Latest / I Don't Know You / How Saying "I Can't Leave Without Doing Something" Shaped Cassie Furnari's Life's Work

Transcript

How Saying "I Can't Leave Without Doing Something" Shaped Cassie Furnari's Life's Work · I Don't Know You

0:04
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm Matt.
0:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm a Jesus follower,
0:07
SPEAKER_00: husband,
0:08
SPEAKER_00: father,
0:08
SPEAKER_00: son,
0:09
and friend who is deeply curious about people's creativity and
0:13
how we unleash our
0:14
SPEAKER_00: unique talents onto a world that needs them.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: We've got another Barnabas Q&A this week.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm joined by Cassie Furnari,
0:21
SPEAKER_00: the founder and president of Malele,
0:23
SPEAKER_00: a rescue and recovery home for homeless young men in Kenya.
0:26
We hear a bit about her story and how she got her calling into
0:30
this life-changing
0:31
SPEAKER_00: and challenging work.
0:32
as well as hear a couple questions from our community at the
0:35
Emerging Leaders Group.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: If you want to learn more about the Barnabas Group or Milele,
0:40
SPEAKER_00: there are some links in the show notes.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy!
0:42
SPEAKER_00: A little bit more,
0:43
we didn't get to hear a ton about Cassie's like the origin
0:46
story of Milele and I
0:49
would love to hear kind of more of the origin story behind the
0:52
heart of like why
0:54
SPEAKER_00: you started this and what was like the catalyst for kind of,
0:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't know,
1:00
SPEAKER_00: getting excited is probably the wrong
1:02
way to say that but your heart for being like okay I need to do
1:07
something about
1:07
this so I think like yeah if you wouldn't mind just kind of
1:11
sharing a little bit
1:12
about that story and then we can go into like Q&A if you guys
1:16
have any questions or
1:17
anything but yeah take it away yeah hey all the young people in
1:24
the crowd woohoo
1:26
so laid out um yeah i grew up in the church and was exposed to
1:33
um missions and
1:35
international development from a really young age um and so
1:39
then when i went off to
1:40
college i wanted to study international development did that at
1:45
point loma um went
1:47
SPEAKER_01: yeah
1:50
When back to Kenya where I had spent some time growing up and
1:55
was interning with an
1:56
organization did some work on the streets and kind of found
2:00
this need and this
2:01
problem I befriended with a few other college kids with me
2:06
befriended some of these
2:07
SPEAKER_01: boys on the streets
2:09
and the summer when we were at the end of the summer we were
2:12
leaving and I was like
2:14
SPEAKER_01: I can't leave without doing something about this so into a few different
2:18
organizations and was like hey I've got these 12 boys living on
2:21
the streets I think
2:22
they have great potential to get off the streets to do really
2:25
well and the
2:27
organizations were like nope they are too old for our
2:31
organization we won't take
2:32
SPEAKER_01: them in we've tried and it doesn't work and I was like
2:37
I don't think that's the right answer so it kind of was like I
2:41
mean as a lot of
2:42
nonprofits start it was kind of built out of this like I was
2:45
not planning on doing
2:47
this I wasn't trying to do this and and just saw this huge need
2:54
it's a large
2:54
demographic living on the streets that just essentially had no
2:58
access to services
2:59
SPEAKER_01: and
3:01
SPEAKER_01: got a few family members to pitch in some money,
3:04
SPEAKER_01: sent a few boys to school and then realized like,
3:06
SPEAKER_01: okay,
3:07
SPEAKER_01: they need more than just education.
3:09
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot more to this than just sending some kids to school.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: So then over the years it grew and it developed
3:17
I met an amazing couple a pastor and a trained social worker
3:21
and counselor married
3:22
couple who are like the co-founders helped me build this from
3:26
the beginning they're
3:27
still our directors to this day they're local to Kenya and that
3:31
was really like
3:33
my heart behind it all I wasn't again I was not like trying to
3:36
start something I
3:37
wanted it to be locally led they were the ones that knew how to
3:41
solve this problem
3:42
they had worked with street youth in the past they had actually
3:45
raised like 10
3:47
girls and boys that were living on the streets so I was like
3:51
wow the Lord has just
3:52
put these amazing people to do this it kind of was one of those
3:57
things where like
3:58
SPEAKER_01: God was just opening doors and like you had to walk through them.
4:02
What was it that you wanted to do or did you have an inkling of
4:05
what you wanted to
4:06
SPEAKER_00: do before this like as you got interrupted basically?
4:10
I mean I was looking into development organization so applying
4:14
to charity water and
4:16
foundations and right after I graduated I worked for a family
4:20
foundation for some
4:21
time and then realized like oh this needs my like full-time
4:25
attention and started
4:27
SPEAKER_01: it.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: from there.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: Well,
4:30
it's crazy to see the journey from like presenting first and
4:34
even just seeing like
4:35
SPEAKER_00: the building.
4:37
It almost looks like when you put like an image in chat and
4:40
then you're like,
4:41
SPEAKER_00: hey,
4:41
SPEAKER_00: design me like a building that
4:43
but it's like real you know it's crazy so real it's crazy to
4:47
think about that did
4:48
you guys as you were listening to her story did you guys have
4:50
any questions about
4:52
like what she's doing on the ground like as practical as you
4:55
want to get or as like
4:57
kind of philosophical as you want to get were there any
4:59
questions that came up as
5:01
you were kind of hearing her story had you guys heard of Mulele
5:04
before was this the
5:05
SPEAKER_02: first time for you guys one was she talked about growing
5:13
check check you talked about growing up or visiting there as a
5:17
kid tell me a little
5:18
bit more about that I didn't know that part of your story yeah
5:21
my dad's a pastor
5:23
and and not a missions pastor but I grew up going to Mexico
5:29
with the youth group
5:30
when I was like itty-bitty and Kenya with our missions
5:34
organization team and all of
5:36
SPEAKER_01: that so I think my heart was just kind of like
5:39
opened while I was young and continued to travel with my family
5:45
as different
5:46
opportunities from church were opened up and my family was
5:49
involved in organization
5:50
SPEAKER_01: so it was really like my family led that and my heart just followed.
5:57
SPEAKER_02: That's really cool.
5:59
SPEAKER_02: This one's a little bit more present but what as a leader of a non-profit
6:04
SPEAKER_02: organization do you do to prevent burnout?
6:09
because it's ministry is very hard it's very taxing and you
6:13
have all this in your
6:14
care you know you're building buildings I don't know if you
6:17
plan to be an architect
6:22
I mean I'm in ministry as well but but yeah I'm just I mean
6:27
we're also in the
6:27
cohort together and so I'm just like since you're in the hot
6:31
seat like yeah what is
6:33
there things that you put in place or is there things that you
6:34
do to help lead
6:35
SPEAKER_02: yourself or to prevent burnout yeah
6:38
I mean I feel like probably this last season has been the
6:42
closest to that that I've
6:43
SPEAKER_01: gotten to be completely honest and I do think like
6:48
Leader Mundial and Russ I went into our last cohort like not
6:53
doing too hot and was
6:55
like not not burnt out but just like exhausted from life from
6:59
sickness from kids
7:01
like just exhausted and like I really do feel like the Lord met
7:05
me in that space
7:07
SPEAKER_01: that day and the whole conversation was on like rest and Sabbath
7:12
and like I think my husband had been like kind of poking at
7:15
that for to me for a
7:17
little bit and I almost needed like an outside perspective to
7:20
be like okay I need
7:22
to rest so I think like community like that where like in that
7:28
specific context
7:29
there's people all around me that are oftentimes feeling the
7:32
same thing so
7:34
community I mean the our team in Kenya is absolutely amazing
7:40
and so I get to like
7:41
SPEAKER_01: okay
7:42
SPEAKER_01: You guys are empowered to do your job.
7:45
I feel okay to step away at different times or okay to do a
7:49
little bit less.
7:53
SPEAKER_01: Amidst kind of this more challenging season that I've been in,
7:56
SPEAKER_01: I started a new cohort for my time management.
8:01
SPEAKER_01: And I told the guy that's leading it, I was like,
8:04
this is probably the worst time for me to do this and also
8:14
probably the best time
8:15
so I feel like just being intentional about like this isn't
8:19
sustainable like I have
8:20
SPEAKER_01: to make a change and having the people around me to be like
8:26
SPEAKER_01: No, you have to sign up for Time Boss.
8:40
During the presentation you talked about meeting existing needs
8:48
as is and taking
8:50
these young men and pushing them into a sustainable lifestyle
8:55
for themselves but
8:56
then you also spoke about attacking the root causes to these
8:59
issues like why did
9:00
SPEAKER_00: they end up in the streets in the first place
9:03
Can you talk about how you discovered these root causes and how
9:07
you are how your
9:09
SPEAKER_00: organization is working to attack those root causes as well?
9:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
9:13
I think from the beginning like and and people will ask me okay
9:17
you work with boys
9:18
but like what about the girls and there's some statistics on
9:21
that like they're in
9:22
the town that we work in there's not really girls that live on
9:25
the streets if they
9:26
are they're married and they're living with or they're married
9:30
to another street
9:31
SPEAKER_01: man
9:33
SPEAKER_01: So when I kind of answer that question,
9:36
SPEAKER_01: I'm like,
9:37
SPEAKER_01: yeah,
9:37
SPEAKER_01: we're not directly working with girls,
9:39
but we're working with young men who will become fathers and
9:42
who will become
9:43
SPEAKER_01: husbands.
9:44
And if their situation doesn't change,
9:46
their kids will be going to the streets.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: So we kind of attacked this like,
9:50
SPEAKER_01: okay,
9:51
SPEAKER_01: we see that like these men need to change their future families,
9:56
SPEAKER_01: like they will create the ripple effect that happens.
9:59
and then we were also just finding like all these boys are
10:02
going to the streets
10:03
because of something at home whether that's cultural
10:06
differences like there's a
10:08
SPEAKER_01: number some some were coming from
10:12
like the political war that happened back during the election
10:15
season a decade ago.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: So there's so many reasons that they're coming to the streets.
10:22
SPEAKER_01: But when you narrowed it down,
10:23
SPEAKER_01: it was like poverty,
10:24
SPEAKER_01: abuse,
10:25
SPEAKER_01: neglect,
10:26
SPEAKER_01: family instability,
10:28
SPEAKER_01: a lot of like step parents.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of stigma around step.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: And so it was just kind of this obvious like
10:36
it all is happening at home like there's something at home that
10:40
if we're actually
10:41
working to solve the problem and not just like get these boys
10:45
into jobs and
10:47
placements like we have to do something about their home life
10:50
and the impact that
10:51
SPEAKER_01: like going into a community can make
10:54
SPEAKER_01: Per one boy that we serve, we are impacting eight people in his family.
10:59
So like the impact is just exponential when you're going into
11:02
the homes and the communities.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: And then if we're working with Grace, the mom right here,
11:08
our social workers are already in this village and in this town
11:12
that they get to
11:12
like connect with the neighbors and everyone around them to
11:16
bring the parenting
11:17
support the addiction recovery courses like because we're
11:21
working with the church
11:22
SPEAKER_01: now these families are inviting their neighbors and family members in
11:27
SPEAKER_01: Does that answer your question?
11:28
SPEAKER_01: I think that like it was just kind of obvious.
11:31
It was like it starts at home and if we want to actually make
11:34
an impact it's not
11:36
SPEAKER_01: just the boys we have to we have to work with their families.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
11:45
SPEAKER_00: Any other questions?
11:55
so when you when you talked about your four steps that you guys
11:59
take everybody
11:59
through what was the second step can you just remind me restore
12:02
restore okay what
12:04
is that what does that look like practically do you guys have
12:06
like systems or
12:07
philosophies that you go into therapies or those different
12:10
things that you do with
12:11
SPEAKER_03: those kids what does that look like
12:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
12:13
SPEAKER_01: so when we say restore,
12:14
SPEAKER_01: we kind of mention it and like we restore them physically,
12:17
SPEAKER_01: spiritually,
12:18
SPEAKER_01: and emotionally.
12:21
Physically,
12:21
I mean,
12:22
we are detoxing them the second that they get onto site.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: So that is a physical restoration.
12:27
SPEAKER_01: They also get to do like PE and games and things like that,
12:31
SPEAKER_01: which like for young guys,
12:33
SPEAKER_01: you got to get outside and play and be active.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: So spiritually, they do...
12:40
Discipleship Lessons Bible Studies they have like at night and
12:44
when it's just the
12:45
guys in the house parents they have Bible studies just with
12:47
their like family
12:50
so very much like every life skill curriculum is embedded with
12:56
faith based
12:57
curriculum and then mentally we have counselors and social
13:01
workers on site that are
13:02
all like trauma informed care trained and so that's kind of
13:07
like the restoration
13:08
the idea is that they can't go straight from the streets into
13:11
trade or school like
13:12
they just don't have those skills to bridge the gap and so when
13:16
they're on site at
13:17
SPEAKER_01: our rehab program like
13:18
we're providing them with the skills to be able to like really
13:21
succeed when they
13:22
get into the real world yeah and then the other thing is how do
13:27
you from here like
13:30
how did you find your team in Kenya and how do you add people
13:33
to that team what's
13:34
what's that process like for you as as the president of the
13:37
organization yeah this
13:40
SPEAKER_01: is
13:41
our directors their names are Joel and Margaret they are like
13:44
our special sauce and
13:48
we're really trying to figure out like if they weren't there
13:51
it'd be tough and like
13:52
that's not a good place to be in so we're trying to figure out
13:55
like what does
13:56
succession look like for them they're not there yet but like we
13:59
really do have to
14:00
train up people under them because they set the tone they are
14:05
incredible leaders so
14:06
SPEAKER_01: they have just created a really amazing team
14:11
and they have very very high standards for our staff so I'd say
14:15
like they they are
14:17
it and if it wasn't for them it would be a very different
14:21
organization I think yeah
14:23
SPEAKER_01: it's great in a good and bad way yeah
14:34
SPEAKER_03: I was just curious about all the things that happen in the facility.
14:37
SPEAKER_03: You kind of answered it with his question with just the rehab portion.
14:41
SPEAKER_03: But what what is that?
14:42
SPEAKER_03: Because the pictures were awesome.
14:44
I don't know when that opened,
14:46
but what are all the things that are going on at the facility?
14:50
SPEAKER_01: It opened.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: So we opened our doors or we opened the gates in February.
14:55
SPEAKER_01: They moved on site in March.
14:57
SPEAKER_01: So they are currently on site.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: I actually just got a message that they're graduating from this program.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: like June 16th or something like that.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: So they get a certificate and a big graduation ceremony.
15:11
But we have a chapel that also holds like multi-purpose classes
15:15
so families will
15:16
SPEAKER_01: come in and do all of those types of classes that I mentioned.
15:19
We have a counseling center,
15:21
so they'll do counseling in our admin office.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: Classrooms where all their life skills and discipleship classes.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: We have really awesome fields.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: So we've got a soccer field, a volleyball court, basketball court,
15:34
court and then we have about four acres of farm which also Seth
15:39
like that is a huge
15:40
part of the physical restoration that they are getting hands-on
15:44
training and like
15:45
that is emotionally healing them as well so they're working
15:48
with chicken with goats
15:50
SPEAKER_01: with cows all types of vegetables and fruits
15:56
we have like tons of rabbits and they get to be involved in
15:59
that and then like they
16:00
get to take that home and kind of teach their family and
16:03
oftentimes if they are
16:05
really interested in rabbit keeping then we'll gift them two
16:08
rabbits for them to
16:09
start something at home or cow or not cows here's a cow here's
16:15
this massive big
16:17
SPEAKER_01: yeah or like chickens or something like that yeah any ukuleles
16:25
not yet we're working on it yeah exactly um do you have any
16:34
like advice or guidance
16:35
for a group of us like young professionals who maybe don't have
16:40
the as robust
16:41
resumes and helping and getting involved in like kind of a
16:44
grassroots organization
16:45
SPEAKER_03: but still want to help
16:47
yeah like what would be your advice for someone like us maybe I
16:50
can just get us an
16:51
idea of like who's in ministry and who's not if you're in
16:54
ministry raise your hand
16:57
okay okay got it so then the rest are like in like business
17:01
professional work okay
17:06
SPEAKER_01: amen amen there you go yeah yeah okay so then everyone's hand yeah
17:17
that's a great question actually when I was in college one of
17:21
my like department
17:24
chapels this quote has stuck with me forever and I think it's
17:29
like what led me into
17:30
this work let me make sure I have it right in my head before I
17:33
say it out loud that
17:36
your vocation is where the world's deepest need and your
17:40
greatest gladness meet and
17:42
SPEAKER_01: it was just this like okay
17:45
one of I think the world's deepest needs is street kids and
17:49
like my deep gladness
17:50
is meeting that and that so I think like it's and like for Seth
17:54
it's music and
17:55
ukuleles and bringing that so like what what skills do you have
18:00
to offer and like
18:01
where does your heart become glad where does God like light a
18:05
fire inside of you
18:06
and like what's the need that can be met there which Barnabas
18:09
is like the perfect
18:10
SPEAKER_01: example of how to get involved in that I also think like
18:15
there's so many types of organizations where in that room I
18:18
know that some people
18:20
will be like lit up and excited about street kids and the work
18:24
that we're doing and
18:25
some people are getting so excited about like the gospel of
18:27
John and kind of just
18:29
like there's something for everybody out there and like where
18:32
does God meet you in
18:33
that place I don't know if that answers your question but like
18:37
what are the things
18:37
that just kind of set you on flame and I think then find
18:43
something and like
18:45
there's so many places that need your guys's help and support
18:48
and hands-on
18:49
experience like no matter if you have a resume or not you know
18:54
yeah I'm sorry if
19:01
you've already answered this at some point tonight but and I
19:05
was just curious like
19:06
is there another city or another location that you're looking
19:10
at in the future and
19:12
SPEAKER_03: I totally understand if
19:14
There's no like real ideas like that far because I assume that
19:19
you're very focused
19:20
on what you've built so far and the like the community that
19:23
you're ministering to
19:25
SPEAKER_03: now,
19:26
SPEAKER_03: but I was just curious about that.
19:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I have always
19:30
Mattheisler Mattheisler Mattheisler Mattheisler Mattheisler
19:32
Mattheisler Mattheisler
19:33
SPEAKER_01: Mattheisler Mattheisler Mattheisler Mattheisler Mattheisler
19:45
SPEAKER_01: training hub for other organizations.
19:48
You know,
19:48
we just built this amazing campus and it cost a lot of money
19:52
and resources to do that.
19:55
And there's other organizations that already have the
19:57
infrastructure and the staffing available.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: Really what I think that we
20:02
are feeling called to is to like prepare and change other other
20:07
organizations heart
20:08
towards this demographic and then giving them the playbook of
20:12
like here's how to
20:13
work with teenagers and young adults like you really only work
20:16
with street or
20:17
with younger kids,
20:18
but you have the land and the staffing to be able to do this.
20:23
So I see like our expansion being more in the training side of
20:27
it and kind of
20:28
SPEAKER_01: creating like that piece of it rather than replicating muleles.
20:33
Are there any like strategic partnerships that you're looking
20:36
into like a YWAM or
20:38
SPEAKER_03: something of that nature?
20:41
SPEAKER_01: Um,
20:43
SPEAKER_01: Not necessarily in the U.S.
20:45
I think there are organizations that I'm super interested in
20:50
and pull curriculum
20:51
SPEAKER_01: from or things like that.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: We're partnering with Hope Ventures and that's awesome.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: Oh, actually, yes, there are.
21:00
Celebrate Recovery,
21:01
we use their curriculum for our addiction recovery support.
21:07
or I guess you said something about you being a training ground
21:10
so I didn't know if
21:10
you wanted to oh oh wait say that again you mentioned something
21:14
about being like a
21:15
strategic training ground sure for other ministries yeah so I
21:19
thought maybe like I
21:21
know some YWAM partners in Uganda Kenya got it Tanzania got it
21:26
that might benefit
21:27
SPEAKER_03: from your your curriculum
21:30
send them my way I kind of my my hope is to kind of just create
21:34
this like here now
21:36
go and do it like of course yeah I love that we got time for
21:40
one more question
21:47
oh that's a good one I feel like when we got home we got home
21:54
on on March 1st it
21:56
had been it has been probably four years of like planning
22:01
designing fundraising for
22:03
SPEAKER_01: this campus and on March 1st it felt like
22:06
every spiritual attack was coming our way we got back and and
22:10
we were my whole
22:12
board and my family everyone was like so excited and and on top
22:17
of the moon about
22:18
this and then it just felt like the like the enemy was like but
22:21
I'm gonna get you
22:22
SPEAKER_01: with this I like see what's happening and
22:26
So I think we're like not making the enemy happy right now and
22:29
I feel like some
22:31
spiritual warfare kind of stuff to pray against that and just
22:36
that this site would
22:37
be that people would walk on site and be healed and restored
22:42
and reunited I think
22:44
like spiritual attack and praying against that and just for
22:49
this place to be like a
22:51
SPEAKER_01: refuge for families and young men Thank you Awesome
22:56
awesome well thank you guys for your questions drive safe yeah
23:02
thank you for your
23:02
questions and thank you for your answers and just for giving of
23:07
your time and being
23:07
here tonight and yeah it's so cool and inspiring for me
23:11
personally to see like you
23:13
doing this work and stepping into like what God is clearly
23:16
calling you in and it's
23:18
inspiring to all of us to like oh like how do we answer that in
23:21
our own lives yeah
23:23
SPEAKER_00: so thank you for taking the time really appreciate it