Our Programs

Literacy for Women in Africa

BSK has an adult literacy program dubbed literacy for women in Africa. This program mainly targets a group of women of child-bearing age (15 years and above) who have not had the opportunity to learn to read and write.

BSK has an adult literacy program dubbed literacy for women in Africa. This program mainly targets a group of women of child-bearing age (15 years and above) who have not had the opportunity to learn to read and write.
Other persons targeted by the programme include men, young girls, and elderly women. This could also include women who have already had the opportunity to learn to read ‘second chance.’

Turkana County has low literacy levels of 20% considering that it has a population of 926,976 speakers of the language. Non-literates account for 741,580.

The Literacy for Women in Africa programme is currently being implemented in the County with 20 active adult literacy classes spread across Loima, Turkana Central, Turkana North, and Turkana South sub-counties. The program has grown tremendously since 2018 when it began with 10 pilot classes. So far, 1920 learners have been trained with 65% of them being women.

The reason why the program majorly focuses on women is that in the marginalized communities women or girls are denied a chance to go to school, as priority is given to men. Women are seen as people who carry out house chores, bear children, go through practices e.g. female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriages thus denying them a chance to access education or any form of schooling.

The uniqueness of this program is that it is a non-formal mother tongue-based education meant to impact adult learners with basic reading and writing skills. The main goal of the program is to enable the marginalized communities to read the Word of God in their heart language and be transformed by it.

BSK partners with the Church to implement this programme. The Churches provide venues that are used as classes, they identify passionate people who are trained as teachers, and they assist in monitoring. The Directorate of Adult and Continuing Education office has also come in handy in helping learners to transition to formal schooling to learn other subjects.

other Programs & projects

Open the Book & Programme For Pastoral Instruction PPI

Braille Bible Distribution to the VIP’s Programme

Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH)

Mwimbi Bible Translation

Young Samaritans Programme

Literacy for Women in Africa

Bibles Eagles Club

African Biblical Leadership Initiative (abli)

Marginalized Children

 

Gikuyu Study Bible Project

Banyala Bible Translation Project

Teso Bible translation project

 

Giving hope to recovering drug addicts

Written by BSkenya

February 2, 2018

James Kathuraku (left) Bible Advocacy and Scripture Use Manager addresses the recovering drug addicts and caregivers in Murang’a

In a bid to help recovering drug addicts to regain hope in life, BSK runs an alcoholism and substance abuse programme to offer support and encouragement to those affected. Below are some testimonies from people who have successfully recovered from drug addiction.

Faiza Wanjiru

Meet Faiza Wanjiru, a 35 year old lady from Mjini Village, Township Ward, Kiharu Sub County in Muranga County, with a very inspiring story on God’s faithfulness on her life’s journey towards recovery from drug addiction.

Faiza got pregnant at the age of 14 years and to her, this was an addition to the already existing troubles in her life. Her parents were separated when she was four years old hence she was living with her older brother who had educated her up to class 8. She then began looking for her mother who she hoped would educate her further. Instead, her mother chased her away to fend for herself and take care of her child. At this point she felt rejected and wondered how she would ever go through life.

Having lost hope, Faiza began to look for ways of survival which included agreeing to sell her son at Ksh 20,000. She had already received a deposit of Ksh 10,000 when the information leaked to the police who arrested her and took her to Kirigiti Police station. At this time she had gotten into prostitution and using drugs including cocaine, heroin, alcohol, and bhang. Faiza even engaged in shoplifting activities in Nairobi supermarkets which landed her in Langata women prison.

After 5 years in Langata women’s prison, Faiza’s mother came to look for her. After sometime she was released and taken to a rehabilitation centre opened by the government. Faiza testifies that the rehab really helped her because she was taught on ways to start the journey to recover from drug addiction. Some of Faiza’s friends ran away from the rehab centre because they could not stay away from drugs. Unfortunately some died because of being caught in criminal activities. Families of the drug addicts lost breadwinners and lost direction in life including stalled education.

Faiza is grateful to God for helping her get out of drug addiction. She adds that prayers have drawn her closer to God and she has learnt to live a life of obedience from the Bible. Through the help of community health volunteers who assist the community with social issues she has been able to feel loved and valued. Faiza notes that she is now close to her 19year old son whom she couldn’t even recognize when she came out of prison.

Faiza is now an inspiration to her community as she reaches out to drug addicts and teaches them on parenting and encourages them to stop taking drugs. She also thanks Bible Society of Kenya who helped her through one of the TOT’S trained on how to reach out to alcoholism in Muranga County.

Faiza thanks BSK for the programme they are running and is requesting for more Bibles to be given to recovering drug addicts so that they may receive hope for life as well as draw closer to God.

Kennedy Muriithi

Kennedy was engrossed in drug addiction for more than 10 years. Smoking Bhang, cigarettes, drinking beer and chewing khat became his daily routine as they were readily available in his neighbourhood. Kennedy would be sent by his elder brother and friends to buy drugs and on the process curiosity made him want to have a taste of the drugs. Without knowing it, he got deeply immersed into drugs that he lost control of himself.

He says that bhang had changed him from a self-confident person to a withdrawn, sad and silent person. He didn’t see any value in interacting with others. Kennedy would do masonry work (locally known as mjengo) used to get paid per day but this cash would all end up in the pub. Kennedy was introduced to the government rehabilitation centre but he ran away as he could not cope with the life there.

Through desperation and lack of a stable job, Kennedy was always involved in unpleasant activities which would land him in trouble. This particular day he was involved in a land dispute where he disagreed with a neighbour. This case landed him in jail for four months. During this period, he lost his wife and two children. After serving in jail for four months, he was released and he met a community health volunteer who advised him to stop taking drugs as they will kill him.

Kennedy is now a reformed man, he stopped taking drugs in 2016. He testifies that he can now interact with people freely and even get jobs that meet his needs. He adds that through prayer and reading God’s word he has seen transformation in his life. He further says that being close to people who encourage him has helped him to regain hope in his life.

Thomas Kimani a community health volunteer in Township ward notes that Kennedy has reformed greatly. He met him when he was at a worse state of drug addiction. Thomas has continued to encourage Kennedy to avoid places and people where drugs are sold to avoid a relapse. Kennedy has also avoided peer pressure from friends who would otherwise take him back to drugs. His health is now fully restored.

Kennedy thanks Bible Society of Kenya who reached out to him though a TOT called Jacqueline who reached out to the particular village where he comes from with messages of hope drawn from the Bible. He looks forward to being re-united with his family so that they can grow together.

 

 

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