Dorothy Hazard from SIM Kenya talks about the role of mentoring in SIMpact, the SIM Kenya short-term program:

I have been blessed in my role as SIMPact Kenya Coordinator. SIMPact is our field’s short term program. Dwight and I arrived in Kenya in January of 2005 with the mandate to start a short term program for SIM Kenya. Dwight would work with me for the first year and then assume other responsibilities in administration.

As we prayed that the Lord would order our steps, I felt that the program should make an impact on those that came; that they in turn would make an impact on the Kenyans that they work with and that they serve; that they would make an impact within their circle of influence in their home country; and that they would have an impact on global missions. Mentoring is key to our whole program. For the first two years of the program, I mentored all the SIMPacters.

SIM Kenya had been very much in favor of having a short term program, but did not want career missionaries to bear the burden. Our first two SIMPacters arrived on 27 May 2005. Over that first summer, it was relatively easy to meet with each one, as we only had 11 in July. And then it started to get more difficult as the numbers increased, even though many of the SIMPacters were placed outside of Nairobi and I counted on their host families to do the majority of their mentoring.

The more I read about mentoring, the more convinced I became that I wasn’t really mentoring most of the 20 SIMPacters, but rather just keeping tabs on them. And then Dwight was asked to became Director. Before we said that we would be willing for his name to be put forth, we had to figure out how my work load as SIMPact Coordinator could be lessened. And the most obvious, the most time consuming, was to distribute the mentoring responsibilities.

I have been overwhelmed by the willingness of career missionaries to take on 3-4 SIMPacters in this highly central role. And it has been an incredible blessing, not just to the SIMPact program, but to our field. In fact, someone not with SIM Kenya recently shared that they felt SIM Kenya showed that they all owned the SIMPact program, and it was no longer Dwight and Dorothy’s program. Hallelujah! So now, instead of mentoring 20+ SIMPacters, I mentor those that mentor. We meet monthly for sharing and prayer.

More recently, the mentors have agreed to take on additional roles with those they mentor. They are now doing the End of Term Reviews. Because they have met regularly with their assigned SIMPacters, it makes more sense for them to do the reviews. Mentors try to visit their SIMPacters at least once at their place of ministry. They have them in for meals and include them in various activities. We have planned to grow this area even more by providing seminars for mentors and increasing the number of mentors. I firmly believe that our field no longer sees short-termers as a burden, but as a tremendous blessing!