Having a Heart for AIDS

TueTuesdayNovNovember8th2011

Ambassador Gration Visits Heart for AIDS

Posted Tuesday, November 08 2011 @ 12 PM byJames Misner Tagged Ambassador Gratian barb harbert Heart for AIDS Hope for Life Josephine Kiarii 0 comments Add comment

Last week, the US Ambassador to Kenya, Scott Gration, paid a special visit to one of our Heart for AIDS partners, Josephine Kiarii, and her ministry, Hope for Life, The Ambassador is the brother of WBC Missionary Barb Harbert, who oversees the ministry of Heart for AIDS in Nakuru, Kenya.

Josephine was aware that members of the ambassador’s family would be coming to visit, but did not know that the ambassador himself would be part of the group until she received a message from Ambassador Gration’s bodyguard at 6:00 am that morning. This news made Josephine’s day! Barb reports that by the time her brother arrived Josephine had everything in order.

Ambassador Gration and his family spent about an hour with Josephine and other Heart for AIDS partners. This visit brings a great dignity and affirmation to our partners. It also brings significant attention to this ministry, which will hopefully allow our partners to gain more support locally, as well as continue to establish their role as Christ-centered leaders in the community who are bringing about holistic transformation.

Ambassador Gration is quoted as saying (in the Kiswahili language), “A thief can steal anything but knowledge.” Our prayer is that the knowledge of how to bring about Gospel-directed change will not be stolen away.

SatSaturdayOctOctober29th2011 Turkana Update

Posted Saturday, October 29 2011 @ 11 AM byJames Misner Tagged barb harbert Heart for AIDS HIV Josephine Kiarii Kenya Nakuru Turkana 0 comments Add comment

During MissionsFest2011 we took up an offering for ministry in Kenya. We gave to our Heart for AIDS initiative in Nakuru, Kenya. And also gave sacrificially towards a program with World Relief in a region of Kenya called Turkana which has been devastated by drought and HIV/AIDS. During the service on MissionsFest Sunday we reported that one of our partners from Nakuru, Josephine, was actually going to travel the 15 hours to Turkana, on mostly dirt roads, in order to assess the situation, attempt to help and share the gospel with this mostly unreached group of people. Here is some information we just received from WBC Missionary Barb Harbert about Josephine’s trip from Nakuru to Turkana:

Wow, I heard from Josephine and just say Wow. Wow because it was a really tough and dangerous trip, but God provided. Wow because 124 people got saved. Wow because one pastor services an area that is 150 km wide. How can they effectively make disciples? Wow because the living conditions of these people are so harsh and they are so hopeless. Wow because you can see glimmers of hope through the potential through transformational development.

I wonder about the timing of all this. MissionsFest offering. World Relief. Josephine’s trip. What is God wanting us to do? May God give us all wisdom as we pray how to respond to this great need in Turkana.

Here are some quotes directly from Josephine about her trip:

In this region people walk holding guns just like it is a shepherding stick. Our yearning to reach the people did not cease even after we saw all this.
The place is very dry, people naked; they do not care about life and they thirst for comfort and someone to tell them that God cares. All they knew is that they are God’s rejects and that is why they live in such a place and life is meaningless to them.
Many of them had lost families and were still grieving. It was very touching and I could not believe it was real. I thought I was dreaming. The place is like a desert
We visited the homes of some. The first day in home visits 88 people accepted the Lord.
Something they commented that I liked. ‘You people have shown us the promised love of that God who protects us. Your love is God’s love and it has touched us as a community. We thought we are God’s rejects but now your love has shown us that we are God’s best.

Our giving project for ministry in Kenya is still open. Click here to give to our MissionsFest project online. You can also give by placing money in the orange envelopes in the seat racks in the main auditorium.

TueTuesdayOctOctober25th2011 A Very, Very Long Walk

Posted Tuesday, October 25 2011 @ 10 AM byJames Misner Tagged No tags 0 comments Add comment

Can you remember the last time you took a long walk? A really long walk? Now that spring has arrived, the idea of a nice walk down the Prairie Path or along Lake Michigan sounds liberating after a cold and snowy winter!

But those walks are a far cry from the walks that one of our ministry partners in Kenya wrote about recently. She was writing to tell me about how a very determined group of Kenyan men and woman took several very long walks last month— three hours each way—in order to receive training in skills that could move them from financial dependence on others to self-sustaining, income-producing work. These Kenyans are part of a population group call IDPs —internally displaced people—who, because of tribal warfare, have been forced to leave their homes. These are families that lost everything in ethnic violence in 2008, and for three years they have been dependent on others for their very survival.

“Starting their lives over,” my missionary friend wrote, “they became very dependent on handouts from donors. They searched for day jobs, but, in reality, they relied on the next donation.”

Martha.

About a year ago these displaced people met one of our Kenyan partners named Martha. Martha had no money or food to give them. But she was able to help them realize that they had many resources they could use to better their lives. They could start with what little they had and use that to help themselves—and because they were helping themselves they could feel a whole lot better about themselves in the process.

They didn’t need to depend on outsiders, they could take pride in their work.

Martha was able to teach them how to make products they could sell in the market—like shoe polish, liquid soap, bar soap, bleach, cockroach pesticide, and a variety of food items such as yogurt they could sell locally. Many now sustain their families with the income they generate from those sales!

The next step for Martha was to teach these displaced people how to use the land around them in order to produce food. That’s where we come in!

In February Wheaton Bible Church sponsored a three-day training program called “Farming God’s Way.” Through this program, they learned the value God places on farming and farmers. They learned how God wants us to care for the soil and how He gives us the responsibility to care for creation—and the reality that He gives us the resources in His creation to sustain life.

On the first day of training, the displaced people were told to gather at Martha’s house. Here’s where the long walk comes in!

Several of these displaced people arrived very early in the morning at Martha’s gate. “We’re ready for the Farming God’s Way training! Where is the matatu [public transportation] that will take us?”

Martha responded, “There is no matatu. You will need to walk. I will walk with you.”

Surprised, the displaced people began to walk . . . and continued to walk . . . and walk . . . and walk.

Under the hot, unclouded sun they walked. On the cracked dry, dusty soil they walked. Three hours later they arrived at their destination. Then after eight hours of training and a break for lunch and several small breaks for tea, they began the walk back home. Three hours later they arrived.

On the second day of the training, Martha’s group—despite the three hour walk—was among the first to arrive for the training. Although several members of the group are dealing with medical conditions, including diabetes and HIV/AIDS, they beamed with enthusiasm (and sweat) as they arrived to be trained!

By day three they had made an action plan to farm together—using “God’s method” of farming. At the end of that day they made the long walk back, singing the entire way until they arrived at their tent camp for displaced people, well after dark.

Interestingly, the next day several with HIV/AIDS were invited to a seminar sponsored by another organization. A matatu came to collect them and bring them to a training center near Martha’s home. In addition, the organization paid them a “sitting allowance” just to attend.

“Some organizations and agencies are like that,” one of our partners said. “They spoil people who now expect to be paid to learn.” Martha asked those who went to this other training what they got out of the seminar. “Nothing near as helpful as the trainings you have given us,” they admitted. “You teach us to do things for ourselves. We always feel good when we start to use what we have learned.”

Walking six hours a day required tremendous sacrifice—but it was worth it! The people who learned about Farming God’s Way have already gathered mulch for their garden and will soon prepare the holes for planting. They are ready for the rains.

Please pray that God will use the long walks that these displaced people took; that He will bless the work of their hands as they farm, and that He will literally give them fruit for their labor.

It is our prayer that in all aspects of our Heart for AIDS initiative we will foster dignity in the people we serve. It is our desire to help them to utilize the resources that God has given them to provide for themselves and for their families. This does not mean that we should not give. We need to give and to give out of our abundance. However, we need to give in a way that propels our partners towards living sustainable lives and not towards dependence on us. We need to help them realize that they are made in the image and likeness of God, with gifts and resources at their disposal that God has given them and wants them to utilize for their families.

Having a Heart for AIDS

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