In Prayer

Spotting an African Red-billed Hornbill on our travels

Among the beautiful gifts of creation that we encounter in Kenya, one has certainly been the African hornbills that we occasionally see at our home in Nairobi, but are a regular part of our experience of the semi arid lands of North East Province (NEP). These resilient birds are survivors and can be found in the most extreme of conditions. This is a photo of one Erica and I saw at the Doloweyn Supplementary Feeding project of CBM, last September at the height of the drought.


While we are receiving an abundance of rain here in the city, NEP is not getting its share. Our colleague William Wako who specializes in sustainable agriculture in the CBM NEP program is very concerned. We met this Friday, after a three-day Farming God's Way training workshop in Kijabe. "It is very dry in Garissa," shared William. "If we don't get rain soon, it will be too late for this rainy season and many people will suffer." Please join us in praying for rain for the people of NEP and the drought prone regions of the horn of Africa.


Also in prayer, please uplift the security situation in Kenya. Yet again this morning, a grenade attack has taken the life of another Kenya and injured ten others as a grenade was thrown into the House of God Miracle church in Ngara, Nairobi. We pray for the peace of God's Spirit to bring healing and reconciliation into this region. We also pray for the conflict in Somalia, and the a resolution of the instability that has far too long created suffering and harm to the people of the Horn of Africa.

We also lift up in prayer our new team mates, the Morgan and Legassie families, as they settle into life and ministry. You can follow both families online through their blogs at:

Morgans and Legassies

Members of the CBM Kenya team: 

Karen, Erica, Colin, Maureen, Ruth, 

Pauline, Aaron, Randy and Elizabeth

Volleyball

 Mousebirds in front of our home

One of the many interesting birds that we find near our home in Nairobi, are little brown mouse birds. Often in the morning, we'll see a flock on the power lines clutching the wire with their feet tucked up under their beaks, like someone doing a chin up. Not only do they have s squeaky little chirp, but their soft brown feathers arm not dissimilar from fur, and their long thin tail feathers give them an unmistakeable mousy appearance. Cheese anyone?

 Go Rosslyn!

This past week, Tristan's middle school co-ed volleyball team played in their first match against the International School of Kenya (ISK). It was fun to cheer the Rosslyn players on as they hosted ISK for the game.

Way to go TK!

Michael Lower leading the team in a pre-game stretch

Building a better future!

 Fardosa 

The ladies of the Noor Self Help Group project are busy in preparation for our upcoming trip to Canada. They have been making a new line of solidarity necklaces and bracelets as part of their income generating project.

 Freshly glazed Noor beads ready for the kiln

Tunis working on solidarity beads for Canada

 Beautiful sisal baskets in Pangani, near Eastleigh

Another self help enterprise that we have been excited to watch grow is the Kenyan sisal basket group that buys a rainbow of hand woven sisal baskets from self help groups like the Guardians of Hope in Ukambani, and fit them with cloth linings and rugged leather handles. "These baskets are so strong," proudly shared one group member, "that they can carry stones!"

 "The cowboy" and the stitchers

Cutting leather in the workshop

Ladies from a self help group finishing up a basket order

Legassies

We were excited last evening to welcome our new team mates Randy and Elizabeth Legassie as they arrived from Canada at the Nairobi airport. They were greeted by a fierce thunderstorm, but as they say in Kenya - "those who arrive with rain are a blessing!"

You can follow the Legassie's Journey on their BLOG

CBM NEP Program

We are excited to share our latest update video, focused on the Drought Response program in Kenya's North East Province. A big thank you to our colleague Jon Williams who helped us in editing this for our Canadian Baptist Churches. You can learn more about CBM's work in Africa and around the world by visiting the website at www.cbmin.org

Emma's CFS

 Rosslyn Academy's Fifth Grade

Cultural Field Studies

Emma and her class mates had a great few days camping this past week as they learned about the life on the savannahs of Kenya. Along with nature walks and orienteering, they had fun learning some camping basics.

Emma and Mommy at the camp 

 A lone giraffe among the whistling thorns

The girls getting ready for the talent show

The Nest

Our Friends from the Nest Children's Home just shared some pictures from their Easter Celebrations! The Nest is a Ministry that cares for children and imprisoned mothers. Over the years, they have also provided for hundreds of orphans who are abandoned or brought to their home in Limuru or Gigiri. You can see photos and learn more about the Nest through this link: http://uhuru.de/thenesthome/ or by searching ourblogs on the search bar at the top of the page or using this link http://fivekennys.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Nest

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

Women at the Well

Sisters within the Africa Brotherhood Church

gathering near a water catchment at the

Eastern Kenya Integrated College (EKIC)

Mitaboni, Kenya

This past week, Aaron was away for doctoral studies with Carey Theological College as part of a joint partnership with Canadian Baptist Ministries. This has been a great opportunity to study with, and strengthen relationships among, the leadership from each of our African partner churches. It has been a rich time of reflection and examination of the ministry that our family has been a part of in Africa over the past years, since coming to Kenya in 2006.

Some of the Somali Women in the Noor Self Help Group

glazing ceramic beads for their jewelry business

Empowering women is a major thrust of CBM's ministry in Kenya. Whether through theological education, or through grassroots leadership development in projects like the Guardians of Hope and Muslim Ministry Self Help Groups, we are committed to help communities recognize the importance and value of women in society.

In the life and ministry of Jesus, we find a demonstration of God's love and esteem for women. In a culture and time where women were often viewed as little more than property, we see Jesus approaching and speaking grace into the lives women. We are reminded of the scene in the fourth chapter of John's Gospel, where he encountered a solitary Samaritan woman at a well. As it was the heat of the day and most people had sought shade, this woman (possibly in her shame) had come. Jesus asks her to draw him water to drink and enters into one of the most revealing conversations in the New Testament. It is remarkable to read how Jesus sees this woman and treats her with dignity and love. Jesus sees, he listens and he speaks into her life giving her a new identity and hope.

Isn't this an image of the Gospel, that the Church must be about bringing a new reality into existence through courageous and subversive acts of inclusion, healing and a grander vision for life in relationship with God and others. We pray that this might be your experience of the Kingdom of God. That the Spirit of God might draw all of us into conversations that bring liberation, forgiveness and wholeness into the lives of others!

In Prayer

* Please remember our friend and colleague, Henry Mwangi, director of development for the African Christian Church & Schools. Henry is grieving the death of his mother who past away on Friday evening after a difficult battle with lung cancer.

* Please pray for our friends and team mates Tim, Diane & Caleb Bannister, who are preparing for their new field assignment in Liberia, West Africa. This will be a major change for the Bannisters who have raised all four of their children in Kenya during their ministry with Africa Inland Mission and with CBM. We especially remember Diane as she completes her masters studies in public health through the University of Uganda.

* We also pray for our Laura Muema, Aisha Hussein and Patrick Ndogu as they work together in strengthen the Muslim Women's Self Help Group program in Nairobi. We thank God for the progress that we have witnessed in these groups as women support each other in bettering the lives of their families. We are thankful for the new kiln that the Noor SHG is now using and for the opportunity the group has to encourage other groups by their example and leadership.

Esther-Ordinary Faith

Rosslyn Academy Elementary presents...

Esther-Ordinary Faith

A kids musical by Kathie Hill

Emma, with her friends, before tonight's

performance as the auditorium filled up

This year's Spring elementary drama was a musical based on the story of Esther. Through the musical, the children and audience learn that God can be trusted in difficult times -- We can have confidence in Him!

Emma and her buddy Diana with the dancers

"The Lord of the Dance"

Erica and Kim after a busy few months of

rehearsal as co-directors of the

Rosslyn Elementary musicals

The dancers

Mommy and Emma at the end of a great night!

Doctoral Studies

Arch Bishop Timothy Ndambuki,

of the Africa Brotherhood Church

This was a big week for our friends within the Africa Brotherhood Church (ABC), as the church named Rev. Timothy Ndambuki their Arch Bishop and Rev. Mishaq Mwikwilu as their third Bishop. The church also celebrated its first ordination of women into pastoral ministry and into the Cannons of the church.

DMin student Alevera, from Rwanda

This week, Aaron has been studying in Mitaboni in the

Carey Theological doctor of ministry cohort.

Nirmal presenting during Dr. Jonathan Wilson's course

in Theological Reflection in Ministry

Driving through the hills of Ukambani, Kenya

Happy Easter

EASTER GREETINGS

Wayne, Maureen, Jenny, Sean, Michael, Tim, Caleb, Tristan

Erica, Aaron, Ava and Emma

We had a great Easter celebration today with our friends the Morgans and Bannisters. Our three little egg hunters were up early this morning searching the house before our Easter Worship Service -- Ava took the largest haul! There has been lots of singing in the Kenny house, the latest tune comes from an Apple App called "Baby Monkey". It is a very simple game where you control a monkey and a pig as they bounce across the screen grabbing bananas and dodging obstacles, but the further you go the more of the song you hear (imagine singing this in a falsetto, over and over again):

"Baby Monkey, baby monkey

riding on a pig, baby monkey

Baby Monkey, baby monkey

backwards on a pig, baby monkey"

We also enjoyed a great turkey dinner and fun with our team mates the Morgans and the Bannisters (just back from Liberia, we are very sad to see them leaving Kenya). Diane is back in Uganda this month finishing her masters studies in public health, so we weren't able to enjoy a final holiday meal before their upcoming move. We continue to pray for them as they prepare for this transition.

Let the after dinner games begin!

Deep in a game of spoons

Wishing You a Happy Easter!!

EASTER 2012

WISHING YOU ALL A

JOYOUS CELEBRATION OF

E A S T E R

He has risen, indeed!

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