2010 is upon us and LIA is ready for the upcoming year! The growth experienced in 2009 was humbling and we want to thank all of our faithful and dedicated supporters and partners for playing a huge role.

Be on the lookout for upcoming events, LIA promotional opportunities, and new ways to further engage in the work of LIA.

Check it out:

Documentary Advertisement: We are promoting our documentary in an e-magazine called “Greater Than”. This progressive magazine shares with its readers a scope of articles pertaining to music, art, and God. Can you find us?

Hear about Sudan - Sunday, January 10th: One of our staff members from South Sudan will be in Louisville, KY speaking at Cloverleaf Baptist Church (main sanctuary at 1 pm). This is a great opportunity to hear from Elijah about the work being done and transformation taking place within the communities he serves in Sudan. If you are around the Louisville area you don’t want to miss it! Place: Cloverleaf Baptist Church Main Sanctuary 4401 Manslick Road Louisville, KY

Benefit Dinner - Saturday, February 20th: LIA will be visiting Kansas City by hosting another benefit dinner.  We would love to see you there!

The evening will consist of President and Founder Florence Muindi sharing her vision and hope for Africa, as well as a screening of our documentary, “This Is My Home”.

More details and how to register for this special evening can be found here.

Help Needed - Are you looking to support the benefit dinner in a greater way? Make a comment to inquire about being a table host or sponsor for the event!

We are so excited for what God has in store for LIA this year and want to thank you for being apart of this journey.

Here’s to serving to empower Africa’s poorest and most beautiful people and communities, together.

The States recent weather reports, saturated with unusually rainy, snowy, and stormy conditions, may make it difficult to see beyond the flash floods, winter coats, and radio emergency warnings. Hard to believe that halfway around the world many crave for a consistent source or even just a drop of this precious natural resource.

A recent article from BBC news entitled, “Millions at risk as East Africa rains fail, Oxfam Says”, presents a very serious and disheartening issue.  This issue, as stated by the article, is that, “rains across swathes of East Africa have failed for the sixth year in a row, leaving millions of people facing hardship…”.  All throughout East Africa the failing rains have left millions of people in severe hardships with no sight of potential rain until April.

Somalia, for example, has been experiencing drought for almost 20 years, and coupled with an extensive amount of conflict, the resulting country (3.6 million people –almost half the population of this area) and her communities in great need of aid.  With the prices in food continually rising it is also becoming difficult to provide sufficient aid and food relief to all severely affected by the drought.

Though countries like Somalia, the northern regions of Kenya, and parts of Ethiopia are in need of emergency short-term aid, there is a huge need to establish a long term lasting developmental plan to help protect and prepare for the future.  This drought is not only taking lives but also many families’ sources of income, wiping out crops and livestock causing a high rate of unemployment.  Conditions such as these are dangerous as the development and spread of disease and infection is high.

During this holiday season give of yourself by means of carrying the burden for another, lifting up in prayer our brothers and sisters that are suffering from the effects of this devastating and extensive drought. If you so choose, we also have an opportunity for you to respond in a tangible way.

To learn more about how you can help an area affected by this drought, check out our Christmas focus featuring Makueni, Kenya.  LIA has been working with partner churches in this extremely impoverished areas to build a lasting and sustainable means for income, water, agriculture and overall community development.

With my most recent trip to one of our target communities coming to a close, I wanted to take some time to reflect on the powerful and encouraging transformation happening amidst the desperation and suffering of the people in this area.

I began my trip with a rather unfortunate experience - the airlines lost my luggage!  Insisting I check my bags I ended up left without a change of clothes and other necessities for a few days.  Initially I felt bad for my misfortune and myself however I soon shaped up and changed my outlook.  I felt ashamed that I was making a big deal about my situation seeing how this was nothing compared to what the families that we have been visiting are currently experiencing yet they still manage to fill their lives with such joy!

It has been very tough times for the families in these communities as we saw firsthand the extensive damage that has been created from the recent unexpected heavy rains and flooding.  Prior to our arrival, there had been three days of continuous rainfall in which led to the closure of many roads, and the collapse of many homes and settlements.

With houses, shelters, and roofs constructed from mud the displaced people of this community have suffered the worst.  Some of the families moved to their local churches for shelter - however those have collapsed as well from the storm.

Sadly the worst is not over.  In the following weeks more rain is expected making it impossible to start the rebuilding process.  Families have lost their homes, children are without a place to play, and the pit latrines have filled with water.  The outbreak and susceptibility for diseases is a great concern for all.

Yet, in the midst of all the destruction I have been simply amazed at the joy and strong faith that these people display.  Our friends from the community met with us and were still enthusiastically worshiping and praising God despite the circumstances.  It is both encouraging and humbling to see such hope founded on more than can be seen.

It has truly been a blessing that Dr. Yared (our LIA program director) and myself have been able to spend time with the board, staff team and church leaders of this community.

Please keep these communities in your prayers.

Pray for their safety throughout the rest of the rain and storms.

Pray for the reconstruction process.

Pray for the health of the people that they may be safe from any diseases.

Pray for the churches that they may respond to help their brothers and sisters in their community.

True joy and trust in the Lord can sometimes seem hard to fathom in times of great struggle and desperation.  Let the people of this community encourage and show you just what it means to fully believe in the steadfastness of our Lord.

Thank you for your committed partnership with LIA to empower the church; especially in moments such as this.

Fact: Less than 1%  of the world’s spending in 2005 on weapons would have put every child into school by the year 2000.

The reality of today however is that nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.

Fact found on Global Issues.org.

Freedom of expression comes with a great responsibility.   The responsibility to utilize all forms of expression in order to outwardly display what matters to you most.  Combining talents, skills, and passions, people are able to communicate messages and issues in creative and instant ways.

LIA has the great privilege to announce a new partnership with the apparel company Spend Yourself, as well as offer you a great way to continually support LIA’s work in the slums in Kenya.

Dedicated to driving positive change in the world and embodying a heart for social justice, Spend Yourself approached LIA seeking to offer their creative talents to design a unique shirt that would be able to raise funds for LIA’s work in its partnered African communities. Spend Yourself donated their time and efforts to create a t-shirt with the goal of helping LIA fund its Orphans and Vulnerable Children program in the Kisumu, Kenya community.

100% of the proceeds from these stylish t-shirts will go directly back into LIA’s work in the Nyalenda slums in Kenya.  The funds will go to support family’s like Kevin’s, a seventeen year old boy who is raising his seven younger siblings after their parents died.

This t-shirt is a great way to help support LIA’s work in Africa, while also being able to visually communicate your passion for positive change through the clothing you choose to wear and endorse.

Check out the shirts here and buy your very own today!

Special thanks to Spend Yourself for their vision and desire to serve Africa’s poorest through their creative talents and skills.  We are big fans of this company and their desire to serve the poor through their gifts and talents.

We are so blessed and privileged to be able to partner with incredibly talented, creative, and generous people.  Recently, a number of groups and organizations have put those talents to great use by developing unique and creative projects that work to provide awareness and support for the on-going work of LIA among the poor and marginalized in Africa.

With that said, we are proud to announce the launch of two new projects designed to serve and empower the people of Africa!

In the first project, Donovan Beery and Nate Voss from the design podcast Reflex Blue wanted to make a difference in the world. They took a step by bringing together three designers, from Rule 29, Creativille, and Hallmark with Neenah Paper and Spark Stationary to create a fund raising poster for LIA. They were able to utilize their various talents and create a poster that will serve to empower the people of Africa.

Through the creative collaboration they produced a beautiful, limited edition letterpress poster that raises awareness and funds for Africa.  The happenings of that day were captured in a blog article written by Donovan. You can read up on it here and see the finished poster here.  All proceeds from this project will go directly to supporting on-going wholistic development by LIA in Africa.

For the second project, a group of people from David and Sam PR, a boutique PR firm in Arizona, wanted to help LIA promote the Urban and Rural Hope book released earlier this year.  They designed a campaign that would see the Urban & Rural Hope book passed from church to church across the country in a grassroots, low-cost, chain-letter-style “book tour,” eventually being brought to Africa with LIA on one of the LIA’s summer trips.

LIA will send a copy of the book, along with a letter, inviting church leaders to read “Urban & Rural Hope.”  They will also encourage them to share the book with their congregation before passing along to another church. An oval sticker (printed by O’Neil Printing), bearing the initials of the receiving church, will accompany the letter. The sticker will be affixed to the book if the church chooses to participate.  Then the book will be sent on to another church.

At the end of the campaign, all of the books will be taken to Africa and given to partner churches as a sign of solidarity and support for the work they are doing by serving to empower the people of Africa.

To be a part of bringing hope to Africa through these projects, go to the LIA store today and purchase the Urban and Rural Hope book and the Touch Poster.  All proceeds from these projects go directly to support empowering the people of Africa.

There is much debate over the origination of Mother’s Day. The early Romans and Greeks had various celebrations honoring goddesses and mothers.  Christians historically even celebrated on the fourth Sunday in Lent in honor of Mary, mother of Christ. In England this holiday was expanded to include all mothers and was called Mothering Sunday.

In the United States, Mother’s Day started nearly 150 years ago, when Anna Jarvis, an Appalachian homemaker, organized a day to raise awareness of poor health conditions in her community, a cause she believed would be best advocated by mothers. She called it “Mother’s Work Day.”

In 1905 when Anna Jarvis died, her daughter, also named Anna, began a campaign to memorialize the life work of her mother.   Anna began to lobby prominent businessmen and politicians including Presidents Taft and Roosevelt to support her campaign to create a special day to honor mothers. At one of the first services organized to celebrate Anna’s mother in 1908, at her church in West Virginia, Anna handed out her mother’s favorite flower, the white carnation. Five years later, the House of Representatives adopted a resolution calling for officials of the federal government to wear white carnations on Mother’s Day. In 1914, Anna’s hard work paid off when Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Mother’s Day as a national holiday.

In honor of the work Anna Jarvis started 150 years ago, and in honor of mothers everywhere, we invite you to support the mothers of Africa by purchasing a gift of empowerment from the the LIA store.  Each of the banana leaf animals in our store were hand made by single mothers in Africa from an LIA supported co-op.  Not only would you be getting a nice present for the mother in your life, but all funds from these sales go directly back into the communities we serve, to support single mothers and their families.

Thanks to the generous heart of Wiley Publishing, LIA’s book Urban and Rural Hope has a two page spread in this month’s issue of Relevant Magazine. You don’t have to click through very far to see the amazing ad created by our friends at Rule29 for this special occasion.

We love this magazine and are excited to get to be a part of it.  This issue features some great articles on everything from figuring out how rich you are compared to the others in the world at www.globalrichlist.com to a feature on Toms Shoes, who we also love.  As usual, the magazine is filled with articles and reviews on the latest music and media that is impacting American culture.

In conjunction with the ad in Relevant, we also launched a micro-site for the Urban and Rural Hope book where you can scroll through and see some of the content.  Our goal with this publication is to highlight the hope that lives in the hearts of the people in Africa.  We wanted to show the pride and the power that lives in the people who have decided to make a difference in their communities.  Because all of the design, publishing, and paper were donated for this project, all the proceeds from book sales will go directly back into projects in Africa to help empower communities.

Buy a book for someone you love today and help to empower the people of Africa.

LIA has launched an on-line store where individuals can purchase crafts from Africa and LIA books.

For the launch of the site LIA has featured banana leaf animals made by a co-op of women in the Mathare slum in Nairobi, Kenya.  Each animal is uniquely hand made.

I have met many of the women who make these crafts.  Most of them are single mothers of children who are vulnerable to ending up on the streets because the moms can’t provide for them.  These co-ops offer not only a chance for survival, but an opportunity to thrive.

LIA has not only trained these women how to make the animals, but gave them a micro-loan to be able to get the project off the ground.  They are selling them in Kenya, but we also wanted to give you an opportunity to share in their new venture.

The site also contains LIA’s Urban and Rural Hope photo book featuring many of the people and churches that LIA serves to empower.  Dr. Florence Muindi’s autobiography may also be purchased on the site.

As the site continues to grow, more products will be featured to help support ongoing projects of LIA.

Stop by the site today by clicking here.  Be a part of supporting women and children in Africa.

The creativity and commitment of our friends continues to blow us away.  If you are going to be in Arizona on March 28th, we want to invite you to a great event.  Some friends of ours are putting on Stamp Out Poverty, a day when rubber stampers will get together to create 4 fun projects and help the people of North Africa.  This is what one of the organizers had to say about the event.

“After seeing a presentation of the many needs of those in Africa and the realization that so little can do so much for the people of North Africa, I was touched with a deep desire to help in any way I could.

With a love for paper crafting, the idea of Stamp Out Poverty was created in hopes that it could raise money to change lives for those in Africa.

On March 28th, a group of us with a love for paper crafting will be hosting a paper craft event at Central Christian Church where all proceeds will go towards helping those in North Africa.

The event will include four hours of fun, fellowship – and of course paper crafting where each person will be creating 4 projects that once learned, can be repeated over and over! A photo holder, a mini pizza box, a quick and easy basket, and a mini album made from one sheet of 12 X 12 paper! All skill levels should find the event fun and enjoyable.

Please spread the news to all of your friends who love card making, scrap booking, or just love to play with paper! (Like WE do!!!)

The cost of the event will be $25.00. For every two people who sign up, one life in Africa will be completely changed forever! Not a bad deal for a day full of fun!”

Of the fees for the day, only $5 goes to cover the cost of materials.  The rest goes directly to impact the lives of people we serve in Africa.

So ladies, come get your stamp on.  (I don’t want to be sexist here, guys you are welcome too.)  Guys, surprise your wife with a girl’s day out.  Have fun while supporting a great cause.

For more details, click here to find out how to sign up and what supplies to bring.

UPDATE:

An online registration has been set up for the event.  Stop in and register now, here.