Latest news

Celestin's Interview with Faith & Leadership

Celestin Musekura was recently interviewed by Faith & Leadership, an offering of Leadership Education at Duke University. Celestin spoke on ALARM’s leadership training and the leadership issues that are unique to Africa. Read Celestin’s interesting interview and watch a short video at the following link on the Faith & Leadership’s website called “Raising up Hope”.

www.faithandleadership.com/multimedia/celestin-musekura-raising-hope

Emerging Leaders Conference in Ilmamen, Kenya

ALARM-Kenya recently organized a 5 day leadership conference for 57 youth. The Ilmamen Emerging Leaders Conference was facilitated by ALARM-Kenya staff in collaboration with seven members from the First Baptist Church of Richardson, Texas. This was the second time for youth in the area to receive such training. Ilmamen is situated in Kajiado district. It is a region of Kenya that is often hit by severe drought and famine. Many of the people living in this area belong to the nomadic Maasai tribe. This conference attracted participants from four different tribes and 6 different denominations. Participants represented the following leadership roles: youth committee officials, deacons, pastors, pastor’s wives, church matrons, Sunday school teachers and youth members.

At the end of the conference participants said they felt the material taught was very relevant to their respective situations.

ALARM’s Pader Technical Center

When a child is abducted in the United States the police are mobilized, an Amber Alert is issued, the media is alerted and all available resources are put into motion to try and find the missing child and capture the abductors. In another part of the world, in the northern districts of Uganda (Pader, Kitgum, Lamwo) it is estimated that approximately 30,000 children have been abducted. The ‘recruitment’ of child soldiers during night raids, was the primary tactic used by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to increase numbers within its army ranks between 1986 and 2006. With very little help or protection from the Ugandan government, the people of northern Uganda were forced to try and fend for themselves. Almost every family across this region has either lost a child as a result of LRA abductions, or has witnessed villages destroyed and family members brutally killed due to the heinous activities of rogue rebel groups.

In 2002 the national census estimated the population of Pader District at approximately 325,900 people.

IWE Music Outreach

ALARM’s Institute for Women of Excellence (IWE) is situated in Rwamagana, Rwanda. The school has over 100 students, most of whom are orphans due to genocide and HIV/AIDS. Some of the young women in this school have established choir groups that are dedicated to spreading the Word of God and the message of peacebuilding. Currently there are three choir groups at IWE: Come to Jesus Choir; Worship Team Choir, and Angels Choir. The establishment of these choir groups has allowed the young women at IWE to develop a robust outreach program to other schools in the region. The choir groups have also been invited to perform at several neighboring churches such as Sibagire Baptist Church, Baptist Association Church, Anglican Church, Seventh Day Adventist Church, and the Pentecostal Church.

Women Help Women & Pastors Are Trained

There is a group of 15 industrious women in Kigali, Rwanda, who are part of ALARM’s micro-finance program. These women came together as a group in 2007 and have been growing their individual businesses through the help of micro finance loans from ALARM. Initially the loan amounts were as small as $25 or $50 and now some of the ladies are receiving loans of $100 or $400. Eighty percent of the loans are paid back in-full, and in a timely manner. The loans that are not paid back in time are often due to the recipients falling ill. In deed, during one of the recent regular follow-up sessions, ALARM-Rwanda staff found that two of the ladies in the group were unable to repay loans on time due to illness.
During a recent visit by Mrs. Alivera Nyirampirwa, ALARM-Rwanda’s Women & Children’s Ministry Coordinator, 13 members of this group announced that they had collectively raised approximately $400 to buy a dairy cow for one of their members who has been sick for a very long time. This is a huge accomplishment and ALARM-Rwanda gives God all the glory for meeting this need.