Ryan Foss, Executive Director

Ryan is the incoming Exec Director. One of his first job duties was to meet up with Mary Steiner in Africa, to see the important work that's happening there.

January 27,2010

I have been in Africa now for 15 days and have been a part of Give Us Wings for a little more than that.  Some words that come to mind during my time here are:

Inspiring - Seeing the looks on the faces of the young women's group in Nyaoga as they graduated from primary schooling was inspiring. With the challenges they have as mothers, wives, and caregivers to still find time to study and get an education they want is a wonderful thing.  As the young women walked to get their diploma, their husbands rushed to the stage one by one in support, all while the community was cheering the young women's accomplishment.  Then, in Give Us Wings style, just as they had marched in the ceremony, the women marched out with arms raised - and they flew.

Heartbreaking - Touring the hospitals in Tororo, Uganda.  There is an image of the surgery room at the St. Anthony hospital that will never leave my mind.  A man cleaning ripped rubber aprons from a surgery earlier in a damp room with nothing more than a dirty surgery table that looked like a dentist's chair.  The thought of someone being operated on in these conditions knowing the types of facilities that we receive at home made me mad, helpless, but mostly heartbroken.  Yet, I was hopeful knowing that we are working with the community of Kayoro to build a clinic and spare many people the journey to St. Anthony.

Joy - Visiting with the Ngiyo Ber group.  This is a group of women who had been living in the slums of Bison, who now live in their own houses with a plot of land to farm.  I toured about a dozen homes with women who were incredibly proud of their homes.  It is unimaginable to think that these women and children, who were once living in the crowded, filthy, crime ridden slums, are now free.  Free to chose how to live their life, free to be educated, and free to have healthy food that they grow themselves.  It's a beautiful thing.  After the tours, we sat down for a short program in which Mary Steiner told them the homes were now theirs!  Oh my, what a celebration!  Singing, dancing, and crying.  Change doesn't happen overnight.  But Give Us Wings and its great supporters have proven it can happen.  I will always smile and think of that exact moment whenever the words Ngiyo Ber are mentioned.

Hope - After visiting with the Mari Group, we walked some potential land to do a similar project like we did with the Ngiyo Ber group.  The Mari are a group of people with disabilities and they have visited the project in Ngiyo Ber.  You can see the hope of the possibilities for them with this project.  They are all smiles.  

Proud - I sat in a tin classroom in the middle of the Rift Valley in 100 degree heat listening to adult Maasai students read for me and do arithmetic.  Here, where there is little help, it is a rough life.  The conditions are very harsh.  The road to the school is barely drivable for someone coming to visit.  Yet there I was, listening to students read proudly what they are learning.  And I was proud too, proud to be a part of an organization like Give Us Wings.

I leave in approximately 12 hours.  This trip has been a blessing and I am excited to hit the ground running when I return.  I will do so with the faces of the Maasai, Nyaoga, Ngiyo Ber, the Mari, and the people of Kayoro in my mind.  

Thank you all for your support.  I am excited to work with you.

Ryan