yond Our Borders Kenya kids


By Cora Nell Osgood, parish administrator at St. Alban’s, El Cajon


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t. Alban’s, El Cajon supports Kenya Kids, a program that serves children orphaned


by HIV/AIDS. Without St. Alban’s aid, few of these students will ever reach secondary school. The congregation sponsored Joy Knight to travel to Kenya and deliver school supplies and sporting equipment. She wrote to St. Alban’s from Kenya:


“The last two days we’ve been visiting 18 orphan children in three different locations. The first group had eight siblings, all living in a small mud-walled home with dirt floors and no plumbing; they were living with an old grandpa and grandma and they looked healthy and well. The next group were seven


children living with an aunt; both of her sisters died of HIV and so she took in all the children. The third group was four small children living with a grandma in a tiny eight-by-ten room with no electricity, water or kitchen. To each we brought a soccer ball, basketball, and volley ball. We also brought backpacks we’d purchased in Nairobi. I gave them letters from St. Alban’s and showed pictures. Each group sang songs, read poems they’d written, or read scriptures. We laughed, sang and prayed together. Most thankfully we could all speak English, which is the second language of Kenya. Today we are buying shoes with some of the funds St. Alban’s raised, and tomorrow we will meet all of the children at the Arboretum in Nairobi for a final time of play and picnicking.”X


5 Tanzania travels


Philip Cowart is a high school senior who, along with his congregation, helped packed 243,000 meals in one day, one third of which went directly to Tanzania. The author delivered the meals personally and helped with other construction projects while there.


By Philip Cowart, St. Bartholomew’s, Poway


Africa, my second home. I say it is my home because that is how it feels when I am there, and I’m sure you would be hard pressed to find someone else who has taken the trip who does not agree. We participated in the opening ceremony of a playground we recently completed at the site of the children’s feeding center. Both the governor of the region and the mayor of the town attended, along with several other government officials. When we finally cut the ribbon and the kids got to run on the sand, use the swings, and play on monkey bars, it was like a riot had broken out! Four hundred children who had never seen such a thing, screaming and shouting with excitement that you cannot imagine. That was just our first day!


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South Sudan Kenya


Tanzania


Then we traveled to the small village of Nkungi where we made over 400 cinderblock bricks for a schoolhouse, began a project to install a water filter in every home, and finished building a medical dispensary. With all of the great work we did, I think one of my favorite memories was partying with the lepers. Just on the outskirts of Nkungi is a leper colony by the name Chara de lecco. Oftentimes our group visits them to show some love and personally hand out the meals we packed at St. Bartholomew’s. We ordered sodas and asked the choir from the local church to bring their instruments and play their hearts out. Many of these people have no fingers and toes, and instead have stubs; but when you put a bottle of Coke in their hand and get the music going, they light up like little kids in a candy store. We all danced and celebrated, and the choir let it all hang loose. Getting to do that was definitely one of my most memorable moments, and it’s times like that that make you feel like a part of you has come home. X


north, and on July 9, the Republic of South Sudan officially became a new nation. Hundreds of people gathered at St. Luke’s, San Diego to celebrate the historic occasion with music, dance, speeches and lots of excitement for the future.


Southern Sudanese celebrate independence O


By Donna Kuhn, secretary at St. Luke’s, San Diego


n January 30, the Sudanese people voted to separate South Sudan from the


Let us stand up in silence and respect Saluting our martyrs whose blood Cemented our national foundation We vow to protect our nation Oh God, bless South Sudan!”


The program began at 1:00 p.m. with one minute of silence, followed by the South Sudan national anthem. Moving words, especially if one knows the violent history that has brought the Sudanese to this point, the final stanza reads,


“Let us stand up in silence and respect / Saluting our martyrs whose blood / Cemented our national


foundation / We vow to protect our nation / Oh God, bless South Sudan!” Speakers related their personal experiences of the challenges, struggles, and violence they faced


ecently I made the journey to the beautiful land of Tanzania in East


in Sudan, how they overcame them, and their feelings about coming to America. One woman spoke of nursing her ailing husband with her own breast milk as they traveled across the arid desert. Both survived and are living in San Diego today.


After being sated by a home-cooked feast, the crowd was entertained by the Jabal el Rab choir, a Dinka song by Achella and Anyang Agoth, and cultural dance performances. Long after the program was over, people stayed late into the evening, reveling in the energy and excitement of the day.


The celebration was a group effort, mainly supported by St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, St. Rosa Lima Catholic Church, The Orange County for Darfur and the Living Ubuntu. X


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