The Ode to Kristen

This is dedicated to my flatmate, teammate, friend and all around awesome person Kristen Nicole Sayres.

Kristen has left for almost two months.

She is traveling around America for work.
This is her packing.

Ode to Kristen

by Me

You have left. Gone.

For so long

I walk by your door

And you are gone.

I wait to hear

You shout DANCE

I DANCE in your memory

You are gone.

I miss your music

Oh so loud

There is silence

Because you are gone.

I am here

Waiting for your return

I am alone

You are gone.

Hurry home Kristen. Hope America is fun and stress free.

The light

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

John 8:12 (New International Version)

The new baby

This is Kylie Elizabeth. I lived across the street from her parents in West Africa and am now just down the road from them again. I spent a couple of hours with Kyle and her mom Mary Beth today. Enjoyed every minute. She has beautiful deep blue eyes and a very expressive face!

The equator

A few months ago I took a drive into central Kenya. On my way, I passed over the equator as it runs through Kenya.


Now I have stood over the equator on two continents, Africa and South America.

The new friends

Another self-portrait. This one at my friend Stacie's flat (apartment). We ate pizza. Talked. Listened to music. All good fun.

This is Stacie. She is a new friend.
Like me she's lived in Africa for a while.
We have fun.

Made some new friends. They are spending a couple of months
working in South Africa. They just get younger and younger.
Maybe it's me that's getting older!

You HandsOn guys will do a great job. See you in a couple of months!

The workers

The media team. At least part of it. We worked together today.

Well, worked and played and danced and sang and cooked and ate.

And I took a self-portrait.

The heart beats

The heart beats
by me

The pain rips my heart.
Beat-by-beat it takes it apart piece-by-piece.
The ripping leaves pain.
The pain that rips my heart.

Each rip reminds me of the anger.
The anger tries to consume.
I hurt. the anger hurts.
The pain that rips my heart.

I fight it. this pain. This anger.
With what is left of my heart.
Beat-by-beat my heart grows smaller.
The pain that rips my heart.

The heart limply beats on.
One beat after the next.
Looking for safe harbor from
The pain that rips my heart.

The pain dulls.
Doubt covers it like fog.
Choking confidence. Hiding desire. Fading dreams.
The pain that rips my heart.

Weakly beating on.
Searching for calm to rebuild.
Forget the pain. The anger. The hurt.
The pain that rips my heart.

The heart beats on.

The Children

I want to share the story of some children I met traveling throughout Zambia. This story is similar to millions of other children in southern Africa. Their parents are dying or have died from HIV/AIDS. 1.1 million Zambians have the disease. Some of the children pictured here, where born with it and will not see middle-age.

This young girl has HIV/AIDS and is the caretaker of her family.

This girl lives with her other siblings.
At least one member of her family has AIDS.

Malnutrition does not stop this girl from smiling.

Their caregiver has the disease.

His mom is taking intravenous drugs to extend her life.

The Zambian nation is one of the leading countries in fighting the spread of AIDS, lowering the death rate, aiding in the longevity of life and HIV/AIDS education. Still, 56,000 Zambians died from HIV/AIDS.

The mountains too

This is a normal way to keep warm during the cold June,
July and August months of winter.
Lots of layers, blankets, boots, a hat and warming in the sun.

Mountain ponies grazing in harvested wheat fields.
A run-off stream comes from the snow-capped mountains.

The snow-capped mountains

This is an areal shot of snow-capped mountains in central Lesotho.
Breathtakingly beautiful in June.
I along with two other members of the media team took a ride on a
small plane through the mountains to get this shot.

Lesotho is a small country surrounded on all sides by South Africa. The people that live in these mountains are cut off from the rest of civilization. Not much has changed in the last 100 years. They are literally cut off from the rest of the world during a good snow storm.

We rode mountain ponies to get to one area.

Children saw our progression and took off running over the mountains to get to the meeting site. We watch them "fly" down the rocky mountains, through villages, shouting at each other to hurry. Really beautiful.