But, as always, it is the people behind JVP – the global partners and local champions – who have impressed me more than the projects.  And it’s their faith and perseverance that are making this transformation possible.  To read more about what’s been happening in Kager, take a look at these stories.

Joining the Jubilee!

While Barry and the interns prepare for a summer in Ukraine, I’m preparing for my second trip to Kenya. There’s a lot to look forward to!
Click here to read this article…

Traveling by Your Taste Buds

If you ever find yourself wondering where you are in the world, just look at your plate!
Click here to read this article…

The Village

In such a small, tightly-knit community, I didn’t have to look far to see that Kager is a special place!
Click here to read this article…

Photo Gallery: Dream Come True

For the first time ever, Kager’s dream to open a secondary school is finally a reality.

Click here to see this photo gallery…

Determined

A glimpse into the lives of two students poised to make a difference in their village…

Click here to read this article…

Culture Guide: Farming Like a Kenyan

See how a city girl got her hands… and feet… dirty.

Click here to read this article…

A New Leaf

Who would have thought that onions could change a life in Kager?

Click here to read this article…

JOY in the Kitchen

Why a kitchen in Kager might be one of the most exciting places around.

Click here to read this article…

In David’s Words

Time for a chat with Apostle Dave!

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World Next Door: In your opinion, what makes the Jubilee Village Project work so well?  What makes it different from other organizations or projects you’ve seen?

David Kayando: One factor that makes Jubilee different, in the first place, is that it’s holistic.  Jubilee’s both involving the physical and the spiritual.  That makes it unique.  And we are hands-up, we want to make our programs owned by the local people.  We are looking forward to sustainability.

And another thing, Jubilee is blessed to work with people who are forthright, and who really have the burden for the people that they are working with.  It’s different because otherwise, people can just go to a place and impose and do something, not considering whether that thing is helping the people or not.

WND: I’ve heard people in Kager sometimes call you Apostle Dave.  Can you explain the title Apostle and what how you got it?

David meeting with visitors from another town who are interested in implementing some of JVP’s programs in their own community.

DK: The title Apostle came a few years back.  In my life I’ve been involved in church ministry, and in my early years after marriage, I did full time pastoral ministry in Kisumu town, which was basically church and nothing more.  And from there I had some experiences of how it can be hard to do church without good resources, and also with poor people.

When you want to depend on them for support, it becomes a major challenge.  So when the Lord had opened a door for me to come and do administration for the health clinic, I was now seeing ministry in a broader way.  I was now seeing people come here, and they are sick, and they need to be treated, and they don’t have money.  The aim of the dispensary was to give them affordable health care, but at the same time, they should pay to help us sustain.

So that exposed me to being holistic, [to be] able to reach them physically and also thinking about their spiritual lives.  Some of them come as non-Christians, and you realize that apart from being weak in the physical, they also need some spiritual nourishment.

Basically my title came when I began to organize some conferences for the pastors.  From there people began to notice the gift of apostleship in my life because I would not only reach them with the word of God spiritually, but I would also bring to them the idea of how they would become holistic, and help them think of how they could help themselves in other areas of their lives.

WND: I can see how that calling so clearly has placed you in the position to lead the Jubilee Village Project, since it’s doing exactly that work.

There are so many projects in JVP, and you are involved on some level with all of them, but if you could pick one or two that make you the most excited, what would they be?

David has worked hard bringing partners together and getting the village members on board to open Kager’s first secondary school.

DK: I think what my community seems to be depending on is farming.  It’s like it’s the engine of the community.   The challenge that we have in the community is food – lack of enough food.  There are seasons that people go hungry.  Maybe people will have one meal a day.  So, I think because the backbone of my community depends on farming, and the majority of the people need food, farming has been most impressive because we touch everyone’s life.

And another thing that’s also important when it comes to the community is the economic development program because a lot of the weight of the burden in our communities is on the women.  We have some irresponsible men, and some women’s husbands work outside the village, so a lot of the challenges to bring up a good family rest on the women.  With economic development, I see women coming up.  If they are supported and they become serious, and they become good stewards of what has been put into their hearts, they can raise up their children, doing some small business.

WND: In your opinion, what is the role of the Western Church in development?  Especially for those who are interested in these issues – what is their responsibility or opportunity in development?

DK: I think they have a major role.  But the success of that kind of program I truly believe depends on good partnership where the church in the West and the church in other areas forge to form true partnership in their program.  I believe both have something to give.  In my opinion, the idea that we should really try not to promote is the idea that the local people have nothing to give because that is where the issue of dependency comes from.  And if that is done, then I feel our people will live in dependency for a long time.  They will not rise up to the reality of ownership, or have the idea within themselves to plant something.

Ready to love and serve!

So I would think that the [local] church is the right partner with the church in the West because there is that fear of the Lord and that fear of being responsible, not corrupt.  And they also best understand their people and their needs.   But the church in the West has resources.  So how the partnership could happen is that, as they bring in resources, the local church will be able to equally distribute the resources to the local people, but at the same time, do something to make sure they [contribute], or have a hand in what is going on.  And I believe we also have what we can give to the church in the West.  It may not be funds or something material, but we have something we can do.  This is where we can share ideas, we can give advice, and we can pray with them.  Those are key areas that I think the local church can do very well.

WND: What encourages you? When you are doing this work day in and day out, what keeps you going?

DK: What keeps me going is the impact, which may not be so big to someone, but to me, I see there is something going on.  The work is exhausting – that is the truth of the matter – making sure that every sector of the project moves.  It’s huge.  But the result of the people we are serving keeps me going.  Because so far, what we have done has all been positive.  It’s like everyone wants to have it at once.  They embrace it.  So that is why I have kept going.  There are already lives being transformed out of this program.

Another thing that keeps me going is that my burden, that vision that I had for my community, for the less privileged people, is still burning in me.  The Lord pushes me that I must still go on despite the challenges that I have.

And the support I receive from the partners – I can’t explain it.  They have kept me high.  It’s bad if I were to disappoint them because it’s the same burden but they are far away.  And I have the same burden, but I am with the people.  I feel those are three things that keep me going.

In the past three weeks, I’ve asked lots of detailed questions to families within Kager, some of them related to kitchen appliances.  It’s all a part of a household survey I’ve been conducting for the Jubilee Village Project in order to better gauge needs in the community.

Not exactly my idea of running water, but it works for lots of women who come here every day to collect water for washing.

So, in addition to asking about the size of their farm, illness in the family, and whether or not they have a mosquito net, I also inquire about their house, and specifically the kitchen.  And as you might imagine, the questions – and answers – are quite a bit different than a home survey in your neighborhood might be.

Where do you gather your firewood?  Do you cook outside or inside? Does your kitchen have a window or vents for smoke ventilation?  How many minutes does it take to walk to the pond or well? How many trips do you make to collect water everyday?  Do you treat the water before drinking it?

The JOY Kitchen water filter in action.

Let me just say, I’ve been amazed at the conditions in which women work here (and yes, it’s only the women on kitchen duty in Kager!).  Most of their day is spent on providing just the basic necessities for their families – food and water – and often problems like smoke inhalation and unsafe drinking water are hazards to their health.  Those are the reasons that JVP started a new initiative to support and empower these women.  They call it JOY Kitchens, which stands for “Jesus, Others, Yourself.”

Dorene uses her improved stove to make and sell “mandazis” or doughnuts in the village.

As a part of the program, the first group of 8 JOY Kitchen members received some very valuable tools: a durable water purifier that uses a sand and gravel filter, an “upesi jiko” or improved stove that uses only small amounts of fuel and produces hardly any smoke, plus a solar-powered flashlight that cuts back on kerosene consumption, since so much household work is done at night.  Another favorite tool for these women is an insulated “basket cooker” that is used to finish cooking food in a pot after it has been heated on the stove, which dramatically reduces fuel consumption and time spent in a smoke-filled kitchen.  For those women who have indoor kitchens, they have also received a smoke-hood chimney for ventilation.

But the JOY Kitchen initiative amounts to more than just “appliances.”  Since JVP is holistic in its approach to development, and aims for sustainability in their projects, they also encourage economic and spiritual development among the women.  In their bi-weekly meetings, these motivated women have a Bible study (using their precious Luo language Bibles supplied by JVP) and also engage in small business projects.  So far they have been producing more “basket cookers” to sell, experimented with food canning, and are making plans to open a small bakery.

It’s their focus on building a strong sense of community, more than simply making cooking more convenient, that has led to the JOY Kitchen’s success.  Last year, when JVP found more sponsors to support an expansion of the program, the Joy Kitchen members had no trouble finding willing participants.  In less than 2 years, the original group of 8 women expanded to 16, then doubled again to include 32 members total.

The JOY Kitchen women after their latest Bible study and business meeting.

So as I visit homes around the village to complete my household survey, it’s always a highlight when I come across a “JOY Kitchen” home.  I know that for these families, common struggles like affording fuel and finding safe drinking water are no longer such a worry.  In place of those burdens, they’ve gained a lot: deeper relationships with their peers, the rare chance to study the Bible in their language, and opportunities to earn money through business ventures – all reasons for real joy!

When droughts come, as they have in Kenya the past few years, lack of irrigation and fertilizer means his crops don’t amount to much at all. Since Isaiah’s farm is his only source of income, too little rain can mean a crisis for his family.

That is the Isaiah you would have found living in Kager a year ago. This year, however, his story sounds very different.

Isaiah’s farm is a bright spot in this community.

Isaiah showing off his field, and his smile!

Last October, Isaiah attended a community-wide forum to hear about a new farming initiative begun by Jubilee Village Project. Not only was JVP making fertilizers available at no cost to participating farmers, but they had also introduced a new crop to the village that had already shown a lot of potential – bulb onions.

Previously, a different variety of onions had been tried in Kager with poor results, but now Isaiah saw from JVP farmers that these onions could grow and do very well. Plus, onions are a staple in traditional food here, so there is a huge market for them. Always looking for ways to boost his income, Isaiah enthusiastically volunteered to be one of Kager’s new onion farmers.

After planting his first round using fertilizer and a hose for irrigation, Isaiah hasn’t looked back. With a lot hard work, careful attention, and daily watering, his first crop couldn’t be doing better! In fact, Isaiah is so encouraged by the progress that he has already planted a bed of more seedlings to fill another plot of land by July.

When I caught up with Isaiah in the late afternoon for an interview, he was busy weeding the field that had obviously become a source of much joy and pride to him. He gladly explained the rainy seasons and irrigation system to me, the markets he was planning to visit after the harvest, and even the dreams he had to expand his capacity with a water tank and generator.

The first onion crop is almost ready to harvest.

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Through his words and his smile I saw something that’s increasingly familiar in Kager – hope. This was a man filled with hope that he was going to be able to provide for his family and also to excel as a farmer.

Isaiah and David, the lead JVP champion in Kager, couldn’t be more pleased with his success!

I’ve seen that hope growing across the village as more and more farmers take part in JVP projects. Over 27 have begun using the fertilizer provided by JVP, and instead of relying on seed saved from the previous year’s harvest, they are now using hybrid seeds that are more drought and pest resistant. Some farmers I talked to reported that their harvests doubled or even tripled since making the change.

And this is just the beginning. As more people see the progress of JVP farmers, and enterprising people like Isaiah blaze the trail into new crops and farming technologies, food insecurity will soon be a thing of the past. Eventually, their profits will be high enough to allow them to buy the fertilizer and seeds independently of JVP’s sponsorship.

For Isaiah, onion farming is more than just turning over a new leaf, he is literally starting a new life, and it’s evident for everyone to see. When I asked him what his neighbors think about the success of the onions, he simply said, “they really marvel!” And from what I’ve seen, so do I!

Tools of the trade. Lot’s of farmers can’t afford more than a few hand hoes.

When my host Carolyne showed me where one of her corn plots was located, and told me she was going to do some weeding, I asked if I could tag along.  After taking pictures and doing computer work for JVP, I was ready to get dirty and do some “real work.”

Getting a little dirty was probably the highlight of my farming experience.

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Plus, I knew I had a lot to learn. I have to admit that even if I’m not a “high maintenance” person, I’m still a city girl at heart.  I have never lived on a farm or even really worked in a garden.  The closest I’ve done is cutting the grass with a self-propelled mower.  But in Kager, anything with a motor is hard to come by.

Sampson was an expert, and I was glad to have his help.

So for all you aspiring farmers out there, here are some tips I gathered from my day in the field, just in case you find yourself headed to the “shamba” someday.

• First, you have to get the right tools.  For most families here, that means only one thing: a hand-held hoe.  It’s a smooth, strong stick with a piece of metal wedged in one end, fashioned by a local black smith.  Don’t worry about ploughs or even shovels.  In Kager, they stick to the basics.
• Ditch the shoes.  Before I left for the shamba, I was worried I wasn’t wearing the right apparel.  I even asked Carolyne if I should change to my tennis shoes, but she said my sandals were fine.  Once we were there, I saw the reason why.  Everyone just kicked off their shoes and got to work barefoot.  What a great idea! It feels more authentic when you can actually feel the soil under your feet.
• Bend over and dig!  In Kager, they call weeding “digging.”  They just bend over at the waist (you can feel it in the hamstrings), lift the hoe above their head and attack the weeds.  Just make sure you don’t accidentally take the corn stalk out with the other green stuff crowding around it.  Farmers often plant beans or peanuts in the same field with the corn, so be sure you know which plants they want to keep in the ground.
• Try to work in a straight line.  I found this hard to do as I bent over and focused on the weeds.  Maybe the blood was rushing to my head, but my fellow workers were gracious and just worked around me!


Work always goes faster with teamwork!

• Watch out for rocks.  Even if it’s fertile, the soil on these mountains is full of stones.  Rather than remove all of them, the farmers just plant around them.  So be careful in your bare feet, and when your hoe hits one, it might send a piece flying.
• Keep going.  Since farmers here can’t afford fertilizer or pesticide, there is always an abundance of weeds.  But as we worked steadily, the weeds gradually disappeared, leaving a patch of nice brown earth with baby corn stalks in our wake.
• Indulge in some ibuprofen.  This is not a very Kenyan thing to do, but I recommend one pill for every hour of work.  Since we only covered a tiny plot of land, my one hour of weeding wasn’t too strenuous.  Still, my hands were tender from gripping the hoe.

So even though modern farming technology is years away from Kager, I discovered how generations of farmers have still managed to cultivate acres upon acres of fields – through lots of hard work.  The process is simple, but definitely not easy.  After one morning of work, I have a new respect for these amazingly strong and persevering men and women!

Now for a closer look at what life is like as student in Kager, and to realize the impact of Jubilee Village Project’s work here, I’d like to introduce you to two of my new friends who are determined to complete their education.

Iris having fun at home before going back to school to begin her second trimester.

Iris came bounding into my room the day I arrived, slid into the space next to where I was seated on the bed, and started asking questions – it was clear she wanted to get to know me, and that she was a big fan of JVP.  It was just one of several conversations we had that week.

3rd graders at the primary school Mary attended before high school.

Turns out Iris is one of 3 students who is attending a regional high school because of a JVP scholarship.  Before Kager opened God Kado Secondary School, the only available option for her was a private school in a town over an hour’s walk away.  Besides being inconvenient, the isolated road isn’t safe for vulnerable young girls.

But in Iris’s case, the biggest deterrent to pursuing further education, and a chance at a paying job, was lack of tuition money.  Primary education in Kenya is free (after paying for required school uniforms and textbooks) but secondary school isn’t.  With an elderly and sick father, her family wasn’t able to keep the four oldest boys in high school, even though their grades and ambitions were high.

So you can imagine how life-changing the JVP scholarship was for Iris.  Because she earned the highest national exam score out of all the 8^th grade students in Kager, Iris is now attending a nearby girls’ boarding school – free of charge and free to pursue her dreams.  Her goal is both simple and ground-breaking: to be one of the only girls in Kager to graduate from secondary school, and to study law at a national university.  The door is now wide open!

Mary looking very “smart” (aka “proper” in Kenyan terms) in her secondary school uniform.

Just this week I made another friend named Mary.  Mary is one of the pioneering first-year students at Kager’s own God Kado Secondary School.  She is one of six kids, and the first girl to make it past 8^th grade.  Her brothers managed to walk to the distant private school, but her older sister never made it.

When I talked with Mary on her morning break from classes, she told me that paying school fees is also a problem for her family since her mother is the only parent in the home.  If God Kado hadn’t opened the year after she finished primary school, she would probably have waited a few years at home to see whether or not their family and friends could pull together the necessary money for her to go somewhere else.

Thankfully, Mary’s not waiting at home.  In fact, she’s hardly there.  School lasts from 7am until 5pm, which is when she begins her 45 minute walk home to the other side of the village.  After dinner, she begins homework as long as there is kerosene in the house for the lamp.  If they don’t have 10 shillings (13 U.S. cents) for the fuel that night, she’ll get up extra early to finish the assignment before school.

That is what I call dedication.  For both Iris and Mary, the chance to stay in school is the ultimate gift, and they aren’t taking it for granted!

Bright smiles welcomed Linn and I the moment we arrived!

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“Feel free”

From the moment I arrived, I experienced a new level of hospitality.  Even more than the nice bedroom reserved for me, the abundant meals I am served or the many people who want to shake my hand, I can feel it in the genuine acceptance the people of Kager show to newcomers.  And it’s really not just because I’m the novel white “mzungu” in town!  Actually, the fact they don’t call me mzungu is very refreshing!  Instead, I’m known as a “visitor” – just a temporary member of the community.

Many poor families in Kager live as subsistence farmers.

Since we arrived at the beginning of a women’s conference in the local church, I got to see this hospitality played out on a wider level.  Our hosts welcomed, housed and fed not only the two of us Americans, but also lots of other “visitors” who came from other towns to attend and teach at the 4-day conference.  Each time they welcomed someone new, the invitation was the same: “Feel free,” and make yourself at home.  And they meant it!

Rural poverty

On my last trip to Kenya, I became pretty familiar with urban poverty – crowded, bustling slums are part of the fabric of big cities like Nairobi.  And while it might look different in a beautiful setting like the green, rolling countryside surrounding Kager, I didn’t have to look far to see poverty here, too.  Many people live in “semi-permanent structures,” which is a nice way of saying houses with mud walls and floors, and they spend lots of energy and time walking to find clean drinking water or firewood.   Kager also has almost no access to electricity, which means no computers in schools, refrigerated medicine in the clinic, or light to do homework after dinner.

As the JVP Education partner, Linn made fast friends with the local secondary school headmistress.

Perhaps the most telling signs of poverty and malnutrition is disease – I’ve never before talked with an HIV-infected widow, another woman with malaria, and a student just diagnosed with typhoid all in one day.

Real Community

What I like the most about Kager so far is the incredible cooperation I see within and between the families who live here.  No one does life alone – partly because poverty makes it necessary, and partly because they just know how to do community right.  I’m currently living with a pastor’s family, named the Kayandos, and they seems to know everyone, literally everyone, in Kager.  Their church offers a vibrant spiritual community to more than a hundred people, plus the clinic and community center they administer serve hundreds more.  From their family alone, I can already see the positive transformation a connected and motivated village, that is empowered with the right tools, can bring.

It’s no wonder that the Kayandos have also been at the center of establishing the Jubilee Village Project here.  Now that they have welcomed the JVP partners from Indiana to Kager, they are simply long-distance members of the community who are also working together to eradicate poverty in Kager.   And I think it’s just that kind of genuine commitment and partnership that is going to make it happen!

There are lots of ways to experience a trip.  Unusual sights and people to see, sounds and languages to take in, and a range of emotions to feel, but on this trip one sensation came to the forefront.  I discovered that using my taste buds was, in fact, the perfect way to judge where I am and where I am headed.

Granola bars and trail mix – never leave home without them!

Let me illustrate with some anecdotes.  Linn, my fearless traveling companion, and I barely got started on our journey when we found ourselves in Detroit’s airport with a three hour layover to waste.  What better way to pass the time than make a last-ditch stop for lunch at the in-house Chili’s restaurant.  Nothing says “America” better than a burger and fries!

Sometimes Kenyan products have the same food with a different look...and there is always an adequate supply of toothpicks!

Eventually, we were speeding over the Atlantic, and by the time dinner rolled around, I was ready to eat, more to break up the monotony of the flight than due to hunger.  Plus, I was happy that on international flights, food of any kind is still served.  But when I looked at the limp salad and marginal meat and mashed potato meal in front of me, I was again reminded where I was…30,000 feet up in the air and not in a sit-down restaurant.

Our next flight was with the Dutch airline, KLM, and I could taste the difference.  Europeans just know how to do food right…the bread was fresh, the warm cloth they handed me to wash my hands was a nice touch, and the meal just looked all around more appetizing.  Granted, I was 12 hours into the journey at this point and I was hungry.

Christy busy preparing supper for my host family.

Finally, we touched down in Nairobi and made our way to the guesthouse for the night.  By breakfast, it was clear I had arrived in Africa.  Fresh mangos, papaya and pineapple, Kenyan sausages (best in the world!) and an assortment of coffee and tea to choose from.

Still, we were in the cosmopolitan hub of Nairobi, and there were lots of “western” treats, too, like cereal and peanut butter for my toast.  To find authentic village cuisine, I had another day of travel ahead of me.

By nightfall we had almost completed the saga.  I was checked in at the guesthouse in Kisumu, the largest town in western Kenya perched on the edge of Lake Victoria.  When I looked at my dinner menu and I felt a smile spread across my face.  Ugali, Chapati, sweet potatoes, fish, and cabbage.  I was finally here!  And of course it tasted even better with a nice Krest soda (I recommend the lemonade flavor) straight from the refrigerator.

Lake Victoria is great for fishing and transporting things like sugarcane... Or people!

On our fourth and final day, Linn and I eased ourselves out of the truck, a bit grimy and tired from the bumpy road, and of course, hungry, too.  Soon our generous hosts presented us with a delicious meal of chicken and rice prepared Kenyan-style, the customary food given to guests in the western part of the country.

So now that I have all natural, all home-made meals to look forward to, I wonder if I’ll ever be ready to come home.  But don’t worry, I’m sure the lure of some familiar favorites like deep dish pizza and brownies will get the better of me eventually!

But this time, instead of living in the bustling capital city of Nairobi and taking excursions to Mombasa on the coast of the Indian Ocean or to the desert-like area of Marsabit in the North, I’m trekking deep into the tropical region of western Kenya that borders Lake Victoria to a remote village called Kager.  Who knew that for a country smaller than the state of Texas there could be so much to see?

I’m looking forward to the beauty of western Kenya’s mountains and sunsets!

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The Project

Partners from Indiana get a chance to meet some micro-loan participants last year in Kager.

While I’m thrilled about this chance to discover a new side of Kenya, I’m even more excited about the people and organization that is hosting me.  Jubliee Village Project is a truly ground-breaking partnership between men and women in the village (Team Kager), and a group of ministry-minded men and women in Indianapolis (Team Indiana) who share a common vision for sustainable and holistic development in Kager.

Lots of organizations exist to fight poverty in Africa, but JVP’s model is unique for several reasons.  First, the leadership is made up entirely of volunteers.  Both the American and Kenyan team consist of people who integrate JVP work with their normal “day job” as CEOs, farmers, ministers, or health clinic administrators.

Solar lanterns are one simple solution JVP is using in Kager.

Second, because both Team Kager and Team Indiana recognize the inter-connectedness of the challenges facing Kager, their projects strive to be as holistic as possible.  So while they are implementing new farming techniques and strategies to increase food production, they are also empowering entrepreneurs through micro-development, expanding the health clinic, encouraging the local churches and making improvements everywhere from kitchens to schools to the transportation sector.  In all, JVP has 8 distinct areas of focus – no small feat for a small grassroots organization.

Third, the people of JVP take the concept of “partnership” seriously.  Each team member in the States who offers his or her expertise to the project, whether it is in the field of education, health, or technology, always works side-by-side their Kenyan counterpart who is responsible for co-creating, managing and implementing the project on the ground.  JVP’s vision is to bring sustainable development to Kager that will result in lasting change and eventually continue without the direct involvement of outside help.

What’s a Jubilee?

JVP has big dreams for Kager based on sustainable and holistic solutions.

To me, anything beginning with the word “jubilee” sounds like a party, and judging by the passion and energy with which the people of JVP approach their work, this jubilee is truly going to be an exciting time.  The title “Jubilee Village Project” recalls the Year of Jubliee instituted in ancient Israel as a time to restore justice, free oppressed people, and redistribute wealth.  The members of Team Indiana and Team Kager are working together to live out that vision in the present by ushering in a new season of justice and peace in rural Kenya, and I’m looking forward to getting a glimpse of it!

Embedded

So what’s my role in all this, you may ask?  I get to serve as JVP’s first short-term intern, and I’ll be responsible for several tasks ranging from documenting the impact of current projects with videos and photography, taking a survey to assess needs and opportunities for future projects, and building the communication capacity between the two teams.  But mainly, I’m excited to go and learn from the people of Kager, to be immersed in the life of the village, and take part in the jubilee that is unfolding there.

I’m ready for another adventure, and I hope you are, too.  Join me in these next several weeks as I jump in and discover what this jubilee is all about!