocco welcomed us with a night at the airport where we had to sleep through the sound of hammers and chisels ceaselessly building away on a new part of the airport.    In Marrakech we stayed over for two nights. The vibrancy and colours of the markets overwhelmed and mesmerised. Rooftop views and coffees became a frequent enjoyment as well as prayer walks through the mazed streets. In the mornings we watched the sun rise over Marrakech and prayed together there.   Fes was our next destination, once we got there after a long bus ride we were graciously scammed...

You never know what you can live without until you have to carry everything in one bag on your back -JS This week has been the craziest and probably most frustrating time of my entire life, we didn't get our Macedonia visas and had to come to Israel earlier. I have never felt the need to make notes of what happens to me until I experienced this week and knew I had to tell you guys all about it. I am currently sitting in my tent and decided I HAVE to write. Everything I am using now fits into my...

Well where do I begin... The past few weeks have been crazy fun, hard, good days and bad days... The first week we got the connect with everyone...2nd week going on a "camping trip" that ended up to be 5 days in the bush with only the clothes on our backs and playing games to win some food...3rd week we are joining the school camp and having some fun with the kids from there we are building the road for the GLA School..week 4 and we are leaving for the Transkei to serve the people and give LOVE to the...

My mind is blown. My foundations shaken. Suffering is still a thing? It's still happening? Why do we not know about this? Why did I not know about this? Do people actually know what is going on? Do people actually realize that there are PEOPLE in these circumstances. Living breathing people. What do you do in a situation like this? What can you do? Deliver a heater and a stove? A few mattresses, pillows, gas? Just enough food to get by for maybe a month? Show LOVE. We've been in the Middle East for three weeks now. Visiting families and...