Summertime! This may be different for everyone but usually, there are trips or vacations planned. Sometimes projects that have been put off that needs doing. There may be extra kids home from college. Hopefully, a few slow days to enjoy the summer heat.
What have we been up to this summer? So far we have been pretty busy. At the beginning of the summer in May, we held Kwibuka 25, the 25th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. You can read about it and see more pictures on our website https://diasporaoutreachco.wixsite.com/website.
The summertime our diaspora communities come out of the Chicago winter and summer Bar-B-Q s and parties began. We have already gone to several. We have had a few smaller parties and gatherings at our home with our friends from East Africa. We have also been visiting several Ethnic churches that are meeting in and around Chicagoland. Dave and I also were blessed to attend the Initiative Retreat in Green Lake, WI. The Initiative is a group of Christians from various backgrounds who covenant together to live in an intentional initiative, practicing deep and growing friendship with God and others, that the love of Jesus might exceed all divisions.
In addition to all of these activities, we have been busy trying to catch up on administration stuff and making a smooth transition with the East Africa Diaspora Community.
We have also enjoyed having some family time. It has been fun having both Ethan and Ruth home this summer. Caleb and Sarah live in the apt building next door so we have enjoyed weekly family dinners. Sophia and Penny have visited on week this summer already and we are looking forward to Matt, Sophia, and Penny coming in August. We enjoy our granddaughter so much. Penny just turned 1!
One of the things that happen with those of us that are relying on other’s gifts to sustain us and our ministries is what some call the Summer Giving Slump. This has been our experience for our whole missionary career. We call it skinny summer. Usually, we try and save up or do some extra pushes for giving in the spring to cover for the summer lol. This year as we have made the transition to Faith and Learning receiving our funding it, unfortunately, has happened during the summer. It was probably not the best time to make this transition but we did not have much choice in the timing of it all.
We first want to thank those who have made the transition and are now giving to East Africa Diaspora Community EADC our project with Faith and Learning https://faithandlearning.org/. We could not do this ministry without you, so thanks so much for your sacrificial giving!
There may be some of you that might want to partner with us but are still a bit confused as to what we are doing. We have spent 19 years of our lives overseas building relationships with East Africans, mainly in Uganda and Rwanda and now we are following those relationship lines to East Africans living in diaspora currently here in Chicagoland and beyond. Over the last 7 years that we have lived here, we have proactively built relationships with several community organizations of Ugandans, Tanzanians, Kenyans, Congolese, South Sudanese, Rwandans, and others from East Africa. We are promoting unity and encouraging these communities to collaborate together on common projects. We have also acted as pastors at large and have helped with funerals, weddings, and other individual counseling and mentoring. We also do a lot of our teaching online through FaceBook live and writings. We are in the process of putting some of these into a seminar format called Welcome to America: how to live well in Diaspora that we are planning on using in some different Diaspora communities across the U.S. and abroad.
If you would like to give; our project is found in the World Wide section https://faithandlearning.org/projects/ under East Africa Diaspora Community: Dave & Jana Jenkins. We have also created our own website at East African Diaspora Community website You can either go to our online giving page for EADC Giving Page, or donors can also mail checks made out to East Africa Diaspora Community to PO Box 480, Wheaton, IL 60187.
Currently, we are only about 19% funded so we have some additional support to discover. We would love for our current supports to introduce us to like-minded individuals and/or Churches.
But most importantly we would like for you to continue joining us with your prayers. We believe this is God’s work that he has called us too and believe that He will provide!
Blessings,
Jana and Dave
