Rounding out the year

I can't believe its already the end of 2007, the year feels like it's flown!

I just want to say a big thank you to all of you for being there for me and interested enough to keep up with stuff I get up to. Looking forward to sharing a lot more with you!

I wish each of you a wonderful Christmas and a fulfilling 2008. Celebrate the reason for the season.

http://www.munkyourself.com/us/?key=a9b5efa8cf0c00bc1bea6efe4

God bless!
'Teju

Cute Babies and Praying dogs

On Monday night, each travelling consultant was to spend sometime with their local counterparts and their families. My co-consultant, Francis, took me to meet his family. I met his 2 sons and daughter and was treated to a lovely home cooked meal; daal, fried fish, curry chicken,rossum ( white rice with pepper water) and all kinds of goodies. During the meal, we were waited on hand and foot by his wife, who according to tradition demonstrates hospitality by doing this and waiting until the guest is done eating before she eats. I was struck by how much effort she had gone to just to make me feel welcome and made a mental note to self to double check that I also make sure that people feel welcomed in my presence.

The highlight of the evening came when after dinner, their huge black lab, Rambo, was allowed to join everyone and came in wagging his extremely strong tail very vigorously; I know because I got a few good whacks from his tail! Anyway, it was time to leave and we decided to say a blessing over each other and to my surprise Rambo quieted down, went behind the sofa and stood stock still. Apparently he understands the importance of the family blessing time and does that every single time they pray! Almost like clockwork, once prayer was over, he came out to socialize again. It was the funniest thing to watch.

My client also runs a home for abandoned babies and I met the three kids they currently have in their care. Looking at them I wondered how anyone could close themselves off from such vibrant lives! Apparently in some villages here, there are still a lot of beliefs practiced that either attach negativity to a girl child, or prevalent ignorance that allows a village witch doctor to convince a child’s family that he will bring bad luck to the family and therefore should be killed at birth! Thank God for people who can rescue these kids and give them a life! Looking at their little faces, I can’t help rooting for them and praying that they have a long and fulfilling life.

First week in India

As we start the second week of the venture I am amazed at how time has flown! It feels like the consultants have all barely had a chance to catch their breath and its time to dig back in.
The week was great! It was exciting getting to know our clients and their businesses meet their families and see how the Indians intertwine work and family. In quite a few cases, the businesses are family owned and run by the husband and wife. Some of them have amazing testimonies of what they’ve experienced in their businesses and could probably write best selling biographies of their businesses.

My client on this trip is Sitara music. Sitara music is holds sole publishing rights for EMI music in India. It is one of the family owned businesses mentioned earlier and has done quite well since it was started 12 years ago. The business model is an embodiment of the principles taught by rēp, the organization I am here in India with. There is a strong focus on empowering people to get out of poverty and one way they do this is by employing people who could otherwise not change their lot in life; 8 of their 15 employees are from various slums in India and just love what they do.

The other consultants have equally amazing clients and a common theme on this trip is actually how well integrated most of the businesses already were with their life focus. I think this venture will end up being an adrenaline shot for most of them to excel in what they were already doing great at. I can’t wait to hear and share some of the great stories I know will come out of this time.

India has met and exceeded my expectations in so many ways. It is just as I dreamt up in terms of hustle and bustle, the people and their genuine warmth, and the cacophony of everyday life here; auto-rickshaws, bicycles and motorcycles all vying for their place on the road alongside regular cars, overstuffed buses and an unbelievable mass of pedestrians, the incessant honking which is not a sign of aggression but more of an acknowledgement of the other users of the road, the noise and smells from the street vendors peddling a wider variety of sweets, foods and snacks than I have even seen in my life!, and the variety in people and languages that all somehow are related. What a thrill ride!

Enroute to Chennai

As I wander around the ghostly edifice that is the Changi airport at 12am local time, I am attentive to things that are not commonplace for me.
I learnt a new word today... "travellator" It caught me by surprise for a second till i realized it referred to the moving walkway!

Airport workers are putting up Christmas decorations, people milling from one terminal to the other, strangers having conversations; I am fascinated by humanity and how we can all appear so different yet are the same even if we use different words for the same thing.
Call me mushy in my old age, but I just don't see why there is so much strife in the world. I do believe that with just a little bit of an explanation/dialogue, people can get to understand each other and avoid all that mess . <>

This is my first time in Asia so I am doubly excited that I get to experience something new in addition to working with Rep on the India venture that starts on Monday. I can't wait to see if my imagination did an adequate job of creating Chennai in my head, meet all the co-consultants from the other parts of the world that I have not met yet, and see who my client is this time.

I eagerly anticipate all that I know God will do in their business and lives and being able to partner in that and I look forward to a day when you will be able to be on a venture physically with me!!

With less than 4 weeks to go

I have seriously been thinking about my motivation for the things I do and my growing interest and passion for societal transformation; seeing an end to injustice, poverty and exploitation of humankind.

Yes I am a Christian and do take to heart the mandate to be my "brother's keeper" but for me it goes beyond even that. I am not an advocate of communal poverty because I believe that one has to have something in order to be able to give it. At the same time, I don't think that one can only give from an excess because that introduces too much relativity in this individualistic world we live in.

For me it boils down to compassion; how can I be content when I have a standard of living that at least 60% of the world only dreams about yet there is no reason for things to be that way?

People have been conditioned to think that they can only succeed or get ahead if somebody else doesn't. Western thought around performance and measurement would seem to support this notion with performance bell curves and the limitations as well as grading systems in schools and colleges but this is simply not true.

I strongly believe that "there is enough pie for everyone" and judging from conversations with various people lately, a lot more people are coming alive to that concept as well. We live in an age of such innovation and speedy progress that while natural resources are still limited, mankind is increasingly coming up with different ways of not only harnessing those resources, but also making better use of what we already have with an increasing awareness of our responsibility to one another and the earth we live in.

I know I am but one piece in the puzzle and that there are a lot of other people doing their part to address these issues. My group of the day is ONE.org who are supporting an initiative for debt cancellation in some of the most impoverished nations in the world by doing their piece in the US and asking congress for an intervention. See http://www.one.org/blog/

People who are poor are NOT stupid but find themselves in a situation that is sometimes beyond their control, yet they make the best of it and carry on daily with much less than it costs most of us to eat a meal!

I know my efforts are small compared to the problem aat hand, but am encouraged to know that there are so many people and organizations tackling societal transformation in their own way ( clinton foundation, save a tree, local NGOs, save darfur )

Thank you so much for your support for my upcoming trip to India. For all of you that have already given so much of your time, effort, finances and support; my unending gratitiude.

To everyone that has indicated they would like to help, but haven't been able to do so just yet, the time getting shorter by the day, I leave for India on November 9th and need your committed support to make it happen.

Thanks again to you all.

Passage to India

Proverbs 16:9
A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.
or as I like to say
"Man proposes but God disposes" - Thomas A. Kempis

I had planned to go on all the fall ventures with rēp this year, but that will not be the case.
I recently started a new job back in the software industry though in a completely different role than before and therefore have more limited flexible time.

All is not lost though, I will be off to India in November and will still need assistance with getting there and going through the venture ( Nov 12th - 23rd)

I have had a wonderful 6 months experiencing being free-falling in Christ;
- trying to hone my life vision,
- figuring out what to do to make it happen
- and what my next steps are... ( still need more work :))

I actually experienced a lot of the clichéd saying I used to mouth off such as "a friend in need is a friend indeed", learnt a lot about myself and the people around me. I hope I am a better person for the time of reflection and am committed to taking that with me as a part of who I am now so I can continue to grow.

In the short term, I am excited that I get to go to India this fall on another venture and can't wait to meet all the local consultants and the new clients and see what God is going to do with them in the condensed time.
At the same time I get to experience a new job, meet new people locally and see what God is going to do there too; a double whammy :)

HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE:
Prayer:
I need a team of at least 10 people to sign up and agree to pray with/for me regularly through the venture.
- Wisdom as I participate in consulting with clients on issues that have far-reaching implications for the success of their families, lives, and businesses
- Protection while travelling to and during the ventures
- Physical, mental and emotional strength and stamina

Air mileage donations:
I am looking to cover airfare to India and will fly on any airline I get enough mileage on. Please email me back if this is how you wish to help.

Finances:
All donations of cash, company stock and checks are 100% tax deductible. Please see below for how to make a donation in any of these formats as well as Paypal.

Cupcakes:
Order Organic cupcakes ( lowfat options available). The proceeds will go towards my trip in addition to you having a happy tummy :) Shipping costs additional.

Thank you always for your support and just for being there.

Finding life, Following Passion

Assistance needed; Please see bottom of the page for options.

My heart has been stolen by the beauty of the work that I have seen God do on the previous ventures I have been on and the only way I forsee retrieving it is to go back again to make sure that none of its pieces are left behind there :)

On a more serious note, I am truly experiencing deep internal conflict as I contemplate a fall season without a rēp venture in it.

Being currently "officially" unemployed and having tried to find challenging work to no avail so far makes this season one in which I particularly have to lean on faith as an anchor. My decision to explore ventures as an option this fall was a particularly difficult one. Part of my reasoning was that I must be on this hiatus right now for a particular reason and if that is the case, I want to take full advantage of the time I have right now.

This fall, I will be part of rēp teams from the U.S.A. that will go to Cape Town/Gauteng, South Africa, Israel, Jakarta/Indonesia, Chennai/India for about 2 weeks each to partner with local business professionals in a transformational venture. Working with believers in Cape Town/Gauteng, South Africa, Israel, Jakarta/ Indonesia, Chennai/India, we will help re-purpose companies to align them with God’s agenda of transforming the societies.

This has truly become a driving force for me because It is something I am extremely passionate about. I have already invested 100+ hours into my own training and am now assisting in training other consultants and in recruiting people with a similar heart focus to participate in ventures where they are sorely needed. I have and am continuing to develop a deeper understanding of subjects such as business as a calling, the reasons why business is ministry, the interplay between vocational training and ministry gifts, the eternal principles for every aspect of business, cross-cultural missions, and trends in church planting.

My responsibilities in Cape Town/Gauteng, South Africa, Israel, Jakarta/Indonesia, Chennai/India will include:

· Sourcing for and establishing relationships with potential clients and consultants in Israel
· Filling Ops manager role in Indonesia and ensuring that clients and consultants experience a smooth venture
· Daily consultations with a South African/Indonesian/Indian company on how to be re-purposed
· Developing a Kingdom scorecard for my client that includes what is good for their business today while also producing eternal results
· Facilitating collaboration among different churches and ministries and businesses
. Participation at times in various prayer & evangelism events.

This is where I need your help. I anticipate that I will be gone for a good part of september, all of October and a large part of November.

In order to do this successfully, I need,

1) Prayer:

I need a team of at least 10 people to sign up and agree to pray with/for me regularly through this season on

- Guidance and continued clarity hearing from God

- Wisdom as I participate in consulting with clients on issues that have far-reaching implications for the success of their families, lives, and businesses

- Protection while travelling to and during the ventures

- Physical, mental and emotional strength and stamina

2) Resources:

a) Finances:

Since this is a fully voluntary role, I need to raise about $4000 - $5000 a month to cover basic bills and obligations. To help, please see the footer below or visit http://www.repurposing.biz/contribute/

Your contributions are 100% tax deductible

b) Airline fares/Mileage

Going places needing mileage. One way you can help is to also donate airline miles. If you choose to do this, please email me back so I can provide account information for

American Airlines

United Airlines

Northwest Airlines

Continental Airlines

Virgin Atlantic Airlines

Delta Airlines

Or let me know if there is another airline that can be used.

c) Work:

I am currently available for short term projects and can provide

Innovative ideas and strategies on social justice issues and transformation

Project Management expertise

Customer relationship strategy & expertise

Marketing strategies

Enterprise Infrastructure Architecture and Technical expertise

I am also open to discussing other available options and can also provide image consulting ( corporate & Personal) and copywriting/editing services

d) Cupcakes:

Yes, you read right... I currently make organic cupcakes that come with a low-fat option. You are always guaranteed at least a baker's dozen ( 13 instead of 12) and excellent service.

Shipping within the united states is available for an additional $25 and will arrive within 3 days of order. Email me to order or see http://trinitycupcakes.blogspot.com/

Flavors include:

Mojito

Chocolate Dream

Coconut/Lime Verbana

Vanilla

e.t.c.

I truly appreciate your support and thank you in advance. Please share with people who might support a similar vision. May you continue to be blessed

Restitution and Forgiveness in South Africa

On my last trip in Cape Town, I had the priviledge of meeting with Charles Robertson, a local author and white South African, who is one of the people at the forefront of the restitution movement and had written a book basically giving guidelines on what can be done to ensure that restitution happens and is effective.

The complicated nature of race relations struck me again from our discussions then and from being in Johannesburg on this trip. Every other black South African I met tried to speak to me in their native tongue though I dont look like a South African and given that there are several black South African languages... but I digress.

First off, being a black African whose family has never been indoctrinated into slavery gives me and those like me a very different perspective. I know who I am and where I am from, to at least the fourth generation before me, and am very grounded in that understanding and who I represent.
However, because of the nature of race relations and world history of general subjugation of black African races, when "the world" in general sees me, I am seen first as a black woman and thus stereotyped without any basis in who I really am. The surprise then comes when I not only speak intelligently about whatever the topic of the day is but also express my very valid opinions and perspectives. Even then, acceptance is not always guaranteed and an education process often has to take place.

It is not enough for people who have been oppressed to be set free and be remunerated physically for offenses committed against them; they also need to be taught what it means, looks like, tastes like and feels like to be free and it is partly the responsibility of those who have committed the oppression and are making amends to impart the undertsanding along with the physical remuneration.

Furthermore, in the case of South Africa, almost all the races that exist on the land today have oppressed another race at some point in time; the English oppressed Afrikaaners, Afrikaaners the blacks, the blacks the bushmen who originally owned the land and are by and large still forgotten today.
In My Humble Opinion, until all the races in South Africa come together and truly repent and forgive for the crimes committed against each other, the land will not be truly healed and will continue to bear the weight and express it in the heaviness that is still spiritually prevalent today. One can almost still hear the voices of all that have passed in the air while walking down the streets.
Forgiveness is where true repentance and freedom lies; freedom for those that have oppressed and been oppressed. Anything else is just keeping the lid on things until the "stuff" bag is so full it explodes again.

May South Africa truly be free from the ramifications of its past; not to forget, but to promote awareness so that the same crimes are not repeated again.

Back to "normal life" ...whatever that means!

Pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/33317873@N00/sets/72157600687068077/ & http://www.flickr.com/photos/33317873@N00/sets/72157600687606202/

I am finally back from my recent trips. Wrap up was a blast!!! By the last day of the venture in Johannesburg, the entire team was completely exhausted and going on nothing else but adrenalin from all the miracles witnessed!

There were friendships restored, millions of Rand owed were paid out, lives were re-dedicated and committed to Christ, emotional wounds healed, lives repurposed and redirected... talk about an abundance and outpouring... it got to a point where we were all just in a stupor from watching what had happened over the course of a week and a half. You just KNEW it was nothing we all did physically but the power of God.
Anybody need someone to testify? Call me!!

I stopped over to see some family on the way back and had a fun though exhausting time. Family always helps ground me and refresh my perspective apart from reminding me of who I am :)

It is always hard to transition back into "normal routine" after a venture and this time is particularly hard for me.
I've got the itch and cant wait to go back either out on a venture, or just to work abroad. Mingling with different races and classes of people always gives me a buzz and opens my mind just that much further into human dynamics. It is my strong opinion that every single person should leave home at least once in a life time to go somewhere far away to experience a culture other than theirs and gain an appreciation for different perspectives that can peacefully co-exist. I am eternally grateful for the exposure I've had and how it builds tolerance and understanding even if not acceptance.

I am now job hunting for a role that will take advantage of all that I have learnt and benefit the company I work for and society as a whole at the same time... wish me the best =)

Walking in Soweto

Hector Pietersen museum; shanty town

On Sunday our group went to Soweto. It is always inspiring for me to walk on streets where history was made.

We stopped at the Hector Pietersen memorial museum established in honor of all the students that died in the 1976 Soweto uprising and the events that followed soon after. Henry Pietersen was the first student that was shot and killed by the police on June 16, 1976 which is why the place is named after him.

The movie Sarafina is loosely based on the events of that day. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarafina

Anyone who claims to fully understand this complex nation is truly a genius in my opinion. It is hard for me to make sense of the relationships between all the races and the apparent mistakes ( at least to me in my ignorance) that the government of the day is still making.

I am still trying to understand the love/hate relationship between the different black races, the Afrikaaners who are viewed as the former perpetrators of apartheid but who were themselves opposed by the English who were attracted to the vast natural/mineral resources of the land and wanted some of the wealth for themselves and the Indians and "colored" ( yes that is a politically correct term in South Africa) who came due to trade and slavery.

Whew! That was a mouthful and by no means comes close to capturing the truth of the complexity that is South Africa.

Gogo and her adopted granson Phillip from buildafuture organization; Teju, Gogo and Jenna(in the ugly shirt)

We also visited a "shanty" town;Motsoaledi and met with Gogo; a local granny who has a soup kitchen that feeds about 100 children (a lot of whom are aids orphans) every saturday and provides a safe place for the children to play everyday. The organization we visited with, http://buildthefutureusa.com/, provides a means for the poorer people they work with to provide for themselves versus giving a donation that makes them dependent on others. They teach practical technical skills, provide access to micro-loans for small businesses and provide for basic nutritional needs such as providing seedlings for each home to grow a garden so they can have vegetables to supplement their maize based meals.

The levels of poverty are incomprehensible for most people in the world and truly beg to be seen for the scale and level to be fathomed but I was impressed by how clean everything was inspite of this.

Mighty Works

God is doing mighty works and it is evident in miracles that we are experiencing with our clients.

My clients Mwanzi have had two directors fighting each other over the past eight months to the point that there were court cases against each other. Obviously this had affected the company but more sadly their families as they used to be very close friends.

We met with the intercessors for prayer as a group on Tuesday and by 8am on Wednesday the two of them had decided to put the past behind them, reconcile and move on!

I asked each of them what had happened to prompt the decision now and was told that each had been unable to sleep the night before and had been bothered by the conviction that the issue needed to be resolved. They both attributed the change to the principles they were bring taught as an organization at our Rep(formerly known as equip) event and the prayer as a team the day before.

David's clients also experienced a financial miracle at the right time! They needed enough income to provide salaries for the team for April (especially with them being out of the office for almost two weeks!) and a client who had owed them money for a long time paid up this week!!

Please continue to pray that each client group experience breakthrough and reconciliation so necessary for them in order to bring transformation to their societies and spheres of Influence.

We serve a truly awesome God!!

Got Air?

What in the world!?

April 16th, what a sad day for Virginia Tech. It is sad that such occurences of violence are only getting more common and that we already have apathy towards such events.

The amazing thing is that I am in Gauteng, Johannesburg and I have already seen the story reported on the international news here. It is constantly refreshing to travel abroad and get news from an international perspective that is not always available in the US though in this case it is bad news.

My heart goes out to those families and all the students, but I cannot help but wonder about the many atrocities committed around the world that we never get to hear about.

:(

Jo'burg Spring '07

Its the end of day two of the venture in Jo'burg. Its been cool meeting all the new people; co-consultants and clients. There has been such a push for cohesion between the local and US based consulting teams and its great to see things already coming together and consultant pairs appear to have been divinely inspired :)

My co-consultant is Stephan who actually has a day job as a consultant :) and our clients are Mwanzi Support Services(Mwanzi is the highest point on Mt. Kilimanjaro). They primarily provide contract catering and cleaning services and fulfill every procurement service requirement in-between. Its been great to see the changes begin to happen in their thinking processes around their business and its reason for being and to actually have the entire team ( there are 6 directors) begin to come onboard with a form a single vision they can all subscribe to.

I'm excited to see what the outcome of the venture will be for Mwanzi and can't wait to follow up with them to hear about all the cool stuff God does in their business as a result of their being re-purposed.

Fruity Side Note

I recently talked to a couple of people who didnt know what the Cashew fruit looked like.. Here are a couple pictures.

Fresh Fruit~




A bowl of seeds waiting to be roasted... nuts are typically extracted from burnt shell.

Mango Tree...

Mangoes ripening on a tree

Continuing ed... compassion refresher

Talk about continuing education. This trip to Nigeria was a refresher on compassion.

The heat was almost unbearable and I am convinced it fried some of my brain cells because I could hardly think straight!

There was the usual lack of electricity and while the generator was working, most of the appliances at home were out of order because of the power outages and surges.

Windows have to be left wide open during the day and closing them too late meant that one had to bear mosquito bites in addition to the stifling heat at night... ( power outages sneak up on you in the middle of the night and the mosquitoes swoop in once there is no fan to blow them away... you had at least 5 bites before the generator was turned on)

There was also no airconditioning in the car and even driving down the street was a chore because of the number of people and cars on the road and a 10 minute drive was easily 30 because of that.

The hardest part for me was the realization that this was not the worst it could have been. I only had to look at most people on the streets to realize how truly blessed I was and am.
Talking to some of my peers about life in Nigeria in general revealed that the mentality is still to look out for number one with almost no regard for making things better for the masses as long as personal comfort is guaranteed.

If only half the people lived what the billboards say...

Along the way ...

I just got to Nigeria on my way to Johannesburg and boy was it necessary for me to have stopped over.
I am always amazed by the differences between the different african countries and the amazing variety of people that co-exist even in a single one.

Some parts of Nigeria are still quite infrastructurally backward while other parts seem to be moving along at a fast clip.
Arriving in Lagos with its smog, dirt, hustle and bustle, I am struck once again by the sheer number of people that call this city home and the levels of poverty that still exist despite the amazing intellectual capital that it owns.

I get home to hear my siblings talk about places like Tinapa, the first official business resort in Africa, in Cross River's state ( http://www.tinapa.com/) and the improvements that have been made at an old childhood family haunt; Obudu Cattle ranch (http://www.crossriverstate.com/obudu.htm) and Yankari Game reserve ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankari_National_Park ) and wonder why that level of effort and improvement does not carry across the entire nation in parallel.

I am tempted to despair at the sheer amount of effort needed to turn this nation around, but i remember the extreme sensitivity to God and am encouraged that some day soon people around here will learn to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit even more to get the entire nation on the right path.

I am consiously and unconsiously scoping out things that would need to be in place for an equip venture to happen here and looking forward to meeting up with other Nigerian Equip Alumi to strategize on how to make it happen.

On your marks, get set, GO! ... And she's off again!

So as some of you may already know, I am off on another missions trip this time to Johannesburg, South Africa.

This is my 3rd missions venture since November'06 and I am having a blast.
I was priviledged to be part of the pioneering venture in SF and it is definitely very different doing things in your own backyard... talk about distractions! But I digress...

I am definitely looking forward to going to Johannesburg on this trip and I get to stop over in Nigeria on my way which makes it doubly exciting!
I will be sending updates as the trip commences and will try not to add too much to the ever increasing flow of information you are bombarded with daily.

Later,
'Teju