What a Week!

WHAT A WEEK!

John hard at work in the renovations

of the new Iftin classroom

All this week, Erica and the Fallingbrook Heights volunteers have been busy in Eastleigh with Laura, Nelius, Farhiya, Patrick and the Iftin ladies. Here are a few glimpses into the week:

Nelius and Farhiya moving the Iftin literacy classes

outdoors as the entire Eastleigh Community Centre

undergoes a much needed facelift!

The new Iftin Unity Garden

is taking shape!

Nelius helping one of the Iftin girls water some of the sack gardens infront of the new classroom. Already eight teams of refugee women have entered the urban gardening contest and are growing vegetables in sack gardens throughout Eastleigh. We are so excited to see the ladies are putting their gardening training into practice both in the community centre and in their own homes. We pray for great success!

Lila helping to lay out the hundreds of new Kenyan readers and story books for the Eastleigh Community Centre library.

Yesterday morning, they presented a mountain of new books and sports equipment to the staff and students of the primary school. It was an emotional day as the little library rarely receives new books, especially African readers. All of the books provided by Fallingbrook Heights were purchased in Kenya and are a part of the official Kenyan curriculum. A huge thanks to the generosity of the Fallingbrook Heights Baptist Church who raised the funds for the library. (On behalf of the team, we also want to thank the Nairobi Textbook Centre for their discount -- it is amazing how many books they were able to bring into the school!)

Erica and Don in the new workspace for Noor Creations.

The Renovations were completed late yesterday afternoon, thanks to the dedication of the team. On behalf of the members of Iftin and Noor, we want to share a BIG THANK YOU! The transformation is incredible!!!!

The team is off for a weekend break, but they will return to the community centre on Monday to lead two days of professional development workshops with the entire staff.

On a personal note, we are excited to be celebrating Ava's 5th Birthday this Saturday. She left for pre-school this morning with a big box of mommy's cookies to celebrate with her class.

We hope you all have a great weekend!

Urban Gardening

Our friend and colleague, Andai Jackson, teaching

some of the Iftin ladies about

URBAN GARDENING

It has been an exciting week in Eastleigh, as Erica and the members of the Iftin Women's Empowerment Program begin a new chapter as both Noor and the literacy class move into new space. Erica also led the ladies in building a new urban garden for Iftin. Here is a glimpse of the work, but we will have pictures of the completed garden in a few weeks.

Patrick and Erica meeting with ladies of the

Noor Creations women's self help group

in their new work space within

the Eastleigh Community Centre

Erica helping Nelius and Farhiya move into their new

classroom for the Iftin literacy project

Aaron interviewing some of the Noor members

for fivekennys podcast

You can listen to our audio journal on iTunes or

at www.fivekennys.podbean.com

Tomatoes in the vertical sack gardens

Nelius and Hawa ready to plant

seedlings in the new garden

Farhiya and some of the Iftin women using rocks

in the irrigation columns of the vertical bag gardens

Several of the school children joining the Iftin

group as they prepare their new urban garden

New Beginnings in Eastleigh

The new school term has just begun at the Eastleigh Community Centre, and with it lots of beautiful new faces!

Farhiya, Nelius, Patrick, Erica and Laura

in the new Noor Creations workshop

We are excited to be starting the fall in two new spaces for the Iftin literacy classes and the Noor Creations jewelry project. Not only are we expanding our space, but we now have offices and a garden area. This will be a busy month as the team pulls together with the Iftin ladies to make this new space home!

Tunis, Fardosa and Ayan making beads in Noor

Rachel, Sarah and Nicole meeting with

Erica and the Noor ladies.

Today, we also had the pleasure of connecting three fellow Canadians with Noor and the ministry of the Eastleigh Community Centre. Rachel is a professional jewelry artisan from Regina, and shared some time today teaching in Noor.

Jacinta, Sarah, Racheal and Nicole

with children in the ECC Preschool

Noor Designs

Noor Creations

On Monday, the CBC documentary crew and Amanda Lindhout joined us again with the Noor Creations Self Help jewelry project. The Noor ladies are excited to be partnering with Amanda's Global Enrichment Foundation which is looking at selling their bracelets in Canada.

Erica and Amanda working with

the Noor girls on bracelet designs

Zahra and Tunis sorting unfinished beads

Erica working on designs with the ladies

Hawa finishing Solidarity Necklaces

Some of the Noor bracelets

Ties of Friendship

Iftin Friday Gathering
Every Friday, the Iftin ladies gather for a fun activity at the community centre. This week, Brianna led a class on making friendship bracelets. It was a huge hit as the ladies laughed and made many bracelets to give to friends.

Tristan & Erica

With our kids on summer break,

it was fun to have them all take part in

the fun activity with the refugee women.

Emma helping one of the Iftin ladies make her bracelet

Ava receiving a friendship bracelet from Farhiya

Ava making friends with a group of girls

on lunch break at the primary school

Ava telling a story to children gathered at our van

in the parking area of the community centre.

Afterward, Ava had fun sharing a bag of

lollipops with her new friends

During the activity, I think Erica made the most bracelets with dozens coming from her little work station. She left with a handful of yarn from an Oromo student, "Please teacher, make me one too!"

Friendship is one of those universal experiences that crosses cultural and religious boundaries. As part of the activity the ladies discussed what it means to be a friend: sharing, trust, keeping secrets, laughing, crying, having fun and, the greatest of all, love.

Farhiya giving Aaron a friendship bracelet

Noor Creations (Good-bye Safiya!)

Noor Creations Self Help Group

say Good-bye to Safiya

Today we hosted a good-bye party for Safiya (sitting in the centre) as she leaves Kenya to be married in Ethiopia. Safiya was one of the original fifteen refugee girls that helped form the Iftin Women's Empowerment Program in 2008. It is very sad to see her leave.

Party Games!

Over the past five years, these Somali girls have become a part of our family. It has been such a blessing to see them growing up. Safiya is the second young women in this group to become married over the last few years.

Playing the cookie pizza game was a lot of laughs

Farewell to Safiya

Safiya and Patrick

Fardosa, Tunis and Zahra

Chai Time!

Ayan and Emma all dressed up Somali Style

Tristan giving Somali style a try

Ava gets some henna

Our Somali girls