Monday, August 30, 2010

The Power of Participation

Members of the Stars of Peace Youth Group
Aisha, Farhiya, Hani, Hussein,
Abdiaziz, and leader Laura Muema

Earlier this May, the Iftin Women's Empowerment Program hosted it's second community peace building forum with about a hundred people in attendance. One of the outcomes of this training was the creation of a community youth group for both young men and women interested in building peace among their neighbours. On June 3, a youth group was formed by 36 local youth. Together they called themselves "Stars of Peace". Today, about 25 youth continue to meet as the Stars of Peace each Thursday afternoon at the Eastleigh Community Centre, many of the young ladies are members of our Iftin literacy classes. Together they have been working on ways to improve the peace and well being of Eastleigh: this last month they completed St. John's first aid training as part of their efforts to be better neighbours. Please pray for Laura Muema as she continues to draw young men and women together and encourage them to take responsibility for improving the lives of everyone in their community.
Discussing the common challenges
and opportunities facing our community

Today we gathered with members of the Stars of Peace, as well as beneficiaries and representatives from the Iftin self help group project, literacy project, Noor jewelry project and Happy Club children's project to evaluate our current work and discuss their perception of problems and opportunities within Eastleigh. We are so thankful for the great participation and respect given by everyone involved. Please pray for us this month as we bring the feedback from small forums like this to the strategic planning meetings for the Eastleigh Community Centre. Together we are seeking God's leading in responding to the needs around us.

Members of today's focus group

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