African Diaries
Kenya and South Africa 2004
INITIAL TRIP REPORT
March 7th – 18th 2004
PARTICIPANTS
Rev. Herbert H. Lusk
Senior Pastor, Greater Exodus Baptist Church,
Philadelphia, PA
Rev. Luis Cortes
President, Nueva Esperanza,
Philadelphia, PA
Sr. Bishop Ernest C. Morris
Mt. Airy Church of God in Christ,
Philadelphia, PA
Rev. Peter Lillback
Senior Pastor, Proclamation Presbyterian Church, Bryn Mawr, PA
Mr. James Maxim
Calvary Chapel Church, Philadelphia, PA
Mr. Jim Tyree
Director of Development, People for People, Inc. Philadelphia, PA
Mr. Jay Hein
Executive Director, Civil Society Programs
Hudson Institute, Indianapolis IN
CAMERA CREW --
Robert Jacobus, Kevin Hackenberg, Steve Buckwalter
OBJECTIVES -- Investigate the social conditions of the poor in Kenya and South Africa. Special focus on the effects of AIDS and the prevention/treatment options. Identify effective African Christian ministries and organizations that are responding to the continent’s social crises. Establish new partnerships and develop Stand for Africa support strategies.
March 8th, Nairobi, Kenya
Travel Day --
Philly team arrives in Nairobi.
The Nairobi Chapel church staff and Pastor John Crabtree, the outreach pastor of Grace Community Church in Indiana, picked up the Philadelphia contingent and transported the group to the Nairobi Holiday Inn.
At the Airport, Pastor Lusk led a prayer of thanksgiving for our safe arrival and asked the Lords blessings and guidance for the trip.
Jay Hein departs Indy for Nairobi.
March 9th, Amboseli National Park; Mount Kilimanjaro, Kenya
The Nairobi Chapel staff picked up the Philly team at the hotel and drove us to the Nairobi chapel church. Pastor Lusk met with the Nairobi Chapel outreach pastor, Muriithi Wanjau and Pastor John Crabtree and enjoyed some introductory discussion time. We all departed on a five hour van ride to Amboseli National Park, arriving in the late afternoon.
The entire group gave self introductions and participated in the initial Nairobi Chapel-Grace Community Church summit meeting that evening.
Jay Hein arrived in Nairobi late evening.
March 10th, Amboseli National Park; Mount Kilimanjaro, Kenya
Each morning and evening at Amboseli affords the opportunity for a safari game drive.
Jay Hein arrives in Amboseli and joins Jim Tyree in the Nairobi Chapel-Grace Community Church summit meetings.
Pastor Lusk, Rev. Cortes, Pastor Lillback, Bishop Morris, Mr. Maxim and the camera crew visit a nearby Masai village and develop a relationship with the village chief and his son.
Jim Tyree meets with Nairobi Chapel-Grace Community Church Kingdom Business team to assist them in developing affordable housing strategies for East Africa.
March 11th, Amboseli National Park; Mount Kilimanjaro, Kenya
Our group concluded our participation in the Nairobi Chapel-Grace Community Church Summit and prepared to travel to Nairobi via charter flight. We unexpectantly have to take three separate flights on a five seat plane. Subsequently, only Tyree, Rev. Cortez, Bishop Morris and the camera crew are able to visit the fine Nairobi chapel outreach ministry named “Philemon Ministries” in a Nairobi slum.
Philemon Ministries seeks to rehabilitate and help ex-prisoners find their feet upon their release. This ministry runs a halfway house (the only one in Kenya) where ex-convicts with no place to go can stay for a while as they establish themselves in society, and also assists them in finding ways to earn a living. Philemon organizes regular visits to Kenyan prisons and works in conjunction with prison authorities.
Nairobi, Kenya
The entire group has dinner with key board members of the Ambassadors Development Agency (ADA) and Dr. Michael Johnson’s family at the Johnson home. We view a presentation on “A Prepared Place” the aids orphan ministry that the ADA and the Johnson’s have designed and just implemented.
Pastor Lusk commits SFA support for their fine ministry efforts.
March 12th, Nairobi, Kenya
Site Visit: Nairobi Chapel outreach ministry, “Beacon of Hope”. Beacon of Hope is a non-governmental ministry whose mission is to bring hope to women living with and affected by HIV/AIDS within poor communities by empowering them and meeting their physical, emotional, spiritual and economic needs. BOH is striving to build a model of HIV and AIDS prevention, care and support, and is working closely with local churches in order to sensitize them to their role in the crisis.
These women in the slums of Nairobi create beautiful handmade cloths, tapestries and rugs to provide income for their families. We discuss the possibility of developing a Stand for Africa Catalogue for their products.
We take an extensive walk through another Nairobi slum adjacent to the “Beacon of Hope“site. Pastor Lusk prays with one of the slum residents who contributes her time at “Beacon of Hope”.
Pastors Lusk and Lillback and Jay Hein meet with General Secretary of The National council of churches of Kenya, Dr. Mutava Musyimi.
We then return to the initial slum and site of Philemon Ministry that some of us visited yesterday. Pastors Lusk and Lillback are introduced to Philemon Ministry and their carpentry job development operation. The pastors contract the ministry to build 80 new primary school desks for the adjacent school.
March 13th, Eldoret, Kenya
Tyree, Hein, and Pastors Lusk and Lillback travel to Eldoret on a six hour van ride. We enjoy the scenery of the Rift valley.
Site Visit: Indiana University (IU) - Moi University Kenya Medical Program
Dr. Joe Mamlin, IU program director, is our host and tour guide. We see their new medical facility currently under construction. When completed in the fall, they will be able to treat 10,000 AIDS patients. Dr. Mamlin and two Kenyan associates were videotaped. Some of the highlights,
-- Aids treatment started in 2000 when a medical student took ill. The prohibitive cost of AIDS medication ($1,000. a month) was underwritten by an Indiana physician.
-- That first patient named Daniel is now the leading aids community outreach expert in Africa.
-- Developed the “AMPATH” care model
Academic
Model for the
Prevention
And
Treatment of
HIV/AIDS
-- They are funded by USAID to care for 30,000 patients for the next five years.
-- 50% of sick women have no husbands. They have already died from Aids or have ousted their wife and children because of the AIDS stigma.
-- They need funding to complete some new construction and to develop the agricultural systems to provide proper nutrition to their patients.
-- Over 3 million Kenyans are infected with the AIDS virus.
-- 700 Kenyans die daily from AIDS. Most under 35 years of age.
-- Currently the aids medication costs only $22.00 a month.
-- There are two types of HIV/AIDS care, excellent and catastrophic. If the AIDS medication isn’t taken consistently and properly, the AIDS virus will mutate and render the cheaper medications useless.
March 14th, Travel day: Eldoret to Nairobi, Kenya
Afternoon flight to Johannesburg, South Africa
Departed Eldoret early Sunday morning and visited Lake Nakuru National Park. Saw the famed pink flamingos at Lake Nakuru.
Arrived in Nairobi and bid farewell to Pastor Lillback and the Camera crew.
Pastor Lusk, Bishop Morris, Rev. Cortes, Mr. Maxim, Jim and Jay fly to Johannesburg, arrive early evening.
Stay at the Rosebank Hotel, a suburb of Johannesburg.
March 15th, Johannesburg, South Africa
Site Visit: Toured Soweto, a slum township in the South Western area of Johannesburg. We saw the homes of Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and Winnie Mandela. We also visited a museum that told the story of the Soweto uprisings that lead to independence.
March 16th, Johannesburg, South Africa
Entire group attended and participated in luncheon and roundtable discussion with the Centre for Development and Enterprise. (a leading SA think tank)
Newcastle, South Africa
Pastor Lusk, Rev. Cortez, Bishop Morris and Tyree traveled four hours by van to New Castle.
Met with Maranatha ministries leadership in Newcastle. Pastor/Chief Shadrack Ntombela, and his son Pastor Gabriel Ntombela, who head Maranatha Ministries of Newcastle, Province of KwaZulu-Natal, Republic of South Africa.
In addition to being a member of the Royal Zulu Family and traditional Chief over more than 2,000,000 subjects, Pastor Ntombela has founded over 300 churches. Between his subjects and his ministry, he faces a daunting task attempting to satisfy the needs of his dual constituencies.
The effects of apartheid continue to devastate the Black population in spite of its demise several years ago. As a result, Pastor Ntombela has requested help in several areas, including but not limited to assistance in organizing his ministry, housing, creating jobs, and infant health care. In addition, the Pastors wish to establish a series of hospitality/half-way houses to assist their people in making the transition from poverty and hopelessness to lives of hope. HIV/AIDS and unemployment are among many daunting challenges that confront the Pastors, but they know that Jesus Christ is the solution to them all.
Pastor Lusk pledged financial support from Greater Exodus Baptist Church and a return fact finding visit.
March 17th, Johannesburg, South Africa
Travel Day
Had a very productive meeting with F. Gray Hadley, Health Attaché, Dept. of Health and Human Services, US Embassy to South Africa in Pretoria. Once he grasped the potential roles and impacts of Stand for Africa, Mr. Hadley encouraged us to apply for USAID funding. Some of the discussion points,
-- The only two ways to effectively defeat the AIDS virus are a medical vaccine cure or change in sexual behavior.
-- The USA church must assist the African church and society to develop and deliver culturally appropriate sexual behavioral change messages.
-- The USA church can assist Africa by heavily engaging in the dispelling the HIV/AIDS stigma that thwarts discussion, education, diagnosis and treatment.
-- The USA church should relate with and encourage local churches
-- Mr. Hadley said that “you have access to communication networks that we don’t”
-- Mr. Hadley said “it would be fabulous if we set up a series of workshops and revivals to set up the “Granny Model” Houses”.
-- Mr. Hadley said “it’s really an emergency, it’s an urgent function”. “The AIDS virus is winning”.
-- AIDS prevalence in South Africa is estimated at 15-20%
-- Nelson Mandela is quoted as saying that he should have mobilized an earlier AIDS response.
11:40 pm: Return flight to United States via Europe
March 18th, Philadelphia and Indianapolis, USA
Arrived home safely.
