Birthday Weekend!

A dusty zebra looking for grass along the very dry sand bed which was once Lake Amboseli.

Kerry, Mel, and Erica

at the Kibo Eco Lodge, Amboseli

This past weekend, Erica joined two of our good friends for a birthday getaway to celebrate our friend Mel turning 30. They traveled three hours south of Nairobi to the Tanzanian border, where they stayed in the Amboseli National Park.

The girls enjoying some quiet time in their safari tent after a very hot and dusty drive.



Erica up early to catch a glimpse of the snow covered peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro. As the highest mountain in Africa, Kili forms a spectacular backdrop to Amboseli National Park, located on the southern border of Kenya.



The girls on their camping adventure.

While they did see some beautiful wildlife, they were struck by the terrible impact of the drought on the region. The severe lack of rain within much of Kenya has especially affected this part of the country. They saw very little water during their travels and sadly very little grazing for the animals: everywhere they went they came across herds of plains animals that seemed to have dropped dead where they had been standing. At times they saw hundreds lying on an open plain surrounded by dust and withered grass.

And yet, there remained thousands more struggling to survive. We pray for the rains to return and renew places like Amboseli.

A family of elephant crossing the plain.

A tired bull elephant cooling

himself off with a dust bath.

Amboseli is known for its large elephant herds that graze on the marsh lands below Mt. Kilimanjaro.

The lack of tree and bush cover in Amboseli makes it a prime spot to see large predators like lions.

These three lionesses were especially affectionate with one another as they lazed in the sun.

Some of Mel's friends had conspired to throw a surprise birthday party on Sunday evening at our home, after the girls returned from the camping trip. It was a great surprise!

Ava finally got to blow out those birthday candles

The conspirators!

Wendy, Mel, Kerry and Erica
-- Great Birthday Weekend!

Unleashing Potential

Members of the Iftin Self Help Group (SHG) team

Enjoying the shade of an umbrella tree in our yard.

Over the next eight days, the Iftin SHG team is going through an intense time of training and field practicums within Eastleigh and Mathare Valley. The purpose of this training is to equip the seven volunteer community facilitators as they work in mobilizing and training other refugee women in the self help group approach. "Every human being, despite their circumstances, has enormous potential -- we believe in everybody!" encouraged the Eastleigh Community Centre director. Through this training, the women are gaining not only the concepts of sustainable community development, but the technical skills needed to build strong and functioning groups that are becoming socially, economically and politically empowered.

Ehud speaking to the community facilitators on the impact of our mindsets toward overcoming poverty.

In Prayer:

Please hold these seven women and the Self Help Group program in your prayers as we serve the refugee community living within Eastleigh. Putting what we are learning into action will be much harder than any of us expect.

Mass Planting Day

Vertical Gardening in an Urban Slum

Empowers Women through Food Security

As a follow up to our first vertical gardening day, which Tim Bannister had lead on June 18th, the women of Iftin completed a refresher workshop today facilitated by Mr. Stanslous Akoi of the Solidarites organization.

Since June, seventeen women from the original training day have been committed to caring for the six test gardens and finding suitable places in their own homes to build more gardens. These women were joined today by another thirteen ladies who participated in the training.

Aaron getting some help in unloading bags of manure, soil and stone for today's mass planting.

The stones alone were a big job to carry.

But everyone got involved!

Mr. Josephat Oduor assisting the Iftin ladies in building a sample vertical garden in a used feed sack.

All you need to build a garden like this is:
a sack, soil, manure, stones, seeds/seedlings,
and finally the most difficult ingredient
... water.

The women broke up into several groups to go and find the water needed to build a sample garden. With the current drought conditions in Kenya, Nairobi is under severe water rationing: Like everyone living in Nairobi, the people of Eastleigh receive water only once a week. Storing enough water to make due until the next week's rationing is extremely difficult if not impossible for most people.

Once a vertical garden is built, a family can water it using waste kitchen water and even washing water. We are planting gardens within the community at this time in hopes that the October short rains will come to Eastleigh. In answer to our prayers, we did receive a rain shower this evening -- we hope that this is a sign of more to come!

Members of the Iftin women's group

very proud of their vertical garden.

A 50 kg maize sack like this one can support 25 seedlings along the sides and on top. Three sacks like this will provide a family a regular source of Sukumawiki (Kale), spinach, beans, tomatoes, onions and any number of other fruits and vegetables. Ten sacks like this will provide a family a steady source of income!

A seedbed produces a new harvest of seedlings for planting each month. The women in the program are then able to plant and care for the seedlings in their homes. Crops like Sukuma and Spinach are able to be harvested every 3 to 4 weeks.

Iftin ladies preparing bags of supplies

to carry back to their homes.

Women gathering stones for their vertical gardens

(A column of stone built through the centre of

each garden sack is crucial for evenly irrigating

a vertical garden. Without a properly build stone

core a vertical garden will fail).

The great highlight of our day was seeing

the ladies working together to carry the

supplies to their homes.

This young girl quietly listened to the instruction times and watched the entire demonstration. Off to the side, she along with a few other girls, gathered some supplies and began to build there own test garden. When the training day was complete, she had already assembled her supply bags and began to drag them back to where she lived.

Please pray for these women as they struggle to find ways to better care and provide for their families. We hope that in some small way that this program will make a lasting impact upon their lives.

Ava turns 3!!!

Birthday Butterflies!

On October 1st, Ava turned three years old. In the days leading up to her birthday, she would often break into song "Happy Birthday to you..." each time ending with a ferocious blowing of imaginary candles.


Somewhere between 5:30 and 5:45 am on Thursday morning, she bounded into our bedroom ready to open presents and begin the great celebration! We went to Java House for an early breakfast, and Ava wore a pretty pink dress that she had received as a gift. It was Mickey Mouse pancakes for all!Then after dropping her big brother and sister off to school, Ava arrived at Potter House with mommy's birthday cookies to share with her classmates.


After school, she helped mommy make pizza as Emma finished her swim practice. But by 5:30 pm, poor little Ava was feeling pretty tuckered out. Our friends Mel and Kerry dropped in for pizza and cake, but our little birthday girl had a real struggle staying awake through supper. Even after a break to open a few presents, Ava was done in. She was fast asleep before she had a chance to blow out her "real" candles.

Super birthday yawn!