A vision of hope

Greetings from Nairobi, Kenya, where our small team of Rev Jonny, Linda and myself are on an 11 day partner visit with the Tujisaidie community in Kayole, to build and strengthen our partnership links with the community, the United Parish of Ballyclare and St Mark's Dundela.

On Saturday we walked with Antony Njoroge through busy streets, passed small traders selling vegetables and secondhand clothes, passed goats and cattle roaming freely, to Soweto, the local area where the community has been working to improve its situation for more than 30 years. Antony brought us to the Tumaini African Fellowship Centre of Excellence, where his team have gradually built a centre to provide a variety of ministries:-

Community Welfare, including the More Than Just a Meal programme every Saturday;
The Academic Department, which supports all areas of a child’s learning, providing a library of textbooks and reading books, space, time and electric light for homework and special mentoring for girls;
The Teens Department, providing one-to-one support to teenagers and a weekly prayer meeting;
The Sports Department, which mentors through football, with the discipline of regular training and competition with other local teams.

The building is still under construction and will house an IT room and a well-being office in due course. Everything is planned with sustainability in mind, progressing as resources allow, and even planting trees to combat climate change.

Leading by example, Antony and his colleagues Charles, Zack and Sheila have a vision to show children a range of opportunities that life can offer them, despite the challenging conditions they live in at home. And this vision is bearing fruit, as they see individual lives impacted by the provision of meals, improved school performance and footballers being able to attend university through sports scholarships.

This Saturday morning, as every week, a large team of teenage volunteers worked together to cook rice and lentils in the massive ‘sufuria’ cooking pot, while 300 or more children gathered gradually outside with their small containers and bowls. We were impacted by the huge need, and as we helped the team to serve this vital meal, we found ourselves praying over the pot, that God would continue to provide enough for their needs - and indeed every child did, by His grace, receive something to eat.

We began the day in prayer that we would be Jesus’ hands and feet, his eyes and ears, and to speak his words. When we returned to our hotel we reflected on where we had walked and helped, what we had seen and heard. We found ourselves almost overwhelmed by the scale of need we had witnessed, but also full of thanksgiving for the vision that Antony has in his community, a vision of hope.

We are excited to learn more and hear stories in the coming days.

For now, please pray with us :-

That God will provide the resources that Antony needs to fulfil his vision;
Give thanks for the team that help him, and that they will be nurtured and developed.