Praying for Kenya - January 2013

The new year has begun in Kenya with steady showers. Erica and I are working at home today, battling stubborn colds, as the rain drizzles against our windows. We have had a busy start to 2013 as we connect with our ministry partners and colleagues in Muslim Ministry and the Guardians of Hope. Please remember the women of our Self Help Groups in Eastleigh who will be gathering together this month to look at the challenges of access to education for their daughters and ways to generate income for their families. Please also pray that we will find passionate volunteers to serve as community facilitators in two new communities in Nairobi where we are expanding Canadian Baptist Ministries’s urban Muslim ministry.

Kenyans will head to the polls on March 4th for a national election, the first under Kenyan’s new constitution, which was passed through a national referendum in 2010. The country is praying that this election will not lead to post-election violence, like that which erupted in January 2008. Canadian Baptist Ministries is working with our partner churches in Kenya to increase civic education and peace building initiatives in preparation for the elections. This coming week, we have representatives from 10 churches, that we are working with in Muslim Ministry in Garissa and Nairobi, attending peace training being organized by our colleagues Ruth Munyao, Pauline Kariuki, Gato Munyamasoko, and Yattani Gollo. Please keep these churches and the people of Kenya in your prayers over the next few months: In the words of Kofi Annan’s New Year address, "“My wish for Kenya in the year ahead is a commitment by all to a free, fair and credible election, and a government transition marked by peace and the rule of law”.

Thank you all so much for remembering our family and the work of CBM in Africa and around the world.