My
goodness, it has been far too long since I posted a blog!! I felt that
returning to Kenya necessitated the resurrection of my Africa blog. So a little about what is going on… As many
of you know, after I returned from being a missionary in Africa in 2010, I
enrolled at Denver Seminary to receive my MA in Mental and Clinical Health
Counseling. I just completed my second
year and will begin my internship next fall at Colorado Christian University,
hopefully graduating in May 2014. I
absolutely love what I am doing and am so thankful for the ways God moved in my
life to lead me to this place. God has
done so much in the few years that I have been back from Africa, but leading me
into this place and allowing me to follow my calling and dream is one of the
most profound things he is doing. My
call to counseling was sparked on the mission field in Kenya and the ones I
served and worked alongside have stayed deeply on my heart ever since. I’ve prayed for the opportunity to return to
Kenya and Uganda, and at last, God has opened a door (flung open a door is more
like it!) One of my passions is counseling
missionaries and counseling as a missionary. I am the (newly appointed) vice president of the Counseling as Mission
student organization at Denver Seminary and have been able to co-develop an
exciting mission opportunity for our organization. After many prayers, planning, networking,
developing, and more prayers, I will be traveling with a group of five
counseling students to Nairobi, Kenya and Kaliro, Uganda this June. That’s
right, I’m going back!!!
The focus of this trip is to prepare
us to become more competent cross-cultural counselors, to train lay-counselors,
and to serve missionaries through counseling. We have the opportunity to work at Oasis Africa, a counseling center and
training institute, which was founded by Gladys Mwiti. Gladys Mwiti is the head of trauma counseling
in Kenya, as well as other countries. She literally wrote the book on trauma
counseling and led the charge following the Rwandan genocides. We will be sitting in on classes, counseling
at the center, and interviewing Gladys on trauma counseling. She is the pinnacle of cross-cultural
counseling and I am humbled to learn from her. We will also visit Daystar University to sit in on some classes and be
guest lecturers in others. AEF
Children’s Ministry has invited us to shadow their counselors and help counsel
for a few days. They focus on HIV
counseling and work with children with AIDS and AIDS orphans. We will also be
partnering with Amani Counseling Center to shadow their counselors and work
alongside them to learn to counsel Nationals more effectively and
ethically. Our last location in Kenya is
Tumanini Missionary Counseling Center where we will become better trained in
member care and missionary counseling needs and concerns. Finally, we will head across the border to
Uganda to work with Come, Let’s Dance mission organization in Kaliro. We will do assessments on their missionaries
and do brief counseling with their staff. We will be training school counselors and lay-counselors as well as
working in the Katanga Slums with widows.
During our time in Kenya, I am
praying to have the chance to connect with some of my dear friends who I haven’t
seen since leaving in 2010. This would
bless my soul so fully and would be an added bonus to our mission. I don’t know if or how that would work since
we are primarily in Nairobi, which is roughly 6 hours from Mbita, but I am
faithfully praying and know if it is God’s will, a door will open.
We have so many exciting things ahead
and I am amazed at what God has laid in front of us and how he is already
working through this trip. The
opportunity to return to Kenya and Uganda, to learn from the authorities in
cross cultural and trauma counseling in Kenya, and to serve missionaries as
well as nationals through counseling is indescribable. It is something I dreamed of and prayed for,
but never expected to come to fruition. God is so good in his plan and
providence! We will be departing May 30th
and will return on the July 2nd.
Please
be praying for our team. As you know,
this trip wouldn’t be possibly without the love, prayers, and support that you
give. Therefore, as God is preparing my heart, mind, and spirit to be a part of
this wonderful team and to serve and be served in Kenya and Uganda, I humbly
ask for your prayers. This trip will
undoubtedly be a challenge as well as a blessing and an opportunity to grow as
a counselor. Please pray that we are
able to be completely humble before the Lord and give this trip to Him. It would be so easy to take it all into our
own hands and try to control every detail, but that is far from the will of
God. Also, please keep our team in your
prayers. For some, this is their first
overseas experience. Pray for their hearts
to be open to the will of God and to the Spirit’s moving. All counseling
requires openness to the Spirit’s call and guidance, and this is no different. Finally,
I am taking an online Theology class from Kenya, so please pray that the
internet situation is able to support me. Thank you for your prayers now and throughout the trip itself.
Also, if you are interested in
supporting our team financially, that would be an enormous blessing! In order to make this trip possible, each
member must raise $2,800 for food, supplies, airfare, transportation, housing,
and wages for the Kenyans who will be translating for us. Every donation is, as always, tax deductible! We are working through Care and Counsel
International, a 501©(3) tax exempt organization. If God is leading you to
support us in this way, you can make online donations by following this link: http://careandcounselasmission.org/ccm/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70&Itemid=72&lang=en. Just fill out the information and click “Review
Donation and Continue.” On the review
page, there is an option to “Add Special Instructions to Seller.” In this section, please note that the
donation is for Kathleen Blakeney from Denver Seminary. This is very important; otherwise it will
just be an anonymous donation to CCI and not to the mission trip.
If
you would rather send a check, please make your gift payable to Care
and Counsel International and send it to the following address:
Dr. Brad Smith
Care and Counsel International
156 High Street
Reading, MA 01867
Please
DO NOT include my name on the check. Add a note with the check that it is for Kathleen Blakeney with Denver
Seminary. CCI will send you a charitable
donation receipt and the funds will go into my trip account. While I leave
soon, donations can come in throughout the summer, so you have not missed the
opportunity to donate after I have left for Africa.
I want to thank you from the bottom
of my heart for your continued love, support, guidance and prayers over the
years. Having a community of friends and
family who have walked this journey with me and continue to support me makes
such a difference. God has shown Himself
to me over and over through the generosity, selflessness and love of others. I
will update again once we arrive in Kenya and throughout the trip. Also, if you
would like to learn more about Care and
Counseling International, visit their website at www.careandcounselasmission.org.
Kenya!
