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News from Friends United Meeting
Answers for Some Kenyan Drought Questions
God Is In Control
Jamaica Yearly Meeting
Helping Belizean Boys Prepare for High School
Quakers Converge at Greensboro
Answers for Some Kenyan Drought Questions
By Donald Thomas
In August, the Kenya government and the United Nations requested 7.7 billion Kenya shillings to provide famine relief. At the same time, government maize reserves have been severely depleted by the sale of half the strategic reserves two years ago. Maize (corn) does not keep well for a long time. The drought is affecting 26 districts in five provinces. Particularly badly hit are Eastern Province, Coast Province, North-Eastern Province and the lower areas of Central Province and Nyanza. Kenyan Friends are among the least affected communities. They might even benefit by higher prices if they have any surplus maize to sell. However, when I was in Bungoma and Mt. Elgon in early June , I saw some signs of maize wilting near Kimilili although there has been more rain since then.
The weather pattern to the East and West of the Rift Valley is quite different. Western Kenya has one long rainy season with a break around June; July and August are usually wet months there. In contrast, areas East of the Rift have normally two very distinct rainy seasons October to December and March to May. The problem this year, East of the Rift, is that the rains started late, came heavily in early May and then stopped abruptly by mid-May. In Central Kenya there is often cloud and drizzle in July and August that helps the maize crop to keep going, but this time there have been many bright sunny days with higher than normal temperatures.
Coping strategies in the Coast and Eastern Provinces include sale of livestock and charcoal (prices on both have dropped) and seeking casual employment.
Turkana had fairly good rains to start with but the situation is aggravated by conflict with neighboring tribes in Uganda, Sudan and Ethiopia that restricts access to grazing land close to the borders. Sale of charcoal and firewood (to Kakuma refugee camp) has increased. The conflicts also make it difficult to provide famine relief.
It is estimated that about 3 million people will require food from August 2004 to January 2005. More detailed information can be found from the Famine Early Warning Network (FEWSNET), a USAID funded program at www.fews.net.
Donald Thomas, Nairobi Yearly Meeting, helped found an agriculture department at Nairobi University.
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God Is In Control
By John Epur Lomuria, Turkana Friends Mission
The Friends church in Kenya held a conference in Malava Yearly Meeting April 21-25, 2004. This was a most encouraging meeting.
The main speaker, Oliver Kisaka, spoke from Jeremiah 29:11 on “Plans to bring about the future you hope for.” It inspired me to write about the plans of God for the Kenyan church and me.
I remembered being from a poor family and a minor tribe in Kenya, and I remembered all the good things the Lord has done for me since childhood. It’s worthy to say God is in control.
My earthly father died before my birth to this world, but due to God’s control, I didn’t die during the dry spell of weather that followed my birth. There was no milk, blood or any kind of soft food for an infant, but God did provide. I was fed the bone marrow of the animals that died in the drought.
In 1979, our uncles snatched our animals from us and we were left to die of hunger, but God took over as He always does for the desperate. We came into the town of Lodwar as beggars and for four years we lived through thick and thin until at last God opened a way by showing us the Quaker church in Lodwar town. Isaac Ewalan who was an Evangelist at that time started visiting us and invited my Mum to worship in the Quaker church pastored by Missionary Herman Jaika Otioko.
Life forced me to look for a place to feed myself, hence I found myself in a Muslim Pre-School called Madrasa. The Sheik in charge introduced me to Hotel Mombassa where I ate every lunch and dinner for a period of one year. They taught me their worship procedures and Arabic alphabets until I realized I was in the wrong place. I recalled the kind of life I was leading and realized that God is life.
My brother William came to pick me up and took me to the Cherangani hills where he had secured a job for me as a herd’s boy. Two years latter the spirit of schooling came into me and the cry of a lonely mother haunted me all that period. I loved my mother so that I cried every afternoon. At last my brother accepted to take me back to my mother. The first day I stepped into my mother’s house made a drastic change in my life because I found that she was now a fully changed woman. She had prayed for the life of her children most of the time. This was in 1983
When I was confirmed a Quaker, I was ignorant and innocent of many things in Quaker faith and practice but then the Holy Spirit started working in me. My life style changed miraculously. I had no one to share this life with other than my mother, Paullina, who encouraged me to love God and trust in him alone.
Later, I was seeking how to go to school. A message from Pastor Herman came in. I ran like a gazelle, my heart beating like jukebox. I removed the balance of money my brother had given me and went to see the pastor. What he said still trains me of whom the Quakers are—“As I was in a meeting with other Quakers,” he started. “Among them were a group called Quaker Men. One who heard your sad story has accepted to take you through school.”
Because of the Quakers, I was able to attend school. I found employment, and now I have become the source of survival for my family. God’s plan is always perfect. He, the almighty, promises that when the doors seem closed, raise up your eyes to Jesus and he will open a way in your life.
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Jamaica Yearly Meeting
Nine people were Recorded at the 2003 Jamaica Yearly Meeting Sessions: Adolphus Blake, Angella Beharie, Osborne Grapine, Horace Hall, Dennis Henry, Kenneth Johnson, Theresa Reid, Walter Reynolds and Adrian Robinson.
At the 2004 Yearly Meeting Sessions, special recognition for 20 years or more of dedicated service in ministry was given to: Isaiah Campbell, Osborne Grapine, Horace Hall, Dennis Henry, Florence Passley, Walter Reynolds and Lloyd Webley. Also, the first Faith and Practice of Jamaica Yearly meeting was approved.
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Helping Belizean Boys Prepare for High School
By Florence Emma Peery
Friends Boys School (FBS) in Belize City, Central America had 36 students this past year which is close to capacity. The goal at Friends Boys School is to raise the academic skills of boys and prepare them for passing the strict national test that will admit them to high school. Everything done at the school works toward raising self-esteem, whether it is actual textbook teaching, counseling, sports participation or field trips. The boys are hungry for positive attention because Belizean culture deprives most of them of a permanent father image. A grandmother or aunt raises many because their mothers are not present. The staff includes Mike Cain, the Director, two teachers, a secretary and Kay Cain, who acts as surrogate mother to the boys. The school’s operating budget is around $35,000 US with another $48,000 for the Cains’ salary and expenses. Students are charged $12.50 US a month in tuition plus the purchase of their school uniform shirt ($11.00 US).
Why is there a need for this kind of a prep school in Belize? The quality of an elementary education is lacking due to poor teacher training, an inadequate supply of textbooks and visual aids, and overcrowded classrooms, through which hot air and dust blow freely with no air conditioning (daytime temperatures range around 90 degrees). The brightest students survive these conditions regardless, while those needing extra help and loving concern get further and further behind. In Belize, 60% of the population is under 18. Children must stay in elementary school until they are 14 and they cannot be held back because of age. Vocational training school starts at age 15 and a strict test that about half fail to pass is required to get into high school. This means around 4000 children age 14 and up are turned out into the streets each year without any opportunity for gaining job skills or having an opportunity to attend high school.
Government educators have noticed the methods at FBS and they are now making an effort to provide more prep training as part of the first year of high school. However, the smaller, individualized, personal, Christian, compassionate approach of FBS is what really gives the boys the self-esteem they need to succeed.
Some needs of the school are: a church planting team; short term groups to teach Vacation Bible School or an after school program for a week or two and finances for school expenses, director salary, scholarships for needy boys and for the feeding program. Send checks to FUM clearly marked for either Cain support, Friends Boys School support or Belize.
back to topQuakers Converge at Greensboro
The 41st Triennial gathering of the United Society of Friends Women International (USFWI) and Quaker Men International (QMI) was held in Greensboro, North Carolina, July 8-11, 2004. Hundreds of Quaker women and men worshipped, attended mission workshops, met old friends and made new.
Field staff from all FUM sites attended (except for Ramallah) and most led workshops or interest groups. The 2004 USFWI budget sends $54,400 to FUM field sites or project partners, $3,000 for other Quaker organizations and $4,000 for Advocate and Triennial expenses.
The USFWI Officers for 2004-2007 are: Margaret Stoltzfus, President; Peggy Hollingsworth, Vice-President & Historian; Dorothy Hinshaw, Secretary; Adis Beeson, Treasurer; Mary Glenn Hadley, Program Editor; Lois Jordan, Advocate Editor; Etta Florence Winslow, Advocate Subscriptions. Missionary Education departments are: Cynthia Steele, Adult; Sarabeth Marcinko, Children & Youth; Gladys Kang’ahi, Christian Service; Judy Kendall, Literature/Reading Course; and Karen Bauer, Peace & Christian Concerns. The John Sarrin Scholarship Program continues under the leadership of Leanna Roberts. Quaker Men International had their own workshops and afternoon trips. Mealtime coincided with the USFWI meals and all joined the evening program. The new QMI Officers for 2004- 2007 are: George Taylor, President; Prince Kendall, Vice- President; Dan Carter, Secretary; and A. Pike Johnson, Treasurer.
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