Five For Togo

International Women’s Day was Tuesday. I know I’m a little late, but I thought it would be good to share a little on this issue since working with the women of Togo will be such an important part of our mission efforts!

Here are some sobering statistics.

75% of all women cannot get bank loans because they have unpaid or insecure jobs and lack property ownership rights. Women are also 21% less likely than men even to own a mobile phone and therefore to have similar communication possibilities.

Women perform two-thirds of the world’s work and produce half the world’s food, but earn just 10% of the income and own 1% of the property.

Women constitute two-thirds of the world’s ~800 million illiterate adults (aged 15 and over). Educate a girl in Africa and she’ll earn 25% more income, be 3 times less likely to contract HIV/AIDS and have a smaller, healthier family.

99% of maternal deaths are preventable, but every minute a woman dies from pregnancy-related causes. Worldwide, young women (15 – 24) are 1.6 times as likely as young men to be HIV positive. Every 14 seconds, another child becomes an orphan due to AIDS-related deaths.

The abuse of women and girls is endemic around the world. One in three women will be raped, beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise violated in her lifetime.

Get more information at http://www.internationalwomensday.com/, or better yet, take action to help! Get involved. Go on a mission trip. Bring these issues to light in your church, school, or workplace.

Matt and Grace Hangen have recently created a new video about the work in Togo. The Hangens are our teammates and we are proud of their work!

It’s been interesting, scary, and humbling to watch revolutionary events unfold in the Middle East. Mostly through Twitter, I have tried to keep up with updates in places like Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, and Bahrain.

One man who was at the start of the events in Tunisia set himself on fire to protest the actions, or inaction, of his government. One martyr can start a revolution.

It makes me think about what I should be courageous about in my own life. What is worthy living for? What is worth dying for?

I encourage you to keep up with these events as well.  Twitter is easy to set up and follow. Here are two men to follow on these events to get you started:

http://twitter.com/#!/acarvin

http://twitter.com/#!/NickKristof

Would you like to take a year to be a blessing to some wonderful children? We are looking for teachers for missionary kids while we are working in Africa. Get info at Nicole’s blog below.

http://kennellfamilyintogo.blogspot.com/

If you would like to see what the first two years of a missionaries life can be like, check out this blog I found today. Brett assesses his family’s first two years in Tanzania, the good and the bad. I found it to be very honest and a good glimpse of the missionary life.

http://jamesbrett.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/nearly-two-years-in-tanzania-an-update/

At Holmes Road Church of Christ e have been preaching through a series of sermons based on a recent best-selling book called Radical.

The idea of being a “radical” Christian is interesting to me. What makes you radical? Should some Christians be “radical” while others are just normal? Does moving to a third world country make one radical?

I believe that becoming the person God wants is first about submission to Him. He is the one who will make us look different, or call us to do “radical” things. Sometimes we want the big splash when being faithful to what’s in front of us is most important. Like Jesus, being radical means saying “Not my will, but Your will be done.”

This weekend our family was able to participate in a rewarding activity. We collected items from  church members to give to the surrounding community. Flyers were sent home with kids from an area school and we had a good response as several hundred people came through our doors and took home clothing, furniture, and other goods.

People thanked us saying how timely it was to be receiving these things. There were many baby items that new mothers were able to take and use. Several items also went to some families affected by an apartment fire.

It was a good day when “my stuff” became “God’s stuff.” I hope that can happen more often.

First off I want to say thank you to everyone who has lifted us up in prayer and support. Unfortunately we have not raised enough funds to meet our target date for departure for language school. This is disappointing to us, but we just see it as a bump in the road.

We plan to continue to move forward with fundraising over the next few months with a goal of starting language school in September.  Please let us know if you think your church might be interested in hearing about the current and future work planned in Togo!

We had a great Thanksgiving week with Beth’s family near St. Louis. It’s a full house, but we really enjoy our time with everyone.

The week was topped off by coming back to Memphis to see my extended family. My sister’s youngest, Sophie, was baptized by my Dad Sunday morning at Holmes Road. We had a “birthday” celebration afterward at my parent’s house. My foster sister Valeria was also present, so it was a great day all around!

Mark and Nicole Kennell, our teammates, have made a new video about their work in Togo. You can see it here: http://gallery.me.com/mkennell#100244