Xymnas and I are heading to Kenya!

LavendrGooms

LavendrGooms

Member
So the title says it all! Matt (Xymnas) and I (Mike), along with 10 others, are heading to Kenya in July! We want to post this up here so that our fellow brothers and sisters can pray for us and our trip. Currently we're working on the fund raising portion of the trip. It's going to take a lot of funds to make this happen, so any prayers for that would be awesome!

We fly out on July 13th and land in Dubai on the 14th. Then we'll fly from Dubai to Nairobi on the 15th. Then we'll make our way to a small town by the name of Kijabe.

kijabe_map_gray_bg.jpg


As most of you probably know Kenya is plagued with the virus HIV/AIDS. Many of the children either have HIV/AIDS or have had parents with HIV/AIDS that have passed away. Our mission is as follows (this is straight off of the form we were given):
In conjunction with the Deputy Project Director in Partnership for Advanced Clinical Education-Kenya, we would facilitate character development trainings with HIV+ youth in their adolescent support groups. Youth adults are an often forgotten age group within these programs, as most HIV programming traditionally focuses on children <5 and adults. Approximately half (9) of local treatment facilities (all small mission hospitals spread throughout Kenya) have adolescent support groups, with an average size of about 20 participants.

We will be doing training for the support groups -- about 20 teens each -- and also follow up training for the nurse/community leads for each of the hospitals so that they can get some ideas for ways to better support their youth groups. We have asked that each group identify 2 of their most outstanding youth with them so that we can train youth leaders as well.
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Here's a quick little explanation if why we're doing character development. In Kenya about 7% of the inhabitants are carriers of the HIV/AIDS virus are taking some form of medicine. On these medicines they can live pretty normal lives as long as they take it regularly. However many of the youths stop taking their medicine. Some of them will start, and then stop, start, stop, start, stop and so on. By then the virus has mutated and the drugs no longer work effectively. As it said in the mission statement, many of the youth are neglected and left on the way-side of the support groups and HIV+ programs. Many of them stop taking their meds because they start to feel there's no real meaning to their life. We want to build them up and help develop them so that they don't stop taking their meds. But we also want to help train the nurses and community so that when we leave they can continue to build up the youth.

So all I ask is that everyone would pray for our finances and to prepare our hearts and the hearts of the people we'll be meeting. I'm so excited for this trip! I can't wait to see what the Lord has planned for us in Kenya! As I continue to get more info I'll keep everyone updated. As well as some photos when we return!
 
Awesome. Praying for you both and your family's nerves! :) and that God will use you both in mighty way.
 
I might. Our "leader" of this trip started a pretty well known non-profit youth orginization in California and does team trainings all over the country.
 
So just a little update. The group needed to raise about $32,000 within 2 months. That's a lot of money for that short amount of time. Well we're about a month away from leaving and we've raised over $18,000! We've had some big donations and our fundraisers have been pretty successful so far. Please keep praying for us! Only a month away! :D
 
So part of going on a missions trip is to be flexible and go where doors open right? Well plans have changed... We're not going to Kijabe anymore, we're going to Tumutumu, Kenya. Not sure where it is in Kenya because it won't show up on google.
 
So almost exactly a month until I leave! I'm getting my shots next week... Yellowfever, Typhoid and a couple booster shots. I also need to start taking my Malaria pills. I'm excited!!!
 
Your getting shots reminded me of my military days. We, too, had to be vaccinated according to the region of the world we were headed. One just hated to get short notification on a deployment and had to get all the shots at once... That usually left them quite miserable and ill. I remember a story about a Navy Master at Arms (police) that was a real pain in the patoot - his medical records somehow got lost on deployment on a Mediterranean cruise and he had to get every last vaccination in one sitting. Trust me - do not mess with the people who maintain your medical records. When you cross a line with them, God help ya 'cause they sure ain't! I guess that is why some officers will not write a ticket to a doctor or other medical professional. It happened for me - thank God - 'cause that trooper had a bad reputation for giving no leeway on speeding - I was doing about 62 in a 55 zone back when that was the speed limit even out in the middle of no where. Today that same road has a 70 mph speed limit...

Oh - part of those records ended up in the mail to a good friends home!
 
So just an update, Xaveor and I got our shots and booster shots today!

It went awesome until i passed out...HAHA
Quite funny actually...And i'm doing good now
Just as a prayer request though, that Xaveor and I dont get sick from the shots, along with the soreness of the arms.

And we leave in about 18 days or so!!!! So wewt wewt!
 
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