Newsletter for February 2017
We want to share with you how the year has got off to a good start in REAP. As we pick up work in 2017 we look forward to a year of taking our teaching forward, and reaching out to new people and new areas, and want to share some of what we have done already. It has been very dry over much of Kenya this year, but in western Kenya we have been blessed with some rain even out of season. We have realised that one important factor in our teaching is the need to include crops that will benefit from rain whenever it falls. In the picture Samuel Ouma is getting ready for the rains preparing a variety of plants in the nursery.
Natural Medicine Workshop in Butere
The first two days of February found us in Butere in western Kenya for a two day workshop with about 26 participants all of whom are active in Natural Medicines. Most had attended a previous training seminar. It was a time of sharing together and learning from each other, and a significant amount of time was given to learning how people had used and built on their training. A strong list of successes and challenges was produced as well as specific questions.
There was also some new teaching including Keith Lindsey presenting on Non Communicable Diseases, also known as Lifestyle Diseases. This led to talk about healthy lifestyles and challenges of the modern world. More and more our teaching focuses on how to keep healthy, motivating people from the Bible.
We went through many of the specific questions raised with responses coming from both the participants and the facilitators, depending on the topic.
It was a very valuable time of mutual learning.
One of the questions related to how Natural Medicine teaching fitted with Biblical teaching. This gave an opportunity to share some of what the Bible says in relation to the wonder of God’s creation as well as to challenge participants to read the Bible in such a way as to learn new things.
Roger shared ways of managing HIV and the wonders of Frangi Pani in helping alleviate the symptoms of Shingles.
Extending teaching on Creation Care
We have started the year in trying to reach out to different churches and challenge them in relation to Creation Care and the Gospel. We have had some useful meetings with significant people in some of the main churches in Nairobi and the Kisumu area. Ed Brown who is one of the movers on the Lausanne Creation Care movement was visiting Nairobi, so we were able to organise a get together one evening with some church and government representatives. The meeting was designed to open the eyes of church folks to our Biblical call to care for creation, and also to open the eyes of some government folks to the potential of the church in motivating for change. Ed Brown gave the Keynote speech.
The REAP Centre in Kajulu is developing into a Visitors’ Centre
The REAP team based in Kisumu have been working hard at the REAP garden in Kajulu, developing it into a Visitors’ Centre where, as well as trying new things, modelling what we teach and producing planting materials, we can teach visitors. The building is a good meeting place, and the garden has been streamlined so that visitors can move round and the team can point out the main teaching points.
In the middle of February we had two groups visiting and learning from the team. Domitilla has incorporated all our teaching on kitchens into the mud kitchen, and also produced tea and food for the visitors from there. The garden is full of different teaching points, both relating to medicinal plants and sustainable agricultural practices. Whenever we have visitors they are always challenged by the wonder of God’s creation.
Thank you for your support
We are very grateful for all the support that we receive. We could not achieve what we have without this support. We are however facing a deficit, and want to reach out more and with extra support we could reach many more people with our teaching. We have much teaching ready to share but need more resources to get it out to more people.
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