Vietnam, fires, and Christmas.... my excuses for disappearing from the blogging world since late October! (Lots more dramatic than saying my dog ate my rough drafts... although that could happen.) Vietnam: Still can't believe I got to do this - absolutely amazing trip to Vietnam with a Hope's Promise Connection Team in early November. We witnessed the…Read more Vietnam, fires, and Christmas…
Travel
A Longing Fulfilled (Return to Vietnam)
In 2015, on a snowy morning in Colorado, memories of Vietnam (blog entry: Longing for Courage) danced in my head. Ironic, on the eve of a longing fulfilled, ticket in-hand to depart for Vietnam tomorrow, snow once again paints white the Colorado landscape outside my window. In 2015, still buried in the crux of crisis involving…Read more A Longing Fulfilled (Return to Vietnam)
From Their Hands to Yours… Part 2: Kumbatia
I stand with my two sons Jacob and Justin, our friend Jenny, and my mother-in-law Joann, staring out over mountains of garbage as far as we can see. The expanse is simply staggering in its immensity. In the distance, massive machines move the refuse. The stench is so thick, it's actually visible in thick haze…Read more From Their Hands to Yours… Part 2: Kumbatia
From Their Hands to Yours… Tuungane Pamoja
As an artist, I am passionate about other creative people, especially those buried in situations where they struggle to have a voice. My involvement with Pamba Toto (my friend and I founded the business in 2006) beats at the core of my heart… For these artisans buried in Nairobi slums to realize how incredibly talented…Read more From Their Hands to Yours… Tuungane Pamoja
How Great is our God – Kenya Connection Team 2017
They were just exploring the wonders of being in a family, home less than a year. Some were learning to use utensils for the first time, riding in cars for the first time, trying to figure out why it was “raining” in the house and their new parents wanted them to stand in the “rain.”…Read more How Great is our God – Kenya Connection Team 2017
Finding the Way to Nowhere (in Kenya)
Bounce and jostle over potholes and dusty ruts to the middle of nowhere. Second-guess a few times if you've lost your way. Double check with someone on the side of the road. Spot the turn-off at last and park your car. Hop out and glance to the right; and, shocked to discover it here in…Read more Finding the Way to Nowhere (in Kenya)
In the Cracks
Astonished, I found Him, the Beautiful One, deep in a cranny of Mathare Valley, Kenya - the same One I glimpsed in the fissure of a Mother Teresa's home in Huruma, as I share below. It's enough to make my head spin - apparently, at least according to what my senses report, my body landed…Read more In the Cracks
Why do slums exist in Kenya?
One of the greatest joys of my recent trip to Kenya was sharing the experience with two of my children, Justin age 17 and Jacob age 20. I tried to capture some of the wonder I felt in a previous blog entry: Meeting Myself There. Because of Justin's most unexpected surgery, Tommy John to repair…Read more Why do slums exist in Kenya?
Colors of Kenya
Color lives and breathes in Kenya. From subtle drab slip-and-slide of slum grays and browns to vital dance of Meru tea-farm greens, color sings and color weeps in Kenya. Color shimmers delicately in a solitary tear, lingering on the face of a Ugandan artisan now grown from a childhood spent as a household servant. Fed…Read more Colors of Kenya
The Beautiful One
Hope's Promise 2017 Connection Trip to Kenya, May 25-June 5 I invite them: come. Come, stand on the brink of devastation, human suffering as you have never seen before. Come, listen to these words: “Give yourself to the hungry, satisfy the desire of the afflicted.” Isaiah 58:10 See their faces, look into their eyes, feel…Read more The Beautiful One
Colleen Briggs Images & Writing 