The Girl Effect
Read our latest newsletter about how changing a girl’s life can change the world.
Missions
What Love Looks Like
So the rain pours sweet and cold. Washes away the dusty road grime. Cleans us. Fresh, like His love. I’m driving home after a long, sweaty day. I hold the tears back. 7 hours at the hospital. No food. No water. Only to find out another one. Another one has HIV. And she’s pregnant. Alone
When We Touch Glory
Ā We sidestep trash and puddle-filled stench. We move through the narrow corridor of buildings in the slum. And there in the midst of it all, we find glory. In the small, dark room we huddle. Ā We’ve come to love. To stay. In solidarity. When Niclete starts to sing, tremorous and brave, the women start
How to Build Community
Ā When the baby stops breathing I feel the stone harden heavy in my chest. I am not there, but on the phone I expel quick words and urgent instructions. I feel the fear clutch. Not again. A thousand unanswered questions. A hundred expectant dreams. Not yet fulfilled. But I dream still. I say the
When There is Only Thank You
Ā Many of you know the struggles we’ve faced the last few months and so many of you have stood with us in prayer. Today I felt like the hand of God reached down from Heaven and answered many tear-soaked prayers. So I just want to say thank you. To God. And to you: I
How to Die
Ā There is the old saying, āBe careful what you wish for,ā but I think it’s more fitting to say, āBe careful what you pray for.ā I’m sitting in my little prayer room which is sparse except for a yoga mat, a map of Uganda, a camping chair, a concrete floor strewn with tissues. But
How to Believe for Redemption
Ā I see you. God says, as my heart breaks. I know. He says, as I turn into the covers to cry. If you ask Him for compassion, if you ask Him, to help you love. He will blow your heart wide open. Love, such a beautiful thing. But it hurts too. Last week, my
Why Not To Start an NGO in Uganda
Many times when people come to visit Zion Project in Uganda, they often ask me, how did you manage to get this thing started? Well, the short answer is, Non-Profits for Dummies and lots of late nights and frappuccino’s. But nothing, nothing prepared me for the challenge of doing the whole process all over again
How Volunteer Tourism Ruins Africa
It’s funny that I used to think Gulu was my dream. Was really living life on the edge. I used to think it was pretty adventurous that I learned how to drive a Toyoto truck on a road full of long-horned cattle and never killed a pedestrian. Today I saw a mzungu girl (āwhitieā) driving
When We Need to Focus
From the very first time I came to Uganda and God spoke to me about beginning Zion Project, He told me that what we would bring would be different, because what we would bring would be healing of the heart so that people could feel His presence and know His love deeply. After three full
Love is a Battlefield
I’m honored to say, InCourage blog for womenĀ recently featured this blog post: I know how Godās heart breaks now. I know the fault lines and the wrinkled scars, I know where the flesh is still tender. I know the jagged points, and the parts that wear a weary smile. And the parts that are blackened
How to be Made Silver
I don’t mind the storms in Africa. The thunder thick clouds, the wind-whip and the rumble. A split spark of lightening in the blue-bruised sky. The ferocious thrashing of rain in sheets. The way it washes the dirt clean. The way the rainy season makes the world reborn. And the calm green after. But I