Atlanta, Georgia

We are home again (sort of). As we write this, we are actually on our way back to Atlanta after a weekend speaking engagement in Oxford, Mississippi. (We are taking to heart that proverb about allowing “no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.”) After one incredible last day of site visits, we left Africa behind and arrived in Atlanta early Friday morning. Saying goodbye to Jim, we then immediately exchanged the airplane as mode of transportation for an SUV and embarked on another 6 hour road trip. The road to Mississippi is definitely smoother than the one to Gulu, but all of the roads we've traveled these last two weeks have been meaningful. And sometimes it is the bumpiest roads that remind us most that God is good.
It is not always easy to find the right words after a Wellspring trip. Remembered faces and half-formed thoughts swirl like eddies in the stream of consciousness that is a jetlagged mind. And yet, standing in front of a congregation of people sincerely interested in the work of Wellspring in Africa, words were worth fighting for. We wanted nothing more than to convey every image of despair and of hope, every child’s smile and story that privileged our ears. While we worried that our fatigue would get in the way of what our hearts wanted to share, the people of College Church were so gracious. Their eyes grew teary hearing the stories of a hurting yet determined people and it quickly reminded us of the strength of friendship and the goodness of the tender human heart.

As you read headlines of the latest tragedy or search the big round eyes of children who have a great fight ahead of them in life, it is easy to be overwhelmed with the dark evil that we can inflict on each other. But then you can walk into a quaint and beautiful church of believers in Oxford, Mississippi and be reminded again of the good. There are people who want to hear what is happening in the District of Gulu in Northern Uganda, people who want to extend their hands in friendship and their hearts in prayer to the littlest ones struggling with HIV/AIDS, and this gives us reason enough to find the words.

As anticipated, our last day in Cape Town offered several occasions to celebrate. While the first half of our trip was spent primarily visiting new sites and taking in new projects, the second half was spent taking in the exciting sights of projects having come to fruition. We met with Noleen, Wellspring’s very first graduate. Naomi first met her two years ago at a rehabilitation home for women in prostitution and drug abuse. Sitting down with her over some African tea, she asked Noleen what she would choose if she could be anything in the world. Immediately her eyes lit up and she confided that she had always wanted to be a chef. This put us on a mission, and after identifying a culinary school in Cape Town, Noleen was accepted into the program, and Wellspring provided the funds that would allow her to finish.

Shortly after Noleen began school, she sent a beautiful letter that will be one of those treasures remembered all through life. She wrote, “I just finished watching a movie called 'Sea biscuit' about a horse and a jockey that both came out of really difficult circumstances. Both had little chance of success until they were spotted by the right people who invested time into them; it is a wonderful true story of how they overcame and became winners. Well, I really can identify with them. Thank you so much for believing in me, and I trust, with God's help, I am going to be a winner too. All my best wishes. You have made a dream come true.”

Now 18 months later, Noleen has graduated at the very top of her class. She greeted us with big smiles, hugs, and thank you's. We gave her a graduation present at which she exclaimed with delight upon opening. It was an apron with “Seabiscuit” written across the front.

What Noleen has achieved is incredible, not only because she is now a chef, but because she persevered through times when it might have been easier to give up and embraced a new life even when so often the old one, though painful, seemed easier simply because it was known. Our time with her was emotional, and she thanked each of us profusely the entire time we were there. When we assured her she didn’t owe us this, she replied, “You don’t understand. No one has ever done anything for me my whole life. I couldn’t be where I am without you. I know it is God that made it happen, but you were his hands.”

We were only the messengers representing the giving of so many back home; something in us felt so unworthy of those words, and yet we know years from now we will still remember Noleen's heartfelt expression as one of the clearest assurances of God's presence in a world of pain.

Also at this rehabilitation home, we spent time with Lisa, another young mother striving to rise above a difficult life. On a Wellspring scholarship, she has just begun a counseling course. She proudly showed us all her books for the semester. Her story is one of loss. After watching her husband die in the seat next to her in a tragic accident, she found herself suddenly very alone with an infant to care for. Out of desperation, she found herself caught up in a life of prostitution. Lisa has recently been awarded visiting rights to her little girl and hopes she will one day bring her home. Her studies seem to have given her purpose, something upon which to focus, rekindling something in herself she thought lifeless. We left Noleen and Lisa behind a bit tearfully with a promise that we would return for a homemade meal at the hands of our new chef.

Our next stop was the Home from Home office, where we greeted the rest of the staff and prepared for the official home opening. As we drove up to the Wellspring home, it was filled with energetic children and smiling house mothers shaking their heads affectionately at the child-like energy of 42 children. As we all filled the small living room and kitchen, a blessing was prayed upon the home by a local pastor. Some of the children sang for us, our favorite selection being an African song to which the children danced. It's amazing to watch 3 year olds dance and know you could never compete with such moves! One of the little boys, whom we affectionately nicknamed “LL Cool J” for his resemblance to the celebrity and his moves on the dance floor, kept us shaking our heads in amusement. The entire group then sang to us the South African national anthem. We enjoyed this and were lost in its effect, until we were told the new tradition was that the guests, too, had to sing their national anthem. The Americans among us were looking back and forth at each other sheepishly, when suddenly we heard Jim’s well-trained voice bellowing through the crowd. (This well kept skill was perhaps more startling to his traveling companions than anyone else.)

At the completion of our singing debut, we were rewarded with a plaque that was immediately given a place on the wall in the front room of the home. It beautifully read:

In honor of Dr. Ravi K. Zacharias
Evangelist and Apologist,
for a life devoted to sharing the love of Jesus
in word and deed
throughout the world

We were filled with enormous gratitude and pride. The kids continued to fill their bellies with all kinds of sweets, and as we finished celebrating, everyone seemed to leave with a sugar high.

We finished our last night in Africa appropriately: at a local African restaurant with friends. To the sounds of beating drums and foot-stomping, we sat around a table and talked about what we had seen, stories that were shared, and then we bid each other farewell.

The next morning we finished a few last minute meetings and began the typical scrambling to the airport, digging for tickets and passports and preparing carry-on bags. We left Cape Town for Johannesburg, where we finally sunk down into airplane seats that seem to get smaller every time you board, and exhaustedly fell asleep.

Now returning home from Mississippi, we are reclaiming family, friends, and dogs, Georgia sunshine and sweet tea—at least for a few days until the next Wellspring trip to the Middle East in early May.

Thank you for taking this trip with us, for your support, and your words of encouragement. Until next time, we are signing off.

Naomi and Jill

Cape Town, South Africa

We arrived safely in Cape Town and have much to report. Our project near Mozambique did not go as planned and regrettably we made the decision to end our time there earlier than intended.

Arriving in Cape Town and having an unexpected day off, we decided to do what any shameless tourists in South Africa would do: we went on a safari. We drove two hours outside of Cape Town to a phenomenal game park replete with indigenous (and not so indigenous) animals of Africa.

On horseback we climbed up mountains and found ourselves just feet away from giraffes. With incredible views all around us, our horses led us by hippos sunbathing in the water, a family of ostriches (which happens to consist of one male and his many many wives), and various other animals of interest.

We ate breakfast outside with elephants that were grazing nearby, and after lunch we were affectionately licked by a cheetah.

All in all it was a productive day on the range.

Although our aching muscles were still reminding us of our adventures, we got back to work as scheduled this morning. Home from Home, an initiative to provide community-based foster care for children orphaned by AIDS, is currently operating seven houses in the outskirts of Cape Town.

One of these houses was built with funds from Wellspring donors and is officially opening this week. Wellspring has also committed to cover the operating costs of this home for the next three years. Pippa, our contact with Home from Home, led us to each of their seven houses where we met the amazing house mothers and children that make each house a home. Many of these children have HIV themselves and bravely face multiple injections of antiretroviral medication a day.

With six children and a house mother, each home feels much more like a family than a facility. Little hands were immediately wrapped around our legs in an irresistible attempt to garner new playmates. At the end of the day, we left our new little friends behind, selfishly wishing we could bring them home with us, but happy to see them in undeniably happy homes.

In preparation for tomorrow’s official ribbon cutting ceremony, we moved furniture and appliances into Wellspring’s house that has appropriately been named “Luxolo,” which means Peace.

Later in the day, we also visited Home from Home’s community daycare center and drove to Hawston, a fishing village along the coast, to view land for two new potential homes.

Tomorrow we will be attending the home opening event with the children and house mothers from all seven homes. We will also visit Wellspring’s first graduate, a 37 year old single mother who courageously left behind a life of prostitution and recently completed culinary school on a Wellspring scholarship. She has accepted a job at a four star hotel in Cape Town and is now doing something she loves. We are looking forward to congratulating her in person on our final day in Africa.

Thanks for keeping up with us.

Gulu, Uganda

Gulu is now behind us. The sounds of crashing waves in Durban, South Africa are a roaring reminder that we are no longer in the land-locked country of Uganda. But Uganda is not far from our minds.


For the last 20 years, more than 1.5 million people in northern Uganda have been displaced from their homes due to ongoing violence. The majority of these people are still living in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, many never having known any other home.



The Invisible Children Bracelet Campaign promotes economic development in these impoverished camps by hiring men and women within them to create bracelets, which are then packaged and sold in the U.S. Each bracelet is accompanied by one of eight DVD’s telling the story of a child and the difficulties he or she has faced growing up in northern Uganda. We had the privilege of meeting with some of these bracelet makers, each chosen for various degrees of vulnerability in their lives. Many of the workers are widows, returnees (former child soldiers), or men and women with disabilities as a direct result of the war. They greeted us with beaming smiles and asked when we were coming back.


Also working closely within camps, The Salvation Army is laboring to set up Early Child Development (ECD) programs in 72 different IDP camps throughout northern Uganda. Women and children are said to make up more than 80% of the IDP camp population, and this was apparent as we walked through endless rows of thatch-roofed huts. The children seemed to come from everywhere to follow the “munos,” a term essentially (and affectionately) meaning “whitey.” As we walked to inspect the foundation of one of Salvation Army’s ECD centers, we were soon enveloped by a sea of curious children, who stared at us with wide eyes and bravely reached out for our hands.



The following day Invisible Children took us to Gulu High School, the pilot school for their initiative called Schools for Schools, in which U.S. high school students organize and implement fundraisers to benefit Ugandan schools. Currently, the Gulu High School girl’s dormitory houses 50 girls per room. As we walked into the dormitory filled with typical, animated teenage girls, we were startled by the image of this statistic staring us in the eyes. (Most of us thought living with one roomate in college had its challenges; can you imagine living with 49!) Fifty girls in one room is made possible by triple bunk beds stacked inches apart from one another, their clothes hanging on wire clotheslines above their heads. The Schools for Schools initiative has received enough funding to build the first story of a new girl’s dormitory, which will reduce the average to 12 girls per room. They are currently in the process of construction, for which the girls could not be more thankful.


Invisible Children would like to add an additional floor to this dormitory, which would allow them to transfer all of the girls to the new building. The school would then also be able to accept 200 additional female students to Gulu High School. Currently, the female student population is only 30% of the student body, due to space limitations. Adding this second floor, which will cost $90,000, will not only help move current students to less cramped quarters, but will give others the much needed opportunity for education. When we asked the girls what they thought of the new dormitory underway, built by funds raised by American students their age, among shouts of anticipation, one student responded with a girlish grin: “So they like us, then?”



It was two full days of seeming incongruities—so many difficult sites to take in and yet so many joyful and welcoming people. The stories are heart breaking and the injustice palpable. There are none untouched by the years of violence and political unrest. But the people are not without hope, and the fire we witnessed in a small few who want desperately to see change for people of northern Uganda is something we can only hope to flame.


TIA

Entebbe, Uganda

Greetings from Uganda! We are finally here after two days of international travel complete with lost luggage, the kicking, screaming, and/or air sick child ever in the seat behind us, and a vast array of airports through which to navigate. Today we flew from Johannesburg, South Africa to Nairobi, Kenya to Entebbe, Uganda- whose airport you may remember as the location of a famous international hostage situation that ended in heroic rescue. Stepping off the last plane for the day, we were greeted by swarming mosquitoes, stifling humidity, and an amazing African sunset. It is dangerous to travel by road at night, so we are staying overnight in Entebbe and will drive to Gulu early tomorrow morning.

For the next two days we will be visiting various projects currently underway with Invisible Children and The Salvation Army. We will spend time in two refugee camps, in which the Bracelet Campaign functions, visit a Gulu high school to evaluate a student scholarship program, and assess several preschools set up and operated by The Salvation Army.

While our days will be filled with project visits and staff and student interviews, our evening will be spent at the Salvation Army house in Gulu. Our gracious hosts have given us a friendly reminder that their water and electricity are resources with minds of their own. In any case, we will post an update as soon as we have access again.

Welcome!

Thank you for visiting Wellspring International’s first blogging experience! Our hope is to capture in these postings the events of Wellspring’s current trip to Africa, to offer its supporters a voice from the field and a glimpse of Wellspring’s current and potential efforts in Africa. Director of Wellspring International, Naomi Zacharias, RZIM staff writer, Jill Carattini, and Jim Manning of Tigert Communications have traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa where we will hit the ground running.


The purpose of this trip is twofold. Naomi will be investigating both new opportunities for Wellspring involvement as well as following up on projects currently funded by Wellspring donors. In the weeks ahead we will attempt to offer a personal account of the projects we are seeing, the people we are meeting, and the role that you as Wellspring supporters are playing in Africa. In short, we are attempting to take you on the road with us. To highlight a few of our upcoming destinations:

In the Gulu district of northern Uganda, Naomi will evaluate Wellspring’s partnership with Invisible Children, an organization that has been on the frontlines of raising awareness of a war torn Uganda. Since 2003, Invisible Children has been at work developing projects that foster ongoing entrepreneurial support for people living in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and providing educational scholarship programs for the children.

From Uganda our team will travel to Tembe, South Africa where Naomi will be looking into opportunities to come alongside the efforts of Umbono, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to provide humanitarian relief, entrepreneurial development, and educational opportunities to communities affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The team will also be making several visits to current Wellspring projects and scholarship recipients and reporting to you an update of each. The Balm of Gilead, a rehabilitation home for women in prostitution, houses a young women Wellspring granted a scholarship for culinary school in 2005. She has since graduated at the top of her class and is now employed as a chef in one of Cape Town’s four star hotels. Naomi will visit with her and congratulate Wellspring’s first graduate personally. Also in Cape Town, our team will attend a ribbon cutting ceremony for Home from Home, a housing unit for children orphaned by AIDS. In 2006, Wellspring pledged funds to cover the building costs of the home as well as three years of their operating costs. This building will now be home to six children and a house mother.

We hope that the coming entries accounting for our time in Africa will further open hearts to a continent of vast heartache and need.

“Whatsoever you did for the least of these, you did unto me.” –Jesus

Wellspring's First Post - What is Wellspring?

Welcome to Wellspring International's first blog post!

The Mission

Wellspring International was established in February 2004 by Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). A humanitarian arm of the organization, Wellspring International is an extension of the central focus of RZIM, where we live out what we preach and defend. The vision of Wellspring is to identify and fund individuals in need as well as existing organizations that are helping those at risk in their communities, specifically women and children. Through a process of due diligence, our mission is to equip existing local rescue and rehabilitation efforts with financial resources to allow them to continue and further the work they are doing.

The Method

One hundred percent of donations given to RZIM and designated for Wellspring are distributed to projects overseas that we have researched and vetted. Wellspring International functions as the eyes and ears for those wanting to help women and children at risk throughout the world. We research existing efforts through a comprehensive application process, review financial records, and conduct interviews and site visits so that our donors do not have to do so. If we move forward in supporting a particular effort, we enter into a contractual agreement with the organization to outline the details of the project and the specific management and use of funds. We also establish a timeline and review certified audited reports of the project. During the course of the project, we report back to the donors the full and accurate results of their contribution and the overall project outcome.