Oli Mulungi means “you are beautiful” in Lugandan, the language spoken in Kampala, Uganda. 42 radiant faces make up the sisterhood at Restoration Home. Each face has a name, each name has a story, and each story plays a significant part in the ultimate STORY-GOD’S STORY. I said “oli mulungi” at least 100 times during my short visit to Restoration Home. It was one of 3 sentences I learned in Lugandan and each time it rolled up out of my heart, off my tongue and into the ears of a daughter of the King, I felt like I had stepped into my destiny. To sit beside the next generation on the other side of the world and joyfully share the truth of who God says that we are was Holy ground for me! It was like I could feel God smile as HE filled my mouth with yet another truth about who these precious girls are to HIM. HE kept whispering, “tell them they are radiant, My inheritance, My child, a temple of the Holy Spirit, light, salt, a city on a hill, My ambassadors, etc…” God was on a roll, bragging on His daughters and HE wanted me to tell them in every imaginable way that they are the apple of HIS eye! HE sees their past, present and future and HE...
It’s that time of year. I am returning to Africa for 3 weeks…with my 3 little people, 3 new staff members, and 3 sweet sister-friends, each and all co-laborers for the Kingdom.God has been ever faithful to continue to clarify my vision for Passion Partners and brought exceptional servants whom I have the opportunity to shepherd, responsibility to steward, and privilege of bearing fruit through their giftings–from Nashville to Nairobi and beyond. This week, we will begin our journey to Uganda and Kenya. Our time will be divided between the Restoration Home in Kampala, the Clinic in western Kenya, the J-Project in both countries & a conference with more than 700 girls in Kibera, Nairobi…and visiting a brand new site & meeting partners in Masindi, Uganda! As Executive Director, I’m committed to annual site visits to collaborate with our partners and cultivate future development. Passion Partners is committed to walking alongside our partners as they walk out their call and their passions. That is our mission. We provide funding. We provide leadership. But the primary motivation behind everything we do is extending the tangible, manifest, Hope of the Gospel. Passion Partners BUILDS COMMUNITIES: Health Care. Clean water. Food. Education. Restoration. Sometimes it presents in relief. Many times it is in development. They are both conduits to the Gospel. Deed & Word. Neither...
Allow me to introduce Margaret Callahan, the newest addition to the Her Passion & Passion Partners team as the Strategic Development & Project Manager for Africa. After living in Africa, herself, I can see the depth of her experience transcends her hands and reaches the heart of others. Welcome Margaret! Candice (widow, mother & Executive Director, Passion Partners) When helping… HELPS!! I joined the Passion Partners team just over 2 weeks ago and my mind is wrapping its way around the calling of this ministry… to BUILD COMMUNITIES on the foundation of CHRIST… all for the glory of God. I have previously been in ministry stateside and in Africa and have seen firsthand that it can be so easy for helping “to hurt” (and not “help”). But the more I learn about Passion Partners and our international staff and the mission that they live out each day, the beauty of actually helping overwhelms me. I have not met them face-to-face (yet) . . . so I must imagine what their days look like. For some of our partners, they are ministering to teen girls – counseling them, encouraging them, providing a way for them to finish high school when there was no way before. For other partners, they are providing medical treatment for basic diseases that would have led to death...
In Wakiso, Uganda, a town of about 20,000 people that lies just outside the capital city of Kampala, a man named Fred Kaddu faithfully pastors his congregation at Central Baptist Church. Not only is he a senior pastor, he’s also the principal of Wakiso Secondary School, which he co-founded several years ago. A man known for his integrity, his faith, and his heart to help the abandoned and neglected in his community, Fred’s life has been one of continual sacrifice in order to serve others. In 2004, perhaps more so than any other time, Fred’s sacrifice became greater and his service even more personal. He and his wife, Susan, along with other members of his congregation, began taking into their homes young girls – some who had been turned away from their families, others who due to death or extreme poverty, had no place to call home. Knowing the dangers that awaited these girls if they were left to the streets, Fred and his church family found that they could not simply turn them away. Five girls were among the initial group who were provided housing and care. However, as the number of girls requesting help and shelter increased, it became clear that they would not be able to continue to accommodate the need in their own homes. Thus, out of the...
Peter Abungu, Passion Partners Kenya Director & Founder of Swahiba Youth Networks, was once a small boy in the poverty stricken village of Siaya. He attended school there. He lived with his Grandmother Joanne there. His roots run deep there. But one thing that had never been there was medical care. The closest fully functioning clinic was a 45-minute drive – nearly a ten-hour walk . . . and there is rarely an automobile in Siaya. Those of us in the developed world are unable to identify with the lack of accessible medical care, a necessity in our eyes, but a luxury for millions of others around the world. Unfortunately, Peter could identify, personally, with the destructive implication of no medical care. In 2009, Peter’s uncle contracted malaria and because there was no first-line medical care within the community, he died on his way to the nearest hospital. He was one of thousands who lose their lives in Africa to a treatable illness, from a lack of basic health care. “Could his death have been prevented?” someone asked. And because the answer was “yes, if there had only been a medical clinic in the area,” God gave Peter the vision to bring His hope, plan, and future to the community of Siaya. After discussing the likelihood of building a clinic in the...
“I’m starving!” How many times do we say that throughout the course of a day? Skip breakfast on a busy morning, and we’re starving by 11:00. Only have a salad for lunch, so we’re starving by dinnertime. We say it lightheartedly, although well aware that we are certainly not starving. In fact, most of us have no idea what starvation really feels like, but we can be sure that a growling stomach isn’t all it entails. What would it really feel like to try and function all day, every day…hungry? Had we been born in Africa, we’d have entered the world with an estimated 1 in 3 chance of facing that reality, of being chronically malnourished from birth. Hunger pangs and a growling stomach would be the least of our worries. Studies have found that malnourished children have reduced brain activity and impaired attention, as well as delayed verbal and motor development, impaired intersensory integration, and severely reduced academic performance. When it comes down to it, in order for a child to develop properly and even have a shot at succeeding in school, they simply can’t go hungry during the day, much less everyday. Our aim at Passion Partners is to build communities, and we believe that feeding children, giving them a chance to focus, engage, and succeed in school, is an...
Around the world, over 70 million children who should be in school are not. Half of those are girls. And half of those girls live in sub-Saharan Africa. Why, you ask, are they not in school? Some are working in fields & on farms. Some are walking long distances to fetch clean water for their families. Others are sold into the sex trade. Some drop out from childhood pregnancy or arranged marriages. The list, though uncomfortable, is not uncontrollable…there are girls making strides everyday to change the face of their generation, their legacy, and their communities. Passion Partners is privileged to walk alongside 32 of these girls at the Wakiso Restoration Home in Uganda, who just started a new school year in January. However, it was just months earlier, many of these girls, like the 35 million referenced above, had their education interrupted or halted all together. While public education in Uganda is technically “free,” students’ families are required to purchase books, uniforms, pay examination fees, and other mandatory expenses. They are, otherwise, not allowed to attend school. For most of us school supplies and clothes are just part of the annual, “back to school” routine. You can imagine for many families with little to no money to spare, managing to fund their child’s primary education, let alone, secondary education (when the...
com·mu·ni·ty /kəˈmyo͞onitē/ Noun 2. All the people living in a particular area or place. de·vel·op·ment /diˈveləpmənt/ Noun 1. The process of developing or being developed. 2. A specified state of growth or advancement. “May God Almighty bless you & make you fruitful…until you become a community of peoples.” Genesis 28:3 The last 2 years at Passion Partners has been spent uncovering exactly where God wants us to work, with whom He would have us work, and exactly what that work would entail. And though some of the details are still being uncovered, the big picture is this: Passion Partners is building communities-literally. The manifestation of the mission of Passion Partners is, at the core, Community Development. Practically speaking, we bring relief such as clean water & food, in the short-term, in order to equip those whom we are serving for the long-haul of community development which includes health care, child & maternal health and education (among other elements). At Passion Partners, the practical development of a “community” is the means to a greater end. Our goal is not just to build communities whereby we measure outcomes and more individuals survive, but because they uncover their God given role and purpose, they thrive. “I know the plans I have for you…plans to give you a hope & a future.” Jer 29:11 Sometimes, Hope begins...
ru·ral : adjective ˈrur-əl of or relating to the country, country life, or agriculture Many of you, especially some of our hometown friends from Tennessee, may know what it’s like to live out in the country. Rural life in America often entails driving 30 minutes to get to the grocery store, living in a house you can’t see from the road, and having the pizza man tell you you’re too far out for them to deliver. (I can attest from personal experience, this is heartbreaking news.) In East Africa, however, rural life means something very different. One of our primary projects in Kenya, the Siaya Community Development Initiative, which includes the Ashburn Ohuru Medical Clinic & Usingo Primary School, are located in a rural region of the Nyanza Province. The Nyanza Province is one of the most impoverished areas of the country, with nearly two-thirds of the population living on less than $1 a day. The area in which our community development initiative is located, the Siaya District, is one of the poorest in the province. Needless to say, the need is great. We all know that wrapping our minds around faceless statistics can be difficult, but they do plainly expose areas of need. And we at Passion Partners believe that in order to address the need, you’ve got to know the...
