Off to a Great Start With More to Come

We have had a very busy two days in London. Yesterday was filled with various meetings. Suzanne spent a majority of her afternoon meeting with the Mothers' Union representaives while I met with Vanessa Anderson from the Five Talents UK office to discuss communications strategies as well as how to better share information between our offices. Last night, I attended as an art auction event at the Colomb Art Gallery to benefit Five Talents. The exhibit by artist Pip McGarry will be up until Saturday, May 23.

Today, we had the first-ever true Five Talents International board meeting at Lambeth Palace. I always find it so encouraging to meet with our "Five Talents Family" members that reside outside the US. At tonight's dinner table there were all sorts of interesting conversations taking place about past travels, living abroad, development work and a variety of other life experiences. I sat between Rachel Millward the UK Developement Director (who I've met on multiple occassions and always look forward to seeing) and Anne Figge, a Five Talents Fellow who will be heading to Tanzania at the end of of the summer (who I only briefly met a couple of weeks ago when she stopped by the US office when she was stateside).

I am now back at the guesthouse trying to get everything together before heading to the airport in the morning.

In about 11 hours, Suzanne and I will board a British Airways plane and continue onto the next leg of our journey. On to Nairobi!

Joining us on this flight will be a Five Talents Business as Mission team that will be working in Kenya and Uganda for the next two weeks. If you're interested in following their trip, Dan King (aka BibleDude) will also be blogging.

We all arrive in Nairobi on Saturday evening (Kenya time, which is 8 hours ahead of EST) and then on Sunday, Suzanne and I catch a flight to Northern Kenya before flying into Sudan on Monday.

But, before arriving in Sudan, I wanted to make a brief introduction of one of the partners we'll be spending time with while in Leitnhom. (While I have not yet met Thomas Anei, I have only heard wonderful things, and I'm definitely looking forward to an in-person meeting!)

Being born into a country that was in the midst of a 20-year civil war and being forced into the army as a child soldier has only strengthened Thomas Anei’s desire to bring healing and restoration to his homeland.

While working as a child soldier, Thomas, a native of southern Sudan, had a dramatic conversion experience. It was after this conversion that he sought refuge in Kenya and ultimately completed his studies and graduated from seminary.

In May 2007, Thomas attended a Five Talents-sponsored Christian Economic Development Institute in Nakuru, Kenya. As a result of the training, Thomas became a strong advocate for economic development as the mechanism needed for effective Christian witness in order to create a more stable Sudan.

Thomas, an ordained priest in the Episcopal church of South Sudan in the Diocese of Wau, serves as a Five Talents Fellow in Lietnhom. During 2008, he learned how to replicate the community bank model used in Lietnhom in order to start community banks in other parts of the Diocese of Wau.

Time for me to get some sleep. Looks like I might get about 6 hours before my alarm goes off...

Cheers!

Kelli