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Updated Oct 9th, 2008
Discover the
World
Where Hope Springs Eternal
Local Residents Traveling
to Africa For Ministry Trip
Local residents preparing for their trip to Africa with the Discover the World ministry include (seated,
from left) Janice McGlashan, Doug Millham, Bob Bautista, Nancy Newhouse Porter, Cathie
Bautista and Chris Duryee. Standing: Christa Peitzman, Brooke Moore, Liz Young, Christie Skinner
and Sharon Hindson.
By CHRISTINA HAMLETT
The Outlook
In 2005, La Cañada resident
Janice McGlashan took a trip that
would change her life forever.
“My family and I had gone to
Africa on an upscale safari and, as
I knew we would, spent hours
alone in camps with just our
guides observing the animals and
soaking up the ambiance and
beauty of the untamed landscape,”
she said.
What McGlashan hadn’t
expected, however, was to learn
from their hosts the devastating
toll the AIDS crisis has had on the
lives of every African person.
“It would be difficult to find
any African citizen who doesn’t
have a family member or friend
who has died of this terrible disease,” McGlashan said. “We also
began to understand the incredible
poverty most Africans face. Yet
despite their overwhelming hardships,
we couldn’t help but
observe the hope and spirit of these loving people. As a family,
we made a commitment to return to
Africa — not as rich American
tourists — but as friends with a deep
desire to do whatever we could to
support them.”
The following summer, the McGlashans joined Discover the
World on a mission trip, led by
Doug and Jackie Millham, to the
slums of Nairobi to meet and work
with the children at The Shepherds
Home orphanages. “What an eyeopening
encounter for us all,” she
said. “The hands-on experience
with these wonderful orphans
prompted us to make a commitment
to support one of the young boys
named Steven. Should he be fortunate
enough to survive through his
college years, our monthly assistance
will be there for him.”
Sadly, Steven is one of more
than 12 million orphans in Sub-
Saharan Africa where estimates
indicate that 9% of all children have
lost at least one parent to the AIDS
pandemic. In the next three years,
that number is expected to increase
by another 3.7 million. Not only
does the loss of one or both parents
to AIDS decrease a child’s likelihood
of reaching adulthood, but it
also taints them with the stigma of
the disease itself. Many are forced
to give up school to take care of
dying relatives; many more turn to
begging, stealing or prostitution just
to be able to get food.
When she tucks her own children
into bed at night and hears
about their daily trials, McGlashan
can’t shake the haunting African
images from her mind. “I can’t stop
thinking about the children on the
other side of the world who don’t
have anyone to tuck them in or ask
about their day,” she said.
McGlashan decided she wanted to
make a greater contribution and was
honored when she was asked to
become a board member of
Discover the World.
Founded in 1989 by Millham
and his wife, Jackie, Discover the
World is a Pasadena-based Christian
non-profit relief and development
organization which directs
resources from the U.S. to assist
orphans and vulnerable children
gain security, education and a hopeful
future. Millham relates that early
in their marriage, he and Jackie
spent a year in Somalia and Kenya
(1981-82) working for Monroviabased
World Vision International.
“In the years since, we served in
other countries, have adopted two
children of our own, and have
developed a passion for helping
children at risk wherever the need is
greatest,” Doug Millham said. “We
have continued to maintain friendships
with African colleagues, and
have led many volunteer groups
from the U.S. to Kenya.”
In 2000, he was taken to a small
school in the Nairobi slums and had
his first introduction to the chilling
crisis caused by HIV/AIDS. “A
Kenyan friend challenged me with
the question ‘Can you help us?’ My
heart was broken and — without
really counting the cost — I said,
‘Yes, of course,’ “ Millham said. “It
took me three more years to raise
funds, assemble volunteers and supporters,
and return to open The
Shepherds Home, the first
HIV/AIDS orphanage, for 24 girls
in Nairobi. All of them had lost their
parents, aunts and uncles to the
AIDS crisis. I’ve been serving this
program full-time ever since. Today
we support four projects in Kenya,
serving over 500 children and families.”
Since the decision to focus on
the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa in
2003, Millham explains that
Discover the World has experienced
unprecedented growth. “Our work
focuses almost exclusively on
assisting orphans of the HIV/AIDS
crisis, and efforts to raise money
and motivate involvement towards
this cause have increased dramatically,”
he said. “Our donor base
includes Christian churches in several
communities across the U.S., a
half dozen Southern California
Rotary Clubs, high school and college
interest groups, numerous corporate
sponsors, a few private foundations,
and several hundred individual
donors. Our board of directors
has made financial integrity our
highest priority for administering
these funds, and our annual reporting
is public and intentionally transparent.
Our annual goal is to use no
more than 20% of funds on U.S.
administration and fundraising,
with 80% going to our projects in
Kenya.”
Discover the World receives no
U.S. government funding or overseas
funding. “Each of the projects
we support is encouraged to develop
economic plans for self-sufficiency
within their own communities,” Millham said. “As a result, small
amounts of money are generated
within Kenya through the taking in
of boarding students to our schools,
or the renting out of our facilities or
vehicles for the use of others. All
those funds remain within Kenya.”
“We live in a very generous
community,” adds McGlashan. “Of
the 50 children currently sponsored
on a monthly basis, half of them are
supported by local La Cañada families
like mine and half again of these
families have had one or more
members of their families visit their
sponsored child in Kenya. It’s a natural
fit for a community like ours
that is so dedicated to its own children
that the urgent needs of children
at risk abroad would be supported.”
A small group of volunteers —
the majority of whom are from La
Cañada Flintridge — will depart
this month for Nairobi to not only
visit the 50 children of The
Shepherds Home orphanages, but to
also visit several other orphanages
in need of the organization’s
humanitarian support.
“Christa Peitzman, Sharon
Hindson, Christie Skinner, Doug
and I are anticipating with great joy
the chance to see all the kids we’ve
come to love,” McGlashan said.
“For Bob and Cathie Bautista, Liz
Young, Nancy Porter, Chris Duryee
and Brooke Moore, this will be the
first time they get to meet the children
they’ve been sponsoring. We’ll
also have a chance to view the new
soccer field that has been built with
the generous support of Don
Sheppard and the LAFC soccer club
in the slums of Nairobi.”
Plans are already underway for
a trip in August of 2009 for a group
of youth and adults from the community
to bless the field and provide
clinics and games for the locals.
Millham has no shortage of
praise for the generosity of the people
of Southern California and especially
La Cañada. “It’s gratifying to
see their eagerness to visit the children
we serve and, more importantly,
to stand with them as they grow
into an adulthood that will be filled
with challenges,” he said. “Discover
the World custom-designs each volunteer
group experience to insure
maximum engagement between the
volunteer and the children and communities
we serve. For our upcoming
trip, we’ll take a small but very
energized and creative team to
spend two weeks building friendships,
learning from each child
about the journey they’re taking
towards the future, and demonstrating
a loving approach towards people
who have been through so much
suffering and pain. We believe that
by building bridges of understanding
and compassion between our
two cultures, peace and prosperity
can be shared in significant ways.
Especially at a time when our own
nation is going through tremendous
economic challenges, such trips can
display the best of the American
spirit of generosity, as well as share
God’s love in deep and powerful
ways.”
He holds a high and optimistic
view of that American spirit which
he believes is fueled by faith in God
and a strong belief in extending the
blessings of our nation to others.
“We’re a compassionate and generous
nation, and our churches and
schools and communities are filled
with compassionate and generous
people,” Millham said. “Our nation
will recover, and we won’t neglect
the needs of others along the way.
That has always been our history.
That will be our future. And even
though the dollar buys much less in
the U.S. than it has in a long time,
the dollar still goes a long, long way
in Africa.”
While he acknowledges that in
America the needs are great, insofar
as addressing the harm done by substance
abuse, gang violence, unemployment
and poverty, he believes
that the opportunity for assistance,
education and work are extensive in
virtually every city.
“In Africa, children and young
adults are eager to grow into productive
members of society but have
little or no opportunity and few who
care,” Millham said. “Adding to that
the terrible loss of family, parents,
friends and entire tribal leadership
through the AIDS crisis, these children
would surely die without our
help. That has been such a compelling
challenge to me that I can do
contd. from page 1 no other thing with my life but to
serve them with all my heart, mind,
soul and strength.”
As an active member of the religious
community, Millham is often
asked how a loving God could allow
so much pain to be inflicted on such
young and innocent victims. “It’s
precisely the lack of love for others
which, in my view, has created the
immeasurable disparity between the
haves and the have-nots of this
earth,” he said. “In Africa, leaders
are predominately fueled by a combination
of greed, self-interest, and
corruption, and those who are without
power or voice are the one who
get hurt the most. The Kenyans have
a proverb which says, ‘When the
elephants fight, it is the grass that
suffers.’ This crisis isn’t God’s
doing, it’s mankind’s. The same
humanity which created this horrifying
poverty and pain also contains
loving and compassionate people
who will help to right the wrongs.
We can and must help those in this
world who yearn for freedom and
opportunity.”
The accomplishment Millham is
most proud of thus far revolves
around the fact that all 50 of the
orphaned children currently in residential
care in Shepherds Home
remain HIV/AIDS free after more
than five years in the program.
“They have all progressed educationally
toward high school and
college, and all have developed joy,
hope and laughter,” Millham said.
“I’m passionate about giving opportunities
to children who have none,
and as long as I draw breath I will
thank God for the privilege of serving
these wonderful young people.
The original 24 girls call themselves
‘The Blessed Sisters’ because of the
hope and opportunity they receive
but, in truth, I’m the one who feels
blessed every time I’m with them. I
hope that’s the case for all our volunteers
and donors as well.”
Millham closes with a favorite
story that affirms his belief in the
path he has chosen. “Fredrick Juma
was born with club feet in a remote
village in Kenya in 1994. His physical
deformity caused him to be
shunned by the villagers and when
his parents died of AIDS, he was
cast out, driven to another town and
left on the streets to live as a beggar.
At age 12, Fredrick was brought to
The Shepherds Home in 2005 by an
elderly lady who had been feeding
him at her door. A year later, nurtured
and guided by loving staff and
surrounded by other children, he
began to blossom. Thanks to the
generosity of KTLA’s Stephanie
Edwards and others, Fredrick was
given successful orthopedic operations
on both feet, and today he’s
walking, running, playing soccer,
dancing, and is the top student in his
class. He has gone from being an
outcast to a leader, thanks to the love
of God displayed through the lives
of donors, sponsors and volunteers.
This is why I do what I do.”
Readers interested in getting
involved by providing a donation to
support the children, sponsoring a
child in need, or wanting to travel on
an upcoming trip to Kenya can contact Millham directly dougdtw@discovertheworld.org.
For more information
concerning the work of
Discover the World and The
Shepherds Home, visit www.discovertheworld.org and
www.theshepherdshome.org.
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