Figs for a Cause

My friend Skipper and her husband are leading a trip to Egypt this November to work with Habitat for Humanity. The traveling group is all married couples, going to help improve some of the substandard housing in the Nile Valley region. Skipper and I went to work with Habitat in Egypt in 2009 and when she got home, her husband loved her stories so much he began to pray that they could go back one day together.

That time is near. Skipper & Preston are doing a bunch of creative things to help fundraise for their trip overseas. It costs about $2700 a person (but part of that money goes towards actually donating to Habitat to make the loans for the houses they will help build). One brainstorm Skipper had last week, as we were picking figs from my tree, was to make fig preserves to sell.

After an hour of picking we had one giant bucket of fresh figs. That night, Skipper worked her kitchen magic and made jar after jar fresh fig preserves. She came back to my house 4 days later and picked 3 more buckets full of figs to work with. Wendy & her climbed our tree to pluck every last ripe fig in 100 degree heat.

Skipper has so far cooked around 30 jars of the goods, and is selling it for $10 a jar. All the money is going towards her trip fundraising. I bought a jar and it is to die for... so yummy!!!!!

So, if you are reading this and want to purchase some, you can email her at skipper.mcwithey@yahoo.com

(pictured here, Skipper and our team standing on the roof we just built for a family in a small village in Upper Egypt.)

Orphans & Adoption in an Islamic Context

Check out this recent article on the subject of "Orphans & Adoption in an Islamic Context."

This article is written about a different article on the subject posted from a Middle Eastern news source back in January. To read that article, click here.

Habitat for Humanity Egypt Director in Austin

I want to invite you to help me welcome the National Director of Egypt’s Habitat for Humanity, Yousry Makar. Mr. Makar is in Austin for a short visit and we are gathering anyone interested in learning more about the spiritual climate of Egypt, poverty & development in that country, or about Habitat’s work there to join us on Thursday, May 7th, at 7pm at The Austin Stone’s church offices. We will have a Q&A for Yousry and a short informational presentation, and we hope to encourage Yousry in the work of mercy ministry in Egypt.

Habitat for Humanity—Egypt’s mission is to demonstrate the love of Jesus, practically, by helping families to gain simple, decent, healthy, afforable housing in all parts of Egypt. Last year alone, Habitat built 2,445 homes in 25 different communities across Egypt. Although the cost of an average home built by Habitat for Humanity in the U.S. is $90-100,000, the cost to complete a Habitat home in Egypt averages $1300. Many lives are touched and entire communities are impacted, both economically and spiritually.

The Austin Stone sent a team to Egypt in February 2009 to work with Habitat for Humanity. They built homes in a small village in central Egypt for a week and loved every minute. They spent time with Yousry and are eager to introduce him to more of you from Austin Stone. Here is a blog post from one of the team members describing their time with Habitat.

We encourage you to come and hear more about Habitat this Thursday (May 7th at 7pm at the church office). Bring your family, friends, community group… If you can’t come, pass this along to someone you think might enjoy it. Please RSVP to atxanna@gmail.com so we know how many snacks and drinks to have on hand (but even if you forget to RSVP, you can still come).

Egypt's Habitat Director Comes to AUSTIN

Anyone out there wanna learn about the spiritual climate of Egypt, poverty & development in Egypt, and Habitat for Humanity-EGYPT... from an actual Egyptian man? Well, this week, the national director of Habitat for Humanity in Egypt will be in Austin and you can come to a small presentation/Q&A with him at the Austin Stone church OFFICES on Thursday, May 7th. Click HERE for details.

(That's him in the picture, visiting our team at the Cairo Bookfair.)

Sudanese Refugee School in Pictures

(If you want to read stories from this day, on top of looking at the pictures, click HERE.)
Love was the universal language of our time with the Sudanese refugees.

Playing games with the kids... you can see "New Sudan" written on the wall of the school.

Teaching us some of their traditional Sudanese songs... precious!

One of the teachers at the school.

Having fun with a bouncy ball.

We delivered a donated drum set to the school which was an immediate HIT!

Two of the teenage girls that didn't really want to come out of the classroom to join the festivities.

The leader of the Mercy Team leads the kids in a highly energetic sermon-ette.

Young teen girls.

Me with my two little kids (on the right) who were my favorites... the teenage girl on the left is the older sister of the little boy.

The older girls liked to braid our hair the way they braid each others'.

Teenage boys.

Teenage girls.

This picture is great because you can see the backdrop of the big building going up next to the school, but in the reflection of her sunglasses you can also see the other tall buildings going up all around their refugee camp. When the government gave this land for the refugee camp it was empty desert.

This map, or one like it, was hanging in every classroom at the school, teaching the kids where Sudan (their home country) and where Egypt was (where they are living today).

This building is under construction next to the school and is being built very un-safely. A volunteer engineer came to evaluate the property for the staff and noted that it is twice as tall as the permit allowed and was in danger of collapsing because the structure is unsound. On top of which, the principal told us that the construction workers sometimes threw materials down from the high stories onto the children in the courtyard of the school.

The boys playing in three-legged races.

This little boy asked me to paint a cross on his forehead.

Two boys balloon-ed out.

This little boy just would not smile on camera, no matter how hard we tried to brighten him up.

The great corral of girls.

Not sure why the little kids would throw signs, but they liked to do this for pictures.

Just a display of the goatie face paint that the young boys kept asking me to paint on their faces.

The courtyard at the school during the chaos of our carnival stations.

Checking out the new drum set.

The kids broke from our play day to have breakfast (1 loaf of bread, a bottle of milk, and a hard-boiled egg)... some of whom this would be their only meal for the day.

One of the classrooms full of kids waiting to come out and play at our carnival of fun.

This picture and Scripture was painted on the wall of the courtyard.

The boys hanging out the window to get a chance to blow bubbles.

Cute little boys!

Waving for the camera.

The Villages of Egypt in Pictures

The view of a crumbling wall of a home in the village, next to a newly built stone wall from Habitat.

A village boy.

Ladies on their way to launder clothes in the canal.

We were invited by one village family to take pictures with their water buffalo.

A village baby girl.

Using your head to carry most everything is quite usual for them.

Me, holding a baby goat at a micro-loan recipients' home.

Working for Habitat was messy but FUN (i Love this picture!).

Two young boys from one family wanted to help us haul stone blocks from the street into their home that was being renovated by Habitat.

These neighborhood young boys kept watching us with a "these American ladies are crazy" look in their eyes.

Cara peeling onions with one village family.

A village girl.

The village we spent most our time in was a big onion farming community, and every street was lined with ladies and their kids circled around piles and piles of onions peeling them. Subsequently the onions were shipped out to factories where they were turned into grated onion and onion powders you might find in the spice section of your grocer.

This woman received a micro-loan to start a goat breeding business on the roof of her house (same place where I was holding the goat above).

The kids of the village after a rousing game of soccer during our lunch break.

This little boy was moving chairs outside his classroom at the village school.

At an impromptu "Sunday School" meeting we joined in the village. The kids gathered round to hear Bible stories while our local security detail looked on with his lovely gun draped over his shoulder. It was nothing to write home about from the kids' point of view.