Women helping women

Members of the CBM Pamoja team meeting with 

SHG members in Kariobangi, Nairobi.

As the Kenyan proverb says, "Talking with one another is loving one another." The importance of sharing our lives together is at the heart of the self-help group movement that Erica and her CBM team have been investing in over the past eleven years.

Our colleague Andre Sibomana often says that you cannot love your neighbour until you move close to them. Being close to our neighbours about more than proximity. It is about opening our lives and taking time to listen and discover our common experiences.

Over the next two days, the CBM Pamoja team are meeting with Christian and Muslim women within the CBM Self Help Groups in Nairobi as they learn about the power of the SHG model to bring about sustainable change and hope in the lives of vulnerable communities. Above all they are taking the time to demonstrate the love of Jesus through talking together about faith and life. 

SHG members sharing about their experience of working together

Since 2009, hundreds of SHG groups have been formed through the CBM urban program in communities like Eastleigh, Pangani, Haruma, Garissa, Kiya-Michael, and Kariobangi. The Ark sisters which formed in 2017 is apart of a current network of 11 groups in the community of Kariobangi. 

The Kariabango SHGs were started in 2013 and has been a fruitful area for nurturing healthy Christian and Muslim relationships. We are so grateful for our great team and local partners. They are navigating many challenges that are affecting the daily life of this neighbourhood, from lack of proper sanitation and clean water to insecurity.

CBM Urban team members Laura, Patrick, Erica and Aaron

Despite the difficulties of a place like Kariobangi, we continually witness the power of faith and friendship bringing joy and strength to the people of this community. Throughout our meetings, we could hear the laughter of children playing outside as the women shared with us their stories. Your prayers and support are making a lasting impact upon these women and their families. 

One common thread through the stories has been the importance of sisterhood. Women helping women through struggles and hardship. Women helping women through the lows and the highs. Women coming together to raise their common experience of life.

Fay Renolds bringing home some of the beautiful handmade bags 

from members of the Ark Sisters SHG

The problems that face the world's urban poor are complex. There is no simple solution to wiping away poverty, injustice, or violence, but we believe that in the brokenness of the world that God is moving and drawing all people to the life that God intended for us all.

Advent is a season that reminds that in the darkness, in the loneliness, and in the desperate experiences of life, that light is not extinguished. God is drawing near and even in the lowliest of places hope will be born. 

Brenda, Erica, and Linda at the Ark School

Please join us in praying for the women of the self-help group programs in Nairobi, and for their families. We continue to remember the hundreds of thousands of refugee families that are living in the slums of Africa's cities, and for the local churches that are called to be the hands and feet of Christ to their neighbours.

Bringing the Gift of Clean Water this Advent

Brenda and Erica with the second of four water filter distributions from CBM's Hopeful Gifts for Change program. Today twenty-two women received training and ceramic water filtration systems for their families in the Kariobangi slum of Nairobi.

Once again, we want to share our sincere gratitude to everyone who has contributed to this important program. To learn more please visit www.hopefulgifts.ca