ELI Small-business Training

~ by Dan Perrine, ELI USA Staff, visiting Kenya

Twenty young adults were honored on July 4th as the first graduating class of Empowering Lives International’s Dynamic Business Start-up Project (DBSP) conducted at the Kipkaren River Training and Development Center.


DBSP was developed by Chris Black in South Africa as a way to empower young Africans living in poverty conditions with business development and management skills to start their own businesses and to sustain them for long-term economic benefit. ELI staff member Wendy Ludovici started DBSP training as part of her work in Nairobi.


A unique aspect of DBSP over other micro-enterprise development programs is the emphasis on God’s power in the trainee’s personal lives as well as in their businesses. To date, over 4,000 South Africans have been trained by DBSP certified trainers and now the program has come to the Eldoret area of Kenya through a partnership with ELI.


The 20 students participated in an intensive 30 days of classroom work where half the time was given to the discussion of theory and the other half to actual application in the community. Starting with their own 500 shillings ($8.06), small teams of students developed practical businesses that turned in profits at the end of the 30 days ranging from $33 to $114.

Nothing motivates like success. These young people now have both the skills and the confidence to return to their homes and start small businesses that will empower both their own families and their communities.

ELI Staff Update: Jane Kiptoo

You may know one of our ELI Kenya staff members named Jane Kiptoo. Jane is married to Bernard Kiptoo, who is the nurse in charge at the Chebaiywa clinic (our local health clinic). They have been married for four years and have one daughter, Mercy Jepkemboi.

Jane was raised and went to elementary and high school in the Chebaiywa community. After completing high school, she spent one year taking care of Joshua Rogers, Don and Amy Rogers firstborn son. Joshua loved his "Auntie Jane" as she took great care of him. She then went to Kericho to study for one year to become a nurse aide. After completing the course, she returned to her community of Chebaiywa when the clinic was just beginning.

In October 2001, Jane obtained a job at the Chebaiwya clinic as a nurse aide. She has worked very diligently for 6 years at the clinic doing a variety of jobs and having a variety of responsiblities. In 2006, Jane was able to attend a one month training to become a VCT counselor (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) and is now trained to counsel and test individuals for HIV.

Jane is an excellent counselor, incredible servant, and a loving mother and wife. She is soft spoken, but also loves to share and laugh together with friends. Jane's desire is to see the clinic fully equipped so they can assist all people.

Since the Kenyan government did away with the role of nurse aide in clinics, Jane had a desire to further her studies to become a nurse. Her prayer in 2005 was "that God will open the door for me to complete my nursing school so I will be recognized by the government." Over the last three years, she applied to several nursing schools and continued to have faith in God that He would answer. In September 2007, she was called for an interview at Pentecostal Church of East Africa (PCEA) Tumutumu Hospital School of Nursing (which is near Nairobi, about 6 hours from home). More than 100 people interviewed for 30 positions, and in October, she received a letter saying that she was one of the 30 who were chosen. We are all grateful to God for this answer to her prayer.

During the post-election violence, we were all concerned wondering whether or not she would be able to attend the school as it is located in an area of a different tribe and traveling the roads to get there was unsafe. However, after much prayer and consultation with the school, she and Kiptoo (her husband) felt that things were okay and they traveled to the school on February 18.

The ELI staff and clinic committee gathered at David's house the Friday evening before Jane's departure for a small party to say goodbye to Jane and pray for her. It was a wonderful time of fellowship as we sent Jane off with God's blessings. We would like to share Jane's prayer requests with you and ask you to lift her and her family up in prayer for the following:

1. Safe travels to school (her husband, Kiptoo, is escorting her so also pray for safe travels as he comes back home). (They traveled to and fro without any incidents.)
2. Peace of heart and mind as she begins school while leaving her daughter, Mercy, and her husband back at home.
3. Good friends at school.
4. Commitment and dedication to her studies.

Jane is taking a Diploma course for Kenya Registered Community Health Nurse which will take 3 1/2 years. She will complete the course in July 2011. We will all greatly miss her as she has been such a vital staff member assisting in all areas. She is responsible, dedicated and committed to serving the community. She is also a gifted teacher and has greatly helped me in training our Traditional Birth Attendants. Jane and her family as well as us appreciate your prayer for Jane and her family.

Blessings,
Allison

Celebrate!

When the 33 graduates entered the packed hall, singing, you couldn’t help but get goose bumps. These are lives that have been transformed. Young men and women who are ready to go and impact their communities with the skills they had acquired during the past year at Kipkaren.

Click here to see photos of the event.

Our biggest graduating class this far consisted of young men and women who had been selected from hundreds. One of them made a speech, reiterating how they will now go forth, armed with skills and knowledge to do organic farming, but even more, to serve God.

Mrs Kirwa, the guest of honor, announced that the Agricultural Development Council will employ one of the group. “But don’t be discouraged if you are not the one,” she explained. “You go and implement what you have learned. Even I am using some skills I picked up from this center. Here, I learned about compost and worm beds, and in my small garden in Nairobi, I am using what I have learned here in order to grow better vegetables.”

Around 500 guests showed up for the celebration. They didn’t even seem to mind the afternoon downpour. Like the gift of education, the rains, too, are a blessing for which they thank God.

As these young men and women set out to seek employment or to go and work the land of their families, please continue to pray for them to remain strong and to serve God with unfaltering devotion.

What are your fears related to HIV?

What are your fears related to HIV?

This is the question asked to open a three-day training on what it means to be a caregiver. After an hour of people sharing their responses, the room grows quiet. The realities of HIV, the fears surrounding it are realized.

Then a second question is posed: Is there hope? Once again, silence fills the room. It is a sobering moment; but I have seen it again and again, with fears identified, they lose their power. Space for hope to rise is given. Now, we can begin the training.

This week, 23 trainees have traveled from their homes, from various churches in surrounding villages. These individuals may not know the horrifying statistic that says in Sub-Saharan Africa alone, 25 million people are infected with the virus that causes AIDS. But they know their neighbor who keeps being diagnosed with malaria but never recovers. They have attended the burial of their brother and then their sister-in-law. They now have four more children to feed. To these, HIV is not a statistic. It is a nightmare.

Over the past two and a half years, ELI’s Tumaini na Afya (Hope & Health), have trained nearly 300 people the art of caregiving by increasing their knowledge surrounding HIV, proper nutrition, the importance of HIV testing, how to connect the sick with testing and then treatment. For all who are willing, the opportunity for them to learn their HIV status is provided. The last day of the course has been termed “Loving Day” provides the trainees practical experience. They go with members of our team to visit clients within our community. They go to encourage, to assist. They practice what they have learned with the goal that they will take this to their communities.

As I was teaching this morning, I was convinced again: There is hope. There is hope, because there is a God who has not, who cannot, forget his children. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we are called to be His hands, His feet. The need is great. The opportunities are limitless.

~ Juli McGowan
ELI Family Nurse Practitioner