AfriCom at UniQuip

This week AfriCom has been participating in a UniQuip event being held at the Muizenberg training center. UniQuip is a University of the Nations initiative to help develop YWAM staff around the world by offering a series of training modules as well as corporate teaching times. At the event this week, hosted by Maureen Mernard, we have trainers from the International DTS Center and other experienced teachers offering modules in subjects ranging from public speaking to running a successful outreach.

Events such as these are great opportunities for a Com Team such as ourselves to network with others to help strengthen YWAM staff. Large gatherings are also an ideal environment to catch up on stories coming from the various ministries represented. This week Miranda is helping to run a module on Marriage, Family & Ministry - a look at how to balance the needs and demands of parenting and marriage within a ministry context. The group is a wonderful mix of African, Asian and Western staff members and leaders, which has led to colourful discussions about how we see the roles of men and women when it comes to family commitments. By the end of the week we hope to walk away with some deliberate changes in mind to help both men and women function in more of the fulness of what God has called them to as individuals and as a family team (well, that's the plan!).

And while we are energized by these meaningful and important discussions, Martial is in Kigali, Rwanda, teaching on the School of Communication Foundations. He's having a great time with the small group of 7 students. We are excited about this partnership with YWAM Burtigny, a base well known for their communication training, and with YWAM Kigali, a strategic center in East Africa.

Southern Africa Conference

At the end of September 220 YWAMers from over 20 bases or ministries gathered together to attend the YWAM Southern Africa mainland conference. These meetings are geared to strengthen, encourage and motivate through teaching, worship and fellowship.
Evelien attended the conference on behalf of AfriCom and found that her conference experience gave her a great opportunity to meet with God, and with other people. The bases and ministries represented all gave presentations that together created a wonderful picture of what is going on in the mainland region of YWAM Southern Africa. There is a wide variety of ministries spread throughout South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana, all with great stories to tell ... so keep reading the blog for more! The venue at the Kruger Park base was beautiful, peaceful and close to nature.

Sarah Lanier was the guest speaker for the week. Sarah is the author of "Foreign to Familiar", a book which focuses on intercultural communication; her teachings were extracted from both the pages of her book and personal experiences.

Staff members who attended the conference each took something home with them - a story from another location that inspired, encouraged and motivated; a teaching that brought clarity on working cross culturally; or a reminder to stop and evaluate one’s ministry. We hope they also took home a sense of excitement about the upcoming School of Field Journalism and Communication Consultation (CRIT) … and that, when back in their respective locations, they look at their pretty promotional postcards, are reminded of Evelien’s presentation and seriously consider joining us for one of these great opportunities!

Making Connections

Working as a Com Team is all about building connections. Last week Pamela was once again out 'on location' at a church missions fair where, together with staff members from the Muizenberg base, she promoted the work of YWAM in Africa. She took the opportunity to use the promotional materials published by the International Communication Network based in Colorado Springs, USA, showing short videos and giving out many brochures. This gave her the chance to chat with many of the interesed people, to answer their questions and to seek to connect them with our work around the continent.

This week Evelien is the one out of the office. She has joined about 200 staff from YWAM South Africa at their staff conference, being held close to Kruger Park (they are camping so we hope they are safe from the lions!). Evelien will be promoting the School of Field Journalism and the CRIT consultation next year. Since we are hoping to see a regional Com Team emerge for southern Africa in the near future, both of these will be strategic opportunities for potential communicators from this region ... so we hope that Evelien gets the message through, above the roars of the animals at Kruger!

Photographic Fundraising

It makes sense to use the skills we have to raise finances and Martial has been taking this seriously. Over the last weeks he and his wife Lea have been working hard to prepare for a photographic exhibition. In fact most of the team have been involved: Tim made frames, Pam helped to set up the venue, Evelien served drinks at the opening night and Miranda acted as the MC. Held at a local coffee shop, Martial has framed several of his best shots taken in various locations around the world over the past half dozen years. Lea also created postcards and greeting cards of the prints for sale.

The opening night was a great success, with many visitors gathering at the coffee shop for a drink and to peruse the photos. Mounted with short descriptions of the story behind the shot, guests also enjoyed hearing from Martial as he described the context of some of the photographs. The exhibition runs for the next week and we are looking forward to hearing that many sales have been made: well done Martial!

Provision for Teaching Trips

Over the last weeks we have been looking ahead towards a couple of trips and praying like crazy that financial provision would miraculously arrive. One of the great privileges of being a Com Team is the opportunity we have to connect with YWAM teams around our region of the world and wherever possible to visit them to offer teaching, to research stories, to shoot video clips or to support them in other 'communication-related' ways.

In October Martial has been invited to teach for a week on the School of Communication Foundations being run in Kigali, Rwanda. This is a key opportunity for us to partner with others working in communication training and this school is the result of a special link between the team in Burtigny, Switzerland, and the team in Kigali. It is a wonderful opportunity for Martial to build connections in YWAM East Africa where we will be holding the Field Assignment phase of our School of Field Journalism.

In December Evelien and Miranda will be traveling to Lichinga, Mozambique where they will be teaching for one week on the Foundational Leadership School on communication and administration.

It really is a challenge to finance trips such as these, much as we love to visit the bases. We do have a few supporters who are committed to sending donations to AfriCom and these monies usually cover our monthly overheads such as rent and electricity. Traveling around Africa is expensive - especially in places like Mozambique where flights inside the country are not open to much competition - and most often we fund these flights through our personal support. This is not ideal and we would prefer to build up our level of regular financial support so that we can more easily budget for these expenses. YWAM Com Teams are not centrally funded and each is responsible for generating finances for their work.

Anyway, having worried, prayed, trusted and prayed some more we felt led to send a gift to another YWAMer just getting started in communication ministry. We knew the principle of generosity should be at the centre of our journey of trust for our own finances, not as a formula but to demonstrate a heart attitude. Shortly after we did this we received two large donations that have together provided for the upcoming trips: hooray! Tbis is wonderful news: celebrate with us!

Minding the technological Gap

Yesterday I received the email pasted below. It is from a YWAM staff member working on the Buvuma Islands of Lake Victoria in Uganda, East Africa. She is writing about the move to change YWAM's international magazine from a print edition to an e-zine. I post this here because Catherine sums up one of the reasons why we need Communication Teams in places like Africa:

"Thank you for all your hard work on the new YWAM E-Zine magazine. I know it has taken tremendous effort. I therefore offer my contribution with extreme care because I don't want to discourage you. But the truth is you are not reaching as many people as you think. I know for a fact that most of the staff of YWAM Uganda do not have Internet access and the speed of our connection certainly does not allow us to view your magazine. So we are all out of the picture, again! We had an HIV & AIDS global gathering in 2006 but the only way to attend was to apply on-line. Very few of the staff had registered so finally a lady from UK who is on staff printed out a bunch of application forms and gave them to people. After they filled them out she just gave the whole lot to the organizers in person. And the whole idea of doing Go Manual surveys on the Internet is a constant source of frustration to us.

There are also many YWAM locations that do not have electricity. For instance we live on a remote island on Lake Victoria in Uganda. It has been a month since I was able to do emails and it requires a trip to stay overnight (and I have three small children).

I appreciate that Lyn Green wants to focus on healing the nervous system of YWAM. That is really needed. However, I don't feel the Internet is the best route for the majority of the YWAM staff in the field. I know printed media is expensive but it was the best way to make sure all the staff read the YWAMer magazine here. The National Office just left copies in the waiting area of the office and people read them. Now hardly anyone can read the computerized one."

In our capacity as bridge-builders we have to face issues such as these ... to find funds to print a magazine and post it to YWAMers in Africa; to phone people and fill in their YWAM surveys for them; to tell YWAM around the world the challenges staff deal with on a daily basis, as well as their triumphs and success stories. What a privilege to do this for people like Catherine!

College of Communication gathering

Last week we were able to participate in the meetings of the College of Communication, one of the faculties of YWAM's University of the Nations. The meetings were hosted in Kona, Hawaii, at the main U of N campus, and with the help of video conferencing 11 other locations were able to take part.

We were included in these meetings by virtue of the fact that we are now not only a YWAM Communication Team but also U of N school leaders. We felt very much like the new kids on the block, given that we have yet to actually graduate any students, but this gathering was the ideal opportunity for us to be introduced to some of the movers and shakers in the College of Communication.

There are YWAM communication schools running all around the world, in locations as far apart as Australia and Sweden, Hawaii and South Korea, Nigeria and India. In these U of N accredited schools, both small and large, students can train in general subjects such as Communication Foundations, or specialised subjects such as Digital Film-Making. We are proud to add Field Journalism to that list!

The gathering will become an annual affair as the college leadership team seek to bring greater connection to the different expressions of the college around the world. If this sounds familiar that's because it's yet another response to God's word to us as a mission to work towards greater health throughout our organisational body by promoting better communication.

And that, dear readers, is why we are here!