Cloning Not an Option

Laura Muema: If only cloning was an option!

This was our fifth Easter in Africa, since coming to Kenya with Canadian Baptist Ministries in December 2006. We are so thankful for the privilege of being able to live and minister with such incredible people in such a beautiful part of the world. We are especially grateful to God for the people we serve with as part of CBM's Kenya team. Laura Muema joined us in Eastleigh just over a year ago in the role of project officer for the Iftin Women's Empowerment Program that CBM began in partnership with the Eastleigh Community Centre in 2008. Laura has overcome several obstacles through the past year as she jumped into the many activities and, at times, chaotic community life of Eastleigh.

In Prayer:

Please keep Laura in your prayers as she gives leadership, not only to the women's empowerment projects in the literacy classes, self help groups and community based training cohorts, but also to the children's clubs, youth groups and new peer educator's project. It is a lot of work, at times too much for one person.

Please pray for the refugee program team in Eastleigh as they pull together in their efforts to bring new hope and better lives to their community.

Please pray for the community of Eastleigh and the ever expanding Muslim refugee population within Kenya. According to the latest reports, the influx is steady with camps in Northeastern province bulging at the seems, for instance the Dadaab camps are now at over 320,000 people (more than double the camp population in 2006).

Pray for committed workers like Laura to come up from within the churches of Kenya to reach out to their own community and neighbours.

Al Shabaab

Since the primary school re-opened in the New Year, we have noticed the absence of some of the adolescent boys with whom we had come to know. In particular, we began to miss Jamaal*, a fourteen year old boy whom we had spent some time with last fall. We were shocked to learn that he had been taken back to Somalia to train as a soldier. This does not surprise our Somali friends. "All over Eastleigh young boys are going to Jihad camp" our friend Abdi* tells us. "They are looking for boys to fight and free Somalia. They promise them heaven but all they are giving them is war."

The "they" our friend refers to is "Al Shabaab" a hard line militant youth movement of Somalia. "Al-Shabaab" literally means "The Youth". Since the overthrow of Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has been without a stable government. It is believed that Al-Shabaab developed out of the fall of the Islamic Courts Union in the Autumn of 2006 as an opposition to the Transitional Federal Government and its backers (primarily the Ethiopian Military). While the origins of Al-Shabaab in Somalia are not clear, the roots certainly go back to extreme Islamists in 2004. They have been actively recruiting jihadists to wage war against the "enemies of Islam".

Since we arrived in Kenya in 2006, the Ethiopian forces have kept Al Shabaab back from the Somali capital of Mogadishu. Now after two years of setbacks and losses, Ethiopia announced its withdraw late last year. Reports from Somalia tell us that their abandoned military outposts were almost immediately seized by Al Shabaab.

Somalia's new president Sheik Aharif Sheikh Ahmed has tried to dissuade the advance of Al-Shabaab, even this week agreeing to institute a lenient form of Sharia law to appease them. Despite this, they vow to continue fighting.


In Prayer:

* Please pray for our young friend, Jamaal, and for hundreds of youth like him who are being enticed to join a so-called "Holy War" against their fellow countrymen. Hatred is a powerful evil. We pray that God's peace would over come the deep distrust and spiritual conflict within Somalia. We pray for vulnerable youth like Jamaal that they will have eyes to see through the lies and hatred that will never free Somalia from war and death.

* Please keep our friend Moxamuud and his group Somali Youth for Peace in your prayers. Together they are working to promote peaceful conflict resolution among the Eastleigh Community.

Economist Story on Al Shabaab
http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12815670&CFID=37713077&CFTOKEN=44056901







* Names changed.

New directions!

Mr. Ehud Gachugu, director of the Eastleigh Community Centre, speaking with over forty of the women from the Iftin ESL program at today's vocational skills training seminar.

It was only nine months ago that we first met with young Somali women and mothers at the Eastleigh Community Centre to explore their perceptions and experiences of struggling to survive in Eastleigh. Among the many challenges that they identified that June morning, the ladies emphasized two of highiest priority, namely: a lack of English or Kiswahili (necessary for life in Kenya) and a need to provide a reliable income to support their hungry families living in poverty.

We had the pleasure today of announcing that the first IFTIN class to be receiving a "level one English certificate" will be taking part in the Vocational Training Centre's graduation ceremonies this Friday! As part of the celebration, the Iftin choir will be performing their own song. It will be a very proud day indeed.

We also had the joy of facilitating a vocational skills training seminar with about forty of our most advanced English students. The ECC director, Mr. Ehud Gachugu, spoke passionately about the importance of taking responsibility for one's destiny and of the opportunity for many of the Iftin women to be scholarshipped for practical vocational training through the VTC. Although the unemployment rate is high in Kenya, over 80% of the graduates of the VTC programs consistently find jobs or begin successful businesses. "It does not matter from where you have begun," said the director, "it matters where you end!"

Zahra introducing the program officer of the Eastleigh Community Centre's Vocational Training Centre (VTC), Mr. Joe Karithi.

The women heard first hand stories of the opportunities they have before them to improve their lives and become financially self reliant. "You can become a provider!" cheered Joe as he told the women about ways the VTC seeks to empower individuals to work together to overcome poverty and dependency.

Aaron also reminded the women how far they had come in such a short time. There are many voices of discouragement that each of these women are subject to day after day after day: None of them are free from either criticism or abuse. But despite many obstacles, they have shown their courage -- entering a "Christian" community centre; becoming a student; sticking with their studies; inviting non-Somalis into their homes; becoming friends with women of other clans and tribes; playing sports; talking about difficult issues; and now considering some very non-traditional trades and vocational paths.

Looking Ahead!

Among the responses shared by the women today, about twenty want to enter the ceramic bead training with Erica and the pottery ministry (Many of the women have already completed their scholarship applications and are excited to begin the training in mid March). Another fifteen of the women told us that they were interested in the fashion & design, hair & beauty, catering, and computer technology programs offered at the centre. To our great delight, four of the women shared a desire to enter non-traditional fields of metal work, automotive and electrical trade programs offered at the VTC -- amazing!!!

Please hold the women of Iftin in your prayers as they step forward into a future unlike any their families and community had ever imagined.

It only takes a little...

IFTIN's firstever FOOTBALL team

GO IFTEAM!

The English Literacy classes of Iftin run each week from Monday to Thursday at the Eastleigh Community Centre. On Fridays, the women are free to stay home or take part in any number of things from field trips to workshops. Zahra and Nelius came up with a great idea that builds on our current focus on nutrition. Each woman was asked to come with "Only ONE healthy thing" for a stew (or they cold bring a few shillings to contribute). Together the women brought vegetables, meat, and rice to make a huge Somali stew for the days lunch. The also contributed the jiko stove, the charcoal, the pots, bowls and stirring spoon. They worked together to clean, cut and prepare the meal. "It only takes a little!" smiled Nelius.

Zahra challenging the ECC girls varsity

team to a match with our Iftin girls.

We lost ... but we had fun.



Zahra giving the girls a pep talk

Way to go Iftin!!!!

A few boys running the football pitch for PE class.

New Uniforms

Our Somali friend Nesteho

and her classmates in the preschool class

at the Eastleigh Community Centre

One of the costs that parents face in getting their children to school in Kenya are uniforms. For many of the children at the Eastleigh Community Centre, their school uniform is the best outfit they own. They do their best to keep it clean and in good repair. They are very proud of their uniform!

Thanks to special gifts from friends like Don & Joy Hepburn, and Pastor Nancy and the kids at Brunswick Street Baptist Church (Fredericton, New Brunswick) as well as other donations also given through The Sharing Way, many Somali kids have been sponsored for school uniforms this semester at the Community Centre.

On behalf of these kids, we share our deep appreciation for the contributions that people have made to "The Sharing Way" for Somali Ministry in Eastleigh. Your generous gifts have made the projects and ministry that we are a part of possible!

Erica with Zahra's sister Najmo

proudly wearing her new school uniform

Perspectives of Eastleigh

It is another hot and sticky day amidst the grime and dust of Eastleigh. Looking across the community from the upper storey of a Sixth Street cinder block apartment building, we are

confronted by an all too common sight. The garbage and sewage below us are sadly a repeated scene throughout the neighbourhood. Although the city of Nairobi makes periodic assaults on the rising mounds of trash, we continue to see the unpaved streets fill with the reek and mess. Poor sanitation and unclean drinking water go hand in hand in much of the impoverished world. As part of our work with The Sharing Way (TSW) and the Eastleigh Community Centre (ECC) we are accessing the current health and wellness among the families of Iftin. These assessments will form a baseline of information that we will use, together with TSW and ECC, to measure the effectiveness of the projects and interventions of the next few years. While there are many priorities emerging from our field surveys, water tops the list. One immediate intervention, intended to begin in 2009, is the distribution of ceramic water filters and training on hygiene and clean water issues among about 120 vulnerable families. Through the generosity of many Canadian Churches and individuals, we will be providing Somali households clean drinking water. The filters are being made out of local materials by Eastleigh Pottery and have been certified by the Kenyan Health Authority. It is a simple but life saving intervention, especially for young children who are the most susceptible to water born diseases.

Beyond the task of assessment surveys and interviews, a great part of our work in Eastleigh is the privilege of spending time in the homes of our students. They are such gracious and welcoming hosts. We are often able to meet the elderly Mzees and Mamas; play with the young children who are both excited and terrified at the appearance of strange visitors; and hear the harrowing stories of their escapes from war and conflict that brought them to Kenya and eventually Eastleigh. Today was our last set of home visits in Eastleigh for 2008, and we had the joy of dropping in on several different families. One of the questions we always ask is this: "What gives you hope?" One of the mothers today looked back at us, as she thought over the question, and then to her three teenage daughters sitting next to her on the floor of their tiny apartment: "I would never have thought it possible," She said to us in Somali, "That my daughters would be in school. God is good. That is my hope!"

Happy Halloween

We hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

On Friday evening, we visited our friends Mel and Kerry and the children at the Nest's half-way house. Although "trick or treating" wasn't an option for us here in Kenya, we had a fun time with friends making pumpkin cookies and again later that night at home sharing candy and watching old movies.

Unfortunately, for Aaron it was the beginning of a not-so-fun weekend, as earlier that day he suffered from food poisoning while we were meeting over a project in Eastleigh. He was sick all night and spent Saturday in hospital. He recovered over Sunday and he is feeling much better today.

This week:

We will be in Eastleigh for our classes and a medical information time with the women of Iftin and our colleague Diane Bannister. The ladies will also be writing their first term exams for the ESL classes. We pray that they will all do well!

We continue to pray for Ava's case file to be found. It seems that the Kenyan court has misplaced an entire bundle of open adoption case files. We hope that the files are found or we will be facing a major setback.

Eastleigh Street Life

A view from the Streets of Eastleigh

Looking back over our photographs, I thought you might enjoy a few street shots from Eastleigh. They do not begin to do justice to the colorful and varied experience of life in Eastleigh, Nairobi's largest Muslim ghetto, but we hope that they will give you a bit of the flavour!

Erica and I met this gentle musicman during the Eastleigh street march in September: He played us a song on his tin box guitar (and with his foot bells) while we waited for a street performance by children of the community centre. Street performers are actually quite rare in Nairobi, we usually encounter street preachers and hawkers.

This kind woman allowed us to take a photo of her fresh tomatoes surrounded by the various electrical moldings and sockets for sale around her. Her pink flip flops are a common type of sandal found throughout Kenya. In Dadaab, it is common to wear another persons flip flops. One night, a friend of ours was surprised to find a large pair of white rubber boots in the place where he kept his evening flip flops. He was very unnerved by the experience, thinking that there was some supernatural source to the alien boots. He was quite relieved to discover days later that a worker at the CARE compound had been over for a visit that afternoon and switched his boots for the light sandal in the hot sun.

There are two primary industries in Garissa, livestock (goat, lamb, camel and cattle) and charcoal: both of these products are in high demand here in Eastleigh and throughout Nairobi. Sadly, the popularity of charcoal has contributed to the rapid deforestation of most of Kenya. Much of the land around Kenyan villages and towns is denuded by the constant need for firewood.

A Great Big World

The vast majority of Nairobi's urban refugees live in Eastleigh, a densely populated low-income area of Nairobi. Eastleigh has been called "arguably one of the most unruly, overcrowded and unorganized estates in the world" ("Eastleigh: A fast growing city within a city". The Standard, February 11, 2007).

Aaron working on map skills with ladies from Iftin.

There is a lot that we take for granted coming from a country like Canada: take nature for instance. Erica and I grew up in communities where we could ride our bicycles, play in parks and explore streams and wooded areas near our homes. Summers always included swimming and camping and simply enjoying the beauty around us. This freedom to enjoy the outdoors is not a reality for the urban poor living in the slums of Nairobi. Sadly, much of the wide open beauty of Kenya will never been seen by the millions of urban poor. Most of the Refugee women in our classes have rarely left Eastleigh, let alone the city. For most of their children, the concrete and mud of Eastleigh is their only experience of the world we share.

This fall, we are planning a number of field trips with the ladies to help them experience more than the three zones of Eastleigh. We are having the women break into small groups that will travel together to various sites just outside of Nairobi; where they will picnic and have a chance to see another side of this great big world.

Hitting the Streets

Throughout this week, the Eastleigh Community Centre has been celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. On Thursday, the centre took to the streets with a community awareness march.

As we walked through Eastleigh, the procession stopped at two different venues to share songs and dramas about the ministry of the community centre and the reality of HIV/AIDS and violence against children.

One of the students marching with her message.

Aaron shared about the importance of community, and our privilege of being apart of the work of the Eastleigh Community Centre and the Eastleight Community through the Somali Women of Iftin.

At both street rallies, we had the fun of watching students from the Eastleigh Community Centre model in front of cheering crowds. As part of the vocational skills training program, the models encouraged their neighbours to take advantage of the vocational training available at the community centre.

Students from the Eastleigh Community Centre

primary school show their dance moves

at the Second Street stage.

It was a little too far for some to walk, but Erica was able to help two children make it to the final street rally in front of the Eastleigh Community Centre compound on Second Street.

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.