June 28th will be my last day with World Renew. I will be moving on to World Vision to be the next National Director for Pakistan. Me and my family are very grateful for our time in Kenya and want to thank all of you who have been following our Kenya story since we arrived 5 years ago.
I will be moving on to World Vision to be the next National Director for Pakistan. My family and I are very grateful for our time in Kenya and want to thank all of you who have been following our Kenya story since we arrived 5 years ago. Coming after Kenya's 07/08 post-election violence, many people understandably were concerned about our decision to work for World Renew in Kenya. However, I learned a long time ago that vulnerable communities in crisis are more than what they are reported to be.
In my time in Kenya, I have come to recognize a number of essential ingredients for facilitating deep lasting change.
- Deep lasting change can never be brought about by select leaders working on their own. Such change always requires broad based local participation to widen the wisdom available to understand the underlying issues, identify powerful solutions, and make doable plans with firm buy in.
- Deep lasting change requires a willingness to leverage and risk one's one resources. Communities that effectively engage and leverage their own resources are far more likely to sustain their efforts long after the donor has gone.
- A friend of mine recently shared with me that deep lasting change is energized by hope. I've seen the truth of the that. Where people have Spirit infused hope that despite the hardness of their situation God will see them through, they are able to persevere
- Deep lasting change requires courage to engage disagreement rather than avoid it. Unresolved disagreement builds energy over time and makes it more difficult to facilitate change. Differences dealt with early reduces resistance with much less cost. Some of the best insight for creating lasting deep change comes from such courageous conversations.
- Deep lasting change requires engagement beyond one's borders. We often focus our efforts within the familiarity of our own community and are unaware of the ripple effect of events elsewhere. In the community market project along the Pokot/Turkana border local chiefs trained by Word Renew realized that they had to sensitize communities in the interior because that is where cattle raids were being organized from.
There are other ingredients for deep lasting change but these five stand out for me.
Prayer:
- As I prepare for the next chapter in God's call on my life, pray for World Renew as it discerns the gifts and qualities needed in their next Country team leader for Kenya.
- Also pray for me and my family as we transition to new opportunities.
In Him,
Fred Witteveen
Country Consultant
World Renew Kenya