Jim And Dave head out from Portland on Valentine's Day

It’s a full season of travel for the Lahash team right now. Yesterday I spent a couple hours at the Portland airport saying goodbye to Jim Anderson and Dave – both heading to Dodoma, Tanzania. They’ll be serving our partners for two weeks by teaching computer hardware and software lessons, learning about the pathway of HIV drugs from the international community to those needing the drugs on the ground in East Africa, and spending time with the kids and staff at our partnership. You can follow Jim’s blog for more details.

A couple weeks ago we said goodbye to Will Campbell. Will is our first Servant Team member and is living and serving in Uganda, South Sudan, and Tanzania during 2012. Will is a talented photographer and uploaded his first set of images recently from Kampala.

Will Campbell is surrounded by friends at the Portland airport as he begins his year of service in East Africa

In just over one month, two more groups of travelers will be heading out from Portland. I and Casey Schilperoort will travel initially on March 19th, and then an additional group (Katie, Clark, Todd, Sarah, and Brett) will come on the 24th of March. We’ll be rendezvousing in Dodoma, Tanzania for the 3rd East Africa conference. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support. To donate to any of the travelers this spring, head over to our donation page and select the traveler you’d like to share your dollars/euros/shillings with.

Every year our community joins together in a unique event called Rice & Beans Month. This month focuses on the following three ideas:

1. Solidarity – standing with brothers and sisters in East Africa with limited resources and inadequate nutrition
2. Simplicity – simplifying our diets and forgoing wasteful consumption
3. Sharing – giving away the savings from a month of simple meals to kids and families who need nutritional support in East Africa

Our team is about to make available our brand new devotional companion book for the month and a brand new website. The book is called A Common Meal: Reflections and Recipes for Rice & Beans Month. For now, you can head over to our facebook page to “friend” the month and you can sign up for our Rice & Beans email list.

We’ll share some cool updates about the month in the upcoming days.

For those in the Portland area – mark your calendars for Tuesday, February 21st. We’ll be hosting a book release party and a potluck rice and beans feast for participants in the city of Portland.

What would you need to cross off your list if you were leaving your home for a year? Will plans to spend these final weeks seeing movies in theaters, visiting Portland restaurants he’s been wanting to try out, and spending as much time as possible hanging out with friends.

As the first traveler in the new Lahash Servant Teams program, the training process has been influential for Will. Books as When Helping Hurts and Divine Conspiracy have been especially inspiring. “I’ve been thinking and praying a lot about fully embracing my time when I’m there,” Will says. “I want to actually be there, and not focus on being back home around familiarity.”

Will’s first two months will be spent visiting partners in Uganda and South Sudan. In March he’ll fly to Dodoma, Tanzania where he’ll spend the next few months. You can visit Will’s photo gallery here.

The Lahash team gathered near our office tree to wish you a happy Christmas!

Thanks to all of you for partnering with us in our advocacy and care for our brothers and sisters in East Africa this past year. We hope you and your friends and family have a very Merry Christmas!

Volunteer Will Campbell hard at work at the Portland Lahash office

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas here at our office in Portland. We have a nice little Christmas tree, some lights, and a couple poinsettias cheering up our office!

At our partnerships in East Africa, the vulnerable kids we love could use your involvement. Our team has some great options for sharing with the kids this Christmas. This year you can choose from a variety of Holistic Gifts that cover the spectrum of needs of the kids we serve.

These kids are pounded by waves of war, disease, and corruption. Our partners care for them holistically – making sure every aspect of life is ministered to.

You can join our partners this Christmas in providing this care to these dear kids. Head over to our Christmas Giving page and select one or more ways to spread life and love this December.

The kids at Amazing Grace hold up Christmas cards from the Lahash community

Eliya at home in Dodoma, Tanzania

The mud home was nearly empty of possessions. A wooden bed was adorned with an ancient brown mattress. A couple years ago I found myself in a Tanzanian slum visiting the family of a courageous young boy named Eliya.

Eliya likes soccer and enjoys going to school. A massive smile regularly breaks across his face. He enjoys hanging out with his sister and cousins. Recently he’s begun to learn some sweet breakdancing moves.

But you need to know something else about Eliya.

Eliya has AIDS.

If you haven’t had a chance to view the short video we made of my trip to Eliya’s home, you should take the couple minutes to watch that clip.

For many of us here at Lahash, we think of Eliya when we hear the words “HIV” or “AIDS”. His life embodies the tragedy, vulnerability, courage, and hope that have come to be associated with this devastating global disease.

On December 1st the world will mark thirty years since AIDS was first recognized.

How will you mark World AIDS day?

Here are a couple of suggestions:

1. Post the Eilya video on your blog or Facebook page and share your thoughts and hopes for Eliya and those that suffer from HIV/AIDS.
2. Choose to care for a child in our sponsorship program by committing $25 a month for his or her care.

Let’s continue the fight against AIDS and let friends like Eliya know that they are not forgotten.

Dan and Eliya pose at the Mennonite Church in Dodoma, Tanzania in November, 2011

Our team finished up our fall travels with a visit to our partners in Tanzania. It’s amazing to see the work that God is doing among the people of this church and through the partnership of all of you around the world. Our partners in Tanzania care for 97 children, of which approximately 20 are still in need of sponsorship through Lahash. If you’d like to sponsor one of these kids at $25 per month, send an email to katiep@lahash.org.

Lahash staff and partners serve lunch to vulnerable kids

One of our first days in Tanzania was spent serving lunch to a group of special kids at the church. These beautiful boys and girls are all HIV positive and require significant nutritional support just to live. Their families are so fractured and poor that many face death without the extra meals. We were devastated to learn that a girl named Angelina that had just entered the Lahash program died this week. She was HIV positive and was just about to receive a sponsorship. But she got sick and within a couple hours had passed away.

A dear child is brought to our partner Esther for assistance

While we were at the church a new child (which was to take Angelina’s spot) came and was welcomed by Esther. This child was unbelievably malnourished. We were reminded of the high stakes of this work and the importance of staying the course.

The kids are eating food because of the generous gifts of people through Rice & Beans month and also through a Christmas gift from Portland Mennonite Church.

Lahash kids pose with Dan Holcomb after trash collection

The kids are learning about environmental care of their community and of the God that made and sustains this planet. The task on Friday was to go out into the community to pick up trash. I got to reunite with old friends like Gabu, Eliya, and Pendo Erasto to gather refuse and bring it back to the church to be properly disposed of. It was super hot but great fun!

Lahash sponsored kids learn about environmental care through trash cleanup

One of the highlights of this visit was seeing Eliya again. He looks amazingly healthy and greeted me warmly. I had spent a night at his home back in 2009 and got to know his family and the challenges they face. During the kids’ program at the church Eliya showed off some impressive new breakdancing moves that he’s been working on! It’s such an honor to spend life making sure kids like Eliya have a bright hope and a warm community that holistically cares about their future.

Dan Holcomb receives greetings and a card from Eliya

The kids here send greetings to all the sponsors! Thanks to each of you for your partnership in our work.

Lahash sponsored kids send their greetings

The Sudanese IWASSRU vehicle loaded up and ready to travel

Our Fall Travel Team to Uganda had one main purpose – to launch Lyla Peterson’s book about our partner Susan Tabia.

After navigating over 16 hours of the Ugandan and Sudanese roads, we made it safely across the border into Sudan. For most of the trip we used the IWASSRU vehicle to carry our team and luggage.

Kids, staff, and community members at St. Bartholomew's gathered under a tree for the book release

On November 1st, we had the official release of the book about the life and ministry of Susan Tabia. Whispered Prayer has been over a year in the making and it’s a fairly short read. But it seems to already be making a huge impact in the new nation of South Sudan. People have been encouraged and united around the collection of stories.

Community members in Kajo Keji receive their own copies of Lyla's new book

On the day of the party, Susan brought together some community members and the children and staff of St. Bartholomew’s. We gathered under a tree and shared a meal before various individuals gave speeches.

Susan and Golda had baked a beautiful cake (with extremely basic cooking equipment in rural Sudan) thanking Lahash for the book.

Susan and Golda's handmade thank-you cake

Village elders, committee members, and friends of the organization all received a personal copy of the book.

Some of the local kids had arranged a local Acholi drum and dance performance that was shared with the crowd.

A local Acholi dance was performed by some of the kids

Finally, I got to take this fun photo of Susan surrounded by many of the kids at St. Bartholomew Children’s Home. It’s amazing to think of the impact that this one woman has had on so many precious kids’ lives.

Susan Tabia with dozens of the children she cares for

We are so grateful to all of the many friends who have helped with Lyla’s book project and for enabling these books to impact the the new and vulnerable nation of South Sudan. And we are even more grateful for the generosity and partnership of hundreds of you with Susan and her ministry.

You’ve put action to the words in Isaiah 1:17 - ”Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” Thank you!

Whispered Prayer books displayed for the crowd

It’s a quiet and peaceful evening here in northern Uganda. I’m typing by kerosene lamp with a couple of mosquitos nibbling on my toes.

I have a lot of great stories to share, but I’ll start this post with our first experiences in Kampala, Uganda.

Lyla and Edwin and I spent the first bit of time in the capital city of Uganda. We stayed at Mama Susan Tabia’s home and spent time with the kids, then prepared to head north for our work in Sudan and at Amazing Grace Orphanage.

One of the evenings we had the privilege of sharing a bunch of gifts with the kids at the Kampala home. Cecilia Caryl and her friend Linda had sewed a variety ofdresses – and each of the girls got a brand new beautiful dress!

The Kampala girls pose after trying on their new dresses from Cecilia Caryl

Judith Devilliers had put together a quilt for Mama Susan, and I got to present that to her.

Dan Holcomb gives Mama Susan Tabia a quilt from Judith Devilliers

We had a great time at Susan’s home and even got to spend a bit of time with two of the little babies who had been brought from the Sudan Babies Home for medical treatment in the Kampala area.

One of the girls who has been receiving treatment for TB and typhoid

The highlight of the time at Susan’s was presenting the new book written by Lyla to Susan! We had a little party with the kids at the home, and Lyla got to share some of the reasons and process behind the creation of the book. We also had some cake to celebrate.

Lyla Peterson shares Whispered Prayer with Mama Susan Tabia

Finally, our team headed up to Sudan. On the way, we encountered massive delays due to flooding and muddy roads. But at last we were able to make it up to the north part of the country.

The road from Gulu was blocked due to flooding

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and partnership so far!