Christian Mission Aid

By Rodah Kioko

My stomach formed a knot as I watched, Okello, weep quietly as he shared about the hardships he has endured since the loss of his mother, earlier last year. The grief struck youth must have been close to his mother, I thought, for he kept referring to her with lots of fondness. “Mother was my anchor; with her alive, I knew most of my needs were taken care of,” he wept. Now a high school student, Okello performs manual labor in people’s homes to raise his school fees.

Just when I thought I had heard the worst of the children’s experiences, 24-year-old Akinyi shyly walked to the front of the small hall, her eyes glassy with tears. “I battled epilepsy for many years in my childhood till I could not settle in school, and had to drop out of school,” she shared her story. In her search for a cure of the neurological disease, Akinyi went to visit her sister who was married in a town some tens of kilometers from her home. It was during her visit that a man, many years older than her, lured her into marriage. The marriage began bumpily, for “my husband beat me constantly from the onset.”

Overwhelmed by emotions, I felt my own eyes tearing. I threw a glance at the 300 plus children seated before me to gauge their emotions, and from their expressions, I could tell that most of them had similarly heartbreaking stories to share. Akinyi continued to share that she managed to leave her husband after only a few weeks of a violent ‘marriage’. Visibly shaken, she remained withdrawn most of the time I interacted with her.

All these disturbing stories were being shared by children and youth at the Ebenezer Christian Center, Rongo, in Nyanza Province, Kenya, where I was one of the facilitators of the Vacation Bible School (VBS) in December last year. CMA usually conducts VBSs at different locations across Kenya and Uganda, during school holidays. My colleague Steve Mwangi of the Children’s Ministry, and I, were able to offer counseling to the children, most of who were heartbroken with one experience or another. Gladly, Okello and Akinyi were among the 87 youth who gave their lives to Christ. The two of them were also among the tens others who received most counseling to heal their emotional wounds. The one thing that I found encouraging was the fact that they were able to sense the peace and hope that accepting Christ in their lives had brought.

CMA’s manager of the Community Leaders Educated Aids Response (CLEAR) project, Deusededit Ojala, fondly known as OJ, gave an in-depth talk on HIV/AIDs to commence the educative, fun-filled and spiritually uplifting week-long meeting. The VBS is a place for many children to find Christ. CMA has realized over time that many youth go to church from Sunday to Sunday, with no real experience of salvation, and that is why we have taken responsibility for their growth in Christ. We are constantly praying for them meet Christ and walk with Him till the end of time. Many young girls in Africa become single mothers at a very early age, and counseling such as the one CMA gives through the CLEAR program helps change their behavior and attitudes and gives them hope.

Join us in praying for the youth in Africa. You can also support our work financially and materially, through the avenues stated in this website. May God bless you.

By James Koang

I was feeling very well prepared physically and spiritually as I voted in Nairobi for the freedom of South Sudan on Sunday 9^th. I have waited and prayed about the referendum for long and I was glad when the date finally reached. I would have loved to vote in my home country, but due to family issues beyond my control, I had to vote here in Nairobi. My people have been in bondage for a very long time. With a God given chance to choose freedom to decide our own destiny, I believe that we cannot make the mistake of voting to maintain status quo. Like the rest of my fellow South Sudanese, I cast my vote to say, “Enough is enough, we can make it standing alone without our brothers and sisters in the North.” By the grace of God, we will soon make a nation.

My work as a pastor and Christian Outreach Officer for Christian Mission Aid (CMA) in South Sudan enables me interact a lot with the people, particularly in Jonglei and Upper Nile States. What I know is that the people of South Sudan want separation from the North. Oppressed and undermined for many years, they feel like foreigners in their own land. The people often ask me how come the Northern part of Sudan is very developed with good infrastructure and a people living in plenty, when the South is so poor. Such questions bring tears into my eyes. Do you believe some of the people in the South have never seen a car in their lives? Most of them want secession so badly; anyone who talks about unity is viewed as an enemy.

I must say that the services CMA is offering the communities in South Sudan has brought a lot of positive change, and built hope in many.  Basic needs such as the love of God, healthcare services, water and sanitation, food production and agriculture, as well as security, are just a few of the things that CMA has made available to the people. Above all else, the one thing that I have seen bringing great change in the lives of the people in the areas where I work is the word of God. I do pray that the voting is concluded early enough to enable us continue spreading the word of God in Sudan.

But even with my vote cast for freedom, I am aware of many possible outcomes of the exercise. However, as a Christian, I am constantly praying that peace prevails, because the worst that can happen in the South is another war. I pray for peace because I want my people to grow. War has retarded them for too long. Whatever the outcome of the referendum, we have to go back to the field to continue with the work of building South Sudan. I know we cannot do it alone. We need the support of all our friends all over the world for the success of our work. And if it is God’s will that we become the world’s newest nation, then we need you, like a child that cannot make it on his own without the support of his parents. With a separated Sudan, I know the workloads of CMA and other development agencies in South Sudan will increase due to the high number of locals who will possibly be returning home. To me that is a much better outcome than war. So, anyone reading this article; please join us in prayer. We will depend on God and you for our growth.

By Angela Chavangi

My skin tingles with excitement as we go collecting Christmas food buckets and gifts for destitute families this year. Already we have seen tremendous support from local companies and International Schools, giving towards these poor families.
Visiting Cavina School this morning, I realized there were wonderful families that did care for the needs of the poor. Children collected food items, toys, clothes and even shoes, to give to needy families. Some buckets were full and overflowing with extra plastic bags with gifts inside. Cavina is not the only school involved, we have Brookhouse, and Breaburn rallying their children to also get involved in this festive season, in remembering families that are needy.

To update you, KAPA Oil Refineries Limited was the first to bring in tracks loaded with food, washing detergent and cooking fat for these families. Their gifts filled the small store in our offices. Christmas is usually when families have family dinners and parties with their friends and loved ones sharing in the good cheer of the gift giving season. However, those that come from extreme poverty do not even have a chance to get a new shoe, or even food to share with their loved ones.

Christian Mission Aid also works with schools that are hosted by local pastors and leaders in the slum areas. These leaders and pastors seek to improve the status of children who drop out of school at a tender age to beg for food in the streets. By giving children food daily, they stay off the streets in to schools to learn.

Slum schools that we work with are very humble. Books for schools are rare and unaffordable and in some cases, teachers are the only ones that may have a textbook or two. Mobile phone service provider, Safaricom, stepped in to CMA’s Christmas Bucket drive, giving the schools text books to enhance the children’s learning process. This will make a remarkable difference in the children’s private studies, especially in terms of homework and assignments.

Also noteworthy of mentioning is Coca-cola Company that donated buckets filled with foodstuff that these families can enjoy during the festive season. The icing on the cake was Top Food (EA) Limited that donated spices and soy drinks to add taste to the foods these families will eat this season.

Not forgetting, we have friends and family thousands of miles away in Canada and the United States of America that have given towards this worthy cause. To you all we say thank you very much.

I cannot wait to see the cheery faces of children and their families as we begin to distributed the buckets in the first week of December. We invite you to join us in bringing joy into the hearts of these families, even if it is merely by reading the joyous stories we will share on our website, and saying a prayer for the families!

By Tabitha Onyinge

Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21)

If you are like me, then you must like to be aware of what you are doing, what results you expect from your input, and how you intend to use the results, and that kind of thinking. You know, being in control, others call it being in charge. This definitely means you must hate uncertainty.

It was with this ‘in charge’ mindset that I set off for a visit to Christian Mission Aid’s projects in Keew and Juaibor, both in Jonglei State, South Sudan, last Wednesday, July 22. A full itinerary in hand and a 24-point list Larry emailed me from his holiday home in North Dakota. He normally does ten points but he must have been mad at me to exceed by a whole 14! Do you ask who Larry is? I’ll tell you more about him in a future post, and I promise it will be a juicy read.

Back to my trip; my itinerary read something like this:

• Fly from Nairobi to Lokichoggio and spend one night there
• Fly to Juaibor and stay there for five nights
• Take the grueling four hour walk to Keew and stay there for another five nights
• Return to Juaibor on foot and spend the remaining four nights there
• Fly to Lokichoggio for one night before returning to Nairobi.

I’ve omitted details of what I was to do in these locations, parts of which were covered in the above-mentioned 24-point list. Anyway, I was set and ready for a trip to the unknown; literally for me.

Our flight from Nairobi to Lokichoggio was uneventful. Come Thursday morning and we; two of us Nairobi residents and the other five, temporary residents of Juaibor and Keew, respectively, were set for the trip to the interiors of South Sudan. The three men and two ladies work among communities in South Sudan, and have experienced all the scary tales you will hear from time to time about the remote region. If it is not tales of marauding crocodiles being washed ashore by heavy down pour, it is of poisonous snakes sliding into bed with you, or scorpions hiding in your shoes, or in your pants.

Our journey to Juaibor was important in that, not only were we carrying tools that CMA staff was to use to repair the only borehole serving thousands of people in the area, but the staff in charge of the repairs was also with us on the safari. Besides that, we had a whole load of foodstuff for the staff on the ground – who were already running out of food supplies. There are no markets or any foods to buy from those locations. All the food, from breakfast cereals and milk, to dessert, has to be flown in from Kenya. Does that give you a picture of how remote these CMA occupied locations are?

As indicated on our tickets, the small aircraft that was to take us to Juaibor and Keew arrived on time. The ground crew busied themselves loading the foodstuff as we underwent the routine airport checks and clearance procedures. As we got ready to board the aircraft, we noticed something odd. The foodstuff that had been loaded on to the aircraft was being off loaded. The pilot had ordered so because he didn’t trust the weather conditions to maneuver a safe landing with “all the foodstuff plus seven passengers.”

We were finally on air after a word of prayer. The pilot was to pass by; Pieri, another remote location in Jonglei State, before finally taking us to Juaibor. The trip from Lokichoggio to Juaibor normally takes two and half hours, but the stopover at Pieri meant we were going to take slightly over three hours on air. Need I emphasize the fact that flying in a small aircraft is nothing close to comfortable? But the breathtaking scenery of expansive South Sudan below, wiped away the discomfort.

We arrived at Pieri as planned, and guess what? Right there in the desert-looking environs was one of our colleagues! He had earlier been flown in from Juba to await our aircraft. To say he was overjoyed when the plane touched the ground would be an understatement. He happily helped refuel the aircraft, a welcome release of the anxiety that had built up in the three hours he had awaited our arrival. Being stranded in any remote location in South Sudan can cause anxiety, but his emanated from the uncertainty that clouded the rest of his journey.

This stop-over gave me a chance to mingle with residents of South Sudan in their home land. Children swarmed us and demanded to be taken pictures. We gladly did. One particular boy, about ten-years-old, his skin slightly lighter than the rest of the children, wouldn’t stop demanding, “Give me my bottle!” from any of us who cared to listen. For a moment I thought one of us had taken his water bottle, but later learnt that that was his way of making a request for the article, a mark of prestige in South Sudan.

Interacting with the people, nay, children of Pieri, (for adults merely stared at us from a distance) made me more eager to meet residents of Juaibor. The next 45 minutes we took on air to Juaibor felt like forever. By this time the sky was thick with rain that was already pouring in most places. Then I saw it. Down on the ground, a beautiful patch of life consisting of green vegetation, well built grass thatched and one or two iron roofed tukuls. We were finally there. The pilot started descending, but with each passing minute, larger raindrops fell. He made the first attempt at landing, but the wind accompanying the building storm was too strong, so he ascended back to the skies. Two more attempts, and he gave up. The ground was now too muddy and the winds stronger. Besides, the rain drops were now falling more rapidly.

At our first landing attempt, I had spotted Mercy, one of CMA’s nurses at Juaibor, running to the airstrip, a small luggage on her back and an

umbrella above her head. As we ascended higher and higher into the sky on our way back to Lokichoggio, Mercy who was meant to board the aircraft out of South Sudan for her rest and recuperation in Nairobi just stood there at the foot of the airstrip. I imagine, tears rolling down her cheeks and getting washed down her feet by the early afternoon heavy downpour… She would remain in Juaibor until the rains stop and the airstrip becomes land-able.

Back in the airplane, Proverbs 16:1 came strongly to my heart. We may make our plans, but GOD has the last word. It is then that I realized that we humans never really have control over anything. Ours is a life of uncertainty, for we never really know for sure what the next minute holds. Only GOD knows.

Hello World.

Welcome to the new look Christian Mission Aid website: www.cmaid.org.

We have loads of new features and content for you to explore.

One of the exciting things to check out is our new Blogspot. There will be interesting and must read stories and pictures posted regularly. Be sure to check it out as often as you’d like to find out about some of the things that are on the minds of the people who work at CMA.

Talking about stories, what better way than putting up pictures that speak 1000 words. A new feature is the Photo Gallery. You will see our programs in action all 4 ministries : Christian Outreach, Children’s Ministry, Aid and Relief and Community Development. We know that everyone loves pictures, so we’ve added lots of them, and even more are coming as we continue to develop and work to help people.

You can also check out our 2 new videos. Both giving you a glimpse of what we do in Christian Mission Aid generally and our program in South Sudan. Check out the links to YouTube and learn more about CMA.

Now, you have an easy way to join the CMA Facebook group, just by clicking on the link on cmaid.org. Make sure you join today! You will also know how CMA works in Africa, the United States and Canada in the Accountability page, and how we maintain our accountability to you, our valued friends and donors. There are also some FAQs that answer questions about the way CMA works. Maybe one of the questions is one you’ve always wondered about.

The “Partners” page now provides links to our valuable partners that we rely upon to help us with our work.

If you or your church or organization looking to come to Africa, either as a missionary, or on a mission trip, or if you just want to find out more about CMA, the “Contact Us” page has links to the people who will be able to answer your questions.

www.cmaid.org now lets our friends in Canada donate securely online to any of our projects that are bringing the word of God and helping improve the lives of the people of Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan.

Check it out! Let us know what you think, spend some time here, and come back often to see what’s new. The new look www.cmaid.org. Just another way that Christian Mission Aid wants to connect with our great friends, all over the world.