Welcome to my blog

Hi Everyone. Here it is... my blog! Don't know how often I will be updating it, but at least I'm doing something new.



I have just returned from a 4 day meeting with AIM people who are working either with children or in AIDS ministries. We do these meetings together because there is so much overlap between the two ministries. There were 26 of us and we met in Nakuru, Kenya, because there is a good partnership there between local Africa Inland Churches and Wheaton Bible Church. I wanted to highlight for people the positives and negatives of working with Western churches. It was inspiring to see the local church leadership really working hard to help children and adults affected by AIDS. We highlighted the issue by visiting a project called "Hope for Life'' where children and fed and sent to school, youth are trained in various skills, caregivers are encouraged and helped with microfinance schemes, and people affected by AIDS are given counseling and helped through home-based care groups. It was great to see the things like clothes and jewelry that the people are making and to see the children sing and recited poems for us.



To help us understand more about AIDS, one of our doctors from Kijabe gave a great presentation about how ARVs work, how mother-to-child transmission can be reduced, and how children infected with AIDS can be cared for. It was some amazing information.



We also had sessions on writing Vision and Strategy Papers and Memoranda of Understanding, two things the mission is wanting from every ministry. We also delved into the issues of short-term liability and child safety policies... topics that aren't much fun but very important. I was exhausted after the meetings were over, but very glad to get everyone together. It seemed people enjoyed the time together and got a lot out of the sessions.