Monday, March 24, 2014

Flashback

I spent the last week in Nairobi, conducting a training of trainers for my former colleagues from Partners Worldwide.  It was a great joy to see old and dear friends from Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Kenya, as well as develop some new relationships.  We worked long and hard all week to get through the material and then had some play time at the end of the week.  For the West Africans who are already doing the business training, this was a refresher with some additional new content; for the East African attendees the material was pretty new so they had the chance to learn the material afresh.  The goal is to get the African partnerships who are not yet doing training to start very soon, hopefully mentored by those who have done it for a while.  I was able to present the opportunity of bringing this work in and through the church and saw some potential synergy in this for an ongoing partnership between ICM and Partners Worldwide.  We'll see what God does with this!

My teaching schedule has been pretty nonstop since the beginning of March.  I have this next week without teaching, giving me the much needed opportunity to attend to a number of other important issues, and then I begin teaching another class on the 31st.  I'm thankful to God for the opportunities!

Enjoy some pictures of the week!
Not a great picture but two great people!  Allen Gweh, National Director of LEAD and Daniel Weetol from Liberia. Ever the comedian, Daniel kept us laughing all week.
The beautiful and talented Beatrice (left) from Hopeline Institute in Ghana.  This dedicated woman came to Kenya not only with her seven month old son, but also with her mother in tow so that she could attend classes and keep nursing her baby!
My dear friend, Fanny Atta-Peters, director of Hopeline Institute in Ghana.  We snuck away when we could to talk!  She is hoping to come to my wedding in June with her dear husband Dennis, my protective big brother!
Boadu, also from Ghana, also the entertainer in the group, as can be seen on the faces of Mary (Uganda) and Jackie (Grand Rapids).  We had some great debates together as a group and a lot of laughs.
The week ended with the "businesses" facing the "bank," both of whom took their jobs VERY seriously and did great jobs! 
Then off to have some fun.  Martin Mutuku scales the rock climbing wall with ease.
Two of my favorite people, Allen and Fanny, lounging on a Friday night.