Obama Inauguration - We're Praying for You

Hello Friends,

I just want to take a minute of your time to thank you and wish the new president-elect the best of luck in leading your great country.

This election and finally the inauguration has attracted the world's attention and we surely wish u all well. Just a few minutes ago, i got a glimpse of CNN, and was amazed at how many people are bracing the cold to see Obama's inauguration (i guess it was so early there).
This is a new thing and we do hope that your country will prosper again and meet the challenges that are right ahead . Just know that we are praying for you and wishing u all God's Blessings.

We applaud your democracy as we in Kenya failed miserably in this test last year....

God Bless again
Jonah
p.s
Kenyan's are celebrating too. What joy this is!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090120/ap_on_re_as/obama_world_celebrations

President Elect, Barack Obama

hello friends,

we join you folks in the united states in welcoming your next president to the White House. this was indeed a historic election. America has proven again that it is the home of Democracy.

we, here in kenya, Africa have been following this election carefully. we hold a small attachment to OBama himself, whose father came from KOGELO village here in kenya, though he was raised almost in totality in hawaii, by his gracious and most loving grandmother. personally we owe a lot to this woman, who sacrificed a lot for Obama to get to a good school, etc. she is our Hero, though she went to the Lord a day before the elections.

Kenya has been celebrating...and we surely love Obama. we pray that He will rule America, with humility and prosper its people.

Long Live America,
Jonah

Cooking with Jiko Stoves

Editor's Note: This blog entry was originally posted on April 12, 2008 and is being reposted to ensure the widest readership. If you would like to support this Jiko project or any other project described in this blog site (see sidebar), Pastor Jonah would love to hear from you at kericho120@yahoo.com God bless, sister Penny Joy

hello saints,

for the last few days i have met this woman who makes cooking pots or Jiko as we call it here (jiko is swahili for "stove"). this whole item is used for cooking instead of three stones, that most people use. i was really tempted to have this available in every home and am delighted, soon i will start with our own family. i so much wish and pray that this can spread to all the people in the community and my village. if you feel led to give toward this project, please contact me at the email on the sidebar.

Project Cost for making, delivering and installing one Jiko Stove:
Jiko (pot) Ksh.600
Cement 850
Bricks (20) = 300
Transport= 1000
Labor = 1000
Total: 3750 Kenyan Shillings or $61.00 US
Right now in Kenya the US dollar is worth about 58-60 shillings per dollar.

Most forests in Africa have been depleted ....and now the rain has become scarce, as people rely heavily on firewood from the forest. This is about 95% of the people living here in Kenya....as electricity reaches less than 10% of the population. (even me - am not connected..lol).

here in Kenya, only 1 million people have electricity attached to their homes,out of 34 million people. please pray that this firewood saving jiko can reach many homes and save our forest ....it uses less firewood. the experts talk about ...80% saving...on firewood. the jiko stove not only helps to save our depleting forests but is also more healthy for the women who do the cooking (and the children sitting with them) as they do not have to breathe in all the smoke.

have a great day
because He lives
Jonah

Editor's Note: On a pressing matter, I want to advise the readers that due to the inflation caused by political discord, the food prices for average Kenyans have now now tripled. many of the caretaker families and their caretakers are in desperate situations. We ask you to pray and to do what you can to feed even one child as this is good in the eyes of God. May God touch your hearts and bless you so you may be a blessing.

Good news in Kenya

Finally there is good news from Kenya. The politicians have a greed to work together ...we are so excited, everyone is talking about it.....and the economy is expected to pick up again, although we hear there is some kind of recession in the world economy. Nonetheless we are a happy people. atleast everyone is thinking the same way....and that is the country we want to build.

We also give our thanks to you for your prayers ..and not forgetting the former united nations secretary Dr. Koffi Annan, Former president of Tanzania Benjamin Mkapa and Nelson Mandela's wife Graca Machel. They all spent their time seeking peace that was almost going to be elusive for us here in Kenya.

U can get more information from this link from cnn.comhttp://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/04/17/kenya.cabinet/index.html

God Bless
Jonah

Simba The Dog

Hello,

i hope u re doing great in the Lord. i have been involved with a lot of work resulting from the post election violence and the displaced people ...over this past few weeks. our focus right now is encouraging people to go back to their homes and start life again.

as i travel, i take a keen interest, not only in the displaced people but the animals as well. the cows, goats and other animals have largely been taken care of because they provide food for the families, but the dogs and cats are not considered as important at this time.

i met a dog by the name of simba (means 'lion' in swahili). he had a big and deep cut on the face. it was the saddest experience i have ever seen and i felt really bad when i got to see this. simba i suppose was trying to protect the family but ended up almost losing his own life. this to me is an experience that most people have not witnessed in the most faithful animals on earth - dogs and cats. (i will post a story soon about one of the cats i've come across, named Caring, and how she saved some young children from a burning house).

as of now simba is getting better with the help of herbs that are being administered by its caretaker. the horrific experience of animals is another bad result of the post-election chaos we had in kenya. but peace is slowly coming back. continue praying for us.

have a great day
and God bless.

Jonah

Peace at Last in Kenya

hello,

am just sitting here at cybercafe..and i am hearing ODM ... JUU and Raila JUU.

this is the scene happening here..right now, people are wishing each other happy new year.. and it seems it is a start of a new chapter.

the two protagonists finally accepted a power sharing deal between their two parties. Kofi Annan is the man of the moment. he has led the negotiations from the start, and we are really so excited.

The former UN Chief has had dilly dally moments when he was here. sometimes the two negotiating teams could not agree, but he stood his ground, and made Kenya to be a one united Kenya again.

we are happy that this deal has been appended with signatures, but we are sad that it took so long for them to see this.....
a lot of damage has been done already..
about 1500 lives lost, over 350,000 displaced,
what a country this was.... but we call that [violence], an accident. we will start mending the country again.

God Bless
Jonah
read further news from BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7268903.stm
and CNN http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/02/28/kenya.talks/index.html

have a great day
now the massive effort of resettling the displaced and reconciling Kenyans can take place.

Situation Worsens in Kenya

the situation in kenya is getting back again to worse. we were praying that it will be better, but the events we are seeing are turning us back to where we were again.

we thank God for people like kofi annan, who are here on a peace mission and we do hope that both sides will make the necessary but hard sacrifices to see that things are in place.

i am also held here in eldoret, the western part of Kenya after violence erupted again and paralysed travel by road back home to kericho. the youth were reacting to what happened yesterday in naivasha when people from certain communities were attacked and their houses torched down. it was so sad, about 20 -people were also burned to death. it is sad and we just hope that things will get to normal....after justice is done to the flawed and rigged elections we had.....

please continue to pray for us. we have so many displaced people now. more than before. the church is trying to provide food and the Red Cross too is doing a great work. all of us are involved in this and we do hope that we can continue with our work on trauma management here.

when u read this, PLEASE pray for Kenya - that peace may return.
In His grisp

Jonah

p.s
click the bbc news link provided and see the latest news

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7212493.stm

Democracy Under Fire

This week schools re-opened in Kenya for younger children but many schools have yet to open due to lack of teachers and students caused by continuing tensions in the country. Also, some schools are being used to house the displaced.

The following Reuters video shows the new violence that happened today as the first of three days of peaceful Opposition protests went ahead in defiance against rallies.
http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=74547&videoChannel=1

In this environment it is challenging to have business as usual and to care for the orphans and widows here. Since my first post on this blog, the numbers of children in our care has grown from just under 40 children to just over 200 children in and around Kericho village. Please continue to pray for our ability to help the helpless and also for opportunity to do what we can to assist the displaced. If you can support us financially in this work, I would be happy to hear from you. May God bless.

Because He lives,
Pastor Jonah

James 1:27 (New International Version)

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Post - Election Kenya in Pictures & Words

http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?collectionId=1455&galleryName=All%20Collections#a=1

Latest news
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSWAL22103220080113

We covet your prayers for peace and unity in Kenya, for godly wisdom for all the leaders, for food and shelter for the displaced, for our team's efforts to help them, and for our on-going ministry needs to help the orphans and widows of Kericho. May God bless you.

Because he Lives

Helping the Displaced

Hi everyone,

I wanted to briefly let you know of the situation here in Kericho, Kenya (my home city) and the work I have been involved in this week .....feeding the over 30,000 displaced people and offering a hand in helping in other situations caused by the post-election violence here.

We, as the Church in Kenya have challenged ourselves to save the situation because if the Church cannot do this, then who can???!!! Please continue to pray for peace here. We really value your prayers for our country and our people.

I feel so much as I write this report. It is a bit hard to try to explain everything so I encourage you to please read more from the newspapers here.
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=114268

God bless,
Jonah

Aftermath of Kenyan Elections

Note: Presidential elections were held in Kenya on December 27, 2007. Kenya's Electoral Commission declared incumbent President, Mwai Kibaki as the winner. Subsequently violence broke out over belief that the election outcomes were rigged. Since then over 500 people have been killed in violent clashes across Kenya and many businesses ravaged in various parts of the country. What follows is Pastor Jonah Kipkorir's update after returning to his home in Kericho, Kenya after being stranded in Nakuru (several hours away from Kericho) due to lack of safe passage on the highways.

Hello.

I just wanted to update you that calm is slowly returning to Kenya and we are truly so excited. We thank God for what He has done for us. God's hand has been seen in this and we are really so grateful.

I am personally thankful to God for allowing me to travel home as I was held up in Nakuru for 4 or 5 days. I could not travel back to my home in Kericho since there were no buses. The day after the 27th (election day) was very hard for us and we feel as if months of violence has occurred since then. There are a few specific cities that are still under immense burden of displaced people but overall we feel that calm has returned to the country and people have started to travel and start their normal duties. Goods too are moving from the Port (in Mombassa) and people from the neighboring countries, have I believe, been able to get gas and medication that is needed at this time.

We truly thank God for you; for praying for us. At the same time we thank the governments of the west and Africa, especially Britain and US, Canada and all other great countries of the day for their insistence on a way thru' in this hard moment.

Please continue to pray for the displaced people that have camped in Eldoret, Nakuru and my hometown of Kericho. As I write to you now, I have been involved in counselling and distribution of food to the displaced. We believe that the Lord will guide us and we will be out of this situation even stronger.

Because He lives

Jonah