Monday 22 October 2012

Hello Friends! 

Please feel free to leave comments or questions! I would love to hear what you think! 

I spent the past week helping prepare a training conference for leaders in various communities in Kenya. These leaders were asked to change the way they look at their local communities, to see and hear with the eyes and ears of God. As they go home they are to mobilize their communities to work towards solving the issues they deal with on a daily basis. We are all working towards solving problems in a peaceful manner. 

During the conference on Wednesday, our group traveled to a local Nairobi informal settlement called Kangemi, which was previously dealing with the issue of security in an area called Mau Mau bridge. According to the chief, this area was considered the most dangerous in the settlement. So dangerous that people could not safely cross during the day without the fears of being beaten, raped, stolen from or possibly killed. A few leaders that were trained at a similar conference by the OAIC addressed this issue and worked to mobilize the community to approach their leaders and solve this problem. After the community approached the chief they worked together to get security lights which have significantly decreased the crime rate in that area. They are also working towards getting a full time policeman post in that area to further increase the security at this location. This is just one specific example of how a training conference like the one this past week has helped empower leaders and communities to solve major issues.  

The conference was very enlightening as I got to hear the historical injustices that people deal with on a daily basis. It was inspirational to hear the plans of the conference attendees for their future to work together as communities for the betterment of their lives.  It is people like these that will be the change for Africa. I am so blessed to have worked with them! 



2 comments:

  1. Catherine-
    It is great reading your blog and hearing about the amazing things you are doing in Kenya. I have just finished reading Rye Barcott's book, It Happened on the Way to War. Are you familiar with it? He founded an NGO in the Kibera slums in Nairobi. As I read about it I thought about you and what you are doing there this year. Know that there are many people thinking about you and praying for you!
    All the best,
    Katherine

    ReplyDelete
  2. Katherine-
    Thank you so much for your comment! I will definitely look into that book! Thanks for the suggestion!

    ReplyDelete