Videocast: GOH Prevention Approach

We are happy to share our latest video. Our April 2012 Vidcast is from part of an interview Aaron had with our friend Patrick Maina, who serves as the project officer for African Christian Church & School's Guardians of Hope project in Kenya. In this interview, Patrick shares obstacles being faced by the church in its efforts to address the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS, and he shares an important aspect of the approach being taken by the GOH in Kenya.

You can watch the video here or download it at our page on Vimeo by following the link below.

https://vimeo.com/40647328

2012 GOH Leadership Conference ACC&S

Dr. Julius Karanja, Moderator of the African Christian Church & Schools, opening CBM's second ACC&S Guardians of Hope Leadership Conference at the Jumuia Centre in Kikambala, Kenya

This past week, we had the pleasure of leading our second ACC&S GOH leadership conference with our colleagues Wayne and Maureen Morgan. We travelled to the coast with our children for intentional time of reflection on the ministry of the Guardians of Hope with members of the ACC&S executive and leaders from each of their nine GOH projects.

Erica and Maureen facilitating a session on strengthening

the leadership role of women in the GOH

This year's conference focused on the effectiveness of HIV & AIDS awareness, strengthening the role of women, and sharing best practices in the self help group approach. Over the conference, the groups also worked on refining a self assessment tool that the groups will be using to set measurable targets and track their progress.

Wayne Morgan sharing during the closing panel discussion

responding to the group presentations on their successes

in HIV & AIDS Awareness and Prevention

It was encouraging to hear how many groups have begun partnering with the local government in voluntary counselling and testing projects. In the community of Embu, 23 people who tested positive through their VCT have joined their GOH support groups in the past few months. "We are working together so that everyone in our community knows their status!" shared pastor John, "Stigma is being reduced and those living positive are finding support and acceptance!"

Worshipping under the shade of the trees

The ACC&S leaders deeply appreciated the support of Canadian Baptist Ministries that made this gathering possible. "Please thank the Canadian Churches for us," shared ACC&S General Secretary Joseph Miana. "You do not know how great it is for us to have this gift to come away, and step back from our busy ministry and responsibilities in our home communities. This time away together greatly enriches our ministry and is such an encouragement for us!"

We also want to thank all of you for your prayers and generous support for our family and the ministries that we are providing leadership. God is using your help to strengthen the ministry of the Church in Africa as it seeks to bring about transformation in the lives of so many!

One of the great challenges that the ACC&S is facing is encouraging and empowering women in leadership. Within the GOH we are intentionally working to over come gender inequality and long standing patterns that have held women back from sharing their perspective and potential. Please pray for the courageous women leaders of the ACC&S GOH who are reaching out to their sisters and mentoring others in their church and communities.

A further challenge facing the ACC&S GOH is a generational gap between current leadership and the growing youth population of Kenya. Presently over 60% of the Kenyan population is under the age of 25. Please pray for the Church as they seek ways to reach out to the youth of their communities and involve this next generation in the leadership of ministries like the GOH. Having multiple generations represented in leadership is one key way of strengthening the ministry of the Guardians of Hope that has been caring for AIDS orphans for the past seven years.

Emma enjoying some quiet time at the conference

ACC&S GOH Leadership Participants

Thank you for remembering and praying for this ministry!

Knowing Your Status

Moonlight Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre

Embu, Kenya

On October 9th, our friends Patrick Maina and Henry Mwangi from the African Christian Church & Schools (ACC&S), participated in a moonlight VCT clinic with the Embu Guardians of Hope. We are excited to share part of their brief report!

Greetings!

I am writing to update you on the progress of Embu GOH project on their moonlight VCT. I and Henry paid a visit to Embu on 9th October to witness the event.

The event was so well organized as the local Chief together with the local OCS (Police) were in attendance. The level of stigma have gone down so much that the people are so much willing to know their status. Those in the waiting were so many such that the counselors could not handle all of them. Again from their report they were able to test about 100 people both male and female.

The importance of one knowing his/her status was well explained by the counselors emphasizing that once a person knows his or her status it helps in planning. Again the cases of discordant couples is in the increase among the married people. Once a person knows their status, it helps to prevent reinfection, and helps to prevent a mother from infecting their new born babies. Prevention of Mother To Child (PMTC) is being emphasized.

Why is it important for people to know their HIV status?

• It helps those who are not infected not to become infected

• It helps those who are infected not to infect their uninfected partners or reinfecting one another among the infected once.

• It helps those who are infected to receive support, early treatment, care and help from the community and family members.

God bless you and your family.

Patrick

Pastor Mbau taking the test

to lead others by example

Thank you for praying for the ministry of the Guardians of Hope and work of the African Christian Church & Schools in Kenya. Coming up this December 1st is World AIDS Day*. This years theme is "Getting to Zero". Canadian Baptist Ministries is currently preparing materials for churches, individuals and organizations interested in participating in the 2011 day. We will be posting links for these resources on the blog once they are ready.

WORLD AIDS DAY*

AIDS is a condition resulting from damage done to the human immune system by HIV. It affects tens of millions of people around the world. The United Nations' (UN) World AIDS Day is held on December 1 each year to honor the victims of the AIDS pandemic and focus attention on the prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS related conditions.

Moonlight VCT

Moonlight VCT

in Embu

The ACC&S Guardians of Hope in Embu, are working in partnership with the Kenyan government to help their community know their HIV status. While the church has been promoting voluntary counselling and testing for several years, they have recently discovered a strategy for overcoming the fear and stigma attached to attending a counselling and testing centre -- hold them at night!

"We want people to know their status," shares ACC&S GOH project officer Patrick Maina. "Church members and the community have long associated HIV and AIDS with immorality, but we are helping the community understand that there are other avenues that people contract the disease. Knowing your status is key if we are to stop the spread. But more than this, we need people to access counselling and testing in time rather than waiting until they are so far gone."

Embu's next moonlight VCT visit will be on October 9th. They are anticipating 360 people over the night long event, to come and receive counselling and testing. Counselling is important, as people need to be prepared to hear their results and know what options they have. Please be praying for this vital ministry of the church as they follow Jesus' example of being available to their community, even in the dark of the night.

To learn more about the Guardians of Hope program check out the Canadian Baptist Ministries webpage at www.cbmin.org

Guardians of Hope (Micro credit)

Jane Wairimu Mwaura

Guardians of Hope Project Maai-Mahiu, Kenya

One of the five pillars of the Guardians of Hope program is strengthening caregivers through sustainable incomes. An important part of this aspect of the GOH is training and support on savings, financial management, micro enterprise development and micro credit.

Erica interviewing Jane for a Canadian Baptist Ministries micro credit video

Jane Mwaura is a Guardian of Hope from Longonot Town, near Maai Mahiu, in the great Rift Valley. An arid and wind swept part of Kenya, much of the Rift Valley struggles with perpetual draught making agriculture difficult. Through the help of the GOH, Jane provides for Samuel and James, two AIDS orphans left in her care. Over the past five years, Jane has accessed micro loans of 10,000 Kenyan Shillings to build her business of collecting, dressing and selling pumice stone to merchants in Nairobi. On Monday, we visited Jane at her little store house where see sells her white and black pumice. This past weekend she sold an entire truck load of the textured rock to a company from the city.

On behalf of Jane, we share her greeting to all those supporting the ministry of the Guardians of Hope -- "Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! And God bless you!"

To learn more about the Guardians of Hope and the impact of micro credit, please check out the CBM website at www.cbmin.org

Pastor Simon, regional minister ACC&S Rift Valley,

Erica, Jane, and Aaron

Nakuru GOH

Nelson Njoroge with one of his dove chicks

Today we journeyed to the Rift Valley town of Nakuru to meet with the ACC&S Guardians of Hope group there. We had the pleasure of taking Erica's mother, Mary, and the Doerksen family with us to learn more about the ministry of the Guardians of Hope.

After a short meeting in the ACC&S Church in Nakuru's Section 58, we visited beneficiaries of the GOH project, including Nelson Njoroge. After Nelson's parents died of an AIDS related disease in 2005, he became the caregiver for his younger bothers and sister. Nelson received assistance from the Guardians of Hope to complete high school and then he entered community college to study internet technologies. He is now employed with Child Care International and continues to look after his younger siblings.

"Hope must not die!", he shared with us as we spoke about the death of his parents and the great challenge of caring for three younger siblings. Today, Nelson beams with pride and joy. Along with his employment, he helps his siblings raise rabbits and doves which brings an addition small income into their home.

Erica with one of Nelson's doves

(Notice that I (Aaron) am not the brave one holding the bird...

Erica jumped right in and got a full lesson in raising doves)

At each visit, we were impressed by the determination and ingenuity of the Guardians of Hope in Nakuru, from selling used clothing to raising poultry, they are working together to improve their lives and the lives of people affected by HIV and AIDS. Please pray for the Nakuru group as they work toward being registered with the Kenyan government, and organize for future plans for a fish farm and green house project.

GREAT NEWS!!

We have GREAT NEWS!

Ava's Canadian travel VISA was finally granted this morning -- we are returning for home assignment on April 12th!!! We are very excited to be finally returning to see friends and family.

Guardians of Hope

Patty and Erica meeting with the ACC&S development coordinator, Henry, today in Thika at the ACC&S headquarters.

Once or twice each quarter, representatives of the nine ACC&S Guardians of Hope projects gather in Thika to discuss the progress of their shared ministry and support the ongoing ministry to households affected by HIV/AIDS.

Along with being a part of budget planning with the group organizers, it was a great opportunity for us to meet the various grassroots leaders who are the backbone of the GOH.

Erica with Rev. Kimani, the area minister for the African Christian Church & School's Nairobi churches. They had both been students in the certificate of ministry course that Erica attended in Nairobi back in 2004. Kimani took part in today's meeting representing urban GOH projects for the ACC&S.

Farming God's Way

Timothy Bannister explaining the basic principles

and methods of Farming God's Way

We had the pleasure today of joining our colleagues Tim and Diane Bannister on an STM trip into Kenya's Central Province with Pastor Wayne and Sandy Dickaus from Kingsway Baptist Church, Toronto. The Africa Christian Church & Schools (ACC&S) were our hosts as we visited their headquarters in Thika and ventured into the beautiful area of Kigumo with members of their development team.

The maize stalks on the left were planted and cared for in the traditional way, while the ones on the right were planted and cared for according to the Farming God's Way method. As you can see the Farming God's Way method resulted in plants that tower above the older method of farming with maize stalks nearly twice as thick and as high.

While in Thika we visited the ACC&S show garden and were impressed with the results of the Farming God's Way initiative that The Sharing Way introduced to ACC&S this past year. The maize stalks pictured above were only planted in October 2009 and already have soared above the expectation of the church members. Through simple farming principles of low tillage, targeted fertilizing and generous use of mulching to protect the soil and retain water, the Farming God's Way approach produces 3 times the yield with 90% less irrigation and fertilizer. It sounds incredible, but seeing is believing!

Maize is the main staple of the Kenyan diet.

It is much dryer and heavier than the varieties of sweet yellow corn that we are use to in Canada. Kenyan's love it roasted, boiled in dishes, and most commonly crushed into maize meal and made into Ugali a heavy dough-like dish that looks like mashed potatoes. You can't come to Kenya without eating Ugali!

Erica and Diane Bannister in Kigumo Lower

We traveled from Thika towards the Aberdares in Kenya's central highlands to the beautiful lush forests and cultivated hillsides of Kigumo to visit development projects of the ACC&S. It was inspiring to see how these little churches are able to make a big impact in helping their most vulnerable neighbours through love and generosity.

ACC&S committee member Francis Chegay, ACC&S Guardians of Hope coordinator Patrick Miana, Rev. Dickaus, benefecary Rebecca Wairimu & Sophia, and Aaron

Through very simple interventions, the ACC&S churches are working together with The Sharing Way to improve the lives of people living in poverty. One of the most effective strategies has been helping people grow their own food. In places like Maai Mahiu, where the ACC&S has been worked with Canadian Baptist Ministries and Canada FoodGrains Bank to feed over 7500 people for the past eleven months, they are now helping people establish gardens and are distributing seed for next months expected rains. The success of such food security projects can be seen in places like Kigumo where agriculture programs have empowered people to feed their own communities. The challenge will be helping vulnerable people in drought affected areas like Maai Mahiu to make the most of their environment. Perhaps some of the lessons from Farming God's Way will be part of future success in areas like this.

Some of the local kids cheering us on as

we climbed the steep paths in Kigumo Lower