The Powerful Cross

Each morning at the Osiligi Rehabilitation Farm our trainees are up at 6am to prepare for the day ahead. By 7am they and the staff are at a student run time of devotions. Some of our international staff are there so they take the opportunity to share from the Word of God.

We also have 4 new trainees from our latest intake who go through a one-month discipleship intensive course at the farm. Our trainees come from destructive backgrounds of gang involvement, drugs, alcohol abuse and broken families. The discipleship intensive is just the beginning of the two-year program.

This week two trainees committed their lives to Christ at the morning devotions. It’s a huge thing to turn their back on their former lifestyle which was all about them and what they could get. Now, it’s about living for Christ with the power of the Holy Spirit. Sure, there are counselling sessions but one touch from God can wipe out a multitude of issues.

We are in the midst of developing a youth leadership program for both our trainees of Osiligi and our graduates from the Riziki Assistance Program. Giving extra leadership skills from a Biblical world view can only benefit our young people. Teaching them in a relevant manner is very important, no matter in the world you are. Just because a young person lives in a developing country does not mean they are second rate nor stupid. We have some of the brightest young people, all they need is an opportunity to grow into what they dream to be.

We are always re-enforcing to our staff that we are a Christian faith-based organisation. Therefore, our focus is to deliver the Gospel through our work. How we talk to and with our young people, the way we react to challenges and how we treat one another should be an example to our young people.

We should never dilute the power of the cross because of our actions. Instead, we should be illuminating the effectiveness of the cross.

This is our goal - to make what Jesus did for us so attractive, powerful and life changing that our young people have that revelation.

Easter here in Kenya is not about chocolate eggs nor hot cross buns. We are now seeing these things for sale at the supermarkets but the focus is still on Jesus.

The challenge is showing the way out of religiousness and the way into relationship.

Water Changes Everything

Here in Kenya we finally have rain after a couple of months of a dry period. Not that the rain is consistent but it’s enough to keep the dust down. The dry period came later than normal so this changes things for our crops – planting and reaping times.

At our training farm in Kiserian we are very blessed to have a good water supply. Sure, we have our challenges but nothing in comparison to our neighbours. Where the farm sits it is on the leeward side of some hills. That means we receive much less rain than others in the same area. It’s an advantage if we don’t have all of our maize in, basically it buys us time.

At Osiligi we have a number of water tanks, piping down to the shamba (gardens) and drip lines for our crops.  In the greenhouses the trainees hand water our tomatoes.

When we talk to people about Osiligi the first question they always have is ‘Do you have water?’ When they hear about our water supply, they give this approving nod.

Why – because water here really does change everything.

If you don’t have water your crops will die, your cattle will die and your business will fail. Water is essential to life.

At Osiligi we have so much water we are now able to sell it off to our neighbours. That way they don’t have to walk several kilometres to buy it, saving them both valuable time and money. It also enables the farm to get closer to self-sustainability, which is very important. We aim by the end of 2014 to have Osiligi paying for itself through the sale of vegetables, pigs and water.

When we started the farm in Kiserian a few years ago it was just bare land. Now there are two dormitories, teachers accommodation, a dining hall, three greenhouses, a workshop, gardens, business clubs, a football field and a toilet block.

This year we want to start expanding to give our staff better facilities, a classroom, a training centre, a farm managers house and an IT resource room. To date we have had generous donors from New Zealand, Australia and Holland. There’s so much more to be done but we are always thankful for those who sacrificially give.

March 22^nd is World Water Day, a day when we remember that just turning on the tap is a privilege that one billion people don’t have.

Afri-Lift is grateful that we have adequate water at Osiligi and it is a great thing to be able to bless those around us with access to clean water.

Jesus said, “I am the Water of Life, he who comes to me will never thirst again”. Our goal throughout our programs is for people to come to personally know Christ and make a change in their local community.

This week when you turn on a tap or flush a toilet remember us in East Africa. Because of our generous partners we can literally give people access to water but we are giving them the life changing message of Jesus Christ.

Just like St Paddy

This week our Irish friends will be celebrating St Patricks Day. As you may know, St Paddy is the patron saint of Ireland. I bet you didn’t know he was also the patron saint of Nigeria, Montserrat, engineers, paralegal, and invoked against snakes, sins and witchcraft.

While he is celebrated as bringing Christianity to Ireland in the past, today it is a much more secularised event filled with shamrocks, parades, festivals and the wearing of all things green.

He had a pretty cool heritage with his dad was a deacon and his grandfather a priest. When he was 16 he was kidnapped and taken to Ireland. He ended up escaping after he had a dream from God to go to a certain place. After studying to be a priest he returned to the country of his captivity to share the Good News with the locals. Apparently he used the shamrock to explain the Trinity.

But why the green you may be asking? Good question! It has something to do with the shamrock and a bunch of soldiers wanting to stand out and get peoples attention, so they wore green. Go figure.

So, what does all this greenery have to do with the work of Afri-Lift? Absolutely nothing! But, when you look at the passion of St Patrick we have a lot to learn: 

1.     He didn’t let his past dictate his future. 
We are dealing with some young people who have shameful and broken pasts, which, if it weren’t for the power of the Cross, would ruin them.

2.     Scars can be turned into stars 
Patrick was kidnapped from Britain and taken to Ireland. He was there for some time and could’ve just settled for being a captive his whole life. Instead, he took the persecution, punishment and rejection that a prisoner suffered and used it for transforming peoples lives. Nothing makes us more proud than when a young person embraces the Gospel and does something with it and makes good decisions. It doesn’t matter if it is to finish school, keep away from bad influences or when they get older, be faithful to their spouse.

3.     He used what was in his hands 
We don’t all have shamrocks, but we do have available resources right in front of us. It may be funds to sponsor a child, a missionary, help a needy person in our community or be there to help an elderly person with their groceries. Too many people think it needs to a be a huge thing to be impacting in some else’s life. Something is better than nothing.

Here in Kenya, very few people except the ex-pats will even realise that on the 18^th it’s St Patrick’s Day. However, we thank our Irish friends for their support of our work. For the rest of us, let’s take on a few of the attributes of St Patrick to better our world.

An Irish Blessing:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Go You Girls!!!

In a few days, on the 8th the world will celebrate International Womens Day, with the theme being “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women”.

There’ll be messages on social media sites, adverts on TV and maybe even a few radio spots mentioning it. Unfortunately, for the millions of women in developing countries whom this theme relates to, they won’t hear much about it.

In many developing countries these are the facts:

1.     Women are seen as second class to men, sometimes lower in value than animals

2.     Girls are married off as young as 12 years of age leading into further poverty

3.     Girls who are married off young fall pregnant too early for their underdeveloped bodies, leaving the mother with severe injuries

4.     Women perform two thirds of the work in the labour force

5.     They usually have less access than men to medical care, property ownership, credit, training and employment

6.     A woman has none or little control over choosing the number of children to have

7.     Laws against domestic violence are often not enforced on behalf of women

Our child sponsor program is called Riziki. It assists children aged from 6 to 18 years of age who come from dire poverty situations. Most come from the Kibera Slum where there is little electricity, running water and where people live in small huts made of mud.

Without assistance there is little possibility of these boys and girls going to school or vocational training. When I look at the girls we are assisting I see them having brighter futures than their own mothers. I see young women who have dreams to be someone significant in the world. They want to be teachers, nurses, social workers, musicians, engineers and doctors.

Many of these girls come from single parent families, with the mum trying to just survive day by day. Some are HIV positive, many are unemployed and unskilled. Their focus is on surviving moment by moment. Their children though, are now able to think about the future.

Hope is a powerful thing. Riziki is bringing our young people a hope and a future. Every child, whether a boy or girl deserves that much.