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Rio de Janeiro Short-Term Mission - #3 |
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It is finally cooling off a little in Brazil. We Americans are welcoming the break in the heat--the Brazilians are wearing coats and gloves (it is about 60 degrees in the mornings!)
Although some have dropped out of our classes, many continue, and some are eagerly seeking more sessions, knowing our time is short. We have hosted a party each week to help introduce our readers to church members. At the last one we dressed everyone in grass skirts and had a hula contest! At another party we played ´´Name Bingo´´ to help people learn names. The person who drew Sue´s name out of the bowl Read it SOOIE -- just like calling the hogs!
We have been in many homes--both church members and readers. The teens from the church are amazing in their efforts to reach out to the young readers and invite them into their group. They have fully participated in the parties and yesterday we had a teen from church and a teen reader that ate lunch with us at a restaurant near by. Making these connections is a critical part of the plan, so please pray that this continues.
We have only this week and next week remaining for classes. Some of our readers are already asking about continuing after we are gone. The seed is starting to grow--pray for these tender plants!
The part of the church building that was being demolished is now down and hauled off, and construction has begun. They removed about 12 feet of dirt from the fron half of the lot and are building a classroom complex there for the evangelistic Bible school. I am still amazed at how many people they study with one on one in a week. In addition to the Zinck family supported by PV, there are 3 men working full time, supported by this local congregation, doing evangelistic Bible studies. They are at the church all day, until about 9:00 every night. At 8:30 last night someone came in that no one knew and Larry tried to bring him to us thinking he was an English student. It turns out he was a new Bible student for them (in Portuguese!) He was quite relieved to not have to deal with us in English!
We wil have more to tell upon our return. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers. Donna and Joy return on June 30. Sue and Beth return on July 7. We love you all!
Joy, Donna, Sue & Beth
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Election Violence Relief Report |
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12 June 2008Greetings in the Name of Jesus!This is the second report on the monies that have been given to help in the Relief effort in Kenya. Sorry it has taken me so long to get it out to you. Let me first of all give you the situation of what is happening in the country at the moment. Most of the IDP’s (Internally Displaced People) have left the main camps that they fled to. The government has set up smaller camps in areas close to where the people have come from. They are guarded by police. During the day, it is hoped the people will go to their farms and plant food crops. And then at night to return to the camp. The government is still continuing to feed the people in the camps. This ‘forced’ return has been received well in some communities and not so well in other communities. So, the money that was sent through the Church of Christ was used in many ways to help the people in their time of need. The first report, reported to you how we helped in the immediate crisis of helping people to have food and transport. This report will continue to list those needs that were met. I would say that there are three phases of helping in this crisis. We have gone through Phase I in that we have gone through the emergency crisis. Now we are in Phase II where we need to have Peace and Reconciliation. And then Phase III will be to help the communities and different tribes to come together and work together for the common good of all. The government also needs to address some issues that have caused some of these problems for lasting peace to exist. There is a land issue that needs to be addressed. And there are spiritual issues that need to be addressed, not by the government but by Christian leaders. We in the Church of Christ worked alone in helping our people and others. But sometimes the issues are bigger than one person or group can accomplish. Early on we joined with some friends of ours who work with Open Arms International. That has since expanded to work with others who have resources that compliment our resources. We are now one of the partners of Nehemiah Project. The other partners are: Global Europe is more involved in raising monies for helping people to rebuild houses and get reestablished. They found they had to put this project on hold for a while until real peace in communities come back. Mwanaza Africa has also been active in the same thing. Also, they emphasis children and their welfare and have been active in helping with schooling, clothes, etc. at the camps. They hope to get more involved in youth and other ministries in the rural when the people have gone back. And Open Arms Int. is still active in helping, but have shifted emphasis from health care/nutrition for children and building houses for IDP’s to return home. Now their emphasis is their orphanage and securing orphans to fill their homes.The major emphasis just now is in the Peace and Reconciliation that we are doing in the Moiben Area. We have helped with getting Kalenjin Elders and Kikuyu elders together ( with DO’s and chiefs). We have had 5 meetings now. The last meeting we had was for Preachers from various churches to come together to talk about how the church will help in the healing process. We the Church of Christ are very involved in this and are the ones taking the leading roles. On the ground is Church of Christ men, Preachers, David Kibet Kemboi and Zakayo Kiprono and Elder Jeremiah Rotich. We have several churches in this area. Who are working closely with the Nehemiah coordinator Hillary Kiplagat.We are concentrating on the preachers at the moment, as we feel we need to get the people to focus on Christ. That will be the goal of the men while I am on furlough. The other ministries will help where they can. When I come back from furlough (in December), then we hope we can go to another phase (Phase III) of the program. In this phase, we need to help with physical uplift in the communities. We are looking at projects in Agriculture, bread, baking, maybe soap making etc. We hope to get both communities working together on projects that will build trust and respect for each other. We are right now sponsoring the training and also helping ladies at the Lighthouse camp to make needlepoint and knitted items for couches, the clothes which go on the back, arm rests stools etc. When that the ladies do go home, they can then continue these projects to make money to help their families. But right now, they can use the monies to buy cooking and plates, cups etc. and other things they need to get their homes back in order. Monies that have been spent from February 22. 7 David Jayuga helping others with relief help116 Togom in Sotik at the request of Kevin Kehl in America17 Yusuf Shimoli help50 Protus to move from his house to another one where it was safer for his family7 Lunch for three of us for a meeting 41 Security for people at Navillus. Hire person to protect a families property165 Julius in Kisii, who was a IDP, then had an accident and broke his leg18 Muhoro relief help198 Julius also from Kisii. Some special monies were given especially for him.4 photocopies for a meeting628 Peace mission at Moiben area. This was for 4 major meetings. We meet with Kalenjin and Kikuyu elders, Chiefs, District Officers, preachers and others. We provided food and transport for the Kikuyus to come from Eldoret.1255 Provide for the needs in the Kerio valley. They were 9 church members and 27 children. Also, provided some needs of none church members. We purchased food and blankets. 9 Peter Cheiyout for helping to deliver the above items661 Providing for the needs of Joseph Muhoro while he can not be home with his family. He is an IDP as he is Kikuyu. His wife is Luhya by tribe. He is unable to go home to stay. This is to help meet his needs for the rest of the year and for his family while he is gone.33 help rebuild a house at Chelalang that was burnt165 helping police that have been stationed to our area, who came without mattresses or things for cooking food101 Julius in Kisii to buy food and for rent of house11 business lunch to discuss IDP issues81 Julius in Kisii to go for a job interview in another part of Kenya32 David Kibet for his help in the peace process7 lunch with Kikuyu leaders9 photocopy materials for meeting41 To help Jackson at Navillus7 Lunch meeting with two people to talk about security17 working lunch for Nehemiah meeting, planning future meetings5 postage674 purchase of books for all preachers to study at our preachers meetings for peace and reconciliation$4,363 Total for this period of time. I mentioned in the last letter about helping with a feeding program immediately after the crisis began. We feed in three IDP camps around Eldoret for two months children less than 5 years old. We gave Open Arms International $14,000 for this program. Of this, only $9,588 was used. The remaining $4,412 was used at the Lighthouse camp. Here is how that money has been used and will continue to be used. Let me say that there are 29 ladies in the group. We will begin a very active phase of teaching them more than just sewing type of things. The project has been given over to two people who will become more involved, and do a lot more training and help things along. One of them (Peris) is working as a volunteer to the project. Thanks Peris for your love to help these ladies!Here is a breakdown of the monies given and what we have done and what we hope to do. $252 used to make a structure for the workshop, and $93 has been used for sewing supplies. So a total spent at this time is $345. The remaining monies are $4,067. $54,327 was given in total. $14,000 was given to the above program at Lighthouse, so balance is $40,327. On the first report, I report that we had spent $10,496 to help people. So the balance then is $29,831. Of this money, $4,363 is reported above to have been spent to help people. Final balance is then =’s $25,468. Of this money, $4,954 will be used from now until the end of December hosting meetings and meeting some administrative needs of Project Nehemiah. $3,940, I have in the bank and some of it will be used before we come to furlough next month. $16,514 I have put in an interest bearing account to be used for Phase III when we return from furlough next year. The total of these are: $25,408. Now, as you can tell, I somehow can not account for $60. Was it that I forgot to write something down, or was it something to do with exchanging the money from dollars to Kenyan Shillings? During this time, the Shilling to Dollar rate has fluctuated from Ksh. 72:1 to a low of 59:1. Presently it is about 62:1.Thanks again for your support and allowing me and others to help the Kenyan people who can not help themselves at this time in their lives. If you have any questions, or comments, please feel free to contact me. I hope to explain more to you when we meet in person while on furlough.God Bless You,In Service to Christ, Keith and Grace Gafner
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