HIV = Hope is Vital

Hi.  It's a warm December evening in Mombasa and I'm enjoying our newly-hung Christmas lights and Christmas carols being sung by the voices inside my computer.  Tonight we remembered a cousin of my roommate who passed away this week from cancer.  We sat around our advent wreath and sang O Come O Come Emmanuel and shared stories.  It is good to remember how precious life is.  This time of advent is a time of waiting in hope for Christmas - for a new beginning in the new year - for new life to be born again within us - to believe in not only possibilities but also in miracles.

Yesterday I toured the Kenya Port - the gateway of goods to East Africa - with some of my students.  I was most amazed not by the tons of goods, types of ships, 2400 cars per ship, etc, but by my students.  We have been accompanying a group of 18 in career counseling for the past four months.  I struggle to know how best to help them, but this is one new mechanism we've tried.  If only we could translate their intelligent questions into an education system that honors differences in learning styles, their self-reflection into skills that help them succeed academically, their hopes into an economy that offers opportunities for young people without connections or top notch grades.

Since the tour ended earlier than expected, we managed to fit in a trip to Fort Jesus, a testament to the 16th century Portuguese presence and power in Mombasa.  On it, the students found the painting below.  Hope is vital.

Wishing you all hope.