Nicky's latest news:

Feeling that God had not quite finished His work in and through her, Nicky has followed her calling and returned for another stint in Afghanistan.  She is excited to be back in the country and has very much enjoyed her first three weeks, during which she has  been able to travel to both Jalalabad and Herat in the West of the country to conduct interesting meetings with partners from provincial and local government as well as representatives from other NGOs and UN agencies.

She is also well settled in her new guest house in Kabul, which she shares with 7 male colleagues, all of whom are very supportive, and fun to be with. Nicky is enjoying their company and also the opportunities she has to share her faith with them.

Although there was  some confusion over her role at first, which led to some unsettling moments and a degree of vulnerability, it seems like Nicky's role has now been sorted out. Nicky will be working as part of the Secondary and District Centre Roads Programme of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in Afghanistan. Her role will be to create synergy with government and local community bodies in charge of instigating and managing reconstruction and development efforts in their regions, to build their capacity and to ensure that, through appropriate liaison with local stakeholders and  other agencies and through using government policy documents and plans as guidelines,  UNOPS designs and implements projects which will truly address the needs and problems of the Afghans. In carrying out her work, Nicky will be travelling all across the country and spending extended periods of time in different project locations, mainly in the East, South and South East where new work will hopefully soon begin.

Nicky sends her love and prayers to all at St. Paul’s and beyond, and has shared the following prayer points for us to start with:

Prayers for.....

• Her role to soon be defined,  in accordance with God's plans for her and the project
• Protection, both spiritual and physical (the latter all the more relevant given the danger in some of the areas to which she will be travelling)
• "anchoring" in God at all times, even when it is not easy to have contact with other Christians
• A real ability to witness both to the Afghans and also to the expatriates with whom Nicky lives and works
• Spiritual, personal and professional growth which will lead to an ability to serve and glorify God through her work in Afghanistan
• Her family who are not Christians and struggle with her being in such a dangerous environment