CBM Food Relief

Canadian Baptist Ministries

2012 Food for Work Projects, NEP, Kenya

In January of this year, our CBM NEP team initiated food for work projects in four vulnerable villages within Garissa District as part of CBM's drought response program in Kenya. These projects are apart of our strategic effort to help drought vulnerable and food insecure communities to recover from the impact of this past year's drought and famine that devastated the livelihoods of nearly 4 million people in the horn of Africa this past year.

We are using "food for work" projects to provide weekly rations to impoverished families and to help them establish fruit trees and effective farming along the Tana River. This effort is being carried out in cooperation with the local Government and the Kenyan Red Cross that is committed to helping families move from harmful open grazing of cattle, goats and camels to sustainable agriculture. We are excited to see food for work projects prepare the way for conservation agriculture training that we are already preparing for with the Garissa Pastor's Fellowship and the Farming God's Way approach to semi arid farming.

Clearing the stubborn mathenge thorn bush

from sections of the flood plain

Community members preparing new farm land

for crops and tree planting

Lunch Time in Bula Pamoja

Volunteers in the Bula Pamoja village preparing meals for 65 children in their daily feeding program. As part of the relief efforts, our team mates Yattani and William have been working with the District Officer in peace and reconciliation in the community of Bula Bhakari. This last month, they helped resolve a long standing land-dispute in the community between the local Somali clan and the Waliwana people. The result was the birth of Bula Pamoja (In Kiswahili it means "The Village Together"). Along with mobilizing the community members to build roads and open up farm land, the CBM project has come along side the village in building their first permanent structure - an early childhood education house for the 65 young children living in the village of traditional tents and shelters.

Each day, as the community works on strengthening their village, the children meet for lessons and healthy lunch of beans, rice, local fruits and vegetables. The project is helping these children have access to the local medical clinic, and improve their lives in simple but vital ways. We believe that the good news of our faith must be demonstrated, and it is exciting to see the Christian communions in this area sharing this same vision for living out our faith!

Waliwana and Somali children accessing early childhood education, medical attention, and daily meals in Bula Pamoja.

Please continue to pray for this ministry and for the community leaders and volunteers who are working hand in hand with our Christian brothers and sisters. We pray that through this ministry that dividing walls of mistrust and misunderstanding will come down.

lunch time at the early childhood school

Volunteers at CBM's Bula Iftin Food for Work Project weighing weekly supplementary food rations for the participants in their farm clearing project.

The Story of Us All

2012 Garissa Pastors and Spouses Conference

Canadian Baptist Ministries had the pleasure of sponsoring the first Garissa Pastor's and Spouses Conference this past week in Limuru, Kenya. As part of CBM's NEP program, we have had the great joy of coming along side the many Christian Churches embedded within the North Eastern Provincial capital of Garissa. This second gathering grew to include 22 churches, as 42 pastors and Christian leaders traveled from Garissa to the peaceful setting of Brackenhurst, nestled in the cool forests of Limuru, Kenya.

Brackenhurst Conference Centre

Maureen, Erica and our gracious host, Anne

We are so thankful to the generous support of Canadian Baptist Churches that have enabled our CBM team to come alongside these courageous leaders. "We were wounded!" shared Pastor John, the chairman of the Garissa Pastor's Fellowship. "This has been such a hard year, but we thank the Lord for the Canadian Baptists who have encouraged us and who are helping us in ministry. We are stronger by the Grace of God!"

It has been amazing to see the church overcoming long standing division and estrangement as they have expanded the Garissa Pastors Fellowship. Over the past three months, the fellowship has grown from 6 to 14, and now to 22 churches. It has been a testimony to the grace of God, as the church leaders have come together for worship, support and prayer.

Ruth Munyao, CBM's Food Security

Coordinator for Africa, speaking to the gathering

on faith-based relief and development

Along with strengthening the unity of the Church in Garissa, these gatherings are intended to help build the capacity of the local church to be more effective in Muslim/Christian ministry. This conference focused on effective leadership, self care, and an introduction to faith-based relief and development. We were blessed to have our colleague, Ruth Munyao, share her expertise in the area of relief and development, and her passion for food security.

Wayne, Yattani and Aaron on there way

to an evening session at the conference.

We are so grateful for incredible team that God has brought together to strengthen the ministry in NEP. Yattani and Salome Gollo, and William Wako, have been key leaders in mobilizing the Church and local community. Please keep them in your prayers as they continue to walk side by side with the churches in Garissa.

Enjoying the beauty of Limuru

We were especially glad to have 15 of the pastors travel with their wives and young children. Each of these women play a critical role in the ministry of the Church in Garissa. Erica and Salome appreciated the opportunity to gather with these women for a time of support and encouragement.

"You can get the churches to sing together,

but can they work together?"

In one of Aaron's last sessions, he challenged the gathering with a question from one of our colleagues who asked "You can get the churches to sing together, but can you get them to work together?" The resolve of the pastors was put to the test as they were given the opportunity to select 5 representatives from the 22 churches represented, to participate in an upcoming training of trainers workshop on the Farming God's Way conservation agriculture approach that we believe to be a highly effective approach to increasing food security in the semi arid lands of Kenya. We are excited to see the pastors working together in humility and cooperation to strengthen their common witness in their community.

Pastor Ibrahim of the Easter African Pentecostal Church,

Garissa, sharing our closing message

In the final gathering of the conference, the pastors and their wives came together for time of prayer and commitment to strengthening the Church in Garissa and loving their Muslim neighbours in the way of of Christ. Please continue to pray for these churches and their leaders as they they take the brave steps of building unity and peace in their community.

Conference Participants at the close of the Conference

March 28-30, 2012

The Gathering

Watching the sun set over our conference centre

in Ruiru, Kenya

Over the next few days, we are helping to facilitate a gathering for pastors and Church leaders serving in Garissa, Kenya. As many of you know, this past year has been an extremely difficult time in Kenya's North East Province where threats and attacks against churches, public sites and individuals has become rampant. Please keep these pastors and their churches in your prayers, and remember the communities of Garissa that have suffered from insecurity and the militant activities of El Shabbab.

ACC&S pastor, Samuel, and our colleague William Wako

During the first evenings session

CBM Drought Response

Malakote women weaving prayer matts along the Tana River,

in Northeastern Province (NEP), Kenya

Erica visiting with a group farming group of Somali and Malokote women who live in the community of BulaIftin, in Garissa District, NEP.

Aaron and Erica meeting with Malakote women and elders as part of our CBM Drought Response Assessment, this past week in NEP. Aaron is returning to the drought affected region this coming week with another assessment team, as CBM prepares for its next phase of ministry in NEP. It is encouraging to see these communities working together to grow food along the River -- a source of life in an arid land.

While listening to the stories of mothers struggling to feed their families and find clean drinking water, we heard again and again words of appreciate to God for the compassion and help of Canadians who have helped them and their children through this famine. Please continue to pray for these strong women who walk through this dry and barren place to provide for their children.

Diane Bannister greeting Somali children at one of the

ambulatory feeding centres in Sankuri, NEP

A Hornbill poking around the Bura

daily feeding project, looking for his breakfast!

On the road in Garissa

Sunday in Garissa

Salomi, Diana and Erica on the way

to an ACC&S worship service this Sunday

During our assessment trip, we had the joy of spending a Sunday with our friend William and the Gollo family. We decided to join the local ACC&S worship service in Garissa.

A little girl sitting next to us in the Church service

Dancing in the aisles!

Aaron with Titus at the ACC&S

Church and School in Garissa

It was great to meet some one of the teachers from the ACC&S school that has been serving the community of Garissa for nearly 25 years. The school is presently ministering to many young Muslim students who make up 70% of the student body.

Erica holding Joshua

Joshua turns three months old this week!

Yattani, Salomi and baby Joshua

Please continue to pray for our CBM team in Kenya, especially the remember our NEP team responding to the drought in Northeastern Kenyan.

Famine Relief CBM: Making an Impact!

Canadian Baptist Ministries Food Relief

Northeastern Province Kenya

Fifty-two children eating at the daily feeding project

in the village of Atheley, near Garissa.

Since the beginning of June, Canadian Baptist Ministries has been working with several partner agencies on accessing and responding to the drought that is impacting this entire region. One of our responses has been with the Sisters Maternity Hospital (SIMAHO) in Garissa.

Together with our colleagues Yattani Gollo and William Guyo, SIMAHO has been serving nine villages along the Tana River through mobile outreach clinics and daily feeding programs targeted at helping expecting and lactating mothers and children under the age of five. The project is called an "Ambulatory Feeding Program" as it is delivered in cooperation with mobile clinics carried out by SIMAHO's nurses and nutritionist.

Over the past month, Erica and I have become increasingly involved in CBM's Drought Response. This week, we are apart of an assessment team with Diane Bannister who is a registered nurse in Kenya and Canada, as well as Yattani and William. We are working with several agencies and consortiums as we coordinate our efforts and seek to make the greatest impact both for the immediate emergency and for longterm sustainable change.

Change That You Can See!

This is a photograph of our nutritionist colleague, Hassan Abdullahi, measuring the mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) of a little girl a part of the Dololoweyn Feeding Project. Only six weeks ago, 35% of the children in Dololoweyn were underweight and among them several wasting away. The MUAC is a medical instrument for health care workers to measure sever and acute malnutrition. "It is incredible to see how quickly these children have bounced back!" Hassan told us. "I can see the change." Daily feeding, paired with the provision of monthly rations through the Kenyan Red Cross, USAID and the government of Kenya is making an impact upon people living in towns and targeted villages. But there are many gaps in the relief work, and the challenge is working effectively to avoid duplication and reach the people being missed.

While in Dololoweyn, a group of 40 mothers crossed the Tana River from a neglected community in the arid plains beyond. They have no other medical centre or source of food. This is it. Despite the danger of crossing the Tana, they came to feed their children and receive medical help. "We must ensure that everyone is immunized," explained the Zahra from SIMAHO. "Measles, whooping cough, and other communicable diseases are a great concern as so many refugees come to us from Somalia and the bush. We are already seeing outbreaks of measles in the camps, and cases of polio in the western parts of the country."

Erica helping a little girl too weak to lift the

heavy cup of unimix at the feeding clinic in Atheley

With the help of the mobile clinics and feeding program, the villages have attracted hundreds of new arrivals as an influx of pastoral families have moved into each of the nine villages in search of help, most having lost their herds to the drought. Dololoweyn's population, for instance, has jumped from 300 to over 800 in the past two months.

Despite the huge influx, the people are sharing what little they have and are caring for the neighbours. Camilla was one of the many pregnant mothers we met at the mobile clinics. She was carrying an infant and walking with a two year old into the feeding shelter, when we asked her about her children: she explained that her brother returned with the infant and five other children and asked her to care for them because his wife had died in the drought. "I can only feed these children because of the food I am given," she told us thankfully. "I have nothing else to give them."

Diane Bannister checking on a newborn

at the Bura Daily Feeding Project, near Doloweyn

In Prayer:

* Please pray for the 4 million people within Kenya presently affected by the drought.

* Pray for the frontline medical workers, churches, agencies and community groups that are responding to the needs of these people. We pray not only for lives to be saved in the immediate crisis, but for sustainable change that will enable these communities to mitigate against future crisis.

* We pray for hope and spiritual healing among the countless families who have suffered such loss and anguish through this famine.

* We thank God for the people he is using around the world and in tangible ways to show love and compassion to their neighbours. It has been heart warming this week to see men and women stepping forward and serving the sick and weakest among them. People who may not have eaten much themselves, feeding the children of their neighbours.

Aaron in Raya with Abdi, one of the volunteer

men helping in the feeding project

The Gollos

While in Garissa we were thrilled to have two opportunities to visit with our friends Yattani and Salomi who live in Kenya's Northeastern province. Some of you will know that they celebrated the birth of their first child, Joshua, this past June. He is growing strong and healthy -- and according to Salomi, he is a great sleeper!

Tunea with her nephew, Joshua