It's more than academic

Kristina Podesta's take on her time at Beacon of Hope:

When I began my masters program in intercultural conflict management, my friends told me that academic study would threaten to eclipse my engagement in real lives and real situations. I didn't believe them.  Now, 2 semesters in to my masters, I understand what they meant. Serving at Beacon of Hope in Kenya has, thankfully, countered this drift, reconnected me with things of the heart and put my academic pursuits, so valuable in their own right, in their proper perspective. 

My realignment began as soon as we arrived. Mike Oloo, the director of the Beacon of Hope medical clinic, gave us a comprehensive tour of the facilities on our first day.  He stressed the themes of sustainability, longevity, and holistic care.  The directors of each branch of the ministry at Beacon of Hope were instructed to ask how to make their sector self-supporting, how it can feed into other areas, and how it can provide needed services.  Furthermore, the branches seek to coordinate with each other. For example, the clinic tests for HIV; when patients test HIV positive and lack income, a vocational school is ready to train a woman looking  for a way out. When childcare is a problem, the Academy is available.  If treatment compliance is a barrier, counselors and social workers systematically make house calls.  Beacon is caring for men and women in a holistic manner.  

How do they accomplish and fund all this? Excellence, by the grace of God. The academy keeps high standards to attract paying students in order to open up spots for those who can't pay. The students of the vocational school produce great work in their weaving and sewing studios to sell. The catering school sells yummy lunches to volunteers, and a teaching garden both provides fresh produce and a space to teach healthy eating.  Every day in morning devotions, staff praise the Lord with loud voices of song, and they hear valuable and important spiritual teaching.

I need to explain all this because I am just so pleasantly suprised by this ministry.

My "social sciences" type masters program doesn't teach about NGO's like this. Cynicism runs high; many feel that NGO's seem to do more harm than good, and deep-set societal problems abound endlessly. I started to doubt that any change can be made, and cultural relativism had me wondering if I even knew what helping meant. My wide eyed idealism was drowning in hopeless analysis and fears of making a wrong move. I know some Chapel Hillians (and Durhamites too) know this feeling.

Then there are those children - those joyful, loud, playful children. They aren't case studies, they aren't sad commercial ads, and they are definitely not fragile bundles or cultural ideals. People complicate everything.

Don't get me wrong: what I learned was important and has taught me to be more thoughtful, reflective and compassionate. It's given me skills to help me analyze and see the complexities of problems, but only those kids could have encouraged me like they did. Their laughter reminds me that people are people and that a smile or a laugh is universal. This wonderful ministry, started by one woman just following the Lord, reminded this cynical academic that God is great enough and wise enough to overcome any problem I can find.

The smallest things do matter. Prayers are powerful.  Change, thanks to a great God, can happen. We as a team trust and love this ministry.  We can learn so much from them. I'm weary (thanks to aforementioned studies) to endorse anything, but this Kenyan-born, Kenyan-run ministry has so impressed us. I, in my re-found idealism, am therefore praying boldly that every child at the school will be sponsored by the start of next year.This would allow them to open up more spots for more children. God is using Beacon, and it is awesome to see.