Counseling Kids in Kenya-APU 2016

My name is Vickie Wagner, and I am a Clinical Psychology:Marriage and Family Therapy master's student at Azusa Pacific University. I have been chosen as part of the team serving in Kenya this summer using newly acquired skills in counseling with the children and caregivers at one of four sites who serve predominantly those effected and orphaned by HIV/AIDs. Their stories will break your heart as well as instill hope in the resilient soul. The program is from June 30th through July 20th. If you want to know more about the sites, here are their websites:
http://bygracetrust.org/
http://wellspringinternational.org/projects/valley-light-home/ 
http://ccpkenya.org/
http://providencekenya.org/

I am honored to have been chosen and humbled by the thought of what it will take to get there as well as what I'll experience. What I know is that I can't do this alone!! And thankfully I'll be a part of a team that physically goes on the journey with me, but I also need other support, and that means YOU!!

The funds required to join this program include tuition, as it is actually a clinical class where I'll be learning and being supervised by professors who are going on the trip, as well as room and board, meals, airfare and other incidentals such as visas and transportation fees. I need your help to get there! Even though this three week service project is not tax deductible, it is as worthy as any service/missions endeavor that is. Please consider helping to support me financially to get there.

In addition, supplies are useful to further play therapy resources as well as relationship-building with the children and caregivers. Items including pens, markers, paper, crayons, colored pencils, stickers, rubber bracelets, as well as hygiene items such as toothepaste, toothebrushes, soap, etc.

Also prayers and words of encouragement are extremely necessary beginning now, throughout the trip and once I return home. Endeavoring on this type of service project brings all manner of challenges and difficulties, so prayers and positive words are critical to fuel stamina to push through.

For those of you who don't know me very well, I am passionate about helping individuals, families and children who are on the margins for whatever reasons come to know they are valued and loved and to bring to life the notion of kinship. Psalm 68:5-6 says: "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing." I have personally experienced this sense of family and belonging and am committed now to share it with others regardless of circumstance, ethnic and cultural differences and faith affiliations. I hope and pray that through the counseling and relationships built this summer in Kenya, this desire and mission will be realized, and that I'll come to the end even better prepared to carry it through in my career as a therapist.

Thank you for considering to support me in any of the manners mentioned. You can donate funds here on this site (please note that there is a service fee deducted from your contribution before it gets to me) as well as directly through the app Venmo @Vickie-Wagner (free app where 100% of funds go to me), or good old fashioned cash or check directly to me. Message me for address information.

I am honored to serve and blessed to include others who help in different ways along the journey!