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

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

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.

2012 GOH Leadership Conference ACC&S

Dr. Julius Karanja, Moderator of the African Christian Church & Schools, opening CBM's second ACC&S Guardians of Hope Leadership Conference at the Jumuia Centre in Kikambala, Kenya

This past week, we had the pleasure of leading our second ACC&S GOH leadership conference with our colleagues Wayne and Maureen Morgan. We travelled to the coast with our children for intentional time of reflection on the ministry of the Guardians of Hope with members of the ACC&S executive and leaders from each of their nine GOH projects.

Erica and Maureen facilitating a session on strengthening

the leadership role of women in the GOH

This year's conference focused on the effectiveness of HIV & AIDS awareness, strengthening the role of women, and sharing best practices in the self help group approach. Over the conference, the groups also worked on refining a self assessment tool that the groups will be using to set measurable targets and track their progress.

Wayne Morgan sharing during the closing panel discussion

responding to the group presentations on their successes

in HIV & AIDS Awareness and Prevention

It was encouraging to hear how many groups have begun partnering with the local government in voluntary counselling and testing projects. In the community of Embu, 23 people who tested positive through their VCT have joined their GOH support groups in the past few months. "We are working together so that everyone in our community knows their status!" shared pastor John, "Stigma is being reduced and those living positive are finding support and acceptance!"

Worshipping under the shade of the trees

The ACC&S leaders deeply appreciated the support of Canadian Baptist Ministries that made this gathering possible. "Please thank the Canadian Churches for us," shared ACC&S General Secretary Joseph Miana. "You do not know how great it is for us to have this gift to come away, and step back from our busy ministry and responsibilities in our home communities. This time away together greatly enriches our ministry and is such an encouragement for us!"

We also want to thank all of you for your prayers and generous support for our family and the ministries that we are providing leadership. God is using your help to strengthen the ministry of the Church in Africa as it seeks to bring about transformation in the lives of so many!

One of the great challenges that the ACC&S is facing is encouraging and empowering women in leadership. Within the GOH we are intentionally working to over come gender inequality and long standing patterns that have held women back from sharing their perspective and potential. Please pray for the courageous women leaders of the ACC&S GOH who are reaching out to their sisters and mentoring others in their church and communities.

A further challenge facing the ACC&S GOH is a generational gap between current leadership and the growing youth population of Kenya. Presently over 60% of the Kenyan population is under the age of 25. Please pray for the Church as they seek ways to reach out to the youth of their communities and involve this next generation in the leadership of ministries like the GOH. Having multiple generations represented in leadership is one key way of strengthening the ministry of the Guardians of Hope that has been caring for AIDS orphans for the past seven years.

Emma enjoying some quiet time at the conference

ACC&S GOH Leadership Participants

Thank you for remembering and praying for this ministry!

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.

Food for Work Project

North East Province, Kenya

(Photo by Gabriel Craven)

Canadian Baptist Ministries Drought Response Project continues this week as we begin a "food for work project" with two vulnerable villages along the Tana River, South East of Garissa. Our colleagues Yattani Gollo and William Wako are coordinating efforts with village elders to clear scrub bush from roads and the flood plain. The communities have selected the sites for the work that will open travel between their villages and the larger town. "Removing the thorn bushes will improve security," shared Yattani. "Many women and children walk these paths in fear of attackers lurking in the mathenga (local thorny brush that covers most of Northeast Province)." The opened roads will also provide improved access to the community farms that will be cleared of mathenga over the coming months by the community members. Over the next three months, approximately 2000 people will receive supplementary food rations through this project as we help the community recover from the drought and rebuild their farms.

CBM Kenya Team Gathering

CBM Team Kenya

Yesterday we had the joy of meeting together as a team for the first time with our new colleagues Wayne and Maureen Morgan. Our director, Terry Smith, also joined us as he was in Kenya for meetings.

Please keep Erica in your prayers as she enters hospital today for surgery. She will have her operation today at 2 pm.

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

Self Help Group Conference

Participants in CBM's first Women's

Self Help Group Conference in Nairobi

This past week, Erica hosted our first Nairobi Women's Self Help Group Conference with representatives from all 12 of the Muslim Self Help Groups in Eastleigh and from three Guardians of Hope groups from the Africa Brotherhood Church. We are so thankful for the contribution of Laura Muema, Mercy Mwikali, Aisha Hussein, and the women of the New Minas STM who all contributed.

A highlight of the conference was having members of the Guardians of Hope working together with members of the Somali SHGs from Eastleigh -- the spirit of cooperation and sisterhood was felt throughout the conference.

Aaron & Erica wearing gifts from our Somali friends

Solidarity Ceremony

At the close of the conference, each of the Muslim and Christian women came together in a sign of love and support, and presented each other with solidarity necklaces made by the women of the Noor Self Help Group. We thank God for the respect and acceptance demonstrated by all of the participants, and for their desire to work together in unity.

On the Ground

"ON THE GROUND"

Heather, Judy, Joann, Coral and Erica with

Mama Turtle, at the 140

We have had a full and wonderful weekend of orientation and preparation with the New Minas team as they have started pulling together their ministry plans with Erica. The ladies will have a variety of experiences over the next two weeks as they come along side Canadian Baptist Ministries self help group projects in Nairobi and with the Guardians of Hope.

The ladies working through plans to help

strengthen the Noor self help group

Ava, Emma and Joann "African Style"

We want to thank everyone who has been upholding this team in your prayers. Please continue to pray as we prepare for the upcoming women's self help group conference this Wednesday and Thursday.

New Minas Baptist Church

The New Minas Short Term Mission

Coral, Heather, Erica, Judy, Joann

Last evening, Erica and I had the joy of welcoming four women from the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia who will be volunteering with us in CBM's Urban Muslim Ministry program over the rest of January. They are being led by Coral Rafuse of New Minas Baptist Church. After crossing the city, we had a wonderful visit together at the 140 Guest House which will be there home for the next two weeks.

Praying for the Church in Garissa

Garissa Pastors & Church Leaders Gathering

Ruiru, Kenya

This week, we are facilitating a conference with 18 pastors from the North East Province capital of Garissa with our CBM colleagues. Together we have been blessed to fellowship with this courageous group of Christian leaders who shepherd Christ followers in a community which has becoming increasingly volatile over the past year. In many ways this has been a historic gathering as the Garissa pastors have committed to work together in mutual support and cooperation for the strengthening of God's Kingdom and the building up of the Body of Christ. Moreover, they have demonstrated great sensitivity and wisdom as they seek to build peace and live out the love of Christ toward their Muslim neighbours.

Sharing our hopes & fears

Timothy Bannister sharing about the care of creation

and central importance of food security in the holistic

ministry of the church.

Throughout the gathering, the pastors worked together in accessing the effectiveness of their ministry and encouraging one another on how they might work together in new ways. We were impressed by their honesty and humble spirits. The room was a diverse mix of not only 19 Christian denominations, but pastors who have served in Garissa for a wide span of time -- from "patron pastors" with 34 and even 36 years experience in Garissa, all the way to those who have been in Garissa for merely a few months. One pastor declared himself the "baby" as he has been leading his church for only 7 days. And yet, the openness and teachability of the entire group was evident as everyone spoke equally showing deep respect and interest.

We came into this gathering not knowing most of the Christian leaders with whom we would be working with, or the dynamics that we would meet, but we were blown away by the maturity and wisdom of these pastors. It is evident that God's spirit is at work in this community!

Colin Godwin teaching the pastors about

models of Christian and Muslim Relations

ACC&S pastor Samuel, Yattani and Aaron

On Thursday evening, Yattani lead a service of prayer for the church and the community, during the prayer time one of the pastors received the devastating news that 8 of his friends and family members had been taken by a group of Somali bandits. It was a painful reminder of the constant threat and anxiety that both the community and the church are living through in Garissa. Our brother had little sleep as he prayed for the hostages.

This morning, during our time of worship the news came back that all 8 hostages were released unharmed. "I thank God for what he has done!" shared pastor Mutemi. "When I heard 8 were captured, I feared as 7 had just been killed in another community by bandits. Praise God they have been released and they are safe! The cattles are gone, but my brothers are safe!!!!"

It was an incredible answer to prayer

Pastor Ibrahim MaKunyi

One of the self proclaimed "patrons" or Church fathers in Garissa, Pastor Ibrahim Makunyi Kamwara leads the East Africa Pentecostal Church in Garissa where he has served for 34 years. Pastor Ibrahim spoke powerfully about forgiveness to myself and a small group of pastors, as he shared about the November 6th grenade attack against his congregation which killed two of his church members and seriously injured four others. The attack happened during a Saturday night and early Sunday morning prayer time in a house on the Pentecostal compound. According to pastor Ibrahim the extremists who attacked the church have just been apprehended by police. "What do we have to fear! God is with us!" he shared. But even with such great faith, all of the churches in Garissa do live with fear. "We are on edge." another pastor shared. "I know these threats are affecting my health. I trust my God, but it is hard."

Insecurity is not only felt among the pastors, but for their congregations it is a daily concern. Pastor Ibrahim shared how much it meant for him to know that Christians around the world were praying for his congregation and the churches in Garissa. Amongst such persecution, all of the pastors have come to appreciate the gift of Christian unity and fellowship.

"How can our friends in Canada and around the world be praying for the Church in Garissa?" I asked.

"Pray that the Church will be united."

"That we will compliment each other and not compete."

"That God's community will work together as and be light and ambassadors."

"That we will see God's Spirit end the insecurity and the fear."

BBC Article Link

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