Wow…these past 2 months have really flown by! We were talking with our colleagues just recently and they were asking about May’s update. I assured them that I had sent it out…only to discover that I had not! I was thinking of April’s update. Well, since June by then was half over, we decided to combine the 2 months in this update.
Most of the Kingsburys’ time these past 2 months has been taken up in final arrangements for my father (Chari). On May 10, we had a memorial service for him here at Ukarimu House. We expected a very small gathering, since Dad had only lived with us just under 2 years, but were quite surprised at the 50+ turnout. My Dad had made more friends than I realized. The service went very well. It was quite touching to hear all the kind things people had to say about my father. People here are genuinely going to miss him…not just us. We had to wait before going to the U.S. for his burial because of some technicality that had to be satisfied before my sister could settle his estate. So, off we went in mid-June, where there was another equally touching memorial service at Dad’s church, People’s Baptist, in Harrisonburg, VA. Everyone both there and here were so supportive. I lack sufficient words of thanksgiving. The burial was on the same day as the memorial service (June 21), with military honors. I found it hard to not bawl when taps was played. All in all, everything went very smoothly. It was good connecting again with family, including a cousin I have not seen since I was a teenager. Unfortunately, we were unable to see Josh and family because they were very busy getting ready to fly out to Paraguay on a short term mission with Operation Christmas Child, with whom they are very involved in leadership positions. We missed seeing them, but are also very excited about this opportunity they had, and we are eager to hear news from them. We just got back from the U.S. very late on Thursday night and are fighting off jet lag.
May is Amanda’s birthday and our anniversary, so we had the family over for dinner and cake (always fun having the grandkids over!), then the following weekend we took 3 days off to go to one of our favorite places, the Aberdare Country Club. By the way, the title deed for our plot of land in Nanyuki came through and it’s officially ours now. It could not be put in my name because I am not a citizen yet. Too bad my citizenship did not get processed in time for that.
This month, AFELT (the Association for Faculty Enrichment in Learning and Teaching) hosted the biennial international conference for ICED (the International Consortium for Education Development). This was a huge step for our small organization to host 300+ delegates from all over the world for a world-class conference concerning facilitating the best possible learning and teaching in higher education around the world. Although I (Chip) stepped down as the founding chair of AFELT last year, I’m still very active. Professor Damary Sikalieh, from United States International University – Africa, and I conducted a half day workshop on designing and teaching courses for transformational learning. Participants in our workshop came from every continent (except for Antarctica). Having such a diverse and multicultural group of participants made the workshop exciting. The variety of experiences and educational systems represented, enriched the learning for everyone – especially for Prof. Sikalieh and me. The second half of this year is full of faculty
development workshops and training for a variety of universities and for AFELT members. I’ve been asked to mentor a handful of our AFELT leaders in training university faculty members to be facilitators of transformation, and not solely purveyors of information. This process will begin soon. I’m excited about it. A former protégée of mine from Zambia, Dr. Brian Bwalya, the General Secretary of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, Zambia, has recently asked for us to plan training for faculty in his country in 2025. This is another great opportunity to have impact on Christian higher education in Africa. We’ll see how this develops: Watch this space.
The 3rd session of Reality Check on Family Finances was scheduled for June 22nd. Our Marriage Ministry Trainees are still facilitating the sessions this year, and the couple we hope will eventually take on leadership of the marriage ministry arm of Ukarimu Ministries has been attending each of the sessions. However, Chip & I were to be in the U.S. for Dad’s stateside memorial and burial. So, instead of asking everyone to change their schedules, we decided it was time to see how things would go in our absence. So, Barnabas and Grace Achoki (possible future marriage ministry directors for Ukrarimu Ministries) oversaw the planning and running of the session and our 2 trainee couples facilitated. I so wish I could have been a fly on the wall to see how it all went, especially as Amanda and Thuo were one of the facilitating couples. We have received only positive reports, although attendance was down a bit. It was so encouraging to know we could be away when we really needed to and things would not come to a screeching halt!
Let’s hear from the Orungas on what’s happening in student ministry and their own family news…
The term began late by a week due to floods we had in most parts of the. As is usual in May term, we have one student fellowship group because most of the students are on long break. We hope that things will change in the coming years. We are grateful that we’ve had 34 students attending the fellowship so far, and are currently working on a date to visit a children’s home to spend time with the kids there and donate some items that we’ve been collecting since last term. Mental health has been a recurring topic in our fellowships and in most meetings within the University over the past few semesters. We’ve been looking at this topic since the beginning of the semester; trying to understand what it entails, talking about trauma, depression and anxiety, and digging into scripture to see what the Bible tells us regarding such issues and how it applies in our daily lives. It was interesting to hear stories being shared of how some had mental issues they managed to overcome. They also shared how the mental issues started, how some even contemplated suicide, and how they managed to overcome. We’ve had enough time to dig deep into the specific mental issues, and we start on ‘Friendships’ in the next meeting.
During the holiday period, Ian had been training the community kids in hockey at Lukenya Community Church with the help of some Daystar students. They were also working on getting some high school sports scholarships for a few who had missed the opportunity earlier this year. One more was taken in for the hockey scholarships. This make a total of 4 students receiving them. The hockey initiative at church is meant to help the community kids, coming from needy backgrounds, to grow holistically. They are mentored in all areas of life with the help of the Daystar University hockey players, Sunday School teachers, and other hockey friends who have a heart for change. They also get a meal or snacks on most training days; at times the only ‘meal’ that some get for the day. The Daystar team and other friends donate the equipment, guide the kids spiritually and academically, and help source scholarships for kids as they look forward to shaping a better future for them. Right now, the kids are back to school and they’ve resumed the once-a-week, Saturday evening training sessions. The same group is organizing a weekday camp for the children in August. The group is working on getting different people on board to make it a success. The program will entail fitness training, hockey training, motivational talks, food, some fun games, and most importantly, spiritual nurturing sessions each day. This will be a great opportunity to engage and have impact on the lives of the children. The biggest hope is that the children attending will continue showing up for the Saturday trainings that will come after that so they can be mentored through the program. The team is currently sourcing for funds to run the camp and for more equipment.
As for our family, Tamara is growing well hitting the milestones just right. She is 9 months now. She is growing so fast! Braylon is 2 years and 4 months now, though they act as twins especially with the ‘toy fight’ kicking in. We use the opportunity to also teach Braylon about sharing. We are grateful to God that He has kept them strong and gives us, the parents, wisdom, and guidance in raising them.
We’ve also taken the opportunities for growth in our marriage in our service at Ukarimu Ministries. We’ve been part of the training seminars for marriage ministry facilitators and this has also helped in enriching our own marriage.
Ian is reapplying for the Billy Graham Scholarship at Wheaton College Graduate School and applying to other universities as well. He is keen on getting a Masters degree in the higher education and/or student development fields from a Christian university. This will be beneficial in the ministry work at Ukarimu Ministries and the mentorship amongst the students in his position as a hockey coach or possibly an even better position in the student development office at Daystar University. He is considering Azusa Pacific University and Taylor University, both in the U.S. We ask that you join us in prayers as we go through this process again hoping and praying that it works out as per God’s will and that we manage traveling together as a family during that study period.
We are grateful that God keeps sending more students our way; in the fellowships and individually. It is our prayer that He grants us wisdom as we depend on Him as we walk with the students. The once very active Ukarimu scholarship kitty has been very low on funds, but we hope that God will connect us with the right people or the right sources to revive it. From our interactions with a good number of students, there is a real need for financial support for some to finish their studies and achieve their dream of impacting lives. So far, we use the ‘little’ we have but we believe that more can be done. Back over to the Kingsburys…
We have recently separated the websites for Ukarimu Ministries and the Kingsburys but will have links on each site to the other. So if you are on the www.ukarimumin.org website, if you want to check out the Kingsburys, you will click on the link provided. If you are on the www.kingsburyfamily.org site and want to check out Ukarimu Ministries, there will be a link provided for that. When any of you, our valuable partners try out either or both of our websites, please offer any feedback, so we may improve it. It will also be a good test if everything is working as we hope.
We are hoping to resume construction that did not get done with all the rains and flooding, the fall of the U.S. $, family losses, and then protests in Kenya. We hope things stay settled long enough to finish the next stage of fixing Ukarimu House main entrance and possibly finishing rainwater harvesting equipment. If any of you would like to help sponsor any of Ukarimu Ministries projects (construction, student scholarships, operating costs, etc.) please check our website at www.ukarimumin.org for guidance in how to help. Please be sure to mark it ‘preferred for Ukarimu Ministries’ and it will go to the right place. Support for Kingsburys can still be done from the www.kingsburyfamily.org website.
Thanks to all of you who have contributed over the years to make this vision happen. We are deeply grateful to all of you for partnership in this ministry, through finances, moral support, skills support, and especially in prayer. We pray God blesses you richly.
Blessings,
Chip & Chari Kingsbury
Ian & Stella Orunga
0 Comments