KIVU GAP YEAR

Imagining a New Kind of College Student

I want to invite you to open your imagination with me.

Imagine a student entering a college classroom who thinks about the world differently when handed the syllabus.

Imagine a student who can't help but think about the ultra poor in the Philippines, young children with special needs in India, the challenges of reconciliation in Rwanda, the living conditions of Haitians outside of Port au Prince, and the real life struggles of the marginalized in urban Denver when they sit in their lecture hall.

Imagine a student who has spent time learning the supply chain of the coffee industry by living and working in a small East African country.  She has written marketing pieces to educate others about the companies coffee production and she has written curriculum to further educate the coffee farmers themselves.

Imagine a student who has spent time in inner city Anerica with women coming out of prostitution and domestic violence.  She has grown to love, listen, and befriend them.  She has assisted in maintaining the organizations donor relations, keeping the books, and learning the infrastructure of an organization.

Imagine a student who has spent her day to day traveling into slum communities in Southeast Asia visiting the homes of the world's ultra poor.  She has seen their poverty, sat in their homes, helped feed their children, and weighed and measured them to evaluate progress in overcoming malnourishment.

Imagine a student who has seen the world but also discovered their own self in the process.

Imagine a student who has begun to know the beauty of who they are and can embrace their story in all it's beauty and struggle.  They have begun to acquaint themselves with their strengths as well as their own liabilities.  And they are willing to work on both.

Imagine a student who now has the soft skills to begin to hone her ability to lead, manage, cooperate, and resolve conflict in a team environment.

Imagine a student who has discovered they can not love themselves unless they first love God.  Who can not love God unless they are willing to love themselves.  Imagine a student who has been able to make their faith their own.

Imagine placing this student in the college classroom to begin to prepare them for their future vocational aspirations.

Imagine the possiblities for this student.

Imagine the possibilities for our world.

Here at KIVU, I have the privilege of introducing you to that student. 

This new kind of college student is a KIVU Gap Year Graduate. 

A Year in Review (Photos)

It began in urban Denver.  Learning about the pain and problems in America, but also inside each of us.

In Haiti, we discovered a world much different from our own.  The world is not America.

In East Africa, we let the Rwandans teach us about forgiveness, reconciliation, family, and hope.  We lived with host families who embraced us as their own.

We hiked to the rooftop of Africa.  Mount Kilimanjaro at 19,341 ft.  And we realized that no challenge in life, no matter how daunting, is too large to face.

In India, we were stripped of all cultural comforts and challenged to let go and give ourselves away to the things in life that really matter.

In the Philippines, we saw poverty in it's most extreme circumstances.  But we also found joy, laughter, and tangible ways of addressing those who live off of less than 50 cents a day.

And now it is time for us take our journey of global discovery and personal transformation to the college campus with a little more knowledge of our self and the global neighborhood around us.

For theirs is the Kingdom

During our time in the Philippines, we've gotten to experience many of the programs that the multifaceted organization of ICM has to offer. About a week ago, we got to take part in the actual feeding program that we have been following up for the past few weeks. It put things into perspective and refreshed our sense of purpose for the follow up interviews, weighing, and measuring that we have been doing and will continue to do for our remaining week. The follow up that we have been doing has been 15 months after the feeding has taken place, but actually taking part in feeding the malnourished children and getting to see them smile from ear to ear as we give them and their parents food for the week was inspiring. God put us here for a purpose. We are blessed to get to see the fruit of the labor of so many others before us that have fed and nursed these malnourished children back to the bubbly healthy children we see on a day to day basis.We've been so blessed to get the opportunity to love and serve people in underdeveloped communities here through helping cook food,

serve food,

feed malnourished children,

and spending time and playing games with the kids.

They showed us how to climb coconut trees 

We attempted...

Some more successfully than others.

We also got to help with this beautiful garden.

 

 

 

 

Working with ICM

The Philippines has been wonderful. This country is full of bright colors and friendly people. The heat is a little overwhelming, but its been bearable so far. We're staying in the city of Bacolod, whose motto is the city of smiles. We're learning valuable lessons here, like how to live on a budget, how to branch out and try exciting new local foods, and how to live in the present.

 

During our time here in Bacolod, we have been interviewing families from ICM's different ministries and feeding programs. ICM's feeding program focuses on the badly malnourished children in each village and gives them food for six months, while teaching their families lessons on livelihood, values, and different skills so that they can better provide for their families after the program. We go to each family's home to check the progress of their previously malnourished children after the feeding program has stopped, and get their stories of their lives before and after this program.

 

It is heart wrenching to hear time and time again how families did not have a consistent enough income to put food on the table. None of us have experienced this kind of poverty. We've never had to be without. God is changing our hearts and our worldview. He's nudging us to live with purpose and pointing out our selfish habits. Being face to face with this kind of poverty is challenging, but we will be changed in a way that will glorify the Kingdom and produce noticeable fruit.

 

Walking through one of the communities

ICM handing out food during the malnourished children's outreach (MCO) program

 

Measuring and weighing the kids to track their progress after they finished the MCO program 15 months ago. 

 

Are You Stressed or Uncertain About College Next Year?

Hey Seniors!

We know the season.
You're waiting for that acceptance letter.
The anxiety mounts each day.
Or perhaps you have been accepted but something feels unsettling inside of
you.
Maybe you have not wanted to admit that the idea of a gap year has been
nagging at you.

We want you to know IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO CONSIDER A GAP YEAR.  We have

decided to continue accepting applications past our original March 1st
deadline.  We know this is a volatile time of decision making so we are
keeping the window open for you to apply and join our rapidly forming Class
of 2013-2014.  BUT DON'T WAIT AS THIS OPPORTUNITY WILL NOT LAST LONG!

Call our office at 970-884-1100 for more information on program travel,
internships, college credit, and spiritual development emphasis!!!!

How to Apply:

1.  Fill out our FREE 4 page application.  (request an application at
luke@campkivu.com)
2.  Request 1 Reference Letter to be sent to us.
3.  Schedule a Skype Interview with our KIVU Gap Year Director.
4.  Hear back within 3 weeks from when your application arrives.

 

Last Stop

Our last week of India was amazing. We got to go shopping in the colorful markets of Jaipur,

ride painted elephants through the jungle,

see the Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World,

 

practice some yoga,

and of course some gymnastics...

 

Everything was so beautiful. It blessed us immensely with some final fond memories of India before we left. It has been a beautiful country, full of bright colors, bold flavors, and unique customs.

 

We’ll forever remember the smiling, joyful faces of the children we worked with at the orphanage in Bangalore, and the sweet, God-fearing, servant hearts of the people who worked there. They taught us how God finds beauty in what the world calls broken and how we can find the Lord’s joy even when circumstances are hard. They showed us why Jesus called us to have the faith of a child and what it looks like to offer your life as a living sacrifice. 

 

Gap Year Benefits

The Gap Year concept is not a new idea.  In fact, it has been a common practice in the UK and Australia for decades.  While Americans are just now catching on to the idea, several studies reveal the long term benefits of those who make the leap and discover themselves and the world around them before entering college.

Below you will see a concise list of findings.  For an in depth layout of all the data, academic benefits, and personal benefits, please visit the American Gap Association website.

• 90% of students who took a Gap Year returned to college within one year

• 60% of students said their Gap Year set them on a career path or confirmed an academic major

• Gap Year students are perceived as 'more mature, more self-reliant and independent' than their peers

• Gap Year students exhibit a pattern of having higher GPA's than their peers, and this positive effect continues over all four years

• Gap Year students report a higher motivation in college specifically in planning, task management, and persistence
  

• Gap Year students highest three rated outcomes include the following:  "a better sense of who I am as a person and what is important to me", "a better understanding of other countries, people, cultures and ways of living", and "provided me with additional skills and knowledge that contributed to my career or academic major".

• Gap Year students reported overwhelming satisfaction with jobs after college

• 88% of Gap Year graduates reported their Gap Year added to their employability

Goodbye to Tanzania and Hello to India

After we finished hiking Kilimanjaro, we went on a safari in the Serengeti.

This park was known for elephants,

but we also saw zebras, lions, baboons, giraffes, antelope, buffalo, and other animals. When we were finished with the safari we said goodbye to our mountain.

We then spent a few days on the beach in Goa, India to relax after the climb. It was gorgeous and just what we needed. We even got to go parasailing.

We have since been in Bangalore, India working with special needs children.

 

India is very different from the other cultures we've experienced so far. Due to the influence of Eastern religions, there are huge statues of different gods around every corner. The people also dress differently than we've seen elsewhere. They wear very bright colors with very different styles than in Western culture, and many times they have paint of some kind on their foreheads after coming from the temple. Not only is the food different because of all the different spices they use, but the way they eat it is different than anything we've been exposed to as well. They only eat with their right hand, and they don't use utensils at all. Eating tends to be a pretty messy but fun process. The traffic here will also frequently be stopped by the abundance of cows roaming freely in the streets. These are only a few of the differences that we've experienced so far. Although the comfort of the familiar is seldom found, we're comforted by the fact that our God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. We're learning to rely on God more than ever for the comfort of familiarity and consistency of His character. God is doing and will continue to do so much while we are here to mold us into who He wants us to be to greater glorify His Kingdom, and that is the ultimate goal.

 

There and back again

 

We did it! Every one of us made it to the summit of Kilimanjaro. Seven days of hiking, and summit night was by far the hardest. We woke up at 11 pm to have some tea and then we left around midnight. The hike up to summit was breathtaking. In front of us were miles of headlamps zigzagging between switchbacks as people were slowly making their way up the mountain. Above us was a starry night like we've never seen, and behind us we could see lights from the cities in Tanzania far below. Seven hours later, we reached summit and our guide said that in the 18 years he's been climbing Kili, it was the windiest he's ever seen it. We were being blown all over the place as we hiked the final hour along the ridge from Stella's point to the summit, but we made it! and it was completely worth it. It is such an amazing feeling of accomplishment to know that with the strength of the Lord behind us, we are capable of so much more than we could ever dream possible.

Packing up camp after day 1. Still a long way to go...

Our campsite from day 2

Maneuvering through boulder fields on day 3

Climbing Baranco Wall on day 4

Us and our team before we start day 5

We summited!!! Day 6

Crossing the finish line on day 7

 

Goodbye Rwanda! Hello Kilimanjaro!

We're all sad to be gone from Rwanda, but we had a really good final week. Last weekend we spent at Lake Kivu. It was beautiful and relaxing, just what we needed before we left for Kilimanjaro. While we were there, we got to take a boat out to an island full of bats. Our guide threw rocks up into the trees to scare them all, and before we knew it, thousands and thousands of bats were flying in circles above our heads. Such a unique experience.

On Tuesday night, we all got to go with our families to a really nice Rwandan dinner. It was so great to see everyone one last time together, and a great way to say goodbye.

 

 

The rest of the week was filled with last minute shopping in the market, some karaoke, saying goodbye to internships, and spending some final time with our families. Rwanda was amazing, and we're going to miss it. We leave for Mount Kilimanjaro tomorrow morning. We're both excited and anxious about it, but we're confident as well. 

Our first view of the mountain...