OFF TO KENYA

HERE WE GO, HERE WE GO, HERE WE GOHHHH!

Well, it's that time! We leave for Kenya on Sunday, 23 August. The flight leaves at 6 AM, so we have to leave the house about 3:30. Ugh, and Double Ugh!!

We will be in Nairobi until the 28th, when we will fly to Rwanda where we will be the guest speakers at a Leadership Conference from the evening of

the 28th through the 31st. Then back to Nairobi on September 1st where we will meet our friend Gia Minardi, from Fontana California. We three fly to Kisumu on the 2nd. Gia will be joining us in our adventure in Kisumu/Kadawa for two weeks. We are so excited to have her coming along to work along side of us. We know that when she gets back to California she will be a different person, and others will want to come spend time with us there as a result of her wonderful stories.

THE PROJECTS!

We are so thankful for all of you who pray for us and who have contributed toward the various projects with which we are so intimately involved in Kadawa.

• Purchase of 85 goats is underway and when we get to Kadawa there will be a big goat party for the kids (pardon the pun).
• We will be starting 10 new micro-finance businesses - 10 women, mostly widows, will be able to begin the journey out of absolute poverty.
• At least one house will be built for a widow.

In Kadawa there are 60 destitute widows that have been identified to us. These women have no family that can look out for them; there are no male relatives who can take responsibility for them.

• We will be working on a new project to assist these 60 widows. We aren't quite sure what it will look like yet, but we will keep you posted on the progress.

THE WIDOW MAKER

Most widows have lost their husbands due to HIV AIDS. Some of them, no doubt, are also suffering from the virus, with which they have been infected by their husbands.

AIDS education is taking place in Kadawa. There is a group of HIV positive men and women called LIVING POSITIVELY who have formed a support group, and one of their goals is to intelligently inform and educate the community about the virus, and draw people into their group so as to save their lives through treatment. This was a daring, pioneering initiative. They risked complete rejection from the community by exposing themselves as HIV positive - for the stigma is immense. Additionally some women have gone into the city to take training on how to educate

the community. If the villagers do not begin to understand the disease and how to avoid it, or how to have it treated if one is infected the whole village will be wiped out within 10 years or so. That's right - THE ENTIRE VILLAGE of about 10,000 people.

We will be keeping in touch regularly to keep you up-to-date on our Ongoing Adventures.

Blessings,

John & Marty