PROJECTS UPDATES MARCH 2007

EDUCATION
Many children in Kenya enjoy freedom and education opportunities, but many Maasai children continue to face the wrath of poverty and the oppressing Maasai culture and traditions. Maasai Evangelistic Association will not rest until every Maasai child is safe from these painful traditions and receive education for a better future. We have continued to sponsor a number of Maasai children both in Nursery and Primary Schools, College and Vocational Training. Advocating for rights of under aged Maasai girls protecting them from sexual mutilation and forced marriages is our major priority in this project. It is costing us 15 US DOLLARS per month to sponsor a child in both Nursery and Primary Schools and it cost about 50 US Dollars to sponsor a child per month in Secondary and College.

WATER PROJECT
The Naisoya Water Project as some of you may know was drilled and tested last year and it proved to have plenty of water in it. We have received some donations to go into the equipping work of the borehole. We have already bought some equipment but we are unable to transport them to the site due to road damage caused by a lot of rainfall which has been raining for at least five months. The road to Naisoya area where the borehole is located is impassable due to mud and potholes and the bridge has been swept away by floods. We are not able to start the equipment work until the rain stops and the Government have fixed the bridge. We don’t know when this will happen but I will keep you updated. The people in Naisoya who normally use tractors to plough their farms for planting are unable to do so due to the road problem and we are afraid that the crop planting season is just passing and we anticipate a lot of hunger if the rain does not stop for the ploughing work and the planting of crops to follow. The Global warming as we are told by the weather experts will follow after the rains and that is scaring people here.

• Click here to see COSTS
• Cllick here to see more PHOTOS

STREET CHILDREN PROGRAMME
Maasai Evangelism Association has recently started a rehabilitation program targeting the street children in Narok town. We have four groups that we are closely working with and each has got its own location within the town. Every group has got a leader and these children range between 6-19 years old. We started various activities with them e.g. football, car wash in narok river etc.

The feeding program will start next month. There is a need to send some of them to Narok Youth Polytechnic for Vocational Training (Masonry, Carpentry, Tailoring and Dressmaking etc) Pam Cheema a Volunteer from 2 Way Development (a sending volunteer organization) from the United Kingdom is currently working with these street children.

HIV/AIDS PROGRAMME
For about five years now M.E.A have been advocating and creating awareness of HIV/AIDS in Maasai land. We have held a lot of workshops targeting various groups in different areas within the Maasai community. We have currently started the CARE and SUPPORT Program which supports both the infected and affected. There is a group of 46 both men and women who have been living with the virus (infected) and are currently working on how to give them support as many of them are married and have children. Since the beginning of this year we have encouraged and supported 80 people for sensitization on HIV/AIDS issues and 120 have been diagnosed, tested and counseled for HIV/AIDS (PLWHAS) have been enrolled into our care and support program with the above 46 HIV patients have been supported to access ARVs.

MEDICAL SERVICES
I am happy o let you know that the Naisoya Medical Clinic has opened its doors for medical services two months ago. It has been started by the Ministry of Health and is under the Narok District Hospital. The Government have posted a nurse who is working in the Clinic on a full time basis, paid and supervised by the Government. The Government has also supplied medicine to the clinic. Genera routine clinical care for the daily out patients is increasing with approximately 40 patients per day accessing medical services. Prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) coupled with children immunization clinics for under five are been successfully conducted.

BIBLICAL TRAINING
Training Maasai Pastors and Evangelistic in basic Teachings have been our other priority. Many of these Pastors, Evangelists and other Church Leaders lack Biblical Training and thus result to unhealthy churches. For six years now we have been running a mobile Bible Training Course using the Lifestyle Academy Manuals and we have seen a lot of our Pastors graduate with a Diploma in Biblical Studies and Theology.

We have so far trained more than 100 Church leaders and we have seen them using the teachings they have received from this Course both in their churches and in their outreach ministries. We are on a process to change our teaching approach to focus on Missions (missiology) for the sake of training Maasai Native Missionaries who will after training go into the unreached areas of Maasailand to do missions and get involved in Church planting. We are partnering with Bethany School of Missions to start a three month intensive training on missions.

FEEDING PROGRAMME
Maasai Evangelistic Association will also want to see that none of the Maasai children in Kenya will have to go to bed hungry because of their families have nothing to feed them. More than one million people worldwide are chronically hungry. This will mean that every 24 hours 40,000 children die of hunger or hunger related diseases. When most people are confronted with this reality, they feel overwhelmed to a point of not doing anything and they quickly conclude that there is no way to help such a
Rokonka Chritians school feeding programe

big number. Maasai Evangelistic Association believes that saving even one life is worthwhile. Four out of every ten children in Maasai community suffer from hunger and poor nutrition. Half of these children will die of hunger related diseases. Keeping in mind that food is the top priority in our lives, it is sad that thousands of children go hungry every day, not knowing where or when their next meal will be. Many of the children in our Nursery and Primary Schools we support receive only one midday meal which we provide for them each day ( Monday-Friday). Thanks a lot to HARBOUR MINISTRIES which have been a great help in this project.

NAROK ORPHANAGE
Building a children’s home that will be a sanctuary for orphaned children and girls wanting to escape the tribal rituals of sexual mutilation and forced marriages is at the top of our objectives for this year. We will consider to take in orphans children from HIV/AIDS infected families, other orphans whose parents died on other natural causes, street children, disabled children and may be children from very poor, needy and unemployed families. The Narok town Council have given us free of charge a 2 acre plot to put up the orphanage. I personally want to thank GREENISLAND EVANGELISTIC ASSOCIATION in northern Ireland who bought a two house facility which MEA is renting out to generate income to support the orphanage. I also want to thank Jennepher of EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES for her contributions towards the boy’s dormitory in the orphanage. The updates and progress of this project will be send out after the construction starts. We have already identified more than 80 children to start with and we have employed Pastor Benson Rotiken and his wife to manage the whole program.

DISABLED REHABILITATION PROGRAMME
Full participation and integration into society of disabled persons is the ultimate aim of Maasai Evangelistic Association. A disabled person is any person who is unable to ensure by himself or herself wholly or partly the necessities of a normal individual and for social life as a result of deformity in his or her physical or mental capabilities. Rehabilitation is a process in which the combined and coordinated use of medical, social, educational, and vocational measures assist individuals with disability to achieve the highest possible levels of functioning, the providing him or her own life. The problem of disability is far more wide spread than is generally recognized. At least one person out of ten in the population of any country is affected by some kind of disability. The most prevalent forms are physically, visual, hearing and mental impairments based on this estimation, at least 2.5 million people out of Kenya’s total population of about 30 million are handicapped as a result of genetic causes, faulty pre-natal and post natal and post procedures. Deficiencies, accidents, diseases and other factors. However, up to now, there are no accurate figures which explain the number and categories of disabled people in the country.

The general objective of this programme is as follows:-

1. Helping the disabled in their physical spiritual and psychological adjustments to society.
2. Promoting all local efforts to provide disabled persons with proper assistance training, care and guidance, to make available opportunities for suitable work and ensure their full intergration in society.
3. Promoting effective measures for prevention of disability, rehabilitation and realization of the goals of full participation of disabled persons of social life and developed and of equality. Our other main specific objective in this programme is of identifying training and resulting of the handicapped persons in wage and self employment so that they may be economically independent and able to contribute to National Development. The programme covers only disabled persons of working age and children that is, between tree and fourty years of age. The ministry of health undertakes responsibility of medical rehabilitation, while the ministry of education has responsibilities of programmes in special Education. Lastly, our Organization also tries to assist disabled persons to acquire more skills in order to help them create income- generating projects to help them be self-reliance, self supporting and self propagating.
   

SPORTS


Our M.E.A soccer clubs are still going on well and many young people in these clubs have become Christians as a result of our out reach to them through soccer. Pray for more footballs and volleyballs for these teams.

VETERINARY SERVICES

Maasai Evangelistic Association has continued to offer free veterinary services to the maasai livestock and Remote Area Medical (R.A.M) has been a great support in this project. Training on animal health has been done in Naizoya, Oloirakeek and Endoinyio Narasha.. areas of Narok District

Bruce Langlois from U.S.A attending Maasai Cows

I once again thank you friends and supporters of all MEA projects for your kind and overwhelming support because through your encouragement and prayers Maasai Evangelistic Association has been in a position to put a smile and impact a positive difference in the lives of many Maasai.

Your continuing support to any of the above projects will be highly appreciated by the Maasai community.

Thank you

Yours in Christ
Rev. David Ole Kereto
M.E.A EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR