Brownies and Badges

Emma showing her new Brownie badges!

On Thursday, Emma took part in her Girl Guides brownie celebration where she was awarded badges and had fun with her friends. With only two weeks left in the school year at Rosslyn Academy, sports and programs are winding down. Emma has enjoyed a busy year of swimming and after school activities. Way to go Emma!

Chegay and Nelius registering Somali refugee

families for child sponsorship case studies

While programs are closing down for the summer break at Rosslyn, the opposite is happening at the Eastleigh Community Centre as classes, vocational training and community programs are filling up with new students. On Friday, we spoke with a group of 25 prospective refugee families about the importance of education and opportunities for child sponsorship.

The mother's identified several obstacles to education for their children: cost, corruption, and access were among the top problems that they face. Thanks to the generous help of individuals, churches and outside donors, the Community Centre is working to scholarship as many as 100 new Somali students for primary education. A prerequisite for scholarship is a case study carried out by the centre's social workers. The social workers access the needs and make up of each family, and along with helping the children attend school, the centre then works to assist the entire family through various support programs.

Back2School

ESL Students return to Iftin after the April break

The Eastleigh Community Centre was a buzz this week with students returning to the nursery, primary school, and adult literacy programs. While the students of these classes had a break, the women of the first jewelry training cohort have been working hard and have almost completed their training. The women were featured this week in a Kenya Television Network (KTN) about the ministry of Eastleigh Pottery and Eastleigh Jewelry project. We are so proud of them!

Facing Challenges Together

Zahra, Nelius and Erica working through some problems today as we plan for the upcoming term with Iftin.

In July, we will be celebrating the first year of Iftin. We are deeply thankful for God's blessing of Zahra and Nelius who have been working with us and the incredible women of Iftin. It hasn't been an easy journey, but we feel that through faith and determination that obstacles can be overcome.

In Prayer:

* We pray for the desperate need of rain throughout Kenya. Although Eastleigh received a good dosing today, the spring rains have come late and much of the country is extremely dry. As a result, livestock are suffering and crops are withering. Food prices have climbed steadily and the urban poor are among the hardest hit as they try to make their few shillings stretch with the doubling of basic food prices. Canadian Baptist Ministries and Canadian Food Grains Bank are preparing for a major food distribution throughout rural parts of Kenya. Included in this will be a relief aid project in Northeast Province among the Somali communities where the Carlines and Gollos are working. We will be working in Eastleigh to address issues of food security with the families of Iftin.

* We are praying for clean water for the families of Eastleigh. With the generous support of Churches and individuals from Canada, we are preparing to distribute water filtration systems to vulnerable Somali and Oromo families living in Eastleigh and Mathare Valley. We pray that these families will adopt the regular habits needed to maintain clean water and good hygiene that are being taught through the distribution project. Poor sanitation and unclean water are leading causes of child mortality in Eastleigh and throughout the developing world.

* We pray for unity and trust within the community. Many of the women of Iftin have suffered criticism and even persecution for their decision to join Iftin. Traditionally negative views against female education, and the presence of women in public life, make it difficult for individuals who want to break the mold. Over the last month, about a dozen members of Iftin have stopped attending literacy classes due to outside pressure. Pray for us as we struggle to build in roads of trust, while challenging people to value the opportunity for women to learn.

New Beads

Aisha, Hawa, Safio and Erica

taking a close look at the finish of the newest glazes

being used as part of the Eastleigh Ceramic Jewelry Project

A peak into the kiln

Falastin and Aisha forming beads during the morning session of the Eastleigh Pottery training program. The first training cohort will be completing their course in May.

New colours and shapes appearing

The Eastleigh Jewelry Project is the first micro enterprise initiative of Iftin. Thanks to the support of the Eastleigh Community Centre, The Sharing Way/Canadian Baptist Ministries and generous Canadian partners in mission, we are working with the Somali women of Eastleigh to build self help support groups, savings programs, and income generating activities that will enable many of the most vulnerable families to overcome extreme poverty.

The ten women currently training with the ceramic jewelry project have been enthusiastic over the progress and proud of their accomplishments. We are praying that the training and development of the jewelry project will continue to progress and that the marketing and sales of their artwork will generate a sustainable income for these women and their families. Erica and James have been researching opportunities to market the jewelry in Kenya (They were both apart of a large sale this past weekend). We are very thankful for a few friends in Canada who have offered to display and sell the Iftin jewelry. We are praying for other opportunities to export their creations.

The work goes on as Hawa, Aisha, and Safio

laugh together around the central table

in the Eastleigh Pottery workshop.

Beads

The training has begun with the Iftin Jewelry Project.

The ladies began their classes today in ceramic bead making. They were very eager, arriving early to meet their instructors and discover more of what they will be doing in the Jewelry project.

Newly glazed beads must air dry in a rack before they can have excess glaze cleaned from the hole with a bead reamer. These beads will become bright blue and rusty brown in colour once they are fired in the kiln.

James Odera sharing with the Jewelry class.

The ladies will continue to study English in the mornings, with the Iftin classes, and join the pottery unit in the afternoons for ceramic bead training. We thank God for how so many little things have come together to make this project possible. Each of these women represent vulnerable households that are in desperate need of a regular and dependable income. We want to thank everyone who has contributed to The Sharing Way toward the "Eastleigh Urban Development projects". Without such generous support, ministries such as this would not be possible!

St. Patrick's Day

Tristan and Emma enjoying a St. Patrick's Day Treat

(Any guesses at what's in the glass?)

Although St. Patrick's Day is not normally celebrated in Kenya, we are proud of our Irish roots! Along with wearing a wee bit o'green, we added a splash of green food colouring to supper. It was a fun evening guessing the true flavours of our emerald meal.

Seeing more green!

Today was also the official beginning of the Iftin Jewelry Project with the first cohort. Three women from class 2 and seven from class 3 were selected for training scholarships out of about twenty applicants. The women will be learning the art of designing and creating ceramic beads and jewelry. It was a very exciting day as the classes arrived early to read the official posted results and the trainees proudly wore their new dust coats.

ESL teacher Nelius with the class 3

students who will be leading the way as

Somali Women artisans for their community.

In Prayer:

* Erica's mom returned to hospital again today to see the specialist in Moncton. We pray for some good news. Please also keep Erica in your prayers as it will be difficult for her to return to Kenya this Friday with her mom's situation still so unsettled.

Nuts and Bolts

Introducing the first Iftin beads!

Hot from the kiln... we just completed our first experimental batch of ceramic beads with the Eastleigh Jewelry project. While we wait for our first shipment of imported glazes, the pottery team has been working with locally available glazes. The results have been good. Tomorrow we will be interviewing about twenty candidates from the Iftin group to make up the first group of ten participants in the ceramic bead training program -- from this group we will begin the jewelry enterprise.

hammering things out...

Most of the components and tools that we are using in the project are being made in-house. From the fine tools and measuring instruments, to the drying racks and firing bricks. Today we cut high temperature element wire and hammered it into shape to form the pins used for hanging the beads within the kiln. It is a labour intensive job.

Eastleigh made!

Even the components used within the water filtration project are produced on site. From the metal taps and attachments to the filters and housing, each part of the water filters have been designed and made by members of the community centre.

Our friend Nicholas Kamau (the second guy in wearing the blue lab coat) is an instructor with the metal work and construction sections of the Vocational Training Centre (VTC) at the Eastleigh Community Centre. He and his students were working on the metal lathe today used for producing components for the water filtration project. Each of the nine vocational training centres are focused on empowering youth with practical skills in order to help them provide a living and a future for their families. It is amazing to witness the ingenuity and spirit of optimism that people like Nick and his students share.

Back in the pottery section, more experimental glazes.

In Prayer:

* We praise the Lord for the spirit of cooperation and trust growing within the community centre between such a diverse group of people. God is not hindered by ethnic and tribal difference!

* We pray for the on going self help group meetings and for the Somali women who are being pushed further out of their comfort zones as they participate in a system of rotational leadership.

* We pray for wisdom and discernment as the first cohort is selected for the ceramic jewelry training.

* We thank God that even in the midst of our concern for Erica's mom, that it has become an opportunity for the Somali women to come around us in prayer. It has been wonderful to experience the support and empathy of our Somali friends through this time. One of the classes even made a short video to send back to Erica with love and prayers. God is good.

Self Help Groups

Pharis Nyaga with the Somali women of Iftin

Today was the first in a series of workshops for the women of Iftin on building self help groups. Pharis Nyaga is the operations manager for the Eastleigh Community Centre's self help group and community based training programs. He is presently working with over sixty women's self help groups throughout the Eastlands region of Nairobi.

Our hope is that the women of Iftin will pave the way for other Somali women of Eastleigh to become part of a movement that has traditionally empowered women of various Kenyan ethnic groups. Self help groups, like The Sharing Way's "Guardians of Hope", empower women socially, economically, and politically to overcome extreme poverty and to bless their communities -- whether it be helping orphans and vulnerable children or people struggling with disabilities or disease.

Over the next few weeks, Iftin will continue to learn about Self Help Groups and have the opportunity to form groups together that will provide support, training opportunities, a financial savings program, and micro enterprise development support.

Today's gathering was very positive as about 30 women participated in the training and indicated high interest in continuing with the program and inviting friends to join.

In Prayer:

* We pray that the women of Iftin will be protected from forces in their community that would seek to discourage and hinder their full participation in the women's empowerment initiatives of the centre.

* We pray for emerging leaders within the group. May they grow in faith and integrity as they influence other Somali women living in Eastleigh.

* Please continue to uphold Erica and her mom in your prayers. Erica is currently somewhere over the Atlantic ocean en route to Toronto for a connecting flight to Saint John.

Unity Football Club

Aisha, Samiya and Khadija

members of the Friday Unity Football Club

A huge thank you to all the churches who have sent money into The Sharing Way to help support clubs like this one. We thank you and the girls of Iftin thank you! This is the first time that most of the girls have played an organized sport. Your donation for sports equipment is making a huge impact in the lives of many Somali women and children.

First Graduation

Iftin's first graduating class!

Back Row: Leila, Hawa, Samiya, Faiza, Zahra, Safiya and Falastin.

Front Row: Khadija and Aisha.

The teacher's tent!

Erica, Zahra and Nelius at the graduation ceremony held in the Eastleigh Community Centre's vocational training square on Friday morning, February 27th. This was a very special day for us as we were so proud of our students. They have come so far over such short period of time. It was a special honour to have our advanced class receive their certificates as part of the VTC ceremony.

Safiya receiving her level one certificate from Dr. L.O. Lumuba

the honorary guest for the graduation ceremony.

E.C.C. director, Mr. Ehud Gachugu, addressing the

2009 graduating class of the Vocational Training Centre.

The director took the opportunity to challenge the graduates to use the skills, knowledge and experiences of their training to better their lives and to become a part of bettering Kenya. Throughout the ceremony faith and hope were central themes repeated in drama, music, and a challenge given by Rev. Shem Githingi, the pastor of the Eastleigh P.C.E.A. parish church. It was a theme echoed in the words of the Iftin song calling on the Somali women to become light to their nation.

Aaron sharing some words of encouragement to the VTC class, the graduates and the members of Iftin: Reminding them that God is calling each one of us forward towards Himself. As we study and work hard, we not only help ourselves but also our community, our neighbours and our families to move forward. Our prayer is that God will give each of us the sensitivity to hear His call upon our lives and the courage to step into it.




One of the great highlights of the ceremony was a presentation made by the Iftin choir.

Better and better!

A group of young girls from the Eastleigh Community Centre's primary school dropping in for a drink of water at the Eastleigh Pottery ministry this morning.

Throughout the morning, we enjoyed seeing several children slip into the pottery ministry for peek at what we were up to and for a drink of water. Along with the traditional pottery and new ceramic beading project, Eastleigh Pottery has been very busy with producing and distributing ceramic water filters to families within Eastleigh and greater Nairobi. Throughout March, the women of Iftin will be learning about the importance of proper hygiene and clean drinking water as a first defence against common water born illnesses that are especially killing young children in places like Eastleigh and Mathare Valley. We are deeply thankful to the many churches and individuals who are contributing toward the purchase of water filter systems through The Sharing Way. Your gifts are providing clean drinking water to hundreds of people in Eastleigh! Every member of the Iftin self help groups will receive a water filtration system and be trained on how to properly use and maintain their filters over the next two months. Coming from Canada, water seems like such a common thing. But for most of the world, clean drinking water is a rare and highly valued commodity. We want to thank everyone who is making these filters a reality in Eastleigh!

Better beads!

Meanwhile the Eastleigh Jewelry enterprise continues to move ahead with Erica and the pottery crew improving their bead making day by day. We will soon be ready to move into the glazing and finishing steps of the bead production phase. Once we have the complete process ironed out, the Somali women will begin their five week training with Erica and the pottery staff.

Erica and James working on finding the best glazes.

So far all of the raw materials for the beading project have come from Kenya. The one component that we are lacking is the glaze. Kenya produces materials that create a wonderful grey and brown glaze (in fact the pottery ministry has produced some beautiful glazes of its own), but this does not satisfy the range and pallet of colour needed for jewelry. We will be experimenting with glazes that we must import from England. While we await the arrival of these glazes, we will be using some of the Eastleigh Pottery's supply.

In Prayer:

* Please keep our family in prayer as we return to the High Court in Nairobi this Friday for Ava's adoption. We are praying that everyone who needs to be there will make it and that we are not bumped from the list.

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.

Women in Focus

Erica speaking with Tim Bannister and about half of the members of the "Women in Focus" group today at the Eastleigh Community Centre.

The women trying their hand at bead formation
during a short visit to Eastleigh Pottery

It was a great day with some new friends, as we introduced six members of the Canadian "Women in Focus" group to the ladies of Iftin and the ministries of the Eastleigh Community Centre. We were very interested in their observations of current trends in jewelry and ladies fashion back in Canada (Erica and I are a little out of touch). They made some helpful design suggests as we spent some time in the pottery workshop and gave them a chance to shape a few beads. Large beads in bright colours was their recommendation in a nut shell. We are excited to see the completion of our first jewelry line with the women of Iftin. We are very interested in any design suggestions that you might have as well. Please post a comment if you have any recommendations!

Our main focus with Iftin today was exercise: the Women in Focus participated with several of the Somali women in a discussion over the importance and the benefits of regular exercise. It was fun not only to hear the opinions and experiences of all the women, but to get active together -- singing, dancing, playing football, and yes... more dancing!


Two of the Canadian women
joining in on the football game.

Saying good-bye after a wonderful

morning together!

Step by Step

James Odera, manager of Eastleigh Pottery,

tests the consistency of the new clay body recipe

for making ceramic beads.

The ceramic bead and jewelry production project is moving forward step by step. Today we completed the first batch of our new clay body after nearly six months of research and planning. The pottery staff gathered together at 7:00 am to begin the long days work of mixing, sieving, and preparing the clay for use.

Some of the pottery staff pouring the clay into mess bags. Rather than waiting several weeks for the clay to thicken in the sun, the pottery team are experimenting with hanging the clay in heavy cloth bags where it will shed water much faster than sitting in the usual drying boxes.

A bag of freshly made clay hanging to dry next to a pile of 7 tons of raw clay that our team purchased from Nyeri, near Mt. Kenya.

The project's objective is to provide skills training and employment to vulnerable Somali women in Eastleigh. We hope to begin the training phase of the project with ten women by the middle of March. Until then, we will be taking training ourselves with the pottery staff from a local ceramic beading expert. We are excited to see this enterprise reduce the number of Somali women living in extreme poverty.

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

The Sharing Way

Erica, Aaron, Yattani, Salomi, and Brian in the Eastleigh Community Centre's Assembly Hall

On Friday, we spent the day in strategic meetings with our Somali ministry colleagues the Carlines and the Gollos, along with Malcolm Card and our Sharing Way colleagues Sam Mutisya and Brian Malcolm.

Today, we brought the Gollos and Brian into Eastleigh for them to see the community centre and some of the ministry we are involved in there. The Gollos will be returning to Garissa where they are setting up there home. We pray for them as they establish themselves in Garissa and begin the important ground work for building new ministries in the capital of Northeastern Province. They are beginning a new chapter in a long legacy of Somali outreach in NEP.

Brian has been a great encouragement to us as we begin the jewelry enterprise with the Somali women and work to strengthen the development initiatives among the vulnerable Somali community of Eastleigh. Brian leaves for Rwanda tomorrow where he will be working with the Cards in other Sharing Way programs. With the help of The Sharing Way, we are working to help the most vulnerabe Somali households in Eastleigh to overcome extreme poverty, injustice and enjoy the visible signs of God’s kingdom through a participatory, integrated approach to sustainable long-term community development.

Kuja pamoja!

Kuja Pamoja means "coming together" in Kiswahili

and today was a time for the children of Rosslyn Academy to

come together with children of the Eastleigh Community Centre

The two first grade classes of Rosslyn Academy loaded into two buses and followed Erica and I into work this morning to join the primary classes at the community centre for a time of reading and learning together. As part of their visit, the first grade students from RA each brought a favorite book to read to a younger primary student.

A group of Rosslyn and Eastleigh students quite interested in the fiery red "spider ants" -- some things are just universal!

The elementary science teacher, who organized the visit with Erica, also had the students visit the pottery ministry where they are having their own little pots fired in the kiln. James, the director of Eastleigh Pottery, showed the children the process of making pottery and introduced them to the water filter project. After the official visit, many of the Rosslyn students had a chance to play with some of the Eastleigh kids.

Tutaonana!

"See you again!"