I'm living in Africa!

Week 1 • 2008 T.I.A. (This is Africa) outreach team

My outreach team arrived safely in Dakar, Senegal on January 5, 2008. We are officially living in Africa. We can’t believe it! It’s amazing where God takes you when you start following Him.  One week ago we had no idea what work we would be doing here, yet God knew of a wonderful ministry in Dakar. This past week we have been working with a Brazilian family (Jose and Marli and their three children: Johnathan-16, Deborah-13, and Zukey-5).

They started a community center (which is also our home) to teach, pray and care for Talibe children - boys who are disciples of the Koran.

Families give their boys to Marabou (men who teach the Koran). These men do not care for the boys. They use them to make money by begging in the streets. These families have no idea what’s really happening and usually never see their boys again.

Many of them go hungry, sleep in the streets, and are beaten if they don’t make money. It’s modern day slavery of children. We’ve heard some are even sold and are killed for witchcraft sacrifices. Most of these kids are brought here from Guinea-Bissau. We were told that over 400,000 Talibe children are in Senegal alone. These are the children we are spending time with for the next three weeks. Then we will travel to a village in Guinea-Bissau, Africa to help with Mercy Trucks.

Also the family took us to a village in Mbor. They purchased property there this past year and plan to build another community center. The center will include a medical center, sports center, missionary base, and a school. We were able to see the design plans and pray over the land while we were there. There are many opportunities available for missionaries and volunteer teams to help with this project. Some of them include the following: construction workers, medical and dental nurses/doctors, skilled trade teachers and football (soccer) coaches.  We also spent time with a local Fulani tribe that lives nearby. We sang songs and passed out treats to the children. It was an amazing day for our team.

Wednesday we attended a prayer meeting with local ministry leaders and YWAMers. We met Gary, YWAM Director of North Africa. Also Dr.

Steele invited us to see the work he’s doing at Keru Yaakar (House of Hope). This is the medical center that was built several years ago by YWAMers from the Anastasis. Beatrice who was apart of the Anastasis team is now working at the medical center and gave us the tour.

Friday night we facilitated a teen night at the community center.  Sunday morning Alex helped lead worship and John Paul preached at church which is in the family’s home. We’re definitely keeping busy. Also everyone loves to play soccer, so we play a lot of it with the kids. We forgot to mention that we have room-mates: Remy and Ruth (who are married) and Muhammad. They are full-time volunteers at the center and oversee a lot of the ministry that takes place. They have been a blessing to us as well.

 We’ve been taking many photos and filming video. We've uploaded some photos so you can see what we’re seeing over here....
 
Go to: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37273&l=b93f5&id=630011188

Enjoy,

Christiane