Tomorrow I fly out for 4 weeks in Africa. The majority of my time will be spent with colleagues in the Democratic Republic of Congo working on public health and medical projects, but I will also have short stays in Rwanda and Uganda as well. I covet your prayers for the duration of my trip.

Secondly, after baptizing Busisiwe on Easter a few weeks ago in our yard with 30 close friends, we are now excited to share she will be going on mission herself to the Dominican Republic later this summer in July. She is busy taking on various jobs to earn the funds for her work, as well as sharing with various friends who might wish to contribute to her endeavor. For anyone interested feel free to use the website to donate, and just send me an accompanying email letting me that your donation is towards her Dominican trip. She will be working with two long time friends in two different cities in the country. Great people to work under and should be a very fruitful time in the community. We cannot be more excited about this trip for Busisiwe.

Blessings,
Claud

Since the 19th century the Democratic Republic of Congo has had numerous challenges. Those challenges included brutal colonial rule and exploitation by a Belgian King, the assassination of its first democratically elected leader after independence in the 1960’s, the imposition of a 30 year long dictatorial rule, and then a decade plus of war with a death toll in the millions circa 1997 to present. Needless to say the country’s institutions have crumbled under such circumstances, which has resulted in some of the most disparate health challenges in the world. For a brief history of recent challenges view the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLV9szEu9Ag

In 2001 an anthropology course exposed me to ethnic conflict in Rwanda and how that conflict was spilling over into the DRC, which began a decade long search of how to be part of the solution to challenges in the region. Since that class I have resolved that much of the solution will come from the Congolese people themselves, however at the same time I also know we can play a part in tackling some of the challenges in the DRC as we partner with the Congolese.

After a decade of mission work, and 5 years of work on the African continent I have become convinced that there has to be a pragmatic side to the gospel to which I seek to adhere and embody, and consequently I have endeavored to engage the health sector in Africa, and specifically public health in the DRC. Some have asked me “why Congo” and the reasons are too numerous to tell of, but in general the DRC poses some of the toughest health crises on the continent. The following article bemoans the fact that Congo is so fertile and yet still has so many health challenges:

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94893

As a result of much research, I am currently exploring partnerships with a few Congolese run organizations and institutions, one of which we will partner with long term to serve the people of Congo. Having spent 8 months researching various projects in the health sector in the DRC, it is now time to get on the ground and explore potential partnership with one of these organizations and time to assess the situation in various regions of the country in person. Therefore a Congolese colleague of mine, Dema Luyindula, and I will spend the upcoming month of May in DRC to survey the work of a few organizations, and to collaborate with locals toward health solutions for their communities. Dema is co-founder of CGA (Congo Genocide Awareness), which partners with one of the hospitals we will visit in Bukavu. The purpose of our journey will be multifold and will include exploring the potential for collaboration in community based public health projects with the following outstanding entities:

-Deepening relationship with a blossoming medical school in Kinshasa and furthering their plans to develop a residency program for their students at rural teaching hospitals.

-Partnering with Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, serving the war torn region in the east, with a particular focus on service of victims of sexual violence and abuse. http://www.panzihospital.org/

-Surveying the work of Heal Africa in Goma, and drawing from their experiences serving the victims of war and abuse.
http://www.healafrica.org/

Dema and I are currently busy raising funds for the project in May and would love for you to prayerfully consider contributing to the journey. The biggest expense of the project will be transportation as there are few developed roads in the country, necessitating air travel between most cities. If you can contribute please do so through the donate link on the site.

We have developed a good network of Congolese in the diaspora and hope to engage many of them to become key partners as things get off the ground.

I look forward to updating you more soon regarding the trip.

-Claud

There have been countless partners and organizations we have learned a great deal from in 2011, so for those interested I will include some links to organizations which we owe a great deal of gratitude to either directly or indirectly this year:

Partners In Health

http://www.pih.org/pages/who-we-are/

PIH has continued to make much of their message and material available to the general public and continues to inspire our work in the lakes region of Africa, as we strive toward very similar goals.

Afara Global

http://afaraglobal.co/

The co-founders of Afara have become dear friends and committed coworkers, always challenging us to better practices on the continent.

Giant Global

http://www.giantglobal.org/

We are quickly becoming part of the Giant family, which is always growing, and Dr. Oladele and others have provided immense support, guidance, and leadership as we step into the realm of public health in Africa. As the partnership continues to develop we are excited to see how Giant can have a deeper reach into the lakes region in Africa.

Jake Lyell

http://jakelyell.com/

Jake is an old friend from Virginia who continues to inspire us with his brilliant images captured in many of the same places we work. We look forward to collaborating with Jake in the future, but in the meantime felt that his work captures the brilliance of the continent in ways that no words can.

Congo Siasa

http://congosiasa.blogspot.com/

Jason Stearns’ blog, and his book on the conflict in the lakes region of Africa has continued to provide insight into the complex history of the many people groups in the region. We are impressed with his research, and have learned a great deal from his work. For those interested in our developing public health work in the lakes region, Jason’s book is a highly recommended read to understand the incredible complexities of the region.

The faith family in ATL
To the many local friends who continue to meet with us weekly to pray and live the teaching of Christ, you continually challenge and support our work, and you know who you are…thank you!

Most importantly, it has been our African brothers and sisters both on in the continent and those of the diaspora to whom we feel most indebted. After our initial five years of working on the continent we realized it will be Africans who truly shape the promising future of their nations, and we simply feel honored to be a part of the process. We hope to continue to play the role of servants in the grand scheme of things on the continent, working with existing and future partnerships in which indigenous leadership will be the hallmark of true development on the continent.

A special thanks to all who have continued to partner with us to live meaningful lives.As we look toward 2012 Claud continues to prepare for medical school and Mary continues to develop her artistic endeavors, all the while continually pushing for farther reaching health care in the lakes region of Africa, looking to Christ as the source of all that we do and the compassionate motivation which compels us.

Much love,
Claud

The tipping point…
Maybe it was on this last trip to eastern Uganda in May, when our dear friend had to bury a ten year old boy in his village who succumbed to treatable meningitis. Or maybe it was the deplorable conditions in the government hospital in which I found my two daughters in Swaziland. Or maybe it was my best friend’s father dying of tuberculosis after a misdiagnosis. Or maybe it was sitting with the health minister from the Democratic Republic of Congo a few months ago as he shared that his nation loses 360,000 children a year under five years old to preventable diseases. Or maybe it was any one of the countless other tragedies I have experienced personally over the last six years of work in Africa, I am not sure. At any rate, I have resolved that partnering with local people to improve the overall health in each community will forever be intertwined with our work from this point forward. In fact in many ways this is what has motivated our return to the United States, in order to pursue training in public health and medicine, in order to return to Africa more equipped to tackle some of these challenges hand in hand with the local people.

My beliefs are continually being shaped, but from the day I set foot in Africa until now I have increasingly believed that the African community has the capacity to tackle all of the challenges of the continent, and that the glories of the African community are seldom being employed when a solution to any one particular challenge is attempted. So it is in true partnership that the solutions to drastic health disparities will be encountered. It will be when true partnerships are forged instead of the all too common paternalistic, top down relationships that answers will reach the far corners of the continent, and it is to that end I hope to work. So we are in the early stages of exploring these concepts with our friends in a number of African communities, curious if a network of community health care workers could bring great positive shifts in various communities’ overall health. As the “brain drain” continues in which most well trained health care workers flee the continent in search of better salaries, it might very well be the villagers themselves who improve the lives of their communities and nations. Similarly to God’s use of the rural farmers in China to spread the gospel across the vast nation, it would not surprise me if God uses the villagers or common men and women, to bring a real health revolution to the continent. So it is those fabulous community members, the brilliantly talented and selfless men and women already serving their villages, that I am in search of so that we might learn together how to improve the lives of our communities.

I am sure I will continue to share about these endeavors as they unfold, but in the interim pray with me for the great continent of Africa.

So today I write asking for your prayers as my father in law, a coworker from church, and I take a journey to East Africa this coming May. There is much to be done while we are there, but of the utmost importance is revisiting four key partners who are living the gospel in their own nations better than we ever could. We will be searching for solutions as to how we can better partner to facilitate the creation of profit generating projects with these men to sustain their families and ministries.

Sustainability is at the core of our intentions, as these men are laboring day in and day out for the gospel, but may or may not have a regular dependable income to feed and provide for their families. Dependency on western donors seems to be a very short sighted and temporary solution, with no lasting effect. So we are in search of better long term solutions, and over the next few weeks prior to our trip I will be sharing different related topics to pray with us about regarding the trip.

So, if you are interested in being involved in this project whether through prayer, or otherwise please get in touch with me, as this will be a very collaborative effort. I am looking to involve a number of business men we know who want to be involved in Africa, as this will be a unique opportunity for them to use their gifts to serve to continent.

Keep our journey and our African partners in prayer,
Themba (Claud)

Work in Atlanta continues to be exciting and engaging. I am learning a great deal about Tuberculosis in the midst of intense research, and it seems all the more relevant as more and more precious friends succumb to the deadly disease in Africa. Just two days ago I visited with my best friend from Uganda, whose father passed away unnecessarily a few months ago from TB. (this dear friend also lost his son in delivery unnecessarily this year, and these two immense losses my friend has endured continue to drive my pursuit of a medical education) It is a stark reminder that the TB research we are doing day in and day out can make a tremendous impact on lives around the world. I also recently got certified as a Nurses Assistant which will get me into the ER and help me to gain some vital clinical exposure as this medical education process unfolds. I will be continuing my premedical classes this Spring around work, so a busy semester awaits.

As I have begun praying into the new year and what all it will hold there is one thought the outweighs all others: obedience. Often as a new year approaches God will speak a “theme” so to speak for the coming year; However, this year it has been me who is pleading with the Lord for the coming year regarding the theme of obedience. The thoughts stems from a testimony I heard from a Iranian man who gave his life to Jesus years ago, and follows hims boldly, often at a great price. During his testimony he said that he had NEVER disobeyed the Lord since he knew him, and I was taken aback because I knew as the man spoke he was sincere with the statement. It has caused me to do some deep soul searching and reevaluation of myself and my walk with Christ. My conclusion is that while I have loved Jesus with all of my heart for over a decade now, I too often have disobeyed the voice of the Holy Spirit, and most often because of a fear of men instead of fear of the Lord. Therefore I have been in deep prayer that 2011 will be the beginning of a totally new walk with Christ for me, and that I will be known by our Lord as one who is faithful to every single request he brings to me. This is no small endeavor and will require of me a death that I think few ever choose. There remain eight days in 2010 to solidify this commitment in my heart and Spirit to the Lord, and then it will be the remainder of this life to live it. Lord help me.

The family is doing great. Busisiwe turns thirteen on Christmas day, and Nondumiso is a whopping five and half. They have taken to Atlanta well and are making friends. Mary continues to search for a photographer to apprentice in the area so if anyone has a good contact pass it on. It has been an interesting transition for us as a family, seeking to live a Kingdom lifestyle in the midst of a society that is so engulfed by materialism and individualism. I, no doubt, suffer the most from culture shock when we return to the US from Africa, but all of us to a degree are finding the adjustment to be a slow one. Maybe it was the fact that my mom showed me an Oprah episode yesterday where every audience member was given diamond earrings and cars, or maybe something else, but it still remains difficult to reconcile the disparities between North America and Africa. Somehow we still trust God put us here for a reason now and that some sort of bridge can be built between the two worlds, mutually benefiting both communities on either side of the ocean. All this month I find myself praising God with gratitude for all that we have and take for granted, and yet I still do not know why we have so much and others suffer in dire lack.

So what can you and I expect in 2011? I hope to see disciples made and new communities of fellowship started across Atlanta, for while I study medicine, I am still an apostle at heart who longs to see the gospel preached and men choosing to follow Jesus where ever we are. We have knit into a sweet church family locally and are praying that many will be reached across the city as a result of our lives lived well. My prayer is that the supernatural power of God accompany us in the streets and neighborhoods of Atlanta just as it has in the villages and slums of Africa, attesting that our message is true. My prayer is that while I have many tasks each day I not miss the precious voice of the Holy Spirit and that I obey and follow with a pure heart. We hope to join our dear friends in Africa at least once and maybe twice this year between school semesters, to encourage them and see how the work is developing, and to see how we can support their efforts there. So all that suffice to say we anticipate great things for 2011.

Have a blessed Christmas and an incredible new year,
Themba (Claud)

Lord willing, we will base here for a number of years while studying medicine and networking more with folks interested in joining us in the developing world one day. If my heart’s desires are fulfilled after we get the appropriate skills we are seeking, and grow our network of folks we work with, we will be able to return to the developing world full time with a stronger base to work from.

In the interim we intend to continue to make a trip or two per annum to the developing world to minister and continue to develop the relationships we work with, while also sharpening our focus on a specific area in order to have maximum impact. Of course this will involve staying connected with and visiting our African partners we have linked with thus far.

So in terms of our TwentyFourSeven support account, it will remain open and we will continue to generate funds for our work overseas, but on a day to day level while living in the U.S. we will live solely off of funds generated from my employment. Subsequently, if you are a current friend/supporter of the ministry and want to discontinue your monthly contributions in light of these changes please get in touch with me directly and we will help you make that happen. Alternatively, if you feel strongly about staying involved in our work overseas, and would elect to continue with your support that is wonderful as well. As I said, all funds received into the account beyond October 1st will be solely dedicated to our overseas projects and ministry, and our subsequent work there a few times a year.

Please stay in touch and let us know what is new. I have updated my contacts on the “contact page” and can be reached via phone or email. Or if you are in the Atlanta area for one reason or another please stop through and stay with us.

Much love,
Claud & family

Some terrible news hit late last night, as two bombs ripped through public viewing areas for the World Cup, in downtown Kampala Uganda. It is a stark reminder of the fragile nature of life, as our dear friends lost their niece in the Al-Qaeda related attack. The event really took me back, knowing that we were in Kampala just months ago, and that it could very well have been us sitting at one of the two restaurants had we still be in Uganda presently. Please pray for our friends there who have lost relatives in the attack, and for no further incidences in the region.

Somalis Displaced

The attack in Uganda was claimed by a radical Islamist group based in Somalia, which is the primary cause for the ongoing fighting that has displaced so many families from Somalia, many who we know and work with as refugees in South Africa. The radical group is also responsible for the loss of countless lives in across Somalia, and has created years of instability in that nation. Please join us as we pray for our friends, for peace to return to their nation, so that they may one day return. Many of our Somali friends, whom we minister to, still suffer from ongoing xenophobic threats whilst living here in townships across South Africa, so they live in a perpetual state of fear for their lives. There have been some xenophobic attacks across Cape Town last night and today, but the townships we are working in seem to be relatively calm presently, and the foreigners who have stayed so far are safe. Continue to pray for the nation here, as the threats have a very serious issue.

Returning To the United States

Lastly I want to share some rather big news from our family, as we will be returning to the US later this month. Without going into great depth we have had to make the very tough decision to return based on a number of factors. Our return will be in large part due to the lack of adequate financial support and not having a sending church body behind us providing accountability and support, and lastly not having a strong team of co-workers to partner with. We feel strongly that for us to serve long term overseas it will necessary to first have all of these things in place. We will be returning with the intent of getting medical skills we can use overseas as both a means of income as well as to better serve the communities we work in. We are also hopeful that we will be able to develop a strong partnership with a sending church or organization, through which we can ultimately be sent back out. I will write our friends and supporters in more detail regarding our plans and changes in our financial support once we return. For now we are focusing all our time and efforts on existing discipling relationships here, and doing all we with them prior to our departure.

Much love,
Themba (Claud)

Dear Friends,

We have received some great news. At long last, we are in the final stage of completing Alfie’s immigration. All that remains is flying Alfie and Teresa to meet me in South Africa. At that point we will take his passport to the U.S. embassy and they will issue us his immigration visa.

When he returns to the States, we will go through an extra hour of paperwork in the Atlanta airport and it will be done … Alfie will be an American.

Quite frankly, we are emptying our bank account to purchase the tickets. They will need to fly to South Africa on the 13th of July. The total cost of the two tickets is $3,700. If anyone would like to contribute towards these tickets you can send a tax deductible contribution to:

Mission Sebenzela
c/o Steve Kinsley
16 Camellia Cove
Madison MS 39110

Please notate on the check that it is for plane tickets. We can issue you a receipt for your taxes. Thank you in advance for your kind consideration.
In Christ,

Steve Kinsley
Mission Sebenzela – South Africa

My Somali friend, clad in her black burqa, politely asks me to take over for her, manning the cash register for her informal shack shore, while she goes to her shack to check on her sleeping daughter. At the entrance to the shop stand various young men, ranging in age from late mid teens to mid twenties. Standing along side of them is a white 45 year old man, addicted to crystal meth and cocain, relocated to the slum from the suburbs to be an arm’s length from his dealer. Each of the younger men are covered in scars from their rough township lifestyle, which makes gangster life in the United States look timid. The men have already smoked two or three joints of marijuana though it is only 9:30 in the morning, and the discussion revolves around their companion who was stabbed the night before while breaking into someone’s shack to steal from them. Unfortunately the 21 year old had chosen the wrong group of illegal immigrants to rob, as he was met with knives and machetes, and subsequently was taken to the hospital and his fate unknown.

As the boys continue to talk, the very one they are talking about, steps out of the taxi-van, having just returned from the hospital. He unzips his tattered hoodie revealing his bloodstained chest and recent stitches, suturing each puncture wound closed. He grimaces in pain as we all examine his wounds, but then lets a sly grin slip through his lips almost as to say, “I made it through, and it will not be the last time”. In fact I would not be surprised if the boys are out breaking into another home as I write this story. Their constant search for drugs necessitates money, and the only way they know to get it is theft and crime.

Up the street from the store there is a shabeen, or informal townships bar, where the illegal refugees hang out and get drunk. I would say drink, but in the township there is no such thing as drinking without getting drunk. The shabeen is a collection of scrap metal, tacked together into a large shack type building, with window holes cut out, but no windows and instead bars covering the openings. The single light bulb hangs down from various pieces of scrap wood holding the roof on, and it works sometimes, or at least when they can afford the pre-paid electricity. The floor is covered with scrap carpet, beyond soaked from the immense Cape winter rains, but also spilled beers, and most probably some occasional public urination inside. (or at least the smell would suggest that). There is a large tv sitting in the corner, cables being fed in through the open window from a neighboring shack, playing re-runs of last night’s world cup match, and a few Zimbabwean men huddle around the tv, already on their second or third beer of the morning. A slight argument is being had over why Spain was able to beat Germany, and talk progresses into what life will be like when the world cup is over.

If you glance at the counter where beers are served, it resembles a bank tellers window in the inner city, with whatever makeshift protection one can create for themselves in the often dangerous business of selling alcohol among the poor. I say dangerous because, whenever you mix beer, poverty, and men who often carry knives with themselves, the outcome can turn bloody as the evening progresses and more beers are opened. Sadly, I am not exaggerating in the least, as there are still piles of sand covering the blood spilled from the night before at the entrance of the bar. On that particular occasion the victim was a man who began to cause more and more problems as he became progressively more drunk, and it was a woman living in the abandoned camper trailer next to the shabeen who grabbed a kitchen knife and plunged it into the man near 2 am. At the counter lies a scrap piece of paper with last night’s stock scribbled in pencil on it. The figures show that yesterday nearly 200$ of beer was sold, which was a moderate night, and would seem modest in most formal bars, but then when you consider this is only one out of one hundred illegal shabeens in this single township alone of 50,000 people, you realize that is 20,000$ a day being spent on alcohol, and that among the poorest of the poor. Go figure…Makes you want to re-think if foreign aid can really solve problems or if it more often than not exacerbates already existing ones?

In the other direction a group of Somali shop owners gather to talk about the impending threat of more xenophobic violence to follow the World Cup. Threats have been increasing that as soon as the Cup is over there will be riots in townships across the country, and all non South Africans who try to stay will be looted, beaten, and even killed. The threats would feel less significant had the Somalian community not already experienced such violence, but they already have in both 2006 and 2008 as their shops were looted and destroyed, and some of them murdered and even burned alive. It was in 2008 when 5 of those families fled the township to live with our family, nearly escaping the erupting violence against foreigners.

Today the conversation revolves around money which was collected by the police, which was requested so that they could prepare better to protect the Somalian community when and if violence begins, but all the involved parties know that money was purely a bribe that would be used by the police officers or community members to drink on the weekend. While some of the police are good and respectable men and women, most are the converse, and are often exploiting their position to make money through various bribes and deals cut with locals. That explains the host of known criminals and murderers who still roam free in the township, though the police know very well both who they are and where they live. So, where does one go to avoid crime when the very police themselves are involved in it?

All of this not to mention the ongoing sale of all kinds of illegal drugs just across the street from the shop. Plus the various white suburban young adults, having moved into the townships to live close to their heroin dealers. There is also the incessant rape and various forms of sexual abuse of women and children of all ages, and the constant presence of children who have dropped out of school, only to sit on the street corners day in and day out.

And the stories go on and on, each one even more horrifically unbelievable than the last, but unfortunately all true. This is the life in many South African townships, and though the world might be enamored or deluded by the fancy stadiums they are seeing on TV for the world cup matches, I am sharing about an underworld in South Africa that few outsiders will experience, and those who do will wish most likely that they never had. But, this is why we are here and why we hope in Christ and his ability to transform even the worst of situations.

What is the point of highlighting the horror and desperation of the people among the townships we are working in? I think the point is to say that though many consider Africa reached with the gospel, we are still far from seeing it take root in the lives of the average South African living in dire poverty and horrible conditions in squatter camps and townships across the country. I share it all because there are days when I am so overwhelmed, and when discipling the few who are interested in knowing Christ feels like a drop of water from the ocean to quench a barren desert’s thirst, yet we press on. God is moving among such locations, but only because we are willing to be there and befriend those who are doing the unthinkable from day to day, in hopes that our love and the powerful touch from God might change lives destined for a young death unless gripped by the gospel and Christ. There is no shortage of Non profit groups and ministries coming into this small township, and yet the vast majority of folks continue in sin and debauchery, and hopelessness. So it begs the question of if our “ministry” is truly reaching the people and producing life change, or if we are just spinning our wheels. But, I believe God is moving here, and yet it is going to require a mighty move of his Spirit to transform an entire community.

God is moving among Somalian refugees, who are increasingly open to the story of Jesus. There are a few young Zimbabwean and Malawian men meeting regularly to see how they can follow this Jesus, even in the their dire situations and the ever present hard struggle to make enough to barely survive, and hopefully send some back to their families in their home nations. Others, however, remained hardened by the challenges of a life of poverty and poor choices, and seem to be that hard beaten path that Jesus speaks of in Mark 4, referring to the ones that the word of God does not seem to even remotely penetrate. I realize we can save no one apart from God, and so we pray and long to see God do more than we are seeing thus far in this township and others. We pray that some of that hard packed soil will be softened by God, that it might receive His word and bring life to dry areas.