Jambo Marafiki! Hello Friends! We’ve arrived in Kisumu and are having a great time settling in and going through our orientation with Leonard and Linda, the Project Director and Deputy Project Director of Umoja here in Kenya. We have visited many schools that are supported by the Umoja Project. Umoja partners with 18 local primary…
One of our recent secondary school graduates has had a particularly difficult spring. He lived in an earthen home with family members until recently when torrential rains washed away much of the family compound, leaving Bryan and his extended family without any shelter. Each summer GIP hosts interns from Duke Divinity School work with Umoja…
Form four student Michael delivered a heartfelt speech to Denise Soltis and Kathy Miller during their March 2018 visit to Chulaimbo. Read the transcript of his moving speech: I want to speak generally about Umoja what it is to us, how it has benefited us individually and society at large. To start with, to our…
by Denise Soltis, Executive Director As I sit on the first flight from Nairobi, I am reflecting on my first visit to Global Interfaith Partnership’s Umoja Project. I arrived in Kenya with a critical eye, expecting to find some issues, things that were not as we thought. What I found was inspiration. These children have…
Written by Maren Huelsman, Member of Youth Leadership Team and 2016 Umoja Project visitor This past summer, I was fortunate enough to be able to travel with the project to Kenya. To be honest, it was a very big challenge for me. My comfort zone was stretched in many different ways, and my anxiety was…
Written by Sarah Neff, Duke Divinity School student and 2016 Umoja Project Field Intern: When I first met Esther several weeks ago, her home was the seventh home that we visited in one day. My malaria pill had burnt my esophagus the night before, so I was tired, discouraged, wincing at the thought of another…
I thought that this kid was just overly excited to meet “the Americans” but as I observed him throughout the three hours we spent together, I realized that Eric just loves to smile. His smile was infectious and I knew that by the end of the day, I would want to bottle it up, put it in my backpack, and carry it with me wherever I went.
If there is one thing I miss most about Kenya, it’s the dust…
the orange brown particles still embedded in my chacos that once coated my feet, turned my boogers orange, and made it appear like I’d spent all day in a tanning bed.
Immersion into the culture and people of southwest Kenya – through home and school visits; conversations with children, guardians, pastors, and community leaders; teaching staff and students; and the day-to-day encounters – gave me a new appreciation for the beauty and goodness of humanity as well as the importance the Global Interfaith Partnership.
It has occurred to me that the Umoja Project is about friendship. If you had a friend in need, you would not march into his or her home with a list of objectives and start moving things, installing things, “improving” things. You would sit with your friend and say, “Tell me what’s going on.” and “I’m here for you.” Then you might ask, “How can I help?”
