Church Partnership with Icaciri
8th March 2010 - letter from Iciciri
Birse and Feughside ParishChurch Finzean
To Pauline Rumbles,
Receive warm greetings from the congregation of Icaciri Church. All is fine and we have now harvested beans and potatoes. The maize is still green and will be harvested next month.
As Rev. Njoroge informed you, I am not the chairman of Icaciri congregation. We have Mr. Paul Muturi as the new chairman. The Parish Kirk Session met and resolved that we have a twinning committee of the following people.
We shall be having our first meting later in the month and God willing we shall communicate more frequently officially. Earlier I was doing all the writing but now it will come from the office of the twining committee in which am the co-rdinator.
On the Manse, we shall be having a function to lay the foundation stone on 21/3/2010 which we shall combine to raise funds for the project. The whole Parish will meet there and the presbytery office will be our guests.
We shall have a major fund raising on 11/07/2010 when we expect to have many guests and raise about 2 million shillings. Please commit that project activities in your prayers.
When will your team be ready to visit Icaciri in Kenya? We are looking forward anxiously on the visit and we shall be honored to show you a lot in Kenya.
Pass our regards to your congregation of Birse and Feughside parish church, we love them all.
Yours in Christ Service,
Daniel Chari Twining Co-ordinator +254720050898 +254732868214
Note: The invitation to the laying of the foundation stone is attached here
13th Feb 2010 - email from Iciciri
Dear Rev. Jack,
I hope you are all fine and well procted by our Lord Jesus Christ. We are also doing well here in Kenya and working for the glory of God at Icaciri Parish.
I wish to let you know that Daniel is nolonger the chairman of Icaciri Parish, elections are done every year and this year he didnt capture the seat. I am now incharge of all Icaciri matters. You can now use my email address for ease of contact or my post box address which is 605, Gatundu , Kenya .
Attched are photos of how we have progressed with the Manse. We did the Ground breaking on 15/12/2009 as per the photo attached, and by 25th January the money which we had collected through fund raising got finished having reached almost to the rental as per the photo attached. We are now about to organise another fund raising so we can finish it before the end of this year God willing.
Pass my best regards to your dear wife Sandra and all the members of the church.
Rev. Joseph
15th October 2009
28th September 2009
Last Saturday evening at about 10.30pm the Rev Joseph Njoroge, Minister,and Mr Daniel Gaturu, Chairman, of Iciciri Church, Kenya, arrived at Aberdeen Airport. They had flown from Nairobi to Amsterdam and then to Aberdeen. Neither gentleman had ever set foot outside of Kenya before. They were met by our Global Twinning Co-ordinator, Pauline Rumbles and her husband, Mike, with whom they spent their first evening.
The next day they came to the church where they were introduced to the congregation and shared in the act of worship. After the service they had their first conversations with members before John and Catherine Stephen drove them to the house of John and Rosemary Forbes where they all had lunch together. Then it was back to the church in the late afternoon to join the many visitors enjoying the last session of the incredibly successful Portrait of our Time Exhibition. Then they came to settle into the manse which was to be their home for the next two weeks.
Even after only 24 hours there were many common things to us that had struck our visitors as strange. The first was we had been mispronouncing the name of their church. The ‘c’ was not hard has in ‘cat’ but soft as in ‘chair’. Icaciri is pronounced i-ch-a-ch-iri! They discovered that we ate at set times and not when we are hungry. We ate different courses and separated our food items out on a plate, eating not with the fingers but with a knife and fork. We used doors in our homes and kept them closed for privacy.
The first week’s itinerary began by giving them the chance to gauge the geography of the parish guided by Bill Glendinning. They were photographed for an article that appeared in the Press & Journal. A copy was purchased for them both to take home to Kenya. They watched Alex Coutts in his work as a ghillie on the River Dee. They consider the Dee a large river but very shallow and slow moving. What rivers they have in Kenya are more like streams, but are deep and fast flowing. What amazed them the most was that, after an 11lb salmon was caught it had to be returned to the river and not taken home for supper! They then had supper with the Global Twinning Group in Church. By now they had noticed that there were not many men associated with the group.
In Kenya Daniel with his wife owns three cows and sells the milk locally. So on Tuesday he was keen to meet Andrew Farquharson and find out about farming practises here in Scotland. He was most anxious to learn about bulls and Andrew duly let him meet his. After lunch with Alistair and Elizabeth Rose, the former letting them hear the skirl of the pipes, they came to the Living the Story lecture and then retired early in the evening tired from their excursions.
On Wednesday, they visited both primary schools and even saw the children of Ballogie Nursery at Finzean School. They are to return to Finzean School next week. But as this was the only time they would be at Strachan School they engaged in a question and answer session and the children – and the teachers – found it fascinating. They children were told that Joseph and Daniel can speak in three languages: kikuyu (local dialect), Swahili (national tongue) and English. So the children were taught to say the greeting of both African tongues.
A major difference about education is that most schools in Kenya are church-sponsored and fees are paid. Therefore, most children are encouraged to be part of the church through the school. I had to explain that such encouragement was forbidden in this country. While they sat with the 27 children at Strachan School they mentioned that one of their local schools had 600 pupils and 27 would be the number in the very smallest class.
They then had lunch with Esther and Daniel Gooch and their children before being taken by Norman Taylor to see Dunnottar Castle and finishing the day as the guests of the Guild.
Thursday was a day they were looking forward to: going by train to Edinburgh where Mike Rumbles had kindly arranged lunch at the Scottish Parliament. As I write this on Wednesday I can’t say yet what they made of the capital city.
By the time you read this, they will have met more people, and shared in more events. So please pray for our friends and remember their wives back in Kenya, Sarah (Joseph) and Janet (Daniel) and all their folk in the congregation. Until next week…The Lord Bless You and Keep You.
Twinning Partnership - 6th February 2009
Further photos are in the photo gallery of this site The aim of the Global Twinning scheme is to establish friendship between the members of each community, to develop an understanding of each others culture, make bonds of friendship and share our Christian faith. On 14th December we sent our first communication, which was in the form of a letter, which the entire congregation signed.
The text of the letter is shown below
Mr Daniel Chari Gaturu
GATUNDU – 01030 14th December 2008
Dear Mr Gaturu and the congregation of
The congregation of Birse and Feughside parish church send greetings to you all at the Icaciri church. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. We are delighted to send you our first letter today.
We were originally three parishes who have become one congregation. Our church is located in the North-East of
With a renewed church building we have begun a new story. Our journey is to discover what God’s purpose is for us, what our mission is as a congregation. We have developed three strands for our mission. Firstly, to become an ECO congregation, learning new ways to care for our environment. Secondly, to develop a community partnership where we presently engage with a local Dementia group called ‘the forget me not club’, which supports people and their carers with who are living with the problems associated with loss of memory. Our third and final strand is to establish a global partnership through the twinning of our two congregations.
With thanks to God we now have our twinning partnership where we hope to develop strong bonds of friendship, learning from each other new ways of strengthening our Christian commitment and love for the wider world.
At this special time of Advent we send this first letter to you all in the Icaciri congregation and hope that we will be in regular communication for many years to come. Everyone who has attended our service today has signed to express our hope that this new partnership will touch the lives of everyone in both of our congregations and in our wider communities.
We look forward to hearing from you and send our best wishes to you all,
Pauline Rumbles- Twinning Coordinator
We hope that we will be in regular contact for many years to come and that the partnership will touch the lives of everyone in both of our congregations and the wider community.
Our twin Church is located in the
With the guidance and support of the World Mission Council, of the Church of Scotland Birse & Feughside Parish have pledged to establish a partnership between two communities.
Visit of representatives of the Icaciri Parish, Kenya
Rev. Joseph Njoroge and Daniel Gaturu Chairman of the Icaciri Parish in Kenya are arriving in our Parish on Saturday 19th September. Thanks to a grant from the Church of Scotland's Board of World Mission, Faithshare programme, we are able to meet and share with one another our way of life, both spiritual and cultural.
Our guests will be staying at the Manse for the next two weeks and they will be in church on the next three Sundays.They will also be engaged in many activities around Birse & Feughside so please look out for them and say hello! On Sunday 27th there will be a special congregational lunch for everyone to enjoy and on Friday 2nd October 730pm there will be a social evening of entertainment with Scottish Music being the theme. We hope everyone living in the parish will take the opportunity to make Joseph and Daniel welcome by attending the events and taking time to speak to them. If you would like to be more involved and invite them to your home to share a meal please contact Pauline Rumbles 013398 86841
Global Twinning News - 25th Aug 2009
When we signed our first Twinning Partnership letter in December the advice from Carol Findlay (World Mission Council Assistant) was to try and meet with our partners as soon as possible. In January we applied for funding from the Church of Scotland’s Faithshare programme. Great news came in May to say that we had funding approved for 2 people to travel from
The Twinning group have rushed into action and have in discussion with the World Mission office been planning flights and visa support. The process is well under way and tomorrow (24th August ) Daniel and the Rev Joseph will be going to the High commission to apply for their visas. This could be the only problem as visas are not always granted but we hope and pray there will be no hitches and that we can look forward to meeting them both in
Now this is where we hope all the congregation will help us provide the best of Scottish Hospitality. Daniel and Rev Joseph will be staying at the Manse and will need transport to and from their programme of visits and activities. We need a list of volunteers who can drive during the morning, afternoon and evenings. Volunteers to offer simple meals at lunch and supper times are also needed and we hope members of the congregation will use this wonderful opportunity to make friends, learn about Kenyan culture and share the food on our tables with our brothers in Christ.
Please help if you can, contact Pauline Rumbles on 013398 86841.We really do want to get as many of us involved in this special visit as possible.
Letter from our Twinning Partnership- Icaciri Church,Kenya, May 3rd 2009
(From Daniel Gaturu, Chairman of the church and Twinning coordinator).
Daniel writes receive warming greetings from us in PCEA Icaciri Church.
The letter brings good news of the availability of an e-mail address, which will help our flow of communications. The weather is now very rainy, the rains had been expected for over a month. Thankfully there are no food shortages in the Gatundu area, which is an agricultural zone; it is in the north of Kenya bordering Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia where there are severe shortages problems. Food shortage due to post election violence has also been a factor. Un harvested maize was burned up and as were the stores. This was one tribe against all other tribes in their zone. Daniel says this was a very evil spirit and asks us to commit the issue to our prayers. They are donating clothes and food to displaced families. Some families are still living in tents.
Daniel describes the Easter services on Good Friday, they began at 530am with the elders preparing Holy Communion and carrying the elements into church in a procession. When they entered the church the congregation was standing and a 58-year-old lady fainted. The procession halted and the lady was carried outside and first aid was administered but when the service finished at 8am they found out that although the lady has been taken to hospital 5km away, she had died.
We are asked to pray for events in the parish, especially on 21st June when five new elders will be ordained and four are retiring, they will have a party after the service. On 5th July there will be a big fundraising effort as they hope to raise $25000 to complete a manse for their minister. At the moment he has to live in rented accommodation, which is very expensive
World Mission Newsletter March 31st 2009 Kenya PM defends power-sharing government
Letter from Icaciri - 22nd February 2009 During February 2009 the congregation of the Birse and Feughside Church recieved a letter from Mr Daniel Chari Gaturu, the Chairman of Congregation for the Murenga 'B' District. Extracts from the letter are below, however the full letter can be downloaded by clicking the tab to the right: 'Dear Pauline and all Brothers and Sisters in Birse and Feughside Church' Receive Christian greetings in the name of Jesus Christ who died on the cross for us. The congregations of P.C.E.A Icaciri were very delighted on receipt of your letter..and all said "We Love Birse and Feughside in the name of Jesus". We are very happy on the twinning partnership.... Icaciri is situateed 35km NE of Nairobi... The town is surrounded by small agricultural farms with coffee, maize, bananas, dairy cattrel, naiper grass.., Pass our regards to all members of Birse and Feughside Church'
Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, has defended his power-sharing government and blamed the judiciary and police for continued corruption. Many Kenyans are losing faith in the unity administration set up a year ago but Mr Odinga said it was impossible to "undo the ills of 45 years" so quickly. Mr Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki agreed to share power to end violent unrest after disputed 2007 elections. Both men have pledged to fight the corruption which has plagued Kenya for many years but their administration has recently been beset by allegations of graft. Meanwhile, Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai said four human rights activists had fled the country and others were in hiding because they feared for their safety. Earlier this month, two activists who had accused the police of extra-judicial killings were shot dead in the capital, Nairobi. They had testified to a UN enquiry into the police and Ms Maathai said all those who had helped with the report were now being silenced.
source/BBC news |
