500 Kenyans Receive Medical Services in Two Day “Medical Camp

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MJ Finken and Harold Johnson returned July18 after ten days spent in Kenya for matters pertaining to the activity and management of our mission partnership with the Presbyteries of Nairobi.  Newton-Nairobi Partnership Team member Darlene Tapie preceded us and has remained behind for an additional five weeks of promoting her prayer shawl ministry.

July 10-11, Kasasule Health Centre located among the villages outside the rural Town of Kibwezi staged a medical camp with 11 Kikuyu Hospital (Presbyterian) medical staff employees and several Tunza Family Pl/anning volunteers supporting the five members of KHC’s staff.  Almost 500 local residents were provided evaluative services through cancer screening, eye clinic, orthopedic treatment and family and reproduction counsel.  An evaluative report from the Kasasule Management Committee on the two days and some of MJ’s photos are attached.

Three Newton volunteer recruits who planned to participate in the July event had to postpone their trip until Jan-Feb 2019, when the next “medicamp” will be scheduled.  Therefore, time remains for others to plan joining them.

2018 funding for the KHC is being shared 50/50, with the three Nairobi Presbyteries each contributing $13,600 to match Newton-Nairobi Partnership Team’s reserve fund. The NNPT reserve fund is now depleted.

The Nairobi Partnership Board, realizing the need and benefits to be gained, is resolved to not allow the KHC to fail for lack of funds, as are we of the Newton-Nairobi Partnership Team.  Our recent May events have stirred interest within some of the congregations of  the presbytery, and NNPT efforts are underway for sharing the ministry with congregations, with initial results most encouraging.

Your gifts would be greatly appreciated. You can make a financial gift at www. highlandspresbyterynj.org    or send a check to Presbytery of Newton (390 Rte 10 W., Randolph, NJ   07869) marking the memo: “Nairobi Partnership KHC.”

Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to serve Jesus Christ through our Nairobi Partnership.

Kenyan Connection Rewards Women Beyond Expectations

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Little did the Presbyterian Women of Long Valley Presbyterian Church realize in 2000, when they committed themselves to four years of financial support for a young Kenyan girl’s secondary school education, that they would be rewarded beyond good feelings of having acted charitably.  But in May, 2018, when the object of their financial support came to visit among them, they experienced rewards  beyond their imagining 18 years prior.

The women of LVPC welcomed Rachel Nyambura into their midst as she was enabled to come to Newton Presbytery to be a participant in the celebration of 25+ years of Newton Presbytery’s partnership with Kenyan Presbyterians.  With Rachel’s presence among them for three weeks, they deepened a true relationship between themselves that has buoyed their spirits and cemented a lifetime bond as mothers and daughter.

The LVPC PW’s experience is one more example of the rewarding nature that engagement in the Newton-Nairobi Partnership has brought to those who have interacted with Christians of another land and culture who are truly sisters and brothers in Christ, extended family members waiting to be discovered and enjoyed for the enrichment of your life and spirit.

You can read the personal and intimate reflections of Sally Strusz and Carol Procter, PW principals at LVPC, as well as Rachel’s by clicking here

A Ministry of Comfort for the Grieving

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If you knit or crochet and participate in a Prayer Shawl Ministry, you can spread the graces of this specialized ministry internationally. Your modest contribution can support the mission of Ruling Elder Darlene Tapie of the First Presbyterian Church of Blairstown who launched this ministry internationally.  It has expanded in the past four years by her services offered within the Newton-Nairobi Partnership.

Visiting our Kenyan mission partners initially in 2015, Darlene introduced Women Guild groups of several congregations to the concept of Prayer Shawl Ministry, which has provided her and thousands of U.S. women a channel for contributing the skill of their hands to the healing of broken hearts and spirits. Hearing Kenyans’ expressed desire to learn more and develop greater skills in knitting and crocheting, Darlene returned self-funded in 2017, introducing more congregations in Nairobi, women in rural Kibwezi, and even some young boys to learning the skills and launching their own Prayer Shawl Ministries and she is returning in July-August, 2018, her travel being funded this trip by an “angel.”

 

Darlene presents a shawl to Mrs. Fridah Mugambi, recovering from illness, at a Women Guild meeting in Chogoria, Kenya, June 2017.

The ministry’s goal is to provide an encouraging support network of prayer for persons and households dealing with serious illness, grief or other prolonged challenges to the human spirit, with the suffering person(s) presented a knitted/crocheted shawl created by a group of women who assure the recipient(s) they will be remembering them daily in prayer. When a Prayer Shawl is given to someone it is an absolute GIFT without anything required from the recipient – no money, no requirement to come to church, no further contact unless the recipient initiates it.

It costs about KSh 1000 ($10) to purchase needles and yarn in Kenya for supplying each individual with the materials needed to begin learning and producing her/his first piece. Darlene would welcome your contribution to assist Kenyan women to make the purchase of materials more manageable for those with minimal income. On the home page of Newton Presbytery’s website, click the “Online Giving” button to make your contribution.

Get those needles clicking and clacking!