I want to change like Issac

When we were in Eldoret on a sports mission several months ago we met Issac. Issac is from Turkana. He had heard about Maggie's School that we built in Turkana and he thanked us because he never had a chance to go to even one grade of school. He could not even write his name. He was drinking and was drunk most of time. He was lost with no apparent future. During the mission he accepted Christ. After he accepted Christ he wanted to be tested for HIV/AIDs. We told him he would need to be sober to test and if he came the next day not drinking we would take him to be tested. He came to the field early the next day - without drinking. We took him to Ampath VCT to test and praise God he tested negative. Over the next days of the mission he came to the field everyday to be with us. He told us he just wanted to go to school.
Bishop David made arrangements for him to go to Merciful Redeemer to go to school. He stayed there several months attending school. Two months ago he came to live with the team at the Partners for Care house. Issac told us he wanted to obtain a driver's license so he could drive for the Kenya Red Cross. He has been attending driving school and on Tuesday will take his driver's test.
Last week Sammy took Isacc with him to Eldoret. When people saw Issac they were amazed at the transformation. Yesterday I spoke with Tim from the A-Step program - a program that uses sports to help the youth in Eldoret. He told me many of the young people in Eldoret are saying they want to change and be like Issac. God is using Issac to transform other youth.
Issac will return to Eldoret after he has his driver's license. His sisters are in Eldoret so he will now be able to help them. From a drunkard to a young man serving Christ Issac has been transformed. He knows the Partners for Care will always be his family.
Blessed to watch the transformation of Issac,
Connie
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Partners for Care

I am leaving for Kenya in two hours. Once again I will travel to a world similiar to here in some ways and very different in others. This trip a team from Carrollton is joining me. They have raised funds to put an e-youth center in Mathare Slum for Community Transformers - Nick and Charles. The goal is to have enough income from this cyber to move the 34 children out of the CT Rescue Center to a house!
This trip I will be sending updates on our new Partners for Care Facebook. If you become a friend on Partners for Care Facebook you will see the photos, videos and be able to follow this team as they establish the e-youth center.
Connie
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What people are saying about what if?

The Partners for Care staff feel the pain of HIV/AIDS. While none of them are infected, all of them are affected by this disease. For some their. parents are infected, some their sister is infected and with Njokie it is 8 year Brian, her nephew who has AIDs. He lives with us in the Partners for Care house. Their ministry passion is to do their part to create an HIV-free generation. They do this with their what if? program. They use the music of the Temples of Worship to draw thousands of people together. Once gathered Pastor Omondi preaches PURE and how following God's plan can protect people from this disease. As they go deep into Kenya - to the villages they are reaching people with the message what if? there was no HIV/AIDS. I wanted to share with you what people are saying about their what if? program.
A woman from Mombasa wrote this of their recent tour:
Whenever I heard the words WHAT IF? I thought "What a strange phrase", but as I continued seeing the words on their t-shirts, bracelets and caps, the message slowly started sinking and hit home with a bang.
WHAT IF there was no Aids in the world?
WHAT IF everyone played their roles correctly in the society?
WHAT IF the young actually abstained? WHAT IF partners were faithful?
WHAT IF mothers took precautions in pregnancy
WHAT IF all of us knew our status?
WHAT IF teachers taught it in schools?
WHAT IF preachers told their congregations?
WHAT IF all musicians mentioned this on stage?
WHAT IF? WHAT IF? WHAT IF?
It started sinking so deep it became a tormenting effect in my spirit; the next thing I had to do was run to a VCT and get my status checked
Living in a village where prostitution is profession like any other, where drugs are abused openly, where underage girls marry their grandfathers and it's considered an achievement? Where people are dying of AIDS and the community still talks of witchcraft, there is the importance of the WHAT IF message being preached and drummed into people's heads on a day today basis.
The impact of the gospel coming from youngsters, who can sing and dance to their God and still tell the world we have a chance to eradicate AIDS has hit the youngsters of Watamu, and when I walk around and hear them say that was cool I feel good because I know its not just the music that was cool its not just the dancing the message of GODS hope to his people and the WHAT IF option has also struck them.
I want to ask each and every one of you to pass this question to your friends, let the What if Message reaches millions in the world.
The team behind The What If Message
Lady Njoki God bless you so much you have a huge task- iyour role so well played
Sammy May God lift you higher and higher your blessed hands does wonders on that Keyboard
Sam the what if? sermons were great- you are going far
George you are very special keep the candle burning dear
David you have a voice that can draw many to Christ use it well
Justus young and likeable take time to venture deeper you have what it takes
Franco always smiling keep it up, It's a blessing,i wish i could draw your smile
Pastor Omondi the spiritual father of this great group_ you have a major task-and sufficient grace to see you through
You will not only do this in Kenya, but all Africa and the entire world
WHAT IF there was no AIDS In the world? WHAT IF?

And a Muslim woman said:

"I am proud of you people, I am a Muslim but I liked the what if? message, it is so clear to the young people, it is wonderfull to see young people like you so passionate about creating the awareness and preaching the message of pure to the young people, we need you here in Mombasa! Please come again soon! I can arrange with the sheikhs who lead most of the mosque around here to help mobilize our youths to join you next time, please come and teach our children, please come! Our children are infected because no one is talking to them".

A pastor said:

Brethren, when I saw this team wearing the what if? T-shirts and caps, I was troubled within me what does it mean! But the message is very clear when this team is performing! As a pastor I don't remember any one time I spoke to anyone including my family about HIV/AIDS! I am so a shamed of my neglegence. Pastors let us wake up and reach our community with this what if? message. Pastors we can't afford to be silent about AIDS again, we must address it from the pulpit, it is in the church and we must face it!".
Franklin Grahm once wrote that HIV/AIDS is the greatest opportunity for evangelism the world has ever seen. The above testimonies from those attending the what if? concerts are demostrating he was right.
Attacking the disease of HIV/AIDs using God's word,
Connie

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Breaking News

That was how the Partners for Care staff told me about the good news - breaking news from the desert in Akatuman. Maggie's School passed inspection both by the the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health. They did an on-site inspection and were amazed there were so many children at Maggie's School! On Friday the district committee of the Ministry of Education approved Maggie's School. It is to be registered as a goverment school by next term which begins in May! People in Lodwar are amazed at this miracle. Surely the hands of God has guided this process and blessed all the little boys and girls of Maggie's School. From when my sister first made the decision to honor Maggie by building a school in her name there have been people involved in the miracle of Maggie's School. We give thanks to all of them. We give thanks to Bishop David Thagano who first went there following God's message to Him - go to Turkana. He planted a church under a tree. We thank Northpoint Community Church who sent money to the Bishop who used it to build the church there in Akatuman. We thank ILI who helped put the well in so there was water. Without water the children could not have the two meals a day they receive.. They even cpme to school on holiday break for the meals. We thank Peter Waguru and all who travelled with him when he went there in November carrying all the supplies necessary to open the school. We thank Andrew Kiirya, Partners for Care social worker, who sheperded the building and the operation of the school and Pastor Omondi who guides and helps Andrew. And we thank Rev. Chege and Rev. Perminus Kinyua with GOA who have played vital roles in the opening and operation of Maggies:s Schook. We thank David Gruber, co-director of Partners for Care, who did the first DVD of Maggie's School and Sam Wachira, Partners for Care Communication Director, who did the second DVD. These DVDs have allowed people to "see" Maggies's School and the children who attend school there touching the hearts of so many people and greatly enlarging the number of people who love Maggie's School. We thank Elly, reporter from Sayare Christian TV station who went with us to see the Maggie's School and wrote a 7-minute documentary on the school that aired on the TV station. We thank the parents in Akatuman who now say they want their girls to get an education as it will last a lifetime unlike the cow they get from the dowry. A real breakthrough for this unreached people group. There are 87 girls going to Maggie's School! And we thank all the financial supportors including Maggie's Christian School in Greenville, S. C. that she attended from primer to graduation - Christ Church.. The students at Christ church adopted Maggie's School in the desert and have raised funds to support the school.
What does it mean now that the school will be registered as a goverment school?
1. The Ministry of Education will now fund the teachers.
2. The school now can qualify for goverment lunch program.
3. It will remain a Christian School
4. It will always be called Maggie's School
5. We have requested the two teachers remain
We will still be involved in supporting Maggie's School. With this partnership with the Ministry of Education there will be more support for the school.
Now my sister is praying for the site for the next Maggie's School. We pray for the same miracle God has performed in the desert of Akatuman.
Reaching the unreached for Christ through schools,
Connie
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