What We Did
Blakely Downs
Palau: A Scuba Fantasy

Palau.  Where we swam with a mob of jellyfish, free dove to hidden lagoons, Kayaked caves, and had the best scuba diving we’ve ever done.

 

Palau: A Scuba Fantasy
What We Did
Blakely Downs
Bolivia - Our Quest to the Salt Flats
Bolivia - Our Quest to the Salt Flats
What We Did
Blakely Downs
The Holy Sites of the Old City
The Holy Sites of the Old City
What We Did
Blakely Downs
Jerusalem
Jerusalem
What We Did
Blakely Downs
The Christian Sites of Galilee
The Christian Sites of Galilee

Africa, It's Complicated

When I think of Africa, I think of red sunsets over endless lion-colored land.  I think of people scarred but not bitter and land dry but full of life.  I think of dark skin in bright clothing. 

If Africa was a song, it would be a chaos of a violent and soulful harmony.  It would be heartbreakingly sad, yet hopeful.  It would be old, but not finished.

Africa taught me the world is full and thick and deep.  It taught me my age. It taught me my size.  It taught me to not feel sorry for people who live differently than me.  Africa taught me to look.  It taught me to listen.  It taught me things are usually better in daylight.  Africa taught me how to not be afraid.

Quotes from our Travels

He said, She Said

“I’ve got some bad news.  Instead of Giza, you said we were in Gaza.”          -Ryan spell checking Blakely’s post.

“I wish the sun would go down so we can go to sleep.” -Ryan.  Our habits have changed a bit.  We see LOTS of sunrises.

At a bus station before dawn.  A young ragamuffin boy with a wheelbarrow was helping us with our bags.  He could barely speak English but, before we entered the chaos of the station, he turned and sternly told us: “Don’t trust anyone!”

Same bus station.  The bus driver was cutting a rope with a rock.  Ryan asked if he wanted a knife and the bus driver replied good naturally: “Oh no.  We don’t allow knives in the bus station or we’d all kill each other!”

“Whatever you do, don’t run.” -Our walking safari guide’s advice if we encountered a lion or leopard.

“There’s more to see than can ever be seen.  More to do than can ever be done.” -Circle of Life lyrics and perfect description of our time in Africa.

“This face is too fat to be you.” -Storekeeper to Ryan when she checked his ID.

“Travelers, in general, are horrendous.” -Blakely in a dark moment.  

“Whoa!” -Us 10x per day.

New Hope for a New Generation

It’s difficult to identify New Hope’s greatest accomplishment.  Their orphanage provides shelter, nourishment, discipline, and counseling to over 100 HIV positive children.  Their school educates over 170 children and their clinic provides affordable healthcare to nearly 500 patients from the surrounding area.  Each of these is monumental.  But none compare to the extraordinary revolution New Hope has given the Meru Community.  

Clinic patients wait to be seen.

Caroline, a clinic technician.

In defiance of norms, superstitions and ignorant health concerns, New Hope treats both HIV positive and negative patients in their clinic and teaches both HIV positive and negative children in their classrooms.  The result is massive progress towards abolishing the devastating social stigma that surrounds HIV.  

It’s impossible to overstate how destructive the HIV stigma is in Africa.  It causes physical and psychological suffering to HIV positive people and denies them their basic human rights (an example being the HIV positive children who are pitilessly abandoned and now live at New Hope).  These repercussions cause many people to deny their condition and take no medication or precaution.  The HIV medication, along with helping with symptoms and progression, prevents the disease from passing to a child during pregnancy.  The parents remain in denial and the result is the generation of innocent HIV positive children at New Hope who dutifully take their medication morning and night. 

Each child has a cubby for their medication.  The dosage depends on their stage of HIV.

A house mother calls roll to give out morning medicine.

It begins and ends with these children.  If you watch them play, it would be easy to overlook that most of them have endured nothing short of horror in their short lives.  One of our jobs while at New Hope was to have the children write their story.   In simple seven-year-old language, they describe starvation, beatings, death, child labor, and abandonment.  And then, they describe coming to New Hope.

They didn’t expect to be received.  They didn’t expect to have friends.  Many had never had a home.  They were scared, lonely, and HIV positive.  They’d never known a secure future.  And then, New Hope swooped in.

A chalkboard from Class 5 at New Hope School.

The kids are constantly holding hands.

And the older ones take care of the younger ones.  And all of them take care of the babies.

And the older ones take care of the younger ones.  And all of them take care of the babies.

Now, the children play.  They study hard and sit quietly through three-hour church services on Sunday.  They eat five meals a day and take medicine every morning and every night.  They laugh when they catch balls and cry when they fall.  They talk openly about being HIV positive and they have teachers and counselors who will listen. 

Africa is complicated and the challenges are overwhelming.  We were discouraged and, without seeing it with our own eyes, we wouldn’t have believed that an organization like New Hope could exist.  But it does.  And they’re nourishing a new generation of Africans who will carry their banner and change their world.  And we should all cheer them on. 

Click Here to learn more about New Hope and their parent organization March to the Top.  For information on how to sponsor one of these incredible children, please email info@marchtothetop.com.