Simba isn't here yet; he ran away because Scar told him he killed his father

There I go...I went and did it again and waited a week until I posted.

Sorry, to all you UBCers(if you guys are still reading this) this isn't the Simba Village update. I did go, it was amazing, i'll get pictures up when I can, but the internet has been terrible here, one whole service provider is completely out nationally, and times are just a bit crazy.

I interviewed some men and women with HIV today for 5 hours. I've written 15 pages of different stuff in the past 2 days. I'm a bit burned. I want the Simba Report to be as good as that other great Report, The Colbert Report.

Meanwhile, maybe you'll indulge in a little article i wrote about Edward's nephew.
Read as you please, and feel free to critique anything and everything. This I think may be published in the newsletter or on the website, so I’m sure it needs some work.
......

AIDS has brought great pain and great destruction to Africa. Even Pastor Edward Simiyu’s family hasn’t been spared. In 1994 Edward’s brother-in-law was added to the great number of lives taken from this great evil. Just two years later, the wife, Edward’s sister was also taken. This left Edward’s nephew, Collins Kitonga, as an orphan.
Its one thing to lose your family; it can seem as if your whole life has totally been stripped away. But there is in a fact a dimension of low even greater: being stripped of the life you lived and dreams that you had as a result of greed relatives. This is the story of Collins Kitonga.

Life was good for Collins and his family. His father was an architect, they had a nice home in Nairobi, and he and his siblings attended a good school. In 1994, everything changed. Collins father fell sick, and later passed away. They discovered it was HIV that took his life.
The family began the huge struggle of coping with such a tragedy, but things got even harder when the funds had just run too low and they had to move out of the city and into the country. The children had to give up great privilege and advantage of being in public school. They moved to upcountry to Bungoma. The hard times had only begun though. HIV wasn’t through reeking havoc with this family.
Shortly after Collins cleared secondary school (or high school), HIV took his mother. Total chaos and uncertainty was to follow for Collins and his siblings. They all split up, desperate to find a place to stay for the time being. Much of the family was anything but compassionate and hospitable to them. Many relatives took the land that the Kitonga kids should have inherited. The money that their parents had also disappeared from their inheritance. Not only did they have to cope with the fact that they had just lost their parents, and this was HIV that took them, but they also were stripped of their hopes and dreams of a good education.
Collins lacked the scores needed to get federal funding for a university education. The death of his father just played to a great a toll on him, that it was hard to focus and finish secondary school as strong as he’d started.
So for six years he was nomadic; he had no home. Sometimes he’d stay with his grandmother, other times it would be an aunt or uncle. There was no hope and nothing but great sorrow if he looked to the future. He only looked to survive to the next day.
Hope finally came though. Collins’ aunt offered to pay college fees. He applied and began attending Graffins college to get his diplomat in hospitality. This is much like a junior college degree in hospital management and administration. The greatest blessing Collins has seen in a long time came when he started looking for housing. He didn’t yet have the money to stay in a hostel, so he went to his uncle’s, Edward Simiyu, house to see if he could stay there for the short time that it took to raise that money.
Edward, the kind and extremely hospitable man that he is, saw it foolish that Collins go to school in Nairobi and live in a hostel. So Collins finally found a home with the Simiyu’s. It had been since 1995 since Collins had last felt the comforts of home.
The six years of hopelessness and the many days of pain and agaony were restored in just a few months in Nairobi. Edward served as a great mentor, a father, a guide, an advisor, and a humble servant in Christ to Collins. In 2004, within a year of living with the Simiyu’s, Collins surrendered his pain, his past, and his life to Christ. He had spent some of the past few years attending a few different churches, seeking to get involved somehow but it was just too hard to find a church home being on the move so much.
After the first year Collin’s aunt stopped paying for his education. There was little worry that there would be struggle. Edward quickly picked up the blessing of empowering Collins with an education. It was just another instance of Edward embodying Christ in Collin’s life.
In 2006, a new hope came. Edward has been involved with pastor training conferences all over Kenya and all over Africa. Edward also used to serve with the African Evangelical Organization (AEA). He led one pastor’s conference at a new school in Bujumbura, Burundi that a former colleague of the AEA had started. The school was the best that Burundi had ever seen. It was a four-year university that offered many different degree programs. Burundi though has the worst economy in the world, so school fees are very low. This university, ironically, has the name Hope Africa.
And that is where Collin’s next great hope came from. Edward returned to City Harvest Church with information about the college and offered some possible financial aid as well. Collins was the first to jump at the opportunity. He had the opportunity of adding a four-year degree to his résumé.
Edward and City Harvest didn’t provide just a little bit of financial aid, but Collins has a full ride. His first semester he almost didn’t get in, but because of all the work that Edward does for the university, they paid Edward a sum that went right back to them for tuition.
Collins is now in his second year at Hope Africa. He is studying Business Administration, still hoping to pursue a career in hospitality and hotel administration. Burundi is a French speaking country, so classes are taught in both English and French. English speakers are required to learn French and French speakers are required to learn English. This will be a great asset for Collins as he continues to pursuer a career in Hotels. He’ll be able to communicate with guests from all over Africa and all over the world. He’s spent the whole first year learning French and this year will start working on his core classes.
I had to opportunity to spend a week with Collins before he returned to college. He was truly a great friend and has turned into quite a Man of God. He is a progressive thinking Christian in a place where tradition is sometimes worshiped more than God is. He has great wisdomEdward Simiyu shines through Collins. A light and source of hope radiates off of Collins and that has truly come through Edward’s kindness and mentorship. When we speak of the Resurrection, this is it. Christ restored the whole world when died on the cross some 2000 years ago. He brought holy restoration then, and he brings Holy Restoration now. And he has empowered those who He loves so much to do his work. He has empowered people to be his hands and feet. This, is the good news. Edward, in Collins story along with so many others, has embodied this Gospel, and has been this good news, and you and I can also participate in this partnership with our God to restoring this world, to restoring creation.
Collins story is truly one of hope. He’s gone from losing everything; his parents, his education, and his future, to discovering that Jesus has risen. Resurrection happened then, and as you can see in Collin’s life, Resurrection happens today.