Self Help Group project, Eastleigh

Muslim Women's Self Help Group

Leadership Training

Nairobi, Kenya

It has been a rainy week here in Nairobi, and with the rain comes mud and traffic! Life slows down as the city deals with flooding streets, downed power lines and leaky roofing. When the rain comes in Kenya, it pours! But people never complain about the rains here, because in a land prone to draught, rain is always a blessing!

We've enjoyed a similar rush of blessing pouring into our Canadian Baptist Ministries Urban Muslim Women's Self Help Group project in Eastleigh. Over the past month, five new groups have been formed with women wanting to work together to improve there lives and the lives of their families through self help initiatives. Erica, Laura and Aisha brought representatives from each of these groups together this week at Heart Lodge to train them on the nuts and bolts of the self help group approach and encourage these women as emerging leaders within their community.

Laura Muema leading a training session on self help group

savings and financial management

We are excited to see the project expand from the original Iftin Self Help Groups in Eastleigh's Section One, to now include five new groups from the broader area. Our prayer is that this ministry will continue to grow and expand as women continue to help other women to build a better future.

Having some fun during the SHG Training

Please continue to pray for these Somali and Oromo women as they step forward as leaders in their community empowering other women and girls. To learn more, you can search our blog for more information on the self help group approach and watch a video interview from our larger SHG conference on vimeo at http://vimeo.com/35389128

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

Ministry Connections

We had the pleasure today of spending time friends from the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) visiting Kenya with Irving Whitt and our friend Maurice Potter, who serves in Nairobi with Pan Africa Christian University. We met to discuss the work of Canadian Baptist Ministries in Eastleigh, and the wider Muslim/Christian ministry happening in Nairobi.

We pray for a safe journey as the group continues to connect with groups working in Muslim communities throughout East Africa.

The Church in Muslim Communities

While Kenya is a predominantly Christian nation, there are 3.7 million Muslims living in Kenya's crowded urban centres, coastal communities, and spread across the Northern Frontier. From the arid lands of North East Province to the narrow streets of Eastleigh, Muslim people live with their Christian neighbours interacting in the marketplace and the byways of life. Although Canadian Baptist Ministries has been serving in these communities for nearly thirty years, we continue to learn from our brothers and sisters within the African Church. Their experience and perspective has much to teach us, and the wider Body of Christ, about living in peace and cooperation with our Muslim neighbours, while standing in the assurance and hope of the Gospel. Their story has not been an easy one and at times has fallen into patterns of mistrust, tension and violence.

This past week, Sam Chaise, the general secretary of Canadian Baptist Ministries, posted an update by Aaron on his blog "Cut To the Chaise", about how the Church in Garissa is bonding together through the intense time of persecution and unrest that has hit Garissa and this region. Along with their deepening desire to strengthen the unity of the Church, it was encouraging to see the humility and sincere love for their Muslim neighbour shine through their conversations. Rejecting the urge to strike back, the pastors spoke of forgiveness and reconciliation -- This is God at work!

You can read the post and view short video clips of two of the pastors by visiting Sam's blog through the link below.

Click here to read Aaron's post in:

Cut To The Chaise

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

January 2012

Laura Muema and Erica today in Nairobi

We are excited to begin 2012 with several new ministry initiatives with the Guardians of Hope, Urban outreach ministry and the CBM North East Province program. Today, we were laying out plans with our project officer, Laura Muema, as we prepare for an upcoming conference and curriculum development for CBM's self help group projects in Kenya.

Please remember us in prayer as we work together over the coming months to both strengthen the existing self help groups, and expand this ministry. We are looking forward to a conference on the importance of sisterhood in two weeks time, as we gather representatives from urban and rural self help groups to share how they have experienced the power of women helping women in their contexts. We are glad that a group of four women from New Minas Baptist Church, Nova Scotia, will be joining us for this time of training and encouragement.

Maureen and Wayne Morgan

Yesterday, we helped the Morgan family move into their new home at the Shade Language School in the beautiful tea hills above Nairobi. The Morgans have jumped right into life in Kenya, with Wayne bravely driving along the narrow and crowded roads from his first day -- please remember them in prayer this weekend as they move their son Sean and friend Jenny into University here in Kenya.

Picnic at the Kennys

18 Candles

Tristan made a yummy birthday treat for Sean Morgan,

who turned eighteen enroute to Kenya.

An unexpected guest looking for birthday cake

Christmas is a Com'n

Women Helping Women

for a Brighter Tomorrow

This past week, the women of the Noor Muslim Women's Self Help Group teamed up with a group of Christian women in the Jacaranda Creations Self Help Groups to sell their beautiful products through a Christmas Tea in Nairobi. Both groups did very well in their sale, but perhaps the greatest success was just have these two groups working together.

Erica with members of the Noor Self Help Group

While Canadian Baptist Ministries work in Eastleigh has been among Muslim ethnic groups like Somali and Oromo refugees, we are excited to see these groups begin to fellowship and cooperate with Christian neighbours and women's groups outside of Eastleigh. Women's empowerment brings diverse people together, because together we have stronger voice.

Some of the wonderful hand made products

of Jacaranda Creations

Some of the jewelry created by the women

of the Noor Muslim Women's Self Help Group

Some of the ladies of the Jacaranda Creations

Women's Self Help Project

Brenda Kean and Erica so excited to see the women of the

groups they each founded working together

Merry Christmas!

Advent 2011

Advent Begins

We have always loved Advent and celebration of Christmas, but since coming to Kenya in 2006 it has become such a important part of our year as a way to help our family feel connected to our traditions and Canadian roots. It is fun to share these traditions with our Muslim friends as we learn from each other. Here are a few snap shots from our first week of Advent.

Ava Singing in her Preschool Class Choir

Ava playing the role of the kind inn keeper

in her pre-school Christmas pageant

Ava doing the "Makarena" at the close of

the Montesouri Christmas Concert

Mommy & Ava after the concert

So proud of our tiny dancer!

Noor Christmas Party

Erica and our friend Patrick

Ava playing with the ladies in our backyard

Merry Christmas from the Noor Self Help Group!

Praying for Change

Children receiving vitamin supplements

at a CBM feeding project in

Northeastern Province, Kenya

In the past three months alone, approximately 30,000 children have died from malnutrition and preventable illness in the Horn of Africa. Canadian Baptist Ministries is partnering with the Sister's Maternity Hospital, in Garissa, to provide immunizations, medical services, and daily food and water to nine affected communities along the Tana River. This is an area where thousands of displaced people have come for help with small villages more than doubling in size from the influx.

Through the generous support of churches and individuals, we are working with partners in the local community to help vulnerable families survive. But more than survival, we are praying for change. The present relief efforts are only a first step, as Canadian Baptist Ministries works with communities eager to break a pattern that has held them in a feast and famine cycle for generations. Together with the local government, the Kenyan Red Cross and community elders, we are actively seeking sustainable change that will enable the communities we are serving to make better use of the waters of the Tana River to grow their own food and provide a rich economic benefit for the region.

Change is not easy. We all favour what we know over the unknown. Certainly, there will be a lot of learning, risk and failure on the journey ahead. But as we make this journey with local Kenyan churches and Muslim communities, we pray for deeper bonds of love, understanding and grace. God is a liberating God. Ultimately, we trust his Spirit at work in the lives of many to bring about healing, growth, and transformation!

Women and children lining up for water at a mobile clinic and feeding program of Canadian Baptist Ministries and the Sister's Maternity Hospital, near Garissa.

A Waliwana women participating in a small

women's farming cooperative near the

Tana River, in Northeastern Province.

Under the Acacia Tree

Erica and Diane Bannister speaking with Somali women

at a feeding clinic in Doloweyn,

Northeastern Province, Kenya

Children taking turns drinking from a large water container

at the Doloweyn feeding centre and clinic in NEP.