Kiwi Fruit – Africa

Snapshots of Kiwis bearing fruit in Africa…

Kenya/Southern Sudan

By Stuart & Maree Houghton

After a quick survey trip to Kenya and Sudan we came back very excited about joining a mission and development NGO called ACROSS, of which Pioneers is a major partner. Our brief visit was an opportunity to meet some of our future co-workers and also to see some of the work that ACROSS is doing in Southern Sudan.

We visited villages in Sudan where ACROSS has been running the ‘Awakening Process’. This process aims to break the cycle of poverty and inferiority that is one of the consequences of decades of civil war and dependence on Western aid. And it’s bearing soooo much fruit!

We’ll never forget the pride on the villagers’ faces as they told us about what ACROSS had taught them, and what they’d achieved by working together. We came away excited about ACROSS’ Biblical, holistic approach to development, and can’t wait to go back and invest ourselves in the projects of ACROSS.

Stuart is now the full-time Project Director and Maree is part time Human Resources Assistant for ACROSS, based in Nairobi.

Senegal

By Diana Taylor

While in Senegal, West Africa I was challenged by an environment so different from NZ. A country with a population that is 99% Muslim and Wolof speaking stretched me in all kinds of ways. To thrive in my one year internship I decided to celebrate even the smallest breakthroughs.

I really felt so proud of the God we serve when our team went into remote villages; where some of the people had never seen Westerners before!  In several villages we performed puppet shows in the local language and showed the Jesus film in one village where most of the locals had never seen a film before, let alone a gospel film.

But the day I felt the most useful was when we went to a village with medical professionals and gave free medical help to hundreds of people who usually have no access to a doctor or nurse. By then I was able to translate in Wolof for the nurses and help with taking blood pressures etc.

Other highlights were visiting local prisoners regularly with the small team of women I worked with, and coaching young women in soccer in a city one hour away from where I lived. I still find it hard to believe God was able to use me despite my limited language and cultural understanding. I just marvel at God because I could never have done any of it without Him.

Diana was a intern for a year with a Pioneers team in Senegal, West Africa.

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