I am so excited to welcome Anna to Mountain Callings today. Fun fact: her Mama and I went to Ethiopia for the first time together back in 2011. I have loved watching her and Ryan grow their nonprofit, One Heart Africa, into what it is today. Her passion for Africa is contagious and I just know that super HUGE things are on the horizon for her. I'll let Anna take it from here!
"So, when are you coming here?"
I was sitting in my very exciting Western Civ class at Lee University when this Facebook message from an old friend I hadn't talked to since our high school graduation popped up on my laptop. Obviously, I was way too committed to learning about Gothic vs. Renaissance Architecture to reply (hahahaha jk). The truth is, this random message was a very welcome distraction from the inward search for meaning that was happening inside of my brain at that moment. It was the spring semester of my second year in college, I still hadn't even come close to declaring a major, and my life revolved around whatever guy I was dating at the time and the fact that I was a vain little 19-year-old girl that could play guitar. Livin big, y'all. Up until this point in my life, I had always been the overachiever. But, college was different. It was hard. I actually had to study. Making friends was more difficult than I thought it would be, AND they expect me to choose what I was going to do with my life. Say what?! No, thanks. I'll just talk to people on Facebook all day. Which brings us back to Mr. Randompants' message up there.
"Come where? Lol," I replied. Because everything makes you "lol" when you're chatting with a cute boy online, right?
"Africa! I remember you telling me before we graduated that you had always wanted to come here."
He was absolutely right. I could specifically remember that conversation. We had about ten minutes left in choir, so our teacher gave us a little bit of free time before the bell rang. Since high school graduation was only a few weeks away, I was talking with all of my fellow altos about their plans when one of them mentioned that Ryan Carmichael was going to be heading to South Africa and Swaziland for a nine-month missionary training program instead of going the traditional college route. I was SO jealous. I had always been obsessed with Africa. I watched documentaries on tribes when I was in elementary school just for fun, LOVED when missionaries from Africa came and talked to my GA class, and The Lion King was totes obvi my favorite movie/soundtrack of all time. So, I marched up to Ryan, confessed my jealousy, and informed him that I would be hardcore Facebook stalking him while he was there--a promise I totally kept.
My reply to his question consisted of a lot of junk about how I wanted to be done with college and married before I spent more than two weeks overseas. Really, what I was saying was, "Hey, Ryan. I'd really like to go to Africa, but I am far too terrified to do what I feel like God has been telling me to do from a very young age because it doesn't make sense as far as 'my plan' goes and my parents would get mad and I would have to break up with my boyfriend and it costs money and stuff." Sidenote: I'm serious about that "young age" thing, too. Check it out:
Ryan (thankfully) didn't buy it. He encouraged me to look up trips with Adventures in Missions (AIM), the organization that he had originally gone to South Africa and Swaziland with in 2008-2009. Now, it was 2010 and he was back in South Africa and Swaziland by himself to continue the work that had been established during his previous trip. Whatta hunk. Five minutes after our conversation, I was signed up for a three-month trip to Kenya in the fall. (Quick note to all college students out there: I do not support or endorse signing up for trips to Africa on impulse.)
Kenya was a major turning point in my life. First of all, it was just downright awesome. We spent our first week living in tents in the middle of "the bush" with the Maasai tribe. Hello, National Geographic dream world. I would literally wake up every morning with "Circle of Life" playing in my head. If it wasn't playing in my head, I would plug my iPod into external speakers and play it really loudly so that everyone could hear. We saw zebras and giraffes on the side of the road and got to name brand new babies while huddled inside mud huts. This was the Africa I had dreamed about.
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| I'm pretty sure we might have named every baby in that village Esther. |
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| Our view from tentville. |
Here's what I learned in Kenya: Without God's voice in our lives, guilt overpowers conviction, opportunity seems more like obligation, and we worry about what I can do instead of what He wants to do through us. We compare the junk of each other's lives instead of celebrating each other's unique giftings. Comparing my life and junk with others is exactly what I had been doing. My intense passion for Africa and education and job creation was a gift. Maybe not what I felt was a useful gift at the time, but it was still a gift. The dreams I had about spending my life on this continent were not stupid, they were on purpose. Now, all I had to do was walk in that. I chose to return to Lee and pursue this awesome opportunity I had of earning a college degree. I had no idea what was going to happen after that, but I simply asked God to use me. That's it.
The day I returned to Cleveland from Kenya was so weird. I felt like a stranger in my own hometown and remember thinking, "Wow, there's a lot of white people here." To celebrate my homecoming, my family had arranged to go out to dinner that night at a place of my choosing. For some reason I chose Chili's. Now, let's get something straight... I do not even remotely like Chili's and I'm not sorry for saying that. But, alas, I chose Chili's and off we went to that fine dining establishment. Guess who was there? None other than the person who encouraged me to go to Africa in the first place, Ryan Carmichael. I. Was. PUMPED! Another human being who could relate with me! We were seated by a window when I saw him leaving. Naturally, I knocked on the window and showed him my new keychain in the shape of Africa and mouthed very dramatically, "I'm back!" Nailed it. He did a "hang loose" sign with his hand while saying "cool" and walked away. Not quite the reaction I had expected, but I still told my family that night that I was going to marry him.
Apparently, I wasn't too much of a dummy at Chili's because he messaged me that night on Facebook (Facebook clearly rules my generation) and asked for my number so that we could talk about "re-entry" and our experiences in Africa. I gladly obliged. Over the next few months we shared our dreams with each other--dreams that consisted of free education, job creation, and throwing a wrench in the poverty cycle all while sharing the Gospel. And guess what happened? Our dreams aligned. It was on purpose and it was beautiful.
Ryan also shared with me that he and a good friend in Swaziland, Mancoba, were in the beginning stages of building a preschool in Mozambique. Mancoba was a boy Ryan met while teaching at his high school in 2009. At that time, Mancoba was living in a closet at his church because his family had kicked him out due to his Christian faith. This boy was different from the others. Instead of wanting to go to America or Europe and get rich like many of his peers, he told Ryan that he felt called to the neighboring country of Mozambique. Through a series of really crazy events, they acquired a piece of land in a small, rural village called Licilo and started a feeding program while building a preschool with $200ish a month.
Um... yes. All day, yes. Sign me up right now.
In December 2011/January 2012, a year after we started dating, we decided to visit Mancoba and the school that had been under construction for over a year in Mozambique. We arrived in Licilo to find this beautiful thing.
Let's be honest... It looked more like a storage shed than a school. But, we were still excited to see the progress being made. As soon as we got to Licilo, we knew there was something different about this village than the other villages we had visited in years past. There were kids playing at the school, but none of them seemed interested in us. In fact, they were terrified of us. I had to whip out the old digital camera trick for them to even approach me. In addition, there were hardly any men around. After asking a bunch of questions, we found out that the majority of men in this village go to South Africa to work in the mines. Many of them don't come back because they either get sick and pass away, or start a new family in South Africa. If the men do come back, many times they bring tuberculosis and HIV with them. We also found out on this trip that there were many orphans in Licilo, the malaria rate in was astronomical, there was no access to clean water, and little access to healthcare. Whoa, talk about some huge problems. When we all returned to our host family's house that night, it happened again--we started to dream. Ryan, Mancoba, and myself dreamed about the school, fresh water, men not having to leave to find jobs, malaria being eradicated, and, most of all, bringing hope back to this village. Our hearts were on fire when we got back out of excitement for the future, and also because Ryan asked me to marry him in Africa. Not too shabby, Carmichael.
When we got back to America, I felt really overwhelmed. I was thrown back into school and work, had to start planning a wedding, and felt this really heavy burden for Licilo every single day of my life. We started asking different people, churches, and organizations for help, but doors just kept getting shut. So, here we are, a 21 and 22-year old couple having no idea what to do next. All we had was a blog and our own social media outlets. We named our project "One Heart Africa" and started talking about it to other people, and then those people started talking, too. People started asking us how they could donate to helping finish the school and dig wells for Licilo. It was incredible.
That was the only the beginning of God's plans for One Heart Africa. Since finishing the first classroom in the fall of 2012, we have seen three fresh water wells dug (two in Licilo, one in Siteki, Swaziland) with another one on the way and bought a 25-acre farm in Swaziland where we grow nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables for families affected by HIV and employ two full-time farmers. Sharing Hope Preschool in Licilo has grown from 18 to 100 students in just two years and trains and employs four local mommas. The feeding program at the school continues to this day and has served over 15,000 meals for the children of Licilo (who we lovingly refer to as our Mozambabies). Because of how OHA has grown, we are planning to move to Africa in Spring 2016. Guys, God is good!
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| Mancoba, Ryan, and me with our Mozambabies at Sharing Hope Preschool |
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| Clean water for Licilo! |
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| Our head farmer, Khosini, water spinach plants in one of our greenhouses in Swaziland |
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| Sharing Hope Preschool today! |
As I wind up, I just want to share a few simple things to remember about yourself as you head out into the world and pursue your dreams:
1. You are purposefully gifted.
It may not be in what some would consider to be the "traditional" sense. Who cares? God did that on purpose. Work what you got, girl (or boy)!
2. Dreams take time and hard work.
Like... a lot of time and hard work. And failure. And starting from scratch. Surround yourself with a team of wise people and keep pressing on.
3. Your dreams don't have to be dramatic.
A lot of the times we think that we have to dream to be an actress or a crazy successful entrepreneur to be living our dreams. No way, Jose. Find your gifting, commit it to the Lord, refine it, and live it.
4. Haters gonna hate.
There will always be people who discourage and disagree with you. That's okay. Just blare some TSwift and dance around a little bit. It will help, I promise.
So, that's my [very long] story. Thanks so much for reading! If you want to hear more about One Heart Africa or keep up with all of the Mozambique and Swaziland happenings, visit our website, "like" us on Facebook, or follow us on Instagram.
Now, go change the world! :)
Anna Carmichael
Co-Founder, One Heart Africa
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