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

Christmas is a Com'n

Women Helping Women

for a Brighter Tomorrow

This past week, the women of the Noor Muslim Women's Self Help Group teamed up with a group of Christian women in the Jacaranda Creations Self Help Groups to sell their beautiful products through a Christmas Tea in Nairobi. Both groups did very well in their sale, but perhaps the greatest success was just have these two groups working together.

Erica with members of the Noor Self Help Group

While Canadian Baptist Ministries work in Eastleigh has been among Muslim ethnic groups like Somali and Oromo refugees, we are excited to see these groups begin to fellowship and cooperate with Christian neighbours and women's groups outside of Eastleigh. Women's empowerment brings diverse people together, because together we have stronger voice.

Some of the wonderful hand made products

of Jacaranda Creations

Some of the jewelry created by the women

of the Noor Muslim Women's Self Help Group

Some of the ladies of the Jacaranda Creations

Women's Self Help Project

Brenda Kean and Erica so excited to see the women of the

groups they each founded working together

Merry Christmas!

Praying for Change

Children receiving vitamin supplements

at a CBM feeding project in

Northeastern Province, Kenya

In the past three months alone, approximately 30,000 children have died from malnutrition and preventable illness in the Horn of Africa. Canadian Baptist Ministries is partnering with the Sister's Maternity Hospital, in Garissa, to provide immunizations, medical services, and daily food and water to nine affected communities along the Tana River. This is an area where thousands of displaced people have come for help with small villages more than doubling in size from the influx.

Through the generous support of churches and individuals, we are working with partners in the local community to help vulnerable families survive. But more than survival, we are praying for change. The present relief efforts are only a first step, as Canadian Baptist Ministries works with communities eager to break a pattern that has held them in a feast and famine cycle for generations. Together with the local government, the Kenyan Red Cross and community elders, we are actively seeking sustainable change that will enable the communities we are serving to make better use of the waters of the Tana River to grow their own food and provide a rich economic benefit for the region.

Change is not easy. We all favour what we know over the unknown. Certainly, there will be a lot of learning, risk and failure on the journey ahead. But as we make this journey with local Kenyan churches and Muslim communities, we pray for deeper bonds of love, understanding and grace. God is a liberating God. Ultimately, we trust his Spirit at work in the lives of many to bring about healing, growth, and transformation!

Women and children lining up for water at a mobile clinic and feeding program of Canadian Baptist Ministries and the Sister's Maternity Hospital, near Garissa.

A Waliwana women participating in a small

women's farming cooperative near the

Tana River, in Northeastern Province.

Under the Acacia Tree

Erica and Diane Bannister speaking with Somali women

at a feeding clinic in Doloweyn,

Northeastern Province, Kenya

Children taking turns drinking from a large water container

at the Doloweyn feeding centre and clinic in NEP.

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

Snap shots from Iftin

Snap shots from the

Iftin Women's Empowerment Project

Erica walking with a little girl in Mathare Valley Slum

Erica with photo journalist Gabriel Craven

Over the past few days, we've been blessed to have Gabriel visiting with the Iftin ladies. Along with taking photographs, he has been hearing their stories of courage, perseverance, and faith. We hope you enjoy seeing many of the faces of Iftin through his eye.

Telling Their Story

Dan Klinck, Aaron & Erica, Amanda Lindhout, Louis DeGuise, and Curt Petrovich (Gabriel Craven behind the camera)

Over the past two days, we have had the pleasure of hosting Amanda Lindhout and reporters from CBC television's The National, as they connect with the Somali refugee women of Iftin and learn more about their stories and experiences.

In 2008, Amanda was kidnapped just outside the Somali capital of Mogadishu and held hostage for fifteen months. During her captivity, she vowed that if she survived that she would dedicate her life to helping Somali women. Four months after her release, she founded the Global Enrichment Foundation and established the Somali Women's Scholarship Program.

Through the internet, Amanda and her team learned about the Iftin Women's Empowerment Project and became interested in how the project is impacting refugee women living within the Muslim ghetto of Eastleigh, Nairobi. We were thrilled to hear that they were interested in partnering with the Noor Creations ceramic bead self help project that Erica established with the Eastleigh Community Centre two years ago. This afternoon, they will be working with the women to develop a bracelet that should be available in Canada later this year.

Curt and Louis are travelling with Amanda to film a documentary on her return to Africa and the work of her foundation. We had a great time yesterday meeting with ladies from each of the projects and joining the group on a walk of Eastleigh and Mathare Valley. We were also joined by Gabriel, a free lance photo journalist. During the walk, we attracted a throng of young children. Several little ones that could not have been much older than two, grabbing our hands and walking barefoot through the slum.

To learn more about the Global Enrichment Foundation, you can check out their website below:

http://globalenrichmentfoundation.com/

Three Years Old

Happy Anniversary Iftin!

This past Friday, we celebrated our third anniversary of the Iftin Women's Empowerment Project which officially started on July 7, 2008. We were thrilled to see so many new refugee women enter the project this spring. For many of the ladies, this was their first anniversary celebration.

The Iftin project continues to grow as it responds to the rising number of Somali refugee families entering Eastleigh. Please continue to pray for our leadership team at the community centre and for Laura, Nelius, Farhiya and Patrick as they continue to lead the day to day work of the projects.

In the next week, the Eastleigh Community will enter the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. This can be a tense time as the women have additional responsibilities at home. 

Erica and Laura lighting the Anniversary Candles

Laura, Farhiya, Daniel and Nelius

Cutting the IFTIN Anniversary Cake

Ava and a new friend from Eastleigh

Noor Creations

Ayan, Hawa & Fatuma in the Noor Creations Workshop

It has been such a blessing to see the Noor Creations ceramic bead self help project grow over the past two years. Through hard work and dedication, the Somali refugee ladies of Noor are not only providing for the needs of their families, but are examples to other refugee women entering the Iftin Women's Empowerment program.

Tunis & Fardosa

Beautiful beads

Aisha and Aisha working on beads

Please continue to uphold Noor in your prayers as these women

work to provide a sustainable income for their families.