Hope and Basketball...

The following is a blog written by senior guard Ruth Ketcham about her experience of travelling abroad this summer with Athletes in Action.

Hey Everyone! I wanted to share with all of you the amazing opportunity the Lord gave me this summer to go on a short term mission trip. August 1st-17th I went to Nairobi, Kenya with Athletes in Action. Athletes in Action is affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ and they take athletes and coaches from all over the United States and other countries on tours using sports, mainly basketball, as a vehicle to share the Gospel. I had the great privilege of going with 42 other coaches, athletes, and bible teachers from Canada, U.S. and Poland. I was the only one from the South :)

We had 4 main goals that we wanted to accomplish and that were the main reasons we were there. 1) We wanted to clearly proclaim the truth of the Gospel 2) We wanted to give quality basketball skill and teaching development 3) We wanted to meet basic human needs 4) That we would help build into the existing Athletes in Action staff in Kenya and Rwanda. 

The first part of our ministry was doing a basketball camp in the mornings with local kids from a school/church near by called Kioli. On average we had 120 to 140 kids that came every morning. The basketball camp was organized into stations, each station having a skill that was being taught. I was in charge of the dribbling/ball handing station. I think Coach Morris would be proud to know that I taught "ball pounds", which is something we do almost everyday in practice. :) The kids liked them about as much is us girls do. :) Camp lasted a few hours and many times after camp there would be pick up games between the older Kenyan players and our team. The Kenyans are very athletic and fast but they have very little skill and fundamentals, mainly due to the lack of coaching. The second part of our ministry was putting on a Vacation Bible School (VBS) at the Soweto Academy school in Kibera, which is a slum just outside of Nairobi. This slum is the biggest in Africa. In a 1 mile radius there is over 2 million people that live there. After basketball camp in the mornings the other athletes and I would go there to help the bible teachers with VBS. Even though I love teaching basketball, going to the slum and working with these young children and teaching them truths of the gospel and just playing with them was my favorite part of the trip. I will never forget the children and the things I saw. Americans, me included, have no idea what it means to live in constant need. I was so touched by the joy they had even though they had nothing materially.

The Lord used this trip in my life in so many ways. It challenged me in my own personal walk with the Lord but the biggest thing I walked away with was that the relationships I have with people, friends, family, and teammates are what is really important. I ask my self, am I making an eternal difference in the lives of people around me? Do I love people unconditionally and truly care about other's needs over mine? I hope that I am.

Ruth Ketcham

2 Cor. 5:17-21