When Pastor Ron Sukut asked me to put together a promo for New Dawn’s newest community to the orphans in Kenya I asked God how I could best bring attention to the enormous need of 18 million kids without parents. It was a very emotional process putting together this feature. The clips were limited but we did our best to put together a compelling info piece.

See the video!

Link:  http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=9a27f3f65c22b516eafd

Thank you, Scott!

The community began with a water well funded mostly by members of a few Southern California churches.

NDC’s U.S. director of operations, Ron Sukut, states in the Facebook group:

“It was astounding to watch people rally around this cause to relieve the effects of the drought by contributing to this practical and effective solution. Since the well was drilled, we have experienced one miracle after another. New Dawn is truly a testament to the truth that many small acts of love done by many caring individuals results in one tremendous life changing accomplishment.”

The high school facility is presently educating and housing 100 orphans. By working with local pastors and schools, NDC provides these 14-year-old boys and girls, who would otherwise be thrust into the world unprepared, with a strong education and trade skills.

Facebook allows for the sharing of information in one of the more user-friendly ways on the Internet. Its popularity increased partly as the result of people looking for an alternative to MySpace. Facebook’s “About” page includes the statement: “Giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”

More information, including videos, photos and personal stories, can be found at the “New Dawn Communities” Facebook fan or “like” site.

For interviews contact Alex Murashko by e-mail at alexander(@)outreachnewmedia.com. New Dawn Community website: Http://www.newdawncommunities.org

By Alex Murashko
Special to ASSIST News Service

Raised in an impoverished Kenyan village, James Kariuki already knew at an early age that his life was going to be about helping others, he said.

At 14 years old, Kariuki helped local tribes people learn the Bible by preaching the word of God. At the same time, he knew that in order to best serve those suffering from poverty and illness he would need money. So, he said he pursued and received what is a treasured commodity in much of Africa — an education.

African Director James Kariuki has dedicated his life to helping children. (Photo: WCO)

With a high school diploma, Kariuki was able to land a job with the Kenyan government, get a college degree in Agricultural Economy, and become a Senior Agricultural Officer. After doing his best to serve the farmers of Kenya for 39 years, Kariuki said he thought he knew poverty and pain well…that is until he began working for of a non-profit group that takes high-school age orphans and provides them with food, housing and education.

As the African director of New Dawn Communities, a group that is presently providing shelter and education for 100 orphans, Kariuki said he now knows about suffering at a more personal level.

“Many people in Africa live from hand to mouth,” Kariuki, 59, said recently during an interview in between speaking engagements in Southern California. “Because of this, if parents die, they don’t leave anything for their kids, so they leave the kids to survive with the help of any merciful person that may come to them.”

In order to take an orphan into the residential high school in Laikipia, Kenya, there is an interview process which includes hearing from the children’s school director, local pastor, and government official. Many of the young teenagers are referred to New Dawn Orphan High School by church leaders, who are familiar with the tragic ways the children lost their parents.

Starvation, abandonment, and AIDS are often the causes of parental loss. Many of the teens suffer mental, emotional, and physical trauma as a result. The stories can be heartbreaking, Kariuki said.

“Sometimes we (momentarily) excuse ourselves from the interview and go out to cry when we hear the stories,” he said. “I used to work with people with problems, but actually I did not know what problems really were. This has changed my life in that now I am dealing with individuals that are completely helpless. It has moved me to have a more merciful soul.”

Kariuki is retired from his government job, but the connections and knowledge he obtained has helped him with such tasks as securing the five acres of land now used not only for the high school and dorms, but a conference center.

The Laikipia facility began with a vision to first establish a community that helps people in need, not necessarily a residential high school for orphans, Kariuki said. The first priority for the area was water, especially after an intense drought to East Africa in 1999.

Kariuki said he asked God if there was water to be found within the five acres. “God showed me a place. He convinced me that there was water there, but the area was very dry and I could not imagine that there could be water there,” he said.

Later, after a trip to the U.S. sponsored by World Christian Outreach (WCO) to tell others of his vision, a hydro geologist confirmed that water could be found underground. With the help of WCO, drilling equipment was brought to the spot Kariuki said God had appointed, and a flowing supply of water was struck at a depth of 525 feet.

New Dawn Communities is under the umbrella of WCO, which is based in Southern California. WCO founder and president, Stan Herpick, helps groups from U.S. churches participate in the development of New Dawn through mission trips and funding. Herpick said Kariuki’s responsibilities go far beyond directing the Laikipia facility.

“James has overseen the construction of the whole New Dawn Community. He also sets up the itinerary for the short term mission trips. He does research for anything we need,” Herpick said. “This man is a giver.”

James Kariuki (left) helps dedicate a dormitory at New Dawn Orphans High School. (Photo: WCO)

Still, it is obvious that Kariuki’s heart deeply belongs to the facility for orphans. Although the high school has a staff that includes chapel directors, eight teachers, and a principal, Kariuki and his wife, Eunice, are sometimes called upon for specific and more intense problems with the children.

The couple considers themselves as “super parents,” often sitting and talking with an entire class of students to identify and solve problems. “We tell them ‘we are your parents, now tell us what is going on’,” Kariuki said.

The school’s first class of 24 students, 12 boys and 12 girls, are scheduled to graduate in November. Every year, since 2006, the school and orphanage has been accepting 24 9th-graders with the same ratio of girls to boys. The education is accredited by the Kenyan government.

“These kids get up at 4:30 every morning. They go to chapel at 6 (am). They’re grounded in the Bible and worship,” Herpick said. “Most of these kids are really centered strongly in the Lord.”

Although Herpick said there are still facilities and projects to be completed within the Laikipia high school community, he is ambitiously looking forward.

“The needs are unlimited. We just bought 56 acres in Tanzania. We’d like to put a New Dawn in every country of Africa,” he said.

Story originally published at ASSIST News Service.

Kariuki’s presentation is part of a dinner reception, and silent auction to be held at the Wind & Sea Restaurant in Dana Point Harbor at 6 pm. The success story includes NDC’s first graduating class of 24 orphans, all desiring to attend college next year.

Kariuki was an Agricultural Minister for the Kenyan government for many years. He now directs New Dawn Community, which creates self-supporting residential high schools for orphans. These 14-year-old boys and girls who would otherwise be thrust into the world unprepared, are instead given both a strong education and trade skills.

NDC emphasizes the leadership development of disadvantaged youth. The Laikipia, Kenya, school facility began with a water well funded by the group. The high school facility is presently educating and housing 100 orphans.

Remarkably, NDC uses 100% of donations for the orphanage and high school. The entire community of 100 students, plus staff, operates on a budget of $5,500 US per month. U.S. Administrative expenses are paid by World Christian Outreach (WCO). WCO is a parent organization, which believes in the work of NDC to the extent that it defrays all expenses, including fund raising. NDC’s finances are open to all. Donors support the full housing and education of an orphan for $60 US per month and are encouraged to come visit their sponsored student.

To make a reservation for the reception (6 pm.) and dinner (7 pm.), call Ron Sukut at (949) 275-4974. The cost is $50. The New Dawn Community presentation, beginning at 8 pm. is free.

For interviews contact Alex Murashko by email at alexander@outreachnewmedia.com. New Dawn Community website: http://www.newdawncommunities.org

DIGG story!

NATIONAL NEWS

This from Compass Direct News:

GARISSA, Kenya, March 5 – Six months after a gang of Muslim youths ruined a church building in this town in northern Kenya, Christians still worshipping in the sweltering heat of the open air say they feel disillusioned that officials have done nothing to punish the culprits or restore their structure.

On a sunny afternoon last Sept. 14, when angry Muslim youths threw more than 400 members of the Redeemed Gospel Church out of their church building, the Christians hoped they would be able to return to the ruins of their former structure. That hope is quickly giving way to anger, hopelessness and despair.

“After six months in the open, the church feels tired and cheated,” said pastor David Matolo. “We are fed up with the empty promises from the government administration.”

He said the church, which began worshipping in Garissa in early 2001 with only a dozen members, is fast shrinking.

“Our church membership has decreased, which is of great concern to me,” he told Compass. “The church thinks that the government has decided to buy time – almost every month I do book appointments with the relevant authorities, who on several occasions have given us a deaf ear.” …read more

Churchgoers at the Kingdom Interdenominational Community Church in San Bernardino (Photo: Press Enterprise)

This from the Press Enterprise in Riverside, Calif.:

For most Americans, the recent unrest in Kenya, touched off by disputes over a presidential election in December, is something that pops up only occasionally, if at all, in the news these days.

But for native Kenyans living in Southern California, the violence and the anguish their families are going through back home has been a constant concern.

Martin Okoth, 46, of Chino Hills, worries about his sister whose city has seen businesses burned in tribal clashes. One of his brothers was forced from his home in Nairobi. Another brother, a well-known soccer player in the country, was forced to pay a ransom before his kidnapped son was safely returned.

“All of us have these stories,” Okoth says, standing outside the Kingdom Interdenominational Community Church in San Bernardino.

The church is Southern California’s first Kenyan church. Started in 1997, the church purchased the San Bernardino property in 2005. It has satellite churches in San Jacinto and Los Angeles.

The wooden pews in this squat cinderblock building are filled this Sunday with men, women and children singing hymns in English and Kiswahili and listening to Pastor Benson Andebe deliver a passionate sermon.

But there is more here than just a worship service. Recently, the church has been serving as a source of emotional support, information and aid for a community caught up in a crisis half a world away.

“The church has been like a refuge where you can come and vent in a more respectful manner,” says Okoth, who is the congregation chairman. “It’s like a form of therapy. Here, I’m talking to other people who are dealing with the same problem. Whatever has happened, we can come here and express our love for each other and come together.”

FULL STORY

Excerpts from church service VIDEO.

Violence continued in Kenya, where on Sunday the police and residents tried to quell a fire set in the Mathare slum in Nairobi. (NY Times)

Kenya’s MAF director reports on evacuation and supply efforts.
This from Christianity Today: 

Bernard Terlouw, Kenya director for Mission Aviation Fellowship, was in his Nairobi office on January 1, planning how to best evacuate victims of the escalating violence. Amid the fighting that had broken out after the contested win of President Mwai Kibaki over challenger Raila Odinga, MAF had begun receiving calls from desperate Kenyans in Eldoret, Kisumu, Kitale, and other western towns.

“We were trying to see who needed help and where they could be routed through,” said Terlouw. As more calls came in and the planning continued, Terlouw said he and his team began to feel optimistic “that we were going to be able to do something for some of these people.”

Then Terlouw got a call on his cell phone from a man near Lake Victoria. “He was screaming at me because he was being chased into a field. He was saying, ‘Send a helicopter! I need a helicopter! Can you come to this park? I’ll do anything for you! I’ll work for you! I’m at this park.'”

“I told him I couldn’t send a helicopter because we didn’t have any,” said Terlouw. “There was no air field nearby, and we couldn’t get there. Suddenly, there was this deadly silence in my heart. … What happened with that man, I don’t know. I don’t even know who he was. He just called me on his cell phone, a man in western Kenya.”

As the death toll and number of displaced people has mounted, Terlouw said his team has been focusing on getting people out of the most dangerous areas. They’re also delivering supplies to some of the more than 300,000 displaced people who are congregating at schools, police stations, churches, and open fields…

Read Full Story/Christianity Today

This from Pastor Ron Sukut:

So many have worked so hard, for so long and have come so far. The situation in Kenya is very serious indeed, yet I am confident that the violent reaction to the recent elections can not destroy the good that has been accomplished.

This is a true and tragic test, but the people of Kenya have the spiritual depth, moral integrity, intelligent capabilities and determined fortitude to meet this challenge and emerge better than ever. Freedom and unity are too precious to surrender.

There is no turning back for Kenya, East Africa and even Africa as a unity of nations.

I believe in the emerging Kenyans! This unrest will only serve to bring to the forefront the positive character qualities of the responsible and caring Kenyan to seek for and find lasting solutions to their problems. The end result of this struggle will be to insure a better life for all Kenyans, and thus set the stage for a better life for all Africans. With the prayers and encouragement of the rest of the world, a good Kenya will prevail.

“Pamoja Tutashinda” Together we will suceed!