Our Journey Academy

My name is Lynnea Brooks and when I started my journey in education back in 1991, it was always a dream of mine to go to a third-world country and work with a school there and help in any way I could. I knew that it would happen if it was God’s will for me to do this. So, I put it in god’s hands, and the opportunity never presented itself to me until recently.

In my time as a military spouse, we moved around quite often, and I always felt very blessed with the friendships, colleagues, students, and opportunities that that life provided for me. I believe in two things, 1) God never gives us more than we can handle and 2) he places people in our paths for a specific reason, whether to help us through our most challenging times or our most joyous. The people in my life’s journey have all been there to help me through my husband’s many deployments overseas, the difficulties in getting pregnant and having my beautiful daughter,  celebrating my master’s degree and earning my National Board Certification.

 

The good lord once again came through for me when he put my dear friend Angela in my path, who is also an educator. After meeting Angela, I learned that she has been traveling to Africa  since 2010, and sponsors 12 children there in Kenya and is a member of the board for the Our Journey Academy there. She would talk about her travels and what she was doing there, and I knew this was my opportunity to finally get to do something that I thought was only going to remain a dream. We have been talking about me joining her for a few years now, and then COVID hit, and it was put on hold for not only me but her too. My daughter started college this past August, and low and behold, her roommate ended up being from Kenya. I also recently got a student in one of my small groups named Kenya. So, I am taking God's signs, and now this year, we are finally planning that trip together and are leaving on June 15th of this year.

 

If you would like to support and help me on this journey, I would greatly appreciate any donations that you would be willing to help me make this dream come true and help with the mission we are set on. In previous years the money donated has been used for building new classrooms, adding water tanks, electricity, a playground, and kitchen to name a few. They also have recently added a sewing program for young mothers. They have also brought in an agency to vaccinate the children. While there we will be leading teacher PDs; Angela has also tasked me with creating six learning centers for Math and ELA for children ages 3-7. The money that I need to raise will help with school supplies for the Our Journey Academy school there in Kenya, getting food supplies, mattresses, school uniforms, backpacks, and shoes for the 12 families that Angela sponsors and possibly putting in a Greenhouse. We will also be able to go into town and get supplies from the teacher’s “wish lists”. They are also in the process of building a new 1st grade classroom that will be in operation while we are there. I still need to raise $1800 to help support the school and families.