Eastleigh

We have had a full week in Eastleigh not only with the ESL classes but with several new projects with Iftin. Our two most advanced classes are currently learning about the importance of nutrition and a balanced diet. As part of their class work, they have been investigating the availability of affordable produce and other local foods to diversify the diet of their households. One of the most interesting parts of the project is the collection of Somali recipes that the women of Iftin are sharing with one another. Erica is working with the ladies to bring their recipes together to form a Somali cookbook. We would love to take some back with us to Canada and make them available for anyone interested in Somali cusine to buy as a way of supporting the ladies here in Eastleigh.

Erica has also been working closely with the staff of Eastleigh Pottery in the development of ceramic bead production as a training and job creation project for the Somali women's self help groups. Please keep this ministry in your prayers as we work together over the next few months to perfect the process with the Pottery guys and the Somali participants. We know that there will be many hurdles to over come before this can be a success.


Next Week: We are excited to welcome "Nelly" to Iftin. She will be joining us as a new English teacher to help us and Zahra with the growing classes. Please pray for Nelly as she seeks to build relationships among the Somali community.



Update:

Tristan won the chess championship game yesterday. He is now the 4A chess champ! With his victory he won a cold bottle of Coke.

Yesterday during swim practice, Emma swam 50 meter freestyle. Up to this point, she has been swimming 25 m lengths. Way to go Emma!!

Tristan

Tristan is enjoying a great year in the fourth grade at Rosslyn Academy. Throughout January, his class has been learning how to play chess. Tristan loves games! He is now competing in a class tournament and has made it to the finals. Today he will play again his classmate Christian Park for the championship.

Tristan having some fun doing his homework!


This Friday is "Sports Day" at Rosslyn Academy, but Tristan and Emma will miss it as we travel together as a family with our friends from Midland Baptist (The team lead by Alden Crain returned from Uganda on Tuesday and are now spending time with pastors from the Africa Brotherhood Church). Tristan has had fun after school playing with his friends as they try out the different track and field equipment, while Emma has been in swim team practice.

Hanging out with the boys -- up top Michael

Ezra and Tristan as the base

Can't win'em all TK!

Swim Meet

This morning, Emma swam in a meet held at the Aga Khan High School. She swam in the 7 and under 25 metre backstroke. She did fantastic! Tomorrow she will swim in the 7 and under 25 metre free style.

Before the race waiting with the other girls in her heat.

Emma does a mean backstroke!

The water was pretty cold so Emma bundled up quickly in her hooded towel. We are so proud of her!

Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley dropped in on our campfire last night.

(He was sure not to get too close ...)

Emma is star student this week in Mr. Dunning's second grade class and along with the job goes the honour of hosting Flat Stanley.

Today was suppose to be our second chance at going before the judge in the Nairobi High Court for Ava's adoption, but sadly all of the judges decided to cancel their hearings (We are told that they've taken a retreat to the coast). It is very disappointing. The back log is getting heavy and our next chance won't be until February 27th (But that isn't a sure thing either). We are holding out hope that everything will come together by Easter. At this point, all we can do is wait and pray,... and pray some more!

To cheer us up, our friends Kerry and Mel had us over for a campfire and hot dog roast. We are so thankful for all of our friends and family who have been encouraging us through these long labour pains of the adoption.

Erica with baby Gigi


Tristan was a regular boy scout tending the fire,
gathering twigs, sending smoke signals...



Our kids cooking out with auntie Kerry
... pass the ketchup!

Midland Arrives!

Aaron, Diane, Erica, Mike, Alden, and Michael

(Bryden sleeping in the hut behind us)

As the sun rose over Nairobi, our friends Alden and Bryden Crain, Michael Waddell, and Mike Arnold landed in Kenya. Together with three representatives of the Africa Brotherhood Church, Alden's team will be traveling to Northern Uganda to celebrate the opening of an ABC Church plant this Sunday. It was a joy to meet them at the airport and spend some time catching up in the beautiful setting of Acacia Camp.

Alden and Bryden playing with the nice kitty


We came across this cheetah in the wild stalking a herd of impala.
It was amazing to see this big cat on the hunt!

Alden and Michael trying out the Land Cruiser

for the long drive to Uganda tomorrow

Michael can sniff out a window anywhere he goes!

Missional Church Consultation

Understanding our times.

Canada is changing. Kenya is changing. The world is changing.

Is the Church changing?

Dr. Rob Patterson challenged the gathering of Canadian and Kenyan Christian leaders at the beginning of Tuesday's discussions: "The men of Issachar (I Chronicles 12:32) were passionate and hardworking -- "men who understood their times" -- Are you?

Throughout the past two weeks, this group of Canadian pastors has been exploring the challenges and opportunities facing the church in Canada, England and Kenya with other key Christian leaders struggling with these same questions. Together their experiences and considerations has been shaping a fuller understanding of what it means to be the "missional church".

Bishop Ndambuki of the Africa Brotherhood Church (ABC) with Dr. Rev. Karanje of the African Christian Church & Schools (ACC&S) during the "Canadian Baptist Ministries Missional Church Consultation" held in Limuru, Kenya.

Participants of the consultation gathering for a photograph on the steps of the Jumuia Conference Centre. The main body of the consultation was made up of twelve Canadian Baptist pastors and twelve Kenyan pastors. As part of the week, the Kenyan pastors hosted their Canadian counterparts in their homes and churches. On behalf of our Kenyan contingent, I want to thank Cal, Rob, Laurie, Jim, Mark, Ross, David, Don, Jonathan, Paul, Randy, and Joyce for the encouragement and insight that you've shared with us.

Some highlights from our time: Watching the pastors having fun with the Somali women of Iftin; One on one times with the Kenyan pastors; Witnessing twelve pastors actually keep within their allotted speaking times (12 presentation in under an hour -- astonishing!); great conversations around a coffee pot (thanks Laurie); Crowding around a small television to watch the inaugaration of president Obama; bartering in the duka jungle; and of course Malcolm's 65th birthday party! We'll miss you all!

Missional Church STM

On Monday, a group of twelve Canadian Baptist pastors joined us in Eastleigh for a visit with the women of Iftin and a tour of an internally displaced people's group in Mathare Valley. It was great to see many of the ladies able to share about their unique struggles and journeys. As the morning drew to a close, it was evident that a bond of trust and appreciation had already begun to form within our time of laughter and sharing.

Dr. Rob Patterson getting to know one of the mechanics

in the centre's vocational school automotive program.

Pastors Mark and Jim playing leap frog

with children in the centre's preschool ministry.

Friends

Aaron, Erica, Jean, Wes, Kyle and Jessica

We enjoyed a relaxing Saturday with our friends Jean & Wes Enns and Jessica & Kyle Davis at the Davis' home in Tigoni. It was a cold wet day here and we were thankful for a crackling fire as we hung out and our kids played together.

Ezra, Isaiah, Tristan, Julia, Lexi, Emma, Ava and Beckett

Our families became good friends nearly two years ago when we met at Rosslyn Academy where our children attend school. One of the things our kids love most are sleep overs and usually get togethers like this result in a sleep over. Tonight Lexi is staying over with us and Tristan is bunking with the Enns boys.

Julia and Ava are about a year apart and they are best buddies.

In Prayer:

Please pray for our colleagues the Carlines, as Paul's father Peter died yesterday. Paul leaves for New Brunswick tonight. Please keep him in your prayers as he travels with a middle ear infection that has struck him with vertigo over the last twenty-four hours.

Seven Things

Our friend Dennis, aka Buddy, just tagged us through his blog http://www.speakergeek.com/ and we thought it would be fun to take up his challenge. There are only four rules...


The rules:
1. Link to your original tagger and list these rules in your post.
2. Share seven facts about yourself in the post.
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged.

Ok,...here it goes.

Seven Facts About Our Family

1. We were almost trampled by a hippopotamus. During our first year in Kenya, we spent a night on the shores of Lake Naivasha, home to a herd of hippos. After supper we were walking back to our cabin when a night watchman offered to show us a nearby hippo. We couldn't see anything until his flashlight hit upon the purple grey mound moving slowly before us. We were amazed by the gigantic four ton monster munching grass and moving almost silently between our cabin and the parking lot. We watched for several minutes when all of the sudden there was a crash behind us and a second hippo came barreling up from the lake past our cabin. We dashed up onto our steps pulling our children up into our arms. The watchman bravely stepped forward, his light trained on the galloping beast, when from behind him emerged a third hippo charging after his mate. The poor guard jumped aside narrowly escaping the hippos path. We all stayed safely on the step and didn't venture out again.

2. Erica's first job was as a Dicky Dee ice cream girl. Yes, she had the bicycle with the ice cream cooler attached that she pedaled all over Riverview and Moncton. One summer was enough!

3. Aaron wants to be a pirate. Well, he loves reading the nautical adventures of Wilbur Smith and dreams of sailing tropical waters. During our first six months with CBM we traveled throughout the maritime provinces in our car periodically stopping at a rest stop to beat reach other with sponge swords..not making this up. Since coming to Kenya Tristan has acquired a basket of well beaten wooden swords and shields that serve the purpose. One big thrill of living near the Indian Ocean is that Aaron has been able to find fisherman willing to take their ancient smelly dhows out to choral reefs where he and Tristan and snorkel with beautiful and sometimes poisonous fish. Shells are the biggest treasure our pirate has found.

4. Emma loves having tea parties. Each year she hosts a tea party for the girls in her class. Everyone comes in princess dresses and they spend the day making jewelry,playing games, eating cakes and drinking tea.

5. Tristan rocks! There are few moments in our home when we don't hear him tapping away on his knee or waling on his practice pad. He's always loved music, but this past year he's started drum lessons and he's great. Maybe he got the rhythm from Erica's tambourine tapping days at UPEI (he surely didn't get it from me (Aaron)). The great challenge is encouraging him not to play his jambe when he wakes up at 6:30 am.

6. Erica is a master house painter. She has covered the walls of all of our homes over the years with every hue from burnt toast (our current bedroom) to super hero blue (Tristan's current bedroom). The greatest challenge was Spiderman red that took about eight coats in Tristan's Kiersteadville bedroom. Her next project will be Emma and Ava's bedroom...

7. It is a miracle that we are all alive. Klutz may be a little strong... but it is not far off the mark. The Kennys are a little accident prone. From minor to the major we have our share of embarrassing bumps and bruises. From falling up stairs, walking into doors, falling off chairs, the list goes on. Aaron takes the lead though... at this moment he has torn almost every shirt he owns on the door knobs of our apartment. Given Ava's knack for climbing into precarious places, we'd say she is definitely living up to the family tradition.

Tagging:
http://adamivy.blogspot.com/
Adam and Ivy Kenny who live in Calgary, Alberta.

http://autumntremer.blogspot.com
Autumn and Corey Tremer who live on Prince Edward Island.

http://www.rhyminggame.blogspot.com/
Our friend Carolyn Ward who is a youth pastor in the prairies.


enns.humanclay.ca
Our friends Wes and Jean Enns who live and work at Rosslyn Academy, Kenya.

http://thewolvertons.blogspot.com/
Our friends from language acquisition training in Toronto, Tag and Susan are missionaries in Amsterdam.

http://www.mjolijournals.com/
Our friends Kyle and Jessica Davis who live as missionaries in what must be the coldest part of Kenya.

http://www.theropers.ca/
Our friends Chris and Janice Roper who now live and work in India.

New Beginnings

The newest cohort within Iftin began this Tuesday with twenty-four new students joining the English as a Second Language program.

For most of the Somali women in this class, it is the first time they have ever been to school. Education had simply never been an option for them before. It is both an exciting and daunting challenge they face: Each woman will need to acquire the most basic of learning skills from reading and printing the alphabet to discovering a whole new way of thinking. One of our students from last summer described her experience of entering the classes as "having my mind scrubbed" and having "new channels opened up inside of me". She told us that, as her teachers, we were turning dials in her head like a radio so that she could hear new music that was previously beyond her reach. We've been amazed at the poetic way that our students think and speak. As an oral culture, Somalis have relied on story, poetry, and proverbs to pass along tradition and national identity for over a millennia. Naturally, Somali is a language and culture full of metaphor and rich idioms. We thank God for the new and beautiful wonders we encounter among these women.

First day of school for the newest members of Iftin.
In Prayer:

Please hold our colleagues Tim and Diane Bannister in prayer, as Tim has returned to Canada for the funeral of his father who died suddenly this past week.

We also continue to pray for the Carline family as Paul's father is in the last stages of his battle with cancer.

We are looking forward to sharing time next week with a group of twelve Canadian pastors who are in Kenya on a tour focused on "The Missional Church". We will be taking the group to see the Eastleigh Community Centre on Monday and we'll be walking with them in Mathare Valley to visit a project there with our team mate A. Aaron will continue on with them for the final two nights of their stay for a brief conference in Limuru. Please pray for the safety of this group as they travel throughout Kenya.

We are also thrilled to have some friends from Midland Baptist Church, New Brunswick, coming later next week. Rev. Alden Crain, pastor of Midland Baptist, had served in Kenya prior to his call to New Brunswick. He is returning with our friend Micheal Waddell (as well as another friend of Alden's from New Brunswick) for the official opening of an African Brotherhood Church in Uganda that Alden had helped to establish. They will also be involved in a teaching time with ABC pastors. We pray for their safe journey and for this joyful time within the African Brotherhood Church.

Visitors from Cornwall

Members of our 10 am ESL class with

guests from Cornwall Baptist Church, Ontario

It was a great week in Eastleigh as the new semester began with the Iftin women at the Eastleigh Community Centre. Students also returned for both the preschool and primary school programs (the vocational schools will be in full force next week).

On Friday, we had the pleasure of hosting four men representing the Cornwall Baptist Church: Pastor Randy, Bob, Ted and John. The guys shared in a time of interviews with the Somali women, providing a chance for the ladies to practice their English conversation skills. Several of the students also stepped up and bravely took on the challenge of public speaking before the class and our special guests.

Tristan and Emma enjoyed having the last week off as Christmas break drew to an end. On Thursday, Erica and I took the day off from Eastleigh to go to the water slides here in Nairobi with our kids. To our surprise, we were the only people there and had the slides to ourselves for over an hour before a few teenagers trickled in. It was a lot of fun and great exercise as we ran up the steps over and over again trying to keep up with Tristan!

In prayer:

Please pray for our team mates, the Carline family, as Paul's father is struggling with cancer. The reports from Canada are not good. We pray that God's peace and strength will surround all the family especially Peter and Anita.

Please pray for the health of our friends within Iftin. Throughout this week, we've noticed the absence of several faithful members who are ill. We've also encountered many women struggling with minor injuries. Most people in this community can not afford to visit a hospital, and commonly self diagnose their ailments and purchase drugs from local chemists and shops. One of the ladies, Mama Halwa, has a ten year old daughter that is recovering from multiple injuries and head trauma resulting from a bombing in Mogadishu. Mama Halwa came to Kenya several months ago for medical help for her child.

We also continue to pray for Ava's adoption. We won't know until January 22nd if we will have a spot of the January 23rd hearing (Given the huge backlog in the adoption court, we may very well be bumped again). We pray especially for Sam Mutisya, our guardian ad litum, who is currently recovering at home from surgery. We pray that he will be able to be present at which ever date the judge is finally able to hear our case.

Spic and Span

Today was clean up time in Eastleigh, as the Eastleigh Community Centre prepared for the re-opening of the kindergarten, primary school, and community programs for 2009. Unlike the North American education system which straddles two calendar years, the Kenyan school year beginnings in January and is completed in November. Rather than a summer vacation, the Kenyan system has a month long break over every fourth month (Schools are closed for April, August and December).



Having closed down our ESL program nearly a month ago, we returned to find our classroom under a thick brown coat of dust and grime.

Emma and Tristan were a great help as we cleaned every inch of the class right down to each book on the shelves!

Zahra and Erica a little tired after a big day of cleaning.

We are very excited to welcome back the women of Iftin tomorrow! There is much in store for this ministry as we begin 2009. We will be sure to keep you all posted.

Please keep Somali Ministry in your prayers.

* We pray for the return of the refugee women who have been a part of the English language program and for the new families that God will bring into the centre this year. We pray especially for a spirit of peace and cooperation to grow and develop among this community of women.

* We lift these women up before the Lord that they will grow in confidence and hope for their future and the future of their children. We pray especially for women of integrity to emerge as leadership among this community.

* We pray for the health and wellness of the people of Eastleigh. Just this morning, as we snaked through traffic, we caught a glimpse of a young mother staggering along the road with a glue bottle in her hand and a baby slung on her back. Addiction to solvents is a common way for people to deal with physical hunger and emotional pain. We pray for this woman, her child and others like her suffering in despair.

* We thank God for our team mate Yattani Gollo and his wife Salomi, they were just recently married. They leave Nairobi tomorrow morning to establish their first home together in Garissa. Yattani and Salomi will be responsible for much of the Somali Ministry in Garissa for CBM.

Acacia Camp

For our first weekend of 2009, we had a getaway with some of our friends at Acacia Camp on the game reserve where our team mates Tim & Diane Bannister live. We enjoyed two beautiful days of walks and exploring wild places.

Erica and Ava hanging out with our friends Melanie & Kerry

in their little boma.

Ava making new friends with some vervet monkeys.


Erica taking Ava for a drive to the Bannister's house.

Erica, Emma and Tristan getting a bird's eye
view during our game drive.

Acacia is surrounded by miles of rolling grassland

and thorny Acacias. Over the last two years, we've had

the joy of sharing this beautiful place with many

short term volunteers during either the orientation or

the debriefing portions of their visits.

A pair of hornbills perched just behind our

boma. These interesting birds are a regular

part of our visits to Northeastern Province.

They are common throughout semi arid

regions of Kenya.

Tristan and Emma setting out to explore on their own.

Fortunately, we happened upon this juvenile male lion a good distance from where we were walking and the kids were cycling.

Even monkeys need to clean under their nails!

Hartabeast at a dry watering hole.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We wanted to share some photos of Christmas morning at our house. We woke up bright and early and made our way to the livingroom where Santa had visited the night before. What a sight! Tristan, Emma and Ava were so excited!

Tristan and his new bike! This is Tristan's first bike; he is a natural! We went to Rosslyn on Boxing Day to try out the new wheels and he just took off!
Emma loves Bratz and was very excited to find this Bratz doll under the tree. Twins!

Ava was very serious with her new laptop and has not left home without it since Christmas Day.

We celebrated New Year's Eve with Patty and Malcolm. We didn't think that any of us would make it until midnight so we set our party poppers off around 8:00 pm. It was midnight somewhere in the world!

Tristan's cactus were sprinkled with confetti. Next year we think we might just set party poppers off into our Christmas tree!

Happy New Year!