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SUMMER MISSIONS PROGRAMS MAKE WAVES WORLDWIDE
By Katelyn Foster
Baylor University The Lariat Online, Texas
Oct 24 2006
Mission trips to Kenya, Armenia and Honduras next summer will continue
the progress made by Baylor students in recent years.
Each trip includes teams of students divided into the students'
academic concentrations. Discipline-specific teams are able to use
their classroom knowledge and expertise to focus in on particular
problems affecting the country.
"The purpose of going is to take Baylor students within their
disciplines," Christy Correll-Hughes, graduate assistant for University
Ministries missions, said. "It gives them a chance to use the skills
they've learned to discover a sense of calling."
Kenya
"Kenya is a very good gateway to Africa," Ryan Richardson, associate
director for worship and media, said.
Richardson has been the leader of the general ministries team for the
past two years. He said Kenya is a "good first experience in Africa"
because it is westernized enough to be safe, but students can still
experience the culture shock in the slums.
Most teams stay in the Nairobi area and work in the Kibera slum. He
said Kibera impacts students and "looks like what you see on TV."
According to the African Medical and Research Foundation, Kibera
is the second-largest slum in the world and is home to nearly 1
million people.
In the last two years, the engineering team built bridges across
bodies of water. Kenyans travel 20 miles around water to get to a
market, but bridges cut the trip down to one mile.
The general ministry team worked in a slum with a school with about
200 students ages 4 to 18. The school had two functional rooms and
was in very poor condition.
"I mean mud walls and a metal top," Richardson said. "It had no
seating, no curriculum and only four teachers."
The team taught high school students to set goals while other Baylor
students worked with children by singing songs, jumping rope and
playing games.
A team from George W. Truett Theological Seminary worked with Living
Water, an organization that builds wells in Third World countries.
The team also partnered with the Olympic Vocational Center in Kibera.
The team played soccer with Kenyans at a school but also helped train
them in beauty school. Richardson said the goal was to help them
"envision a successful life."
The progress made two years ago allowed for 10 students to stay on
an extended trip this past summer. Different disciplines comprised
the extended team and stayed an extra two weeks.
The group did in-home visits with victims of HIV and AIDS and worked
with Beacon of Hope, an organization that shares Christ with women
living with or affected by AIDS/HIV in poor communities.
In the future, Richardson said, he hopes to branch out of Kenya.
"Ten years from now I hope we're going to six or seven African
countries," he said.
He sees the possibility of 2,000 students going on mission trips
every year.
"Kenya needs you, but you really need Kenya," he said.
Armenia
This summer will mark the second mission trip Baylor has taken
to Armenia.
Kelli McMahan, outdoor adventure coordinator and a leader of an outdoor
advancement team in Armenia, said the purpose of the Project Armenia
mission trip is "to develop small and large business ideas related
to tourism." This helps create jobs for the locals, she said.
"The people there don't really have a mind set for developing business
ideas and how to be competitive," McMahan said.
Armenia is a country of natural beauty with historic monasteries
and has potential to attract tourism potential from Iran, the United
States and Western Europe, she said.
"The potential to really impact the economy in this country is huge,"
Correll-Hughes said.
Project Armenia partners with Gospel Armenia Mission based out of
California, Armenia Forest NGO, and Gospel Armenia Outreach.
This year, the environmental studies team will be working with the
water quality and creating a map of trails to walk from one monastery
to another. The team will also create a hut system along these trails,
McMahan said.
The outdoor adventure team will make routes within the mountains for
easier passages.
The team plans to work with Armenian college students and teach
them to be white-water river guides. They will also work to build
Styrofoam houses.
"I think Armenia is developed enough that they're ready for the ideas
we have," McMahan said.
She said Armenia is filled with "bright young people that love their
country and want to make it better."
Honduras
Deaf people in Honduras are shunned and not allowed to go to school,
said Lori Wrzesinski, a senior lecturer and director of the American
Sign Language Program.
Baylor will take its third trip to Honduras this summer to help the
deaf community.
Baylor students work with deaf children while teachers from
Tegucigalpa, Olancho, La Ceiba and San Pedro Sula are trained at
Manos Felices, a school located in Tegucigalpa. The teams work with
New Life Deaf Ministries, a ministry in Honduras dedicated to helping
the deaf and spreading the gospel.
This year will be the third and final stage of the teacher-training
program at the school for students in pre-school to second grade. A
new grade has been added every year.
Wrzesinski said the best part is hearing what the parents of the deaf
children have to say.
She told the story of a dad who thought it was the end for his son
because he was born deaf.
He now works as a bus driver for the school to pay for his son's
tuition.
He's learning sign language and doesn't miss a class, she said.
The work in Honduras is far from over.
"The vision is to have land, build a school, have a small store and
a restaurant, and to have work available," Wrzesinski said.
She said the mission group will be taking books in hope of building
a library this year.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
By Katelyn Foster
Baylor University The Lariat Online, Texas
Oct 24 2006
Mission trips to Kenya, Armenia and Honduras next summer will continue
the progress made by Baylor students in recent years.
Each trip includes teams of students divided into the students'
academic concentrations. Discipline-specific teams are able to use
their classroom knowledge and expertise to focus in on particular
problems affecting the country.
"The purpose of going is to take Baylor students within their
disciplines," Christy Correll-Hughes, graduate assistant for University
Ministries missions, said. "It gives them a chance to use the skills
they've learned to discover a sense of calling."
Kenya
"Kenya is a very good gateway to Africa," Ryan Richardson, associate
director for worship and media, said.
Richardson has been the leader of the general ministries team for the
past two years. He said Kenya is a "good first experience in Africa"
because it is westernized enough to be safe, but students can still
experience the culture shock in the slums.
Most teams stay in the Nairobi area and work in the Kibera slum. He
said Kibera impacts students and "looks like what you see on TV."
According to the African Medical and Research Foundation, Kibera
is the second-largest slum in the world and is home to nearly 1
million people.
In the last two years, the engineering team built bridges across
bodies of water. Kenyans travel 20 miles around water to get to a
market, but bridges cut the trip down to one mile.
The general ministry team worked in a slum with a school with about
200 students ages 4 to 18. The school had two functional rooms and
was in very poor condition.
"I mean mud walls and a metal top," Richardson said. "It had no
seating, no curriculum and only four teachers."
The team taught high school students to set goals while other Baylor
students worked with children by singing songs, jumping rope and
playing games.
A team from George W. Truett Theological Seminary worked with Living
Water, an organization that builds wells in Third World countries.
The team also partnered with the Olympic Vocational Center in Kibera.
The team played soccer with Kenyans at a school but also helped train
them in beauty school. Richardson said the goal was to help them
"envision a successful life."
The progress made two years ago allowed for 10 students to stay on
an extended trip this past summer. Different disciplines comprised
the extended team and stayed an extra two weeks.
The group did in-home visits with victims of HIV and AIDS and worked
with Beacon of Hope, an organization that shares Christ with women
living with or affected by AIDS/HIV in poor communities.
In the future, Richardson said, he hopes to branch out of Kenya.
"Ten years from now I hope we're going to six or seven African
countries," he said.
He sees the possibility of 2,000 students going on mission trips
every year.
"Kenya needs you, but you really need Kenya," he said.
Armenia
This summer will mark the second mission trip Baylor has taken
to Armenia.
Kelli McMahan, outdoor adventure coordinator and a leader of an outdoor
advancement team in Armenia, said the purpose of the Project Armenia
mission trip is "to develop small and large business ideas related
to tourism." This helps create jobs for the locals, she said.
"The people there don't really have a mind set for developing business
ideas and how to be competitive," McMahan said.
Armenia is a country of natural beauty with historic monasteries
and has potential to attract tourism potential from Iran, the United
States and Western Europe, she said.
"The potential to really impact the economy in this country is huge,"
Correll-Hughes said.
Project Armenia partners with Gospel Armenia Mission based out of
California, Armenia Forest NGO, and Gospel Armenia Outreach.
This year, the environmental studies team will be working with the
water quality and creating a map of trails to walk from one monastery
to another. The team will also create a hut system along these trails,
McMahan said.
The outdoor adventure team will make routes within the mountains for
easier passages.
The team plans to work with Armenian college students and teach
them to be white-water river guides. They will also work to build
Styrofoam houses.
"I think Armenia is developed enough that they're ready for the ideas
we have," McMahan said.
She said Armenia is filled with "bright young people that love their
country and want to make it better."
Honduras
Deaf people in Honduras are shunned and not allowed to go to school,
said Lori Wrzesinski, a senior lecturer and director of the American
Sign Language Program.
Baylor will take its third trip to Honduras this summer to help the
deaf community.
Baylor students work with deaf children while teachers from
Tegucigalpa, Olancho, La Ceiba and San Pedro Sula are trained at
Manos Felices, a school located in Tegucigalpa. The teams work with
New Life Deaf Ministries, a ministry in Honduras dedicated to helping
the deaf and spreading the gospel.
This year will be the third and final stage of the teacher-training
program at the school for students in pre-school to second grade. A
new grade has been added every year.
Wrzesinski said the best part is hearing what the parents of the deaf
children have to say.
She told the story of a dad who thought it was the end for his son
because he was born deaf.
He now works as a bus driver for the school to pay for his son's
tuition.
He's learning sign language and doesn't miss a class, she said.
The work in Honduras is far from over.
"The vision is to have land, build a school, have a small store and
a restaurant, and to have work available," Wrzesinski said.
She said the mission group will be taking books in hope of building
a library this year.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress