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Report: March 2010 / August 2009
Short Report of Nairobi´s Correctors Seminar – March 2010 (Mbaghati)
By Wim Hoddenbagh
Before the corrector´s seminar started, there was a meeting of the board of the Emmaus Bible School Nairobi and the East African Director of the Emmaus School for Correspondence Wim Hoddenbagh. During this meeting an agreement was achieved between both “parties”: Goals were set and plans were made for the coming year.
For practical reasons the work of Emmaus Kenya has been split up into two divisions:
(1) Western-Kenya and (2) Nairobi plus Eastern-Kenya.
The national coordinator Lazarus Kisau is responsible for the whole country whereas Paul Adoo, the regional coordinator (living in Rongo), is responsible for the western part. Practically the national coordinator´s concern is the work in Nairobi and the eastern part of the country. Both the national and the regional coordinator are being assisted by prison workers. Their task it is to visit the prisons, to teach the chaplains in the prisons how to use the courses etc.
After this meeting the correctors were invited to a seminar, where two topics were being taught: (1) The letter to the Colossians and (2) Unity. Besides those themes we also shared experiences concerning the Emmaus work. We had a very good time together at a wonderful place: DIGUNA centre at Mbagathi next to the Nairobi National Wildparc.
Report of Nairobi Corrector´s Seminar - August 2009
By Otieno Peterson
Dear Brother Wim,
greetings to you and thank you for your continued prayers and love for this work, the correctors seminar went on very well and the attendance was good, the report that brother Peter Rumber sent to you has given you all that was done.
Mr.James Gillett passed by on his way to Zambia from Nigeria and was able to be with us at Diguna on the 3rd of this month which was the first day of the meeting, he was able to give ministry and also share with us a bout the work in Nigeria
Diguna is a very nice place for meetings, and all were happy to be there the people there are so nice and kind the services are done perfect. Sleeping places and food was good and well prepared. While there we managed to meet with mr. Martin we had a very good talk and we came to the point that we plan and arrange to work in partinership with them, they say that every month they go out for outreach to various places for evangelism though it takes time for them to visit the same places they go to. Because of this we came to realize that we might not get better results giving them the courses for them to distribute for us. Therefore we came to the point that we have to arrange with them and allow one of us from Emmaus to join with them as they go out to the places they visit and introduce the Emmaus courses to the people from the churches and schools they go into. Then we get the contacts of the people we talk to give the courses and correspond with them through the post office as they study with us. We proposed to them that we give it a try in the month of october this year Dv, and see how it goes. I informed them of the courses coming through them and said to call us as soon as the courses come in from Germany.
By Peter Rumbe
We had a great and wonderful seminar at Diguna.This was very exciting! We arrived at Diguna on Sunday 2nd evening and we came out today Wednesday Morning. We really missed you so much! There were 25 correctors present, 5 Emmaus Staff-Peterson, Peter, Esther, Lazarus and Esron and also our brother Jim Gillet who was on transit to Zambia attended the Monday session only. Some of the correctors were unable to attend due to the current harsh famine situation that has made life very difficult.However, they did send in their apo logies.
The correctors were very happy and could not hide the joy they had. Each of them had the opportunity to give his/her testimony and share about the work in the field and the challenges they are facing in the course of discharging their duties as correctors. They also had the opportunity to pray together, have warm fellowship with each other and build themselves in the Word of God. Special sessions were set aside to pray for the work and those involved in this great ministry at the international office in Germany.
We were greatly challenged and encouraged indeed to hear the reports from the correctors on how God is using them to introduce more new students to the Emmaus courses and also producing other correctors. It was just amazing to see that one of the correctors had produced another corrector who in turn produced a third corrector in the same region and all these three were present in the seminar. Each has an average of 50 students and so we speak of 150 students just from these three brothers in the same region. This shows how fast the work is spreading! We were able to establish that out of the 40 corrector centers countrywide, there are now 1,422 students studying the Emmaus courses on daily basis. This is something worth praising God for as we never expected there would be such a huge growth of number of students.
However, the major challenges highlighted by the correctors are illiteracy, poverty and the current famine and drought affecting the country. These factors have in someway hampered their work in their respective regions. Some people have the desire to study but can not read and understand English well and would wish to study in Swahili language which they can understand easily. Some are very poor and can not even afford the shs.30 per course and this situation has been made worse by the current severe famine and drought. A student would have to make a choice between buying a course and buying food and water for the family and this is currently leading to some students becoming ineffective in their studies with others opting to drop out or stop for sometime. These students do not drop out of their studies or just stop because they like but the current famine situation is forcing them to take this option but they are eagerly willing to study and go on with the courses. It is just that they can not meet both-buying a course and buying food and water at the same time. Let us pray that God will send rain and this will change the current situation as people will get water and food from their farms and so will have some money to continue with their courses.
The students who have completed the courses in the Second Division have expressed an interest to proceed to the Third Division. However; we do not have the courses in Third Division. We used to get them from USA but we can no longer afford them as the costs are very high. And so this is a prayer concern.
Otherwise the seminar was extremely good. We ate and slept well and we really thank God for Diguna people for their good care, hospitality and warm reception. We are also extremely grateful for your prayers and support and we thank God for all those dear brothers and sisters who graciously gave their gifts and out of a great sacrifice towards this Emmaus corrector´s seminar. It has been very successful and of much blessing and encouragement and with a renewed vision of how each of us can better play our part in this great ministry for The Lord.
We truly appreciate your continued prayers and support.
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