Photo: kids in Zimbabwe along for the ride to fill water containers I'm currently en route from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe to Colorado, wrestling with the joys and tragedies I witnessed of a courageous people under the siege of a bankrupt economy. Why are kids orphaned in Zimbabwe? What are their lives like? Travel along vicariously with…Read more Orphans in Zimbabwe
poverty
Speak for Those Who Cannot
There was a time in my life when trauma stunned me into silence. I unexpectedly learned about harm perpetrated against someone I love. A friend exposed the truth to me with kindness and sensitivity, but I walked away from the conversation shattered. I told no one even though surrounded by people who cared deeply…Read more Speak for Those Who Cannot
Mathare Valley Children
Mathare Valley in Nairobi, Kenya, sprawls in the equatorial sun, harsh and desperate. Six square miles of corrugated metal shacks overflow with half a million people. Here, children are born into deprivation, starvation, abuse, and disease. All the more startling, then, is the light and life in their eyes. Even the worst of this world…Read more Mathare Valley Children
In the Cracks (2)
The earth hurtles through space in all its breathtaking wonder; and yet, if you dare to look closer, you will find terribly brittle cracks. There, rivers of misery erode human existence into ever deeper, darker canyons. Children ooze out of one of these cracks, known as Mathare Valley slum in Kenya. These little ones are…Read more In the Cracks (2)
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?
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
Another Day in Kenya – Chapter 15
Another Day in Kenya - Chapter 15 God's Hands and Feet At that point, with the failure of our second case, no one would have blamed me if I packed up and high-tailed it home. There are some who tell me they admire my courage. But, which is harder – to leave a child you consider to be…Read more Another Day in Kenya – Chapter 15
Finding My Voice… So Theirs Can Be Heard
All over the world, there are people who have no voice. Children drowning in poverty, women stripped of dignity, men pushed down where there are no safety nets. In dark corners of the world, they subsist day-to-day. Perhaps one of the greatest symptoms of the voiceless is that they lose the capacity to dream. I…Read more Finding My Voice… So Theirs Can Be Heard
Joy Hunt
Sr. Fidence was like a beautiful rose in my hand, but her fragrance drifted just beyond my grasp as she stood there barefoot, her white-draped physical being unable to contain an other-worldly joy. I didn't understand her at all. I wanted to, desperately. How, in the midst of despair and hardship, hunger and lack, did…Read more Joy Hunt
The Miracle of Family
For many of us in America, November fills us with profound gratitude for family, whether those we received at birth, or those we choose, or those who choose us. The loved ones with whom we gather on Thanksgiving Day are a gift beyond measure. And so I want to take this opportunity to share a…Read more The Miracle of Family
Colleen Briggs Art & Writing 