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Women of Faith Group Report

“On behalf of the Women of Faith Self-Help Group, we greet you in the name of Jesus Christ our personal savior. We thank the Almighty God for the precious opportunity of meeting our visitors. The church, under which we operate was funded by Bishop Gabriel Otino Omollo in 1986. We have other branches in Kariobangi, Dandora, Kitengela, Kahawa and Kibera. Women of Faith was started in 2000. We are serving the Lord together with others from other denominations. We opened doors to other ladies from the slums and other churches.
We then later on formed a merry-go-round to assist each other in uplifting our living standards which was much below poverty level. We therefore engaged in small businesses. We registered in June 2007 so that we can hold formal meetings. In the same year (August) we met Carol Makanda of ALARM (Coordinator, Women & Children’s Ministry), whom we knew through Mrs. Bishop.
Carol and Emily Chengo (ALARM’s Africa Director) visited us and saw what we were doing. They introduced us to ALARM and arranged for a business training which was done by Fidelis Karanja (ALARM Volunteer Microfinance Coordinator).

Mt. Elgon Peacebuilding Follow-up Conference

Eleven months ago ALARM-Kenya organized a Peace Building conference entitled “Healing the Wounds of Mt. Elgon: One Person at a Time.” The conference targeted 100 pastors from the Mt. Elgon region that has been suffering from the effects of conflict for years. The civilian population of Mt. Elgon has been trapped in violent conflict between the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF), a militia group that took up arms against Kenyan authorities over what they considered an unfair land allocation scheme. Thousands of people living across Mt. Elgon have suffered mutilation, loss of home, property, and life. ALARM targeted this area because of all the atrocities these people have had to endure.

Thank God for Two Great Events!

This past September ALARM organized two ground breaking events … one was a Celebration Dinner the other a Golf Tournament. God graced both events and blessed us in a mighty way.

The ALARM Celebration Dinner was phenomenal! The tables were adorned with brightly colored Rwandan peace baskets, the garden overflowed with bursts of red and yellow flowers, the guests glowed with anticipation and the program moved most of us to tears. The theme of the dinner was ‘A Changing Africa’.
How wonderful it was to see so many old friends and make so many new ones too. God answered our prayers by allowing Emily Chengo, ALARM’s Africa Director, to travel to the US for this grand occasion. Her powerful stories depicting current projects on the ground helped everyone understand the urgent situation in Sudan, the unmet needs in Congo, the prayer requests for Kenya and the constant need for people to walk alongside ALARM staff in order to serve the most vulnerable.

Celestin is on to Rwanda, Congo

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your prayers. This evening (Tuesday), we concluded the Church Leaders conference in Bujumbura. Thank you for praying for us.

Celestin with Burundian pastors

David and Marilynn Chadwick ministered alongside us and we truly had wonderful time together and they deeply impacted the Church Leaders of Burundi. It was a wonderful time to serve with both of them.

They leave early in the morning on Wednesday for the States and I will be leaving in the Afternoon for Kigali, Rwanda.

Burundian Church leaders praying for David and Marilynn Chadwick, their children, and Forest Hill Church at the end of the training. It was a bitter-sweet moment of saying bye for now. They Church leaders sang “Till We Meet Again, God be with you.”

I am very tired tonight but I am very satisfied with what the Lord accomplished in us and through us this last 11 days that I have spent in Burundi. It was again a great joy for me to serve with our wonderful Burundi team.

Sunday in Burundi

We are doing well in Bujumbura. Today (Sunday) was a busy day but a great day.

We started the day with a meeting with the President of Burundi at his palace. Deogratias (ALARM Burundi Director), David and Marilynn Chadwick (the pastors at Forest Hill Church, our partner in Charlotte, NC) and I met the President for 30 minutes. He shared his heart and vision for the nation with us. It was a moving time together and we prayed together and left for the next assignment.

From the Presidential palace, we proceeded to the Christian Police Officers Training where David and I taught on Servant Leadership to a room full of officers and some members of their families. The ALARM Forgiven group led the worship in the celebration of the 4th anniversary since the Christian Police Association of Burundi was officially registered as an independent ministry among the police and army forces of Burundi.