October Misson trip to Rongo.

I was in the Rongo area from the 9th to the 22nd of October on a mission trip. I had set out with the objective of visiting the various schools to which we had taken the information about the CML December 2007 Students' Camp, meet with the Christian Union(CU) Patrons and to collect confirmation forms from the students who have committed to attend the camp.

During the first week I visited Kanga High School only since most of the other schools were just returning from Mid-term holidays that week. I contacted the various CU Patrons on phone reminding them to gather the confirmation forms that were ready for my collection the following week. In the second week, I visited 5 schools, met with 6 CU Patrons and collected 17 confirmation forms. The schools I visited are: St. Alberts Ulanda Girls, Pe-Hill Boys, Mariwa Mixed(Boys & Girls), Dede Girls and Kanga Boys.

Of the 17 camp attendance confirmation forms collected so far, only one belongs to a student who attended the August CML Camp. The other 16 confirmations are from new students altogether. Since all the 14 students who attended the August Camp had verbally confirmed their interest to attend the December Camp, we can say that we have a total of 30 students' confirmations for the upcoming December CML Camp. Am yet to collect commitment forms from Dede Girls school, Kanyawanga Boys' School, Manyatta Boys' School, Kanyasrega Mixed School, Pe-Hill Boys' School and others that were not ready by the time I was leaving. I plan to travel back to Rongo in the first week of November to collect the remaining committment forms. Meanwhile, I will be contacting the parents/guardians of the 17 students whose committments we have received, to let them know who we are, our vision, what we do and what we aim to achieve at the December Camp. I will also be informing them that their children have shown interest in attending the camp and then request them to encourage and officially release the students.

Also while in Rongo, I had two missions to two schools: The first one was a CU Leaders handing over Ceremony at Kanga High on Saturday 20th and the other was a Prayer Service for Candidates at Mariwa Mixed School on Sunday 21st. At Kanga High School, I was accompanied by Jared Omondi one of the August Camp attendees (He has has been out of school most of the year, but thank God because he will resume school next year. Sister Tishona had assisted in raising funds towards his Tuition fees for next year). The former CU patron Mr. Sam Owino was the chief guest. I delivered a brief encouragement to the Outgoing leaders, Incoming leaders, all the CU members and to the CU patron/Teachers. We finally prayed together with the students and dedicated the candidates to the Lord with regard to the End year final exams.

At Mariwa Mixed School, I was accompanied by Jared and Pastor Jeremiah Oguttu from Kitere Community Assembly. Pastor Jeremiah and I both had opportunity to share a word of encouragement and pray with the candidates, dedicating them to the Lord on the eve of the Exams commencement. I shared with them a few tips on handling the exams. The Local PEFA Church pastor was hosting the occassion. The school's Board of Governors(BOG) Chairman was the chief guest at Mariwa Mixed School.

I re-visited the idea of involving the local teachers in CML programs in Rongo area with a few teachers. They seem to be pro the idea and some would help with the mobilization process. We agreed to discuss some strategies next time I visit. The CU patron of Owiro Akoko had a very good idea: she suggested we get to connect with the local District Education Office. She thinks once they get to know what we are doing, the local Education Office can help get the teachers officially involved in a way that will meet approval of the schools' administrations. We plan to pursue this strategy.

I also got to meet and fellowship with several students individually. I met Seth Odongo one of the Agust Camp attendees from Kanga High School. The object of our meeting was to get to know more about himself and his family background as an initial assessment to determine the validity of his needs, especially with regard to tuition fees. His case was identified by our facilitators during the August Camp. Our meeting turned into an informal counselling session at the end of which, we joined hands in faith, prayed together and asked God to intervene in his family situation and school fees issue. I discussed his situation with Mr. Kaunda the Principal at Kanga High School and he agreed to facilitate in getting the school to take care of half of Seth's fee balance. Mr. Kaunda asked CML to assist with the remaining half of the fee balance. The total tuition balance for this year is Kshs.17,400 (equivalent of about USD270). From this initial assessment, I did reckon that Seth is genuinely in need with regard to tuition fees. We are yet to meet his parent(s) in the next step of assessment. Meanwhile we trust God for intervention in Seth's situation.

Glory be to God Almighty.