March 2019 Newsletter
The Bible and the Friend: ACK‘s Mission in Garissa.
has involved a lot of rapport building. He says that for much
ACK’s Mission in Garissa
Community Members receive a motorised sprayer from ADS Staff Hussein and Stephen (3rd and 4th from Right ) Respectively. Photo/ADS Kenya
Kenya’s
Garissa town stands about 372kms to the Eastern part of Nairobi. As by the 2009 National census, Garissa county hosts about 119,696 people, mostly comprising of the Local Somali ethnic community. Just as you get into the town, you are ushered in by lush green vegetation that separates Garissa County from Tana River County. Perhaps a sharp contrast from the characteristic dryland that dominates the entire of the county, this sense of fresh air represents much of the serenity within the town. Local Businesses present a relatively active town. Along the streets, locals go about their business without much attention to any tales that may exist about the town. A closer view reveals a multi-ethnic interaction, well shared -and spread. Kenyans from across the country gather here as they try to eke a living out of the promising economy. For most visitors, Garissa is at the very least, a constant mention in Kenya’s media with reports of Violent religious extremism, drought and floods. But to most locals, these stories remain at being their very nature, myths. The town hosts a number of mosques that are well placed within the town. Occasionally, one would also spot a church tucked within the buzz of buildings here. One such church is the Anglican Church. The Diocese of Garissa hosts the few Anglican Churches within this area. Until late last year, Garissa was a missionary area under the Diocese of All Saints Cathedral. It was under the leadership of the Rt. Rev. Dr. David Mutisya. During the 2018 provincial Synod meetings, Garissa was made a full-fledged Diocese with Bishop Mutisya becoming
the first Bishop. He says that Garissa has been an amazing mission field for him over the past 8 years. “You visit Garissa and you can not fail to wonder where are all those negative things you’ve heard about this place?” he notes. Just as the pioneers of the Anglican Church had it tough in their initial evangelism activities in East Africa, the spread of Christianity in Garissa has not been one without toil. “It took a lot of persuasion for us to start even a church here,” Bishop Mutisya says. The community in this area is conservatively Muslim and recedes not on matters faith. Through provision of social services such as Education, water and relief aid in times of Drought, the residents now view the Anglican Church as a key agent of change in the region. “We are here not because we want to only preach to Christians but we want to take care of all the members of this community for we are all brothers and sisters,” Bishop Mutisya says. In Raya Location, a 20 minutes ride out of the town, ADS Eastern is implementing a project called the Garissa livelihoods Improvement Program. Supported by Transform AID International (Australia), the project targets farmers who specialize in agriculture and pastoralism. Raya borders the River Tana and most residents have embraced irrigation in their farming activities. ADS Eastern is providing them with motorized spraying machines which they use to spray pesticides on their Mangoes, vegetables and Banana plantations. The farmers are also being trained on good agronomical practices. This is done while
linking them to markets, input Suppliers and other Government services. They are also organized into farmer groups with the aim of strengthening market structures and promoting collective marketing. For the locals who are engaged in livestock keeping, ADS support them in disease management and diversification and management of pasture. They also get training on milk and meat handling. ADS Eastern is also working on improving water accessibility among the households. This will be through increasing canal networks and tapping water from the nearby River Tana. The Project also seeks to entrench women participation in the project and development Activities in the area. Through the Project management committees, women are incorporated in the rolling out of programs. Stephen Muli is the team leader at the ADS Eastern Office. He says that all this is aimed at strengthening the community’s capacity to respond to the needs that they have. By strengthening the existing structures in the area, they hope to ensure that the community is involved in the project’s implementation and to create an understanding on the benefits of such partnerships.
Staff from the Anglican Development Services during a courtesy call on the Bishop of the ACK Diocese of Garissa. Photo/ADS Kenya
A customer support officer demonstrates how to use a motorised spraying machine to community Members in Raya Location, Garissa County. Photo/ ADS Kenya
of the time that the Anglican Church has operated in the county, they’ve done ‘much of action and less of talking.’ The hard penetration reception into the community is attributed to a variety of cultural beliefs, not least among them, religion. “Residents consider other parts of the country as Down Kenya and any entry into their lives requires consensus.” Initially, the land on which the A.C.K St. Peters Pro-Cathedral, Garissa stands on was a military camp. Later on, the camp was moved leaving the church in the hands of the Anglican Church. Today, the Church also hosts a Primary School offering quality education to over 380 pupils from the community. Majority of these pupils are Muslim. Bishop Mutisya says that this is because of the trust the community has in the Church. They refer to him as kristo Kubwa, loosely translated to The Big Christian. He notes that the security situation within Garissa town has fairly improved and that explains the surge in the number of people who are acquiring property within the area. Hussein, a staff with the local Anglican Development Services-Eastern office, says that the community has come to appreciate the Anglican Church for the role it plays in Development. Unlike most organizations which have tried to initiate development projects in the area and left midway, ADS Eastern seeks to leave a permanent mark in the lives of these communities by walking with them in the development journey.
Wholesome Health
(2nd from Left) ADS Kenya Research Assistant Sophia Gakii guides GMC Staff in filling Data into a Data Base. Photo/ADS Kenya
Research-Backed Development. ADS Kenya has also partnered with the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction (GNRD) to conduct a research on the community’s capacity to respond to Disasters. The project is being implemented in four counties across the country and Garissa is one of them. In the past, parts of the county have been faced with disasters such as Violent extremism, flooding, drought, ethnic clashes among others. The project seeks to use research data in drafting response strategies and advocacy. The local partnering organizing is the Garissa Mediation Council. Bishop Mutisya underscores the development work of the Anglican Church in the area as a culmination of long process that
(From Left to Right) The Vicar of All. Trinity Church Kibera Canon Omungu, Holy Trinity Health Centre Health Worker Simiyu and ADS Kenya senior Programs Officer Charles Macharia inspect some of the medical donations from Health Partners International Canada. The donations were shared out among 10 ACK run health Facilities across the country. Photo/ADS Kenya
Adolescents Nutrition Project:
Pictorials
Funded by Christian Aid And Implimented by ADS South Rift. to her father for all she had done. All this time, her young children were under her father’s care. He says that it has never been as easy since he still supports Naomi’s siblings. “I oftenly disagree with Naomi’s mother as she says that I took over responsibilities that were clearly not mine,” he adds. Around that very same time, Naomi was put under a Christian Aid Funded project that is being implemented by the Transmara Rural Development Project (TRDP). The Adolescence Nutrition project targets adolescents and teen mothers. It seeks to achieve the following: a. Improve the Nutrition Status of adoles-
From Right to Left- Green Anglicans’ Rev. Dennis Nthenge, Rev. Dr. Rachael Mash and Irene and ADS Kenya’s Bwibo Adieri during a meeting. Photo/ADS Kenya
A team from the ACK Provincial Mission Office during a meeting with ADS Kenya on Green Anglicans. Photo/ADS Kenya
The Archbishop poses for a photo with a team of Mothers’ Union Representatives from across East Africa. The team was on a Capacity Building on Development. Photo/ADS Kenya
St. John Ukwasi Water Point in Garissa County. The facility is run by the ACK Diocese of Garissa and provides water to locals. Photo/Courtesy
A team from the USAID meets with ADS Kenya staff during a capacity assessment visit at ADS Kenya Offices. Photo/ADS Kenya
Workers offload medical donations from a truck at the ACK Holy Trinity Health Centre. Photo/ADS Kenya
cent girls and their children (0-2years) the Nutrition practices amongst adolescent girls and their households c. Reduce the number of teenage pregnancies.
b. Improve
Naomi Chepkemoi in class at kabolecho Girls secondary School in Transmara East, Narok County. Photo/ADS Kenya
The Light in my way: Giving teen mothers a 2nd chance In Narok’s Transmara East Subcounty, at Kabolecho Secondary School, Naomi Chepkemoi prepares for the April holidays after finishing her exams. She is confident that when the results are released, she will perform well. With her school uniform bringing out a personality of a strong willed, intelligent and neat- well cut out young girl, her story remains to be one that inspires-outdoing its lows at most points in her life. Born in 1996, Naomi is the 2nd born daughter of Mzee David Tanui. She has 4 other siblings born after her. She attended a local primary school and managed 304 out of the possible 500 marks. While this guaranteed her direct entry into High School, it remains to her an extraordinary performance as her locality is known for not placing much attention to the education
of the Girl Child than it does to the Boy Child. The next two years proved to be the beginning of her struggles as a young girl. Caught in the adventures of a younger adolescent she had become, she got pregnant with her first child in 2016. This meant that she could not proceed with her education at that point. One year later, she became pregnant with her 2nd child. At this point her father was disappointed with her. He had invested much in her and was optimistic that Naomi would use education to transform her home and community. Her father is engaged in small businesses in the area but the money he gets from this has never been enough to sustain all the needs of his family. For fear of reproach, Naomi escaped from her home and went to live with her father’s relatives. She would later on in 2018 return home and apologise
Through this program, Naomi was trained and supported to go back to school. Her school fee is paid by TRDP and she hopes to become a doctor in future. Her motivation is driven by her struggles in Life. “I want to become a doctor so that I can help other girls who go through what I have personally experienced,’ she adds. According to statistics from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, 2014-2018- 18% of women aged between 15-19 are mothers or are pregnant with their first child. The National Council for Population and Development reported that between July 2016 and June 2018, 378,379 adolescent girls aged between 10-19 years were presented with pregnancy in hospitals across the counties. In Narok County, 40% of girls aged between 1519 years are pregnant. This translates to prevalence twice as much as that of the National figure. This has led to an increase in women disempowerment in the county in terms of access to education and other economic opportunities.
Anglican Development Services (ADS) Kenya Bishop’s Road, Opp. NSSF Building ACK Language School Building, 2nd Floor P.O Box 40502-00100 Nairobi. Tel: +254 20 2718801, +254 20 2714752/3 Email: adskenya@africaonline.co.ke/newsdesk@adskenya.org www.adskenya.org