Riley Banks (17) – Short Q&A

Riley Banks (17) – Short Q&A

Riley Banks, Age 17: Building Schools and Opening Orphanages

Riley Banks, Age 17: Building Schools and Opening Orphanages

50 Sweet Pamoja students!

Well as most of you know, I just returned home from my fourth trip to Africa. This year was one of the biggest as I opened my first school, Pamoja.  Handed out around 900 hygiene kits to young school girls in Kibwezi as well as held a VBS! (Vacation Bible School)  God has been doing some amazing things thru Generation Next! I am truly blessed to be able to follow His lead and surrender myself to HIm!

Pamoja Grand Opening

Dedication of the building.

One group of school girls with their hygiene kits.

Last night of VBS

Generation Next - Current Issue - 417 Magazine

Generation Next - Current Issue - 417 Magazine

My First Real Publication!

     So 3 years later after a lot  of hard work, I was lucky enough to get an article published about Generation Next in Rural Missouri Magazine! The response has been amazing! I have answered more calls from people wanting to help,  from cash donations, to quilts, to kswahilli tracts, making drawstring hygiene bags. I can not stop smiling!  Finally what I have been dreaming and praying for is all coming together. I am feeling over blessed (if that's possible).  I am of course going to upload the article for those of you who have not got to see it! For those of you who have please bear thru my excitement :)
     I can not end my blog with out saying thank you to Jeff Pardeck who has ALWAYS been one of my biggest supporters and lined up the interview with The Rural Missouri Magazine.  Which then leads me to Heather Berry who drove down from Jefferson City to interview and write the article and became an instant loving friend! Thank you everyone for your continued love and support!!
                                                                                                                      Ahhhhh God is good!

Busy 16 year old girl!

This one is going to be short and sweet, in hopes that my followers are still out there wondering what I have been doing for the past year.  Yes, I did make another amazing trip to Kibwezi in June. Started my Junior year of High School and of course trying to get my non-profit Generation Next off the ground.  My June trip to Kenya was very successful as we finished a school, sponsored a medical clinic, and handed out 200 hygiene kits to young girls my age.  I can't begin to tell you how God's been working in my heart.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from my trip.  I will blog about each individual accomplishment as each deserves their own post.  Here is a teaser... I promise to blog again before the year is up :)

Sweetest Faces EVER!

The last two days have been very busy visiting several different schools.  We have seen around 2500 kids.  Yesterday we visited 130 of the sweetest face orphans EVER!!  Most of the schools have between 300-500 kids, so it has been difficult to get on a personal level, of course you can spot some sweet faces quickly at the schools but our time there was short.  Yesterday we got to stay and play with the 130 orphans for a long time each one wanting to sit on our laps!  It was amazing the sweetest faces ahhhh!  Alot of the children are very malnourished they looked to be 4-5 years old when they were actually 8-9 years old.  They are using a Baptist building now to gather the kids in but our praying for a building of there own.  Today we visited Roberts boys.  Robert takes in high school boys, either orphaned or one parent.  He houses, feeds and watches over them.   Right now he has 19 boys.  We took them all backpacks and Bibles.  We bought the groceries and they prepared a great lunch.  Goat, rice, beans, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, bananas. We ate alot!!! Gio enjoyed the goat :) I think for the first time Gio is full! haha We have handed out all our school supplies and backpacks.  Our time here is quickly coming to an end!  We will be traveling to Mombasa on Monday to take a peek at the Indian Ocean, soak up some sun and enjoy another part of God's big world!  We will stay in Mombasa for three days and then head back to Nairobi to visit the giraffe center! I can't leave Africa without seeing the giraffes.  Please continue to pray for our journey to Mombasa and back to Nairobi!  Love you!!

Dusty Trail

The last couple of days have been very busy!  We traveled to Mumos home on boda boda's and went to his church. The service was amazing, great praise and worship.  After church we went back to Mumo's where we gave his mom, Beatrice some quilts and a huge bag 90 kilograms of maize for a gift. ( they insist it is cold of the evenings yet we are still sweating)! Today we went to two different schools.  The first was Kisayani, it was a school/home for the special needs.  There were 36 kids there all very sweet!  They enjoyed the supplies and LOVED the soccer ball. We then went to Kalulini where we handed out Jesus loves you bracelets and school supplies.  There were 680 kids at that school it was crazy to see that many kids around us, all wanting to hold our hands and talk. We then went on a home visit to woman's house named Mary, she was infected with HIV. She gave birth to twins not knowing she had the disease, infecting one of the twins.  We took her some cabbage, lentils, and rice, and of course a Bible..  The kids toys and suckers.  All very grateful for our short visit.  Today when we got back to the guest house we prepared a meal in the kitchen.  We bought some fresh vegetables and chapati we made homemade salsa ( with cilantro) guacamole, and pasta!  We ate ALOT!  It seemed to taste like home!!! Burgwin and Mumo both enjoyed our cooking :) The days are so emotional with the needs of everyone you meet.  I think mom would have brought home a little boy with down syndrome today if she could have.  She cried before she left!! It was a very hard day for her.  Tomorrow we are off to two more schools both very large.  Pictures are posted on facebook, I could not get them uploaded to my blog, sorry.  So why did I label this the dusty trail, well... I have come to be OK with dust on my feet, in my hair and most of all up my nose!! haha Love you all, continue to send your prayers our way!!! Loving every minute of it!

 Riding the Boda Bodas.  Yes, that's four people on one motorcycle :)

 Mumo's family

 Our first Sunday in Kibwezi.  Come to find out it was this pastors first Sunday at this church too. (far left)

He had quite the surprise when half of his congregation was white!

 This boys class mates called him "preacher".  He really loved his Bible.

 Mary's family...The little girl looking at the camera is the one with HIV

Our "home" cooked meal - buttered noodles, homemade salsa, and fresh cut pineapple.

Can you say YUMMY!!!!!

The Rescue Team HIV Center

Wow!  Day 1 was GREAT!  We went to an HIV orphanage, where kids and adults are tested for HIV and then schooled on how to take care of themselves and protect themselves. The myths are huge here about HIV, so education is very  important.  After the kids sang and danced and then we ate rice and beans, handed out suckers and lots of toys :) We walked down to watch some boys at a local school play soccer for us.  We took two soccer balls and I presented one to my team captain and Hadley gave one to hers.  Well after a team "pep talk" 1-2-3 GO TEAM!  My team pulled out the victory with penalty kicks. (good thing I have been brushing up on my soccer rules).  We rode a boda boda (motorcycle today) first time for me,  three people on one boda boda!  Pictures are hysterical :) Mom and Gio are feeling much better.   Excited  for day two!!  We are going to buy a modem tomorrow so I can hopefully upload some pictures. Continue to pray as we follow our hearts.  Love you all!!!



 Burgwin Getting Ready to do an HIV test.

Results were negative :)

Kibwezi!!

Arrived in Nairobi at 1:00am.  Made  to Kebwezi at 4:00am.  Needless to say TIRED!! All our luggage arrived in one piece, and we got thru customs only having to pay 10 Bibles :) We are at the cyber cafe in town for some reason our iphones are not working yet.  Mom and Gio have been sick with headaches and upset tummy.  Not sure if they are just tired or if they have caught a bug.  They both slept thru lunch, and now we have walked to the market to look for some fruit.  Please keep them in your prayers  Tomorrow we are heading out around 10 to go to our first school.  Sunday we will drive to where Mumo lives and attend church with his family.  Will post pictures from Friday Saturday and Sunday on Monday. Miss you all!  Love you, and keep the prayers coming!!

 First day at the Kambua Guest House

What a way to wake up!



Ask and you shall receive.

I'm sitting in the Chicago airport blogging because I ran out of time before I left. I apologize. My house has literally been full of school supplies and Bibles for the last month! God is so good! I had two different people donate a total of 464 Bibles, and between 10-12 schools donate all there school supplies. When I asked the schools for their donations I had no idea what would happen, it was crazy!!! From Grandma and Grandpa Banks picking up 2 huge van loads to Branson Intermediate we had a house full! We sorted school supplies for about a week, so amazed at the supplies that were going to be thrown away and we quickly turned them into enough school supplies for 6 schools/orphanages in Africa. I won't even tell you how quickly I started thinking about what if I could get all the schools in Missouri to donate there school supplies at the end of each year! Mom quickly said let's get thru this trip first :) So when we loaded our truck this morning we had packed a total of 10 totes/suitcases 6 carry on bags equalling around almost 700 pounds of schools supplies and Bibles! I told you God was good! We checked all the totes and leave it to dad we had 2 out of all our totes that were at 50.5 pounds but they let us slide! Once again I am humbled at how God always provides for what pops into this small crazy brain of mine. I will keep you all posted and upload pics as I can! I have 20 days to touch as many lives as possible, so I may be a bit busy! Haha please pray for us as we finish our travels into Nairobi and as I prepare to be God's servant!

 Sorting through some of the school supplies that we collected

 

 

Waiting for our flight

Crazy Cupcakes

So I am totally in fundraising mode! I had seen where another organizaion used cupcakes as a fundraiser, I thought easy enough where do I start? Well one text to my 4th grade teacher Mrs. Vejraska thinking I may be able to put some in the teachers lounge turned into eight class rooms ordering cupcakes which equaled 196 cupcakes!!!! God is good :) Needless to say, they are adorable, and will be deliverd on time tomorrow morning. Thanks to mom and Katie (my Bible study leader) for helping me bake and decorate. A huge thank you to Mrs. V. your the best!!!

Katie and I

Fast Forward 1 Year

Wow! It's almost been one year since my trip to Africa. I came home and quickly got back into the same school, volleyball, school, volleyball schedule. I thought about the kids I had met and left everyday! I knew my work was not done, just had not figured out what God's plan was for me yet. Well let me tell you He has shown me. I have at the age of 15 started my own 501C3 non profit organization called Generation Next! My mission: Supplies For Life! My goal is to provide orphaned or under privileged children with the supplies they will need spiritually and educationally. I came up with the idea to fill a backpack with school supplies and a full size Bible for each child. We are heading back to Africa in June and I am praying that I would be able to provide 500 children with backpacks. Below are a few pictures of my first fundraiser. Chili's let us do a 10% back night for three nights. What a great success. Thanks again to everyone who has supported me and my crazy ideas :) What you wanna help? www.generationnextcares.org

Faithful Friends

Gio, Courtney and Kass

Helping at Chili's Night

The Brown's always supportive!!

Aunt Teenie and her friends!

Safe and Sound

Hello, from Branson, Missouri. Dad and I are home safe and sound. Our trip home started off with some plane trouble in Nairobi, so we ended up staying another night. Which meant we missed every connecting flight home. We flew out Sunday morning and then had to stay another night in London, ok I have to admit that lay over made me smile. We arrived in Springfield around five on Monday. Its Wednesday evening I should be doing all my homework, but still find my mind more in Africa than Missouri. When I left I could not have imagined how life changing of a trip this would be, my highs were as high as one could go and my lows were just as low. I felt every emotion a girl could feel (and thats alot). Everyone asks what the best part was and I can't pick one the whole two weeks were the best of my life. From spending quality time with an awesome dad, beautiful aunt, crazy uncle and sweet cousin to meeting the most amazing, respectful loving people in my life. I think looking back I realize how present God is there. I thank Him for picking a young girl from Branson, to trust with these children. A piece of my heart will always be there. We have around 2000 pictures from our trip as I went through all of them this was my favorite. I think its because it says alot about my trip. The nursery is where I struggled the most with my heart. Aunt Julie was so supportive of me, and helped me to get past the nerves. I loved holding this baby, so many thoughts went thru my mind as I wondered what was in store for her, I can't even let my mind wander for a minute, wondering if she is ok. I guess really if you think about it know matter where she is God is with her. How great is that? I think my life at home will also change a bit for a feel like a different girl on the inside. My last Thank You's are to Aunt Julie and Uncle Logan for taking such great care of dad and I. I LOVE YOU! I titled this blog Safe and Sound, for two reasons.One, dad and I are home safe and sound and second I pray this sweet girl is safe and sound with her family. Thanks Again to everyone who helped me along this journey it was great! With that said, I am already planning my next trip back. We (the whole family) will be leaving the first week in June 2011. We plan on spending our whole time at the Mosop Mission School. I can't wait:)

Saying Goodbye

Nancy with the blanket I made.
Ride to Bomet
Sharon, my friend leading me into the village.
My Tenwek Friends
Well yesterday was our last day :( Logan, dad, and I went to Bomet. Which is only a couple of minutes away from Tenwek. We rode in a matau which is crazy. It is a 5 seat car and they fit about 8-10 people in it. It was a little squished. We went to some stores around there and just looked. Dad got a backpack for $8 and then Logan got a book. Then we went to their grocery store, that and the matau were my favorite part. It was fun to see all the different brands. They also have Obama gum so we got us a pack of that. I got some tea leaves to make chai. Here they have chai around 5 times a day and they drink it boiling hot. Its really good a Nancy taught me how to make it. Later that night we went down to Nancy's neighborhood (with Nancy that way she could translate) I gave the family's a blanket and we gave the kids suckers. They all loved the blankets and were so thankful. After we finished giving out the "7" blankets we had ( we had eight but didn't tell Nancy that, she is about 5 months pregnant ) we went to Nancy's house and talked for a while and surprised her with her blanket. She LOVED it! She is so sweet and I will really miss her. While leaving her house all the kids that I have been playing with the past couple of weeks were outside and we got a ton of pictures with them and they even tried taking pictures with my camera. I will really miss everybody! I can't wait to come back. Everybody here is so nice. I am very sad to be leaving, but I will be happy to be home. I am so glad I came. I have learned a lot about the people in this small village as well as alot about myself. The one thing I know for sure is I am going home a different girl, a humbled girl, with a bigger heart for the Lord. I am so glad the Lord brought this opportunity to me. I am very blessed to have such great friends and family who helped me and supported me through out the the whole process and while I was here. I love you all very much, and thank you! Now I have to go we are leaving for Nairobi thanks again, bye.