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| Lou Haveman |
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| Tinashe Chitambira and family |
On Saturday, November 27, I leave for a nine day trip to Southern Africa with my former colleague, Lou Haveman, and my new colleague, Tinashe Chitambira. During this time we will be visiting our partners in Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, and will spend some time in Swaziland as well. A number of North American guests and partners will be traveling with us for portions of this trip, to learn more about the work that we do and to visit partners with whom they are already connected. The main purpose of this trip is the transitioning of partnerships from Lou, as Southern Africa Regional Facilitator, to Tinashe. My role is to support Tinashe in his new position, as he is new to Partners Worldwide. I look forward to spending time with Lou, who has been such a support to me in this work, and I also look forward to getting to know Tinashe, working towards building a strong Africa team. I'm excited that we now have two Africans as regional facilitators: Tinashe for Southern Africa and Martin Mutuku for East Africa. I'm hoping that one day my position will be turned over to a West African as well.
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| My path for the next nine days. |
I'm rather ambivalent about this whole trip. Bob always wanted to live in Southern Africa and wanted to visit there with me. Now I go alone. The couple who stayed with Hannah and Noah the last time are not able to stay this time, so essentially I am leaving them alone. I haven't been taking care of myself and am pretty exhausted. I question the wisdom of taking on additional responsibilities in this year especially. So I am fighting a lot of guilt over going. But after spending significant time in prayer about this, along with my prayer partners, I am going in faith that God will meet me there and continue to be with the kids at the same time.
I would ask that you join us in prayer for a few things:
- Safety, security, comfort and peace for Hannah and Noah while I'm gone.
- Wisdom, clarity, safety and security for myself and the team as we travel and plan for the future of these partnerships.
- Relationship building between team members and staff, as we learn about each other, our passions, experiences, and gifts, appreciating how God has gifted us in unique and wonderful ways.
3 comments:
Welcome to southern Africa! From your itinerary sketch, it looks like you are only passing by Johannesburg, or I would have loved to invite you for dinner. A lot of ground to cover in a few days. You, Noah and Hannah are indeed in our prayers.
Thank you for coming to add value on this side of the continent, there wil surely be inspiring moments along the way. And please allow yourself a proper, restful break as soon as possible!
Hang in there Renita. We all think you are amazing here in the states. It's ok to give yourself a break!
Praying for all of you as you continue to grieve and miss Bob!! I love seeing his pictures on the blog! I see them and it's like I can still hear his voice =) It makes me sad and happy all at the same time.
Renita, we continue to pray for your work and travels and for Hannah and Noah, especially during your absence. You are loved with an everlasting love! I hope you know and feel that each and every day!
Blessings!
Kelley Wilson
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