The HIV team held two trainings in Mombasa and Diani that ran concurrently from 23^rd to 25^th April 2013.The trainings were held for Church leaders to enlighten them on issues of HIV/AIDS and its impact on the community.

The main objectives of the trainings were;

• Increase awareness about HIV/AIDS and avoidance of risky behavior
• Eradicate stigma and condemnation among people living with HIV/AIDS
• Restore human rights, dignity and equality of people living with HIV/AIDS
• To renew the Churches’ responsibility towards caring for people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS

MOMBASA Training of Trainers

The training venue for Mombasa town was at Mt. Zion Ministry, Bombolulu. Fifty participants from several churches attended.

DIANI TOT

The training took place at Word of life Centre in Diani. The workshop was fully attended with fifty participants attending. The participants were drawn from various local churches.

The main challenge in the area is that prostitution is the biggest social evil of the community with the root cause being poverty. Most of the native people are not gainfully employed and have no other sources of income. The only source of livelihood is coconut farming and since it cannot sustain the family’s needs, other forms of income are sought. Prostitution becomes “an easy way out of poverty”.  Young girls (as young as 12) are lured into the vice either knowingly or unknowingly- some are encouraged to do so by their parents. Young men (also known as beach boys) also engage in prostitution mostly with white tourists so as to support their families.

Additionally, drug use especially- inject able drugs is on the increase since young people engage in illegal drug use to “run away” from their problems while for others get addicted due to peer pressure. This puts them at risk of contracting HIV through the shared needles as they don’t pay attention on sterility of the needles and syringes as long as they get the dose.

The expected outcome of these trainings is that the trained leaders will disseminate the information received to the communities through decentralized workshops so that the people can live responsible lives.

Bible Society of Kenya is planning to establish a branch in Nyahururu. This branch will be born from the Nyeri Branch which is very active in mobilizing support for BSK at the grassroots level. Mr. Yusuf Ndirangu who is about 70 years old, from Israel Church has

A group photo after the Members meeting

been a long serving member of the Nyeri branch. He has been travelling more than 200kms from Nyahururu town to attend branch meetings. Out of this commitment and passion for Bible work, he rallied Nyahururu pastors to form a branch. As a result, a meeting was held between BSK and 15 pastors from Nyahururu on Wednesday 20^th April 2013 at Karuga AIPCEA Church.

The General Secretary, Mrs. Muriuki and Rev. William Matolo had a chance to share the mission, vision and programs of Bible Society of Kenya. Currently, members are paying up their membership fees while others are planning to become members so that the branch can be established. A steering committee was formed to discuss these plans.

Bible Society of Kenya held its National Annual General Meeting on April 27^th 2013 at CITAM Valley Road. The event was graced by members who turned up in large numbers to attend the event.

The National Annual General meeting is an annual forum for BSK registered members where they come to receive reports of performance for the previous year, elect new members to the Board and get projections on the future of the organization.

The chief guest speaker of the day Rev. John Mark Owour, the Missions and Evangelism Minister at the All Saints Cathedral shared a word from Isaiah 61 while addressing the theme of the meeting “the year of God’s favor”.

He noted that Jesus commands us to tell others what we have seen and heard.  This is because we are competing with organizations with big dreams. As BSK endeavors to put a Bible in the hands of every human being, it has to be aggressive because people are listening more to secular radio stations than Christian ones. Rev. Owuor also challenged the Board members to leave a mark while they serve because they will be remembered for reaching many people with God’s word in their time.

Also present at the NAGM was Rev. Dr. Charles Kibicho who spoke on the topic of issues affecting the youth. He noted that it is not possible to talk on youth issues without talking about the genesis of the problems. He drew his message from Lamentations 5:4 and Prov. 15:22 where the Bible notes that where there is no cancel things do not go well. He said that leaders have missed in the area of counsel and that there are no more heroes in our day. He therefore challenged leaders to create team work with the youth so as to understand their challenges and find ways of addressing them.

The Chairman appreciated the two speakers for their timely  word to BSK members and to the Church as a whole.

Prior to the NAGM, a capacity building workshop was held for branch officials for the purpose of building their capability to effectively serve in the branches and to thank them for their tireless efforts in serving the communities. Currently, BSK has seven branches; Nairobi, Nyeri, Meru, Machakos, Bungoma, Vihiga and Kericho which play a major role in spreading the mission of BSK to the grassroots.

Our desire is that as the ministry of BSK grows, more Christians will join this dynamic team that will collectively impact the community positively through God’s word.

The General Secretary Mrs. Elizabeth Muriuki appreciates all its members, Board and staff for making the Society what it is today. We are also calling on the Church to

The National Annual General meeting is an annual forum for BSK registered members where they come to receive reports of performance for  the previous year, elect new members to the Board and get projections on the future of the organization. This years event will be held on April 27^th 2013 at CITAM Valley Road from 9:00am.

A team consisting of eight people from Bible Society of Kenya paid a courtesy call to Dr. Willy Mutunga, the Chief Justice of Kenya on Tuesday February 6, 2013 to present the Poverty and Justice Bibles and the Justice portion for use by the members of the judiciary.

A Group Photo after the presentation of the Justice Bible

Upon receiving the Bibles, Dr. Mutunga appreciated Bible Society of Kenya’s contribution to the judiciary adding that his office will ensure justice is upheld in every sphere of society. He said that matters relating to poverty and justice are very fundamental to the wellbeing of the people of Kenya.

Dr. Mutunga urged the Church to preach peace and pray for the country as we approach the upcoming elections, so as to achieve a free and fair election.

The Chief Justice further noted that the Kenyan judicial system endeavors to see a just nation and has put in place measures to make sure justice prevails beyond tribal, racial, political and social affiliations. He emphasized that every human being deserves to be valued and treated with dignity.

The Chairman of the Bible Society of Kenya, Mr. Isaac Litali appreciated the Chief Justice’s gesture. He further said that the Bible Society of Kenya and the Church pledges to continue supporting the judiciary through prayer, that God will enable them carry out their duties with courage, fairness and wisdom.

The delegation that presented the Justice Bible to the Chief Justice

The Bible Society team consisted of the General Secretary, Mrs. Elizabeth Muriuki, Mr. Isaac Litali (Board Chairman), Rev. Edward Edward Etale (Board Member), Major Father George Makau (Board Member), Mr. Leonard Chumo (Board Member), Mr. Thomas Tharao(Head of Operations), Mr. Anthony Gatonye(Programme Officer) and Mrs. Joy Odhiambo(PR Coordinator).

BSK held the Bible Eagles club fun day themed “Eagle or Chicken” at the All Saints Cathedral Primary School grounds in Nairobi on December 8^th 2012.

This is an annual event aimed at helping children from age 3 to 18 years engage with scriptures in line with BSK’s mission, to make available and promote use of Scriptures for holistic transformation of peoples’ lives.

Children enjoyed climbing the pyramind

The event was very colorful and filled with fun activities including bouncing castles, face painting, mountain climber, singing games, Bible Trivia, camel and horse ride, puppet show, and field games like tug of war, sack race, hands/head balance, piggy back race. Last year the inaugural event was held at the same venue and was attended by 300 children and several of their parents.

This year’s event was very well attended with close to 700 children from different schools and churches. This was indeed a great opportunity for BSK to impact on children who are upcoming leaders and will positively influence the future generation. Children had a Bible lesson session in the morning followed by field events before lunch. Daima milk and Ribena sponsored juice, milk and some t-shirts for the event. The facilitators were the team from Double Edge Communication Consultants.

Warm-up before games begun

BSK appreciates all who participated to make the event successful.  We thank our staff, sponsors and service providers for making the event memorable. We trust that this event will become a premier event for children in Nairobi and its environs for many years to come