Our Senior Advisor and cofounder, Michael Allen, has seen firsthand how stepping into unfamiliar places broadens hearts and minds. Travel shaped his Christian worldview and taught him that, as Mark Twain put it, “travel is fatal to prejudice.” Many of our Violence Reduction (VR) team have never left their neighborhoods or boarded a plan. So we set out to change that, because we believe the best education money can buy happens face-to-face, on the ground, with neighbors near and far.
In late August our small team split five days between Kenya and Rwanda. We worshipped with an Anglican church in Nairobi, listened more than we spoke, and walked though communities living with a kind of scarcity that can’t be grasped from a screen. Even for teammates who grew up with poverty and welfare in Chicago, this was a new scale. It was emotional. It stirred sympathy as well as generosity, which was spontaneous.
Our group quietly raised $700 on the spot: $200 for the Mother’s Union ministry at the Anglican cathedral in Kigali, serving women who have known homelessness and sexual exploitation and are now learning to sew and braid; and $500 toward a water project at a church under renovation. One teammate chose to sponsor a young girl we met in Nairobi so she can complete her education. None of these moments were planned in advance.
Rwanda added a different lesson. At the genocide memorial in Kigali, our team confronted the horror of neighbor turning against neighbor, and then learned how a nation decided on reconciliation over revenge. The story is courageous: Hutu and Tutsi families now live side-by-side, rebuilding together. We brought our VR team there precisely for this reason. If reconciliation can take root in the soil of that history, then it can take root in Chicago’s neighborhoods, too.
“This trip was not only an unforgettable experience, but also a chance to learn, grow, and connect with people and cultures in meaningful ways… The memories and lessons I’ve gained will continue to inspire the work I do with, and for, Together Chicago,” says Corey Frierson from our VR team.
Thank you for donors who believed in this vision before we ever boarded a plane. Your investment is forming leaders who return to Chicago with wider eyes, humbler hearts, and practical ideas for peace. And thank you to our hosts in Nairobi and Kigali who welcomed us as family.
