Pre-Travel Diary: Traveling to Kenya and Burundi

Dear ITEM Partner,

On Sunday January 9 I will depart for Kenya and Burundi. In each location I will be meeting with ITEM Country Coordinators.

The initial meeting was originally set for Liberia but new Covid restrictions and rules, it made the meeting almost impossible for those of us coming from the outside. We postponed that one.

Now the agenda involves one meeting in Nairobi Kenya with coordinators from Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, Rwanda, and Tanzania. I will be with Dr. Chris McMillan, ITEM VP, and Dr. Nathan Chiroma, ITEM Mentoring Coordinator and Special Assistant.

The second will be in Burundi and will involve country coordinators from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This will be for French speakers. Unfortunately, the ITEM coordinator in Madagascar, who speaks French, can’t get out of his country because of Covid rules there.

The purpose of the meetings is to let everyone meet Chris, who will be taking the directorship role with ITEM in 2023. It will also be a time to get re-centered on ITEM strategy, core values, distinctives plus have a full conversation about the importance of mentoring and how it is supposed to work.

Prayer requests:

• My itinerary begins with a shuttle flight from Portland to Seattle on Sunday morning but many of those flights are being cancelled. I have been discussing options with Delta and my travel agent. Pray that one of the two morning flights to Seattle will fly and that I’ll be on the one that does.
• Pray also for protection from Covid for Chris and I. I’ve had Covid and done all that the government and my doctor have recommended but there is no guarantee of immunity. I am not concerned about getting seriously ill. I am concerned about being forced to quarantine in Africa.

Thanks for praying.

By His grace,

Steve Van Horn
Pictures for this trip can be found here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Yj8KCBvcuyZUohWK7