Early this month, LIA was invited to participate in Feed the Famine. A group of dynamic and inspiring women in Phoenix put together this multi-faceted event aimed at raising awareness about the crisis in East Africa, and to raise funds for organizations that are doing something about it.
Fortunately, LIA was selected as one of the beneficiaries of the event! On a warm Saturday in Arizona, we headed out to join the Feed the Famine volunteers in their efforts.
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It is seemingly beautiful when communities collide. When people are connected from various parts of the world to learn, encourage and inspire one another.
Below is a post from Sarah Ulrich a former member of the Cedar Ridge Christian Church youth group. Sarah and six other students traveled to Nazaret, Ethiopia in the summer of 2009, yet their passion to serve and stay connected to this community and the people they met has only grown with time. Read below to see an inspirational group of youth banding together to serve the world around them in unique ways.
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FACT: HIV/AIDS Effects 33 Million people world wide, with 70% living in Africa.
It was a hot and sunny Friday afternoon in Makeuni, Kenya. Having already spent two days in this rural community we had become quite accustomed to the long bumpy van rides to our unknown destination. On this particular day we were briefed that we would be attending an HIV/AIDs support group meeting.
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Some of you may remember Kelsey from the “Held Hostage by Apathy” campaign promoted to raise funds for the production of our second documentary. Based on the results from this campaign, author and world traveler Kelsey Timmerman spent one of his nights in the slums of Nairobi. Below is a glimpse into Kelsey’s experience with the documentary team. Kelsey offers a personal insight into the idea of faith, and the lessons learned from the beautiful people met in the slum communities.
Faith In the Poor by Kelsey Timmerman
I covet your faith. I’m not sure if that breaks any of the commandments or not. It probably breaks several. Still, I do.
My time with Life in Abudance was awesome for several reasons. One of them is that I had a chance to be around people with such strong faith.
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Graphic designer and illustrator Von Glitschka provides a great overview of life in the Nairobi slums. As a member of our recent documentary team Von gives both factual and observational insight into his experience.
Von has set up his reflections as a visual journey seeing the conditions and meeting the people, we invite you to come along.
Slum Life by Von Glitschka
I’m struggling with knowing how to write about this experience? I want to share it with everyone, but I feel wholly inadequate to do so. I’m not even sure where to begin?
The last week and a half I spent in the Mathare Valley Slums in Nairobi, Kenya was an experience that has touched me deeply. And writing about it now brings me to tears as I think about the various interactions I had with the people there.
So I hope what I’m about to share will give you a new perspective on life in the slums.
Mathare Valley Slums Nairobi, Kenya.
The population of Nairobi, Kenya is around 3 million. And the slums which the city encircles both in the Mathare Valley and Kibera makes up 80% of that population. So the majority of the Nairobi work force comes from the slums.
I was part of a team of around 12 people filming a documentary about the work that Life in Abundance is doing in the slums in Nairobi. My roll was mostly related to grip and gaffer duties but I was able to work with the kids from the slums too which I’ll share more about later this week.
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