Naming Ceremony

Erica holding baby "Abdullahi Lucky Jacob".

In Somali culture, a newborn baby is traditionally kept indoors for forty days. On the fortieth day, the family will invite a family friend to carry the baby over the threshold and into the sunlight. They believe that the child will take on the character and follow in the footsteps of the person who carries the baby out of the home.

Today Erica had the honour of carrying the newborn baby of our friends, the Azizs, out of their Eastleigh apartment and into a bright sunny morning. Erica was also asked to give the baby his third name (Somalis typically have three names): His first name Abdullahi means "servant of God"; his second name Lucky is in reference to his fortunate birth and his mother's remarkable recovery after losing so much blood that she nearly died; and finally Erica gave him the Biblical name Jacob after the father of the the twelve sons of Israel. Muslims believe that Jacob was a man of might and vision and was chosen by God to preach His message. The Qur'an stresses that worshiping and bowing to the One true God was the main legacy of Jacob. Interestingly, according to the Qur'an, salvation hinges upon this legacy. (Qur'an 2:130-141).

It was a very special day to share with our friends. We pray for baby Jacob and his family that God would cover them in His blessing and His mighty love.

The Aziz's with six of their ten children in their Eastleigh home.

White Rock STM

Hanging around at the ACC&S Garissa School

with the team from White Rock, BC.

Dianne Rowen delivering a medical aid package to the nurses at Garissa's Sister's Maternity Hospital (SiMaHo)

Today we reviewed a number of Somali Ministry projects with the White Rock volunteers and collegues from The Sharing Way. The team will be living in Dadaab for nearly three weeks as they help in the local schools and improve the Dadaab compound with a number of construction projects.

Erica, Tim, Debbie, Dave, Glenn, Yatani
Diane, Zahra, Romano, Aaron

Lana and Jamie Up a Tree...

"We miss you Auntie Lana"

Tristan and Emma last weekend at the Outspan

Tonight Erica's sister Lana is getting married in New Brunswick. It is happy but sad occassion for us as we are so far away. We are praying that our interenet connection cooperates so that we can be a part of the special day via webcam.

Congratulations Lana and Jamie!

Praying for Eastleigh

This is Second Street in Eastleigh where we serve with the Eastleigh Community Centre. In the distance you can see smoke rising from a section of dukas burning around noon on Wednesday. Fires like this can sweep through the low slung shacks that house shops and homes in Nairobis many urban slums and ghettos.

The new Somali women's group in Eastleigh has begun with high enthusiasm. Erica and I will be teaching ESL classes with the group of Somali mothers and helping the group find ways of overcoming extreme poverty for them and their children.

During the first meeting of the women, an outspoken local politician arrived at the centre and tried to disturb the group and bring her own agenda. With great patience and skill our friends Zahra and Ehud were able to pull the meeting back on track. Please pray for this group over the coming months as we struggle together to build bonds of trust and common purpose. Also one of the biggest risks that ministries to vulnerable people face is fostering dependency. We pray that as we slowly move forward that we'll be able to avoid this pitfall.

Meanwhile, we are preparing to leave for Dadaab with a team of volunteers coming from White Rock Baptist Church, British Columbia. We'll be returning to Nairobi next week end, while the team remains in Dadaab to teach at the primary school and work on a construction project.

Father's Day Fun

Black and White Rhinos at the Solio Game Reserve

in Kenya's Central Highlands

Emma sporting Daddy's big hat while we stop for lunch

at the historic Outspan Hotel.

For Father's Day, Erica and the kids surprised me with family drive in the Solio Game Reserve in the beautiful grassy plains and yellow acacia forests that lay in the shadow of Mt. Kenya. Solio is a breeding centre for black and white rhino. We also happened upon herds of oryx, zebra, giraffe, gazelle, and buffalo. It was such a fun family day!

White rhinos are huge animals: Our pictures do not do them justice (The full grown males can reach 6 feet high and 12 feet long -- not including the 40 inch tail). It is actually quite frightening to see one stand and move toward you, even in our mini van we didn't think that a rhino charge was something we would want to experience. Even with their bulky weight (4,400 - 5060 lbs for adult males) white rhinos can still gallop at 40 kph and trot at 29 kph. We were thrilled to spend a day among them and their smaller and much more shy cousins the black rhino.

Praxis Kenya 2008

On Monday evening, we said good-bye to the Kenya Praxis team after a busy three weeks of learning together about integral mission with the African Christian Church and Schools (ACC&S) and The Africa Brotherhood Church (ABC). During this last week, we shared much of our time with the work of the ABC in rolling hill country of Ukumboni.

Along with learning, we enjoyed a lot of laughter and bonding within the team. Anyone from Atlantic Canada has probably heard of Moncton, New Brunswick's "magnetic hill": This photo was taken on a similar hillside in Machacos, Kenya. It is very impressive to see water seemingly flow up hill! The local people tell us that the hill is bewitched.

Women from a Guardians of Hope group living in the semi-arid country side of Kibwezi shared a day with us at the ABC Kibwezi farm. Together they have improved food security in their community and built a clinic. During our time with them, we had the honour of listening to their stories, songs and taking part in a naming ceremony where we were given Kikamba names. Each member of the team took turns introducing themselves and the Guardians in turn entered into a great debate over what each of us should be called. Erica was named "Muthoki" which means "a visitor who stays with us and becomes a part of the village". Aaron was named "Mwebdwa" which means "beloved one".

Water projects like this have brought life to once dry and desolate parts of Kenya. While we were visiting this newest weir, we saw children, cattle and a group of youth coming to use the rain water held in this catchment.

The Praxis group standing over a dry weir on the Kibwezi farm. Fortunately, when the water drys up here, the ABC church has been able to pump water from the nearby river to irrigate the fifty acres of crops that make up the farm. Interestingly, every pastor must spend part of their theological education here on the Kibwezi farm learning about sustainable agriculture and development.

Hair raising!

Our friend Carol has been showing Erica how to plait Ava's hair.

In this photo Erica is helping Carol remove braids.

We are so thankful to everyone who has been praying for our family while we've been on the road these past three weeks. We are back into Eastleigh this week and then gearing up for a short term team coming from White Rock, British Columbia, next week. Tristan and Emma had a great week at Camp Brackenhurst, but they were very glad to be back together for summer break.

In Prayer:

Praise the Lord! Fifty Oromo and Somali women gathered for the first meeting of the new Women's community program at the Eastleigh Community Centre. We pray that over the coming months that these women will feel empowered as they come together to identify ways to overcoming extreme poverty in their community.

Please pray for Malcolm and Patty Card, our African team leaders, as they leave for Canada tonight.

Happy Madaraka Day!

June 1st is Madaraka Day in Kenya: Celebrating Kenyan Independence. How appropriate as Tristan and Emma left for Camp Brankenhurst for a week away at summer camp. They finished another year at Rosslyn Academy: Tristan graduated to grade 4 and Emma to grade 2. They are looking forward to their two month break and mommy and daddy are excited to have them home!


We want to thank all of you who have been praying us through the adoption process. On Friday, we made our first court appearance and Sam Mutisiya was appointed Ava's guardian ad litem. In Kenya, no adoption can proceed without the court accepting a Kenyan guardian who looks out for the child's best interest. The next step is a visit from Child and Social Services and a report written by Sam. We hope to be back in court by the fall. Naming the guardian was the first step in the final phase of our adoption. We'll keep you posted as we proceed.


Prayer requests:
~Pray for Paul and Kelly Carline as they travel back to New Brunswick to be with Paul's family. Paul's dad was diagnosed with cancer just a few weeks ago and the doctor is recommending that all his family come home.
~Pray for the Praxis group as they travel completing their last week in Kenya. The four students who have been sick are doing much better.
~Pray for our two Somali friends who have just had baby boys. One of the babies is sick and has been in hospital. Both mothers are doing well.
~Pray for Tristan and Emma while they are away at camp.


(Just a note of interest: Kenya has two official "Independence Days". Jamhuri Day on December 12 (celebrating the Self-Independence of Kenya from Great Britian) and Madaraka Day on June 1 (celebrating when the Kenyan people took power of their own country. Madaraka means "power" in Kiswahili).)