January 20, 2010 - From a Journal entry

 

"I'm so excited about my new computer... yet again. I wrote out the story of the computer once, then the computer along with the story was stolen in a slightly tragic moment in Costa Rica. The good news, my computer was insured and I only had that one journal entry on it. The bad news... I lost that entry! So today the new machine is here. It is so amazing to have something that's truly dedicated to writing. I'm excited that now I have a tool to help translate thoughts from my overactive ADD brain onto a beautiful white page.

 

I love knowing that this is a new start. For so long I've been disobeying God about writing. Instead of doing what God has asked, I've been avoiding, turning to TV, friends, internet, food, anything! But this is a new season, and this is my new computer and I'm excited."

 

Tonight I wrote, just for the joy of fitting words together on a page until the story emerged.  I did something I haven't done since creative writing my sophomore year of high school, I wrote fiction.  Now in a slightly vulnerable, awkwardly self conscious blog, I've decided to post my rough beginning.  Enjoy!

 

Her feet lightly pounded as they slapped the dry earth, one in front of the other, faster and faster as tiny clouds of dust swirled skyward leaving a wake of pain and grief. The red particles danced upwards, towards the cloudless arc of bright blue sky and the unforgiving orange sun. She pushed harder and harder, her lungs screaming, her heart pounding. Through the dry river bed, along the beaten path, past the bore hole, then she turned into the sugar cane fields. Her momma had always warned her, "Eliza, you are not allowed in the fields, the black mamba's attack there. I don't want my baby meeting black death." But it was too late, her momma was gone, taken by the sickness, her mamma had withered dying the slow death of those who couldn't afford the hospitals or pills which some claimed pushed back the sickness.

 

Eliza pushed forward, every breath agony. The daylight faded and the tall stalks of the sugar cane stretched high above her head. Here the earth was soft, squishing damp between her toes, here the field owners could afford water. Fear gripped her, the mambas were here, black and quiet until they struck. One bite would kill. Three years before Eliza's classmate Spongiele had been bitten by a different snake, the skin rotted off her bone, leaving white flesh exposed. After weeks in a hospital Spongiele lived but her arm did not. Now she could only tend the fire and stir the soup, she could no longer fetch the water, but Spongiele danced, she was a beautiful dancer. When the others would clap and sway in church Spongiele would perfectly reproduce the rhythmic, melodies and harmonies with her hips, feet and torso.

 

Eliza's breaths were getting short, the sharp leaves cut her legs and arms as she flew from row to row. The endless plantation stretched from the single road to the distant hillside. She had to find him, he was her only hope, time was running out, in just a few moments the sun would be pulled into the western flat topped hills and it would be too late. She would be lost in the maze of green and the animals would abandon their hiding spots. Her belly cramped then released, her head was light and fuzzy like the seeds that floated on the wind after the rains. A sharp ringing begin between her ears and then intensified until it surrounded her head, incessant, high, piercing. Eliza tried to remember when her last meal was, yesterday, the day before. All the days were as one since her father couldn't pay the school fees.

 

The white, like the fresh paint on the small corner store, begin at the sides, and started to force it's way into her vision. The ringing was stronger, still her legs pushed on. Then all the green, blue and red was gone, replaced by white. The hum of the insects and cries of the birds grew muted reminding Eliza of the hot days when she would dunk her head under the murky river water. She did not feel the slightly damp ground as her body collapsed, nor did she see the large man standing in the clearing just meters away.

 

Hey All!  I'm so excited to share this video with you.  Jeremiah Young from Bloom Projects International edited and complied this trailer from all the raw footage we shot while in Swaziland.  He also still has some project Nsoko shirts for sale at the Bloom Clothing Web Site, all proceeds from the shirts go to Sports Ministry in Nsoko.  I would love to hear your feedback on the video (really, I'm just shamelessly asking for comments =)  )

This trip would not have happened with out the prayers and support from people following the blog, so thank you!!!  For those of you in town, this Thursday night, October 1st, at 7 pm, at North Coast Calvary Chapel in Carlsbad, our Swaziland team is going to be doing an interactive presentation all about the trip.  Our hope not just to talk about what happened, but to invite all who come into the story of Nsoko. 

During our last few days in Swaziland it poured rain!  Because of the weather we were not able to hand out the legacy books that we made.  It was hard to leave the project not knowing if the right people would come along to complete it.  After our team left Nsoko we went to Nelspruit, South Africa for a night and just happened to be sharing a guest house with the World Race teams heading to Nsoko.  They were having transportation issues and we ended up in the same place at the same time, if things had gone according to their plans, we would not have seen each other!  As usual, God's timing was impeccable!  We were able to tell the Racers about the vision of making Legacy Books for parents with AIDS to leave for their children.  The Following blog was written by Di Dinnis who is currently on the World Race.  I was so excited to see this post yesterday! 

 

The dictionary defines legacy as "a thing handed down by a predecessor." It can be words of wisdom, memories, material possessions, or something the person is known for.

 

Morgan McKeown a January 2007 Racer, fell in love with Swaziland when she came here on her Race, and got the idea to do Legacy Books for the men and women dying of AIDS. Legacy Books are scrapbooks of a person's life, with everything from their birthday, favorite childhood memories, information about their children, and pictures of them and their families. With AIDS so prevalent in Swaziland, many children are growing up without knowing their parents. The goal is to show them they have value and something worth leaving behind.

 

Morgan brought a team to Swazi about a month ago, and started the Legacy Books, and we got a chance to continue the project this month. We interviewed about 20 people, took their pictures, and are currently working on putting the new books together.

 

We also finished the books Morgan's team started, and had a ceremony to present the completed books to the people who were interviewed when her team was here. During the ceremony, Anna spoke about what it means to leave a legacy, sharing what her mom left behind when she passed away, and shared that it was important for them to leave a legacy so their children can remember them As we announced each person's name and they came up front to receive their books, their faces were beaming as they read their story and saw their picture in a book. I'm sure many of them don't have any pictures at home, and they laughed as they looked at themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

Their stories were heartbreaking. Like Nomsa Gina who lost both of her parents when she was very young and had to live with her grandmother. Her brother was the only one taking care of her and he committed suicide when she was 15. Her grandmother then passed away a year later and by the ago of 16 she was left completely alone. She had her first child three years later and when he was one year old, his father took him and she has not seen him since.

 

Many of them didn't know where they were born, their parents had died at a young age, had at least one child who had died, and they felt like they didn't have hope. Their life dreams were simple, to live to see their grandchildren, and for their kids to go to school.

 

But now, they are starting a legacy.

 

 

 

      

 Darci interviewing                                                                     Cathy and Rachel working on the books

 

 

     

I was showing a friend my Swaziland pictures today and realized that I haven't posted a lot of my favorites.  So, I'm starting tonight!  I've never though of my self as artistic or very visual but I've realized over the last few years that I love taking pictures, I love preserving people's expressions and their lives.  There is something wonderfully satisfying about capturing a beautiful image that draws the viewer into a story and leaves an image imprinted on their heart.

 

 

 (Dudu's Baby boy Sinethemba, he's was the inspiration for the legacy book project)

 

 

More blogs about Africa are still to come, but we are taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming to bring you a very important Fill-a-Belly update...

 

I wrote the following letter about Fill-a-Belly today.  We are taking a huge risk but I truly believe that the risk is worth it.  I'm leraning to trust God's provision in a new way.  Tonight's Fill-a-Belly was wonderful, It was nice to reconnect after the time away.  The highlight of my night was getting to talk to a mom who was so excited that her teenage son and his friends came to Fill-a-Belly for the first time.    Tonight while we talked she started to tear up and told me about how she doesn't know where her son is getting fed.  She used to give him $5 every day for food, but since times are hard she doesn't have money to give him for food.  She told me how grateful that she was to know that he could get a good meal at least once a week. 

 

Dear Fill-a-Belly Family,

From our first Wednesday night we have desired for Fill-a-Belly to be about community. We want FAB to be a place where everyone brings what they have and we "break bread with friends." Unfortunately, the logistics of feeding 200 people a week makes it impossible to do a potluck style meal, but we can operate like a potluck, financially. Currently two people are supporting the majority of our food costs (over $200 a week) and they don't have the resources to continue with this level of support. 

Fill-a-Belly has the most committed volunteers and the best people support of any outreach I've ever heard of. Over the last month we have had some people step up with donations and commit to being monthly partners, thank you! Regrettably, we aren't there yet; the financial need each week still far outweighs the donations. 

The breakdown has been in communication. We have failed in letting the need be known and have we pretended that everything is fine when monetarily things aren't fine. As Fill-a-Belly leadership we have made those mistakes and I'll be the first to apologize, I'm sorry. 

I believe that Fill-a-Belly is worthwhile. Great things are happening at FAB every week and we all want to keep this outreach flourishing. So here is the proposal...

1)     Raise $1,600 in monthly donations in the next 30 days. That will cover all food costs for both Carlsbad and Encinitas. (In order to save costs and time we are going to begin cooking for both locations in Carlsbad.) This means we need 64 people to commit to $25 a month, or 32 people to commit to $50 a month. In order to sign up for a donation amount please e-mail fillabelly@yahoo.com. Please request via e-mail if you want more information about how to set up an automatic monthly donation or receive a tax-exempt receipt for your donation. Checks can be made payable to Fulfilled Life Inc. and can be sent to P.O. Box 4621, Carlsbad CA, 92018.

2)     Until we reach our goal of $1,600 per month, we will only spend what we get in donations one week to cover the next week. We risk not having enough food for our travelers and might be eating things like plain noodles or donated Starbucks pastries. At Fill-a-Belly we love being able to provide high quality nutritious meals but we can only do that with enough steady donations. 

3)     We would love to have small groups or individuals provide the costs for an entire meal, it's about $300-$350 per meal, but that feeds around 200 people in both Carlsbad and Encinitas. This will be especially helpful as we work towards raising the $1,600 a month.

4)     If you have connections with businesses, churches or individuals who you think might be interested in helping us keep Fill-a-Belly alive, invite them to come see what it's all about. If you want to present Fill-a-Belly to possible supporters e-mail fillabelly@yahoo.com, and we can get you promotional materials. 

I am grateful for everything that's happened at Fill-a-Belly over the last year and for everyone who has been a part the Fill-a-Belly family. I'm excited to see what happens during the next month!

Sincerely,

Morgan K. McKeown

Chief Operations Officer

Fulfilled Life Inc. 

We hugged one more time, said our goodbyes, and I ducked inside to grab some books, while he jogged across the sunny courtyard to encourage the next person he came across. 

 

Wednesday, August 5^th 2009

It had been a short night, with nowhere close to enough sleep. Our team was at a guest house in Nelsprit, South Africa, and we would be leaving that morning to travel back to the U.S.A. We had wireless access and I decided to check e-mail one last time before starting the almost 50 hour journey home. Out of the hundreds of e-mails one caught my eye; it was titled simply "Rory Graham." 

I opened it and the second I saw the picture and text my breath caught in my throat, something wasn't right. The e-mail started out....

  

The day was a daze, as we rode for hours on the van and waited in the airport.  Rory's death was all I could think about. I tried to pray, but had trouble getting the sentences out. I couldn't imagine what his family was facing, I kept thinking of the high school students and leaders and everyone at the church. 

We finally boarded the plane and thankfully had some empty seats around us. Kevin, Tegan, and I were all near each other. The three of us talked for a long time about Rory, his passion for life, how excited we all were to get to know him more, his encouragement of our trip, his heart to serve. The tears finally started to flow and the talking shifted into prayer.

We prayed for Rory, for his family and for everyone involved. Kevin prayed, "God, we know Rory is with you, and we know that he wouldn't trade being with you for anything, but can you just tell him how much we love him, can you tell him that we miss him and are excited to see him again."