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Praises and Prayer - July 2019 Walk for Water 2019 A Huge Success! Praise God that this year’s Walk for Water was a huge success! We have raised over $41,000 (greatly exceeding our goal of $30,000!) and are still counting!  We are so thankful for all the efforts of the team captains and for everyone’s participation and fundraising efforts to help raise over $41,000 for Kenyan women and their families. Our financial gifts will be used to purchase 30 rainwater catchment tanks. More than 350 Kenyans will directly benefit from everyone’s efforts and dedication! We are so thankful!  Online Map: Women's Group Locations  Providing Clean Water and Building Communities Path From Poverty is delighted to unveil a project that has been in development over the past several months! Please visit our website to view an online map of the Kenya women's group locations. Simply click on a colored dot (or hover your cursor over it) to view details for each group, including income-generating activities, 2018 group savings, and photo of a gift water tank or solar panel recipient. Our gratitude to PFP volunteer and Holy Names Academy student, Claire MacGillivray, for her work on this project!  Lydia's House Construction Started We just received word that the construction on Lydia's house has begun!  As you may remember the Kwambeu Women's Group (of which Lydia is a member), their AIC church, and established PFP women's groups from the Mbooni, Kisau, and Tulimani regions, are helping fund the building of a 2-room house for Lydia and her children. This house will have a metal roof to catch rainwater into Lydia's new tank, recently delivered during the 2019 work team visit, and a locking door for Lydia and her family's protection.    Please continue to pray that the construction will go smoothly and for God's continued protection from harm for Lydia and her family. Susan Musembi, Kilome RPM, said, "Up to now, Lydia is amazed that she could own such a big water tank! (Her joy is evident in the picture above!) She thanks God and the US work team for great work wonderfully done. She appreciates so much the food stuff that the team delivered, which lasted more than three months." Susan also added, "We thank God that Lydia, though weak as she is, she's very active in church activities. She never misses Sunday services or prayer meetings unless she is ill." It has been wonderful to see how the PFP women in the Kilome region, as well as women from other regions, are continuing to embrace and support Lydia, as well as Grace and Mary, who have all suffered greatly and are in very desperate need. "Grace is doing well... Please pray for Mary" "Grace is doing well and is very excited to meet friends," Susan Musembi, Kilome RPM, reported in her recent report.  Grace (pictured above with her husband) seems to be flourishing after the obstetric fistula repair surgery she had in March.  It is so hard for us to imagine what it would be like to be ostracized by your community for 34 years because you smell like urine! This complication of an unrepaired obstetric fistula is quite common among the poor in Kenya and in the developing world. We can only imagine her joy now in being able to go to church and freely mix with people again! The Kenyan women continue to embrace and help Grace, Lydia, and Mary. Mary (in green shirt on right) is a pastor and was infected with the HIV virus by her husband, who has since passed away. She is continuing to decline physically, but she was clearly overjoyed when she also received a water tank from the Kenya work team in March (photo).  Susan is requesting prayer for Mary, whose only son has not been supportive of her.  Praise God that His light is shining in the darkness through the Kwambeu Women’s Group, their AIC church, and other women's groups, as they continue to surround Mary and these women with love and care. Let's continue to pray "that the women's group and the cluster don’t grow weary in doing good."   God's Provision for the Indonesia Program until June 2020  Praise God for His faithfulness! The Japanese Presbyterian Church has stepped forward with financial support for the PFP-Indonesia Program for one year (until June of 2020)! We continue to pray that God will raise up an organization/donor who would feel called to continue to support  the Program from July 2020 onward.    After 11 years of partnership with the women of North Sumatra, June 30, 2019 marks the closure of the Indonesia Program. PFP made the strategic decision to focus efforts on our work in Kenya, where there were opportunities for program growth and replication.           Thank God for Program Director Hotmaida Siahaan’s trust in the Lord and her faithful, persevering, committed attitude to continue to come alongside the women in poverty there.  Please pray for Hotmaida, and for these women as they continue to courageously walk the path out of poverty.  Successful RPM Elections Held in Kenya “I thank God that the Regional Program Manager (RPM) election process went well in all the clusters!" reported Agnes Kioko, Kenya's Program Director.  This past month, PFP-Kenya held elections for Regional Program Managers in five regions: Malili, Kilome, Tulimani, Kibwezi and Kivani (renamed Kola to better reflect the location of group members). There was just one change in leadership as Elizabeth Mutinda Nzyuko now steps in as Kola RPM.  "All the RPMs were re-elected except for Kola (Kivani) Cluster, meaning that the RPMs have been doing a great job in their regions, ” added Agnes. Agnes Kioko, Program Director, and Sue Musyoka, Program Secretary, provided oversight of the election process, ensuring the women understood the importance of their role in the selection of their regional leader.   This is wonderful news and a real testament to the leadership being shown by the RPMs” (and the leadership of Agnes and Susan during this process!) Long Rains Delayed in New Regions - Pray for Hard-Working Women Regina Mbaluku, Malili RPM, recently wrote in her monthly report: “The challenges we had this month were that the rains delayed and didn't fill our tanks." Regina has been encouraging the women to conserve their water use by using the water in their tanks just for drinking and cooking, and to use the water from the dams for washing.  Regina has asked us to continue to pray for them: "Please remember us in prayer. Many members don’t have water tanks. We pray by God’s help every woman by next year to have a tank.”    The women in PFP's newest regions, Malili, Kibwezi, and Kilome, are working very hard to generate income to buy water tanks. And PFP is supporting their efforts through the provision of monthly gift tanks. Pray that God will richly bless the women's efforts! Pray for Global Partnership Success  There are a number of excellent in-country opportunities that we would like to see succeed to benefit the Kenyan women. Over the past several months Path From Poverty has been working hard to develop strong project partnerships with a number of global NGOs. Please pray for the funding needed to implement these projects. KENCO: An umbrella organization for Kenyan cancer advocacy groups, PFP will be partnering with KENCO to bring breast and cervical cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment access services to PFP-Kenya members.  Worldwide Fistula Fund: PFP will be working with the Let's End Fistula Program, a Worldwide Fistula Fund Kenya grantee, to organize a 3-day Safe Motherhood training on reproductive health, safe pregnancy, obstetric fistula prevention and treatment to all Regional Program Managers and Group Chairwomen. Friendly Water For the World: PFP will shortly be launching a pilot project to train 25 - 30 PFP-Kenya members in the construction and marketing of BioSand Water Filters. Friendly Water For the World works with community groups throughout Sub-Saharan Africa to build the concrete filters that remove up to 100% of bacteria, amoeba, protozoa, worms and viruses. PFP hopes to eventually scale the project to all PFP-Kenya regions.