Mar 23, 2010

In the meantime, the friends here are already planning the May Gathering. Details will be following in as we progress

It’s amazing to know how the vision is growing in the hearts and minds of friends in the region. It’s our own working or efforts. Sometimes it can be frustrating because one can’t lay hands practically on what is happening invisibly. But God Himself is working things in amazing way. We keep the faith and hoping to see God use each one of us to make the difference in the Jesus Way wherever you.
Report by Allan Shepherd,
Associate Regional coordinator

UPDATES


Nairobi.
I was up here for a couple of days. It is always a pleasure to connect with our friends in Kenya. The AYLF family has shown greater signs of growth and commitment to the vision. You feel the relationships meaningfully amongst the friends here. The core group meets every Saturday.

However, this time in the meeting I attended they was discussion to develop another meeting for those who off campus meanwhile empowering the Nairobi University campus ~ Box group as its known there to grow and attract more members other than the old members. This has comes as a new strategy to develop and mentor more coordinators and reaching out to on present on campus student leaders. Together with Gabriel, Opati, Jennifer and I meet the proposed friends to spearhead the Box group to keep meeting. This will still be under the watchful eye of the core group.

Dar-es-Salaam.
It was my second time in Dar to consolidate the core group and campus initiatives here. The core group has grown to be able to stand and support a prayer breakfast meeting initiatives Peter and the friends are conducting every two weeks at Medittereneo Hotel. It was also good to do a follow up on Linda Simon Paulo, Jennifer Charles and Victor. Linda and Jennifer also attended the 2009 October gathering in Kampala. Victor is our Kenyan friend down in Dar. Being the guys at the youth mentoring home for Cornerstone Development was wonderful too. The guys will be in the home which is in the new location until up to May when they finish University. Sooner than later the home is shifting to Arusha. The guys told me that they will miss the family atmosphere the home has always provided. However, I encouraged them to think of renting together (staying together) as away of saving cost, and supporting each other.

Iringa~Tumaini University
This is a city in the South Eastern part of TZ. Peter and I travel there to connect with Leah R. Mlay. Leah attended the 2009 October AYLF Gathering. She attended university at Tumaini University in Iringa. She has been retained as a tutor. Her close relationship with administrators was a huge opportunity. Through her we were able to meet university administrators and a full student leaders’ guild team. Peter and I spoke to the student leaders in a group. We further had discussions with small groups of students. It was a wonderful experience for Peter and I. We were able to realize how some of the friends we are making are more than willing to do something with this vision. Mean while, we met students from Zimbabwe who expressed interest in connecting with this vision to see it happens in their country.

UPDATES




As the vision grows in the hearts and minds of all our partners, there is need for us to support their various involvements in the region. In this report, I will share with you my trip to Tanzania and partly Kenya which was intended to support Peter’s and friends’ networks at AYLF in Eastern African. There is need to support Core groups to grow in other cities other than Dar-es-Salaam ~ and for starters the focus is on Arusha, and also support small group initiatives of our friends in universities in the region.

Arusha
While in Arusha on the 26th, we met with our friend Matthias~ working with Compassion International. He had started a small group in 2008-2009. It hasn’t been meeting for sometime now, but we are eager to support his initiatives of reviving it. We hope that this core group will support this other campus groups in Arusha ~ at Tumaini University where we have friends. There other friends who are working with Cornerstone Development~real core partner in this vision in Arusha. We hope together we can make a support team for each other in this city.

Dodoma University.
We travelled to Dodoma, the administrative and Capital city of Tanzania. We have made friends at Dodoma University ~ Zak Lukumayo and Evelyn Rutazaha. Evelyn attended our October 2009 Gathering in Kampala and Zak has been a holiday friend to the Cornerstone Youth Mentoring house in Dar-es-Salaam. It was a pleasure for Peter and I visit them. We held meetings with groups of student with whom we shared the AYLF vision and philosophy. So, it’s a pleasure for us to support their steps to start a small group in Dodoma University.



kampala small group

kampala small group
At Allan's and Josephats home