Partners and Friends,

Our family is doing well in Nairobi!  It has been a great start to 2025.  We are excited that we will be coming home for 8 weeks this summer for our furlough.  We are looking forward to a bit of time with our families.  We would also love to see our friends and partners, and we will have a few Sundays that we would love to visit partner churches in North and South Carolina.  Please let us know if you are interested! Of course we wish we could see all of our partners across this US, but unfortunately will not allow for this this year.

Projects and Ministry Update

Burundi / Congo Refugee Crisis

Since January 2025, approximately 50,000 people have arrived in Burundi from the Democratic Republic of Congo.  These people are fleeing the ongoing conflict in Congo and are seeking refuge.  This is a tragic situation, which provides our partner leaders and churches in Burundi with the opportunity to come alongside some of these individuals and provide support and the love of Christ.  In March, we will be visiting Bishop Seth in Burundi to check in on some projects we have there, but also to help coordinate a relief response (the family will all travel together, since the kids are on Spring Break).  We are aiming to partner with local churches to provide 200 households (approx. 1,000 people) with much needed food relief.  This will be a small drop in the bucket, but hopefully will open the door for more ministry to these people that have suffered greatly.  You may remember, we have also been assisting with efforts to assist individuals that lost homes and livelihoods due to the rising levels of Lake Tanganyika (https://dunningsinkenya.com/2024/05/08/burundi-relief-trip/). We will continue accessing the best way we can partner with the local church to help meet these ongoing challenges.

Ramada School Update

In our November update we shared about the school building project in Ramada village that we were hoping to complete by January 2025.  I am happy to share that the first level of the structure is complete and students started meeting in the building in January.  We are so grateful to the Barrineau PH Church for their generous contribution which helped to complete this phase of the building so that school could start!  (Please see the previous post for more details on this project).   Here is an update video from a visit in December, and photos from the beginning of the school term in January:

Tana River Trip

In December, Ethan was able to travel with me to visit the Ramada School (Korecca Academy) and to visit a few of the communities that we partner with in the area.  Sadly, many of them were still living in resettlement camps at the time due to flooding last year that still hadn’t receded.  Fortunately, the land for the resettlement camps has now been officially given to the communities to permanently settle on.  This is a great step, as this land is above the flood plain and they will no longer lose everything when floods come.  However, this land is not ideal for agriculture or pastoralism.  So, it is still important that they maintain control of their ancestral land because this is where they can conduct the agricultural activities and pastoralism which is their major source of livelihoods.  At this point, this is the arrangement, but it still comes with challenges as the two areas are around 10km away.  We were able to meet with the community and discuss potential ways forward. 

Christmas Spirit Project Update

Once again, we had a very successful Christmas Spirit Project.  Thanks to the generous support of our partners, and a contribution for People to People Ministries, we were able to work with several partner organizations to give hundreds of children a brighter Christmas.  This year we were able to do the following:

• Hosanna Children’s Home: New school shoes for 50 children
• Huruma Children’s Home: New school uniforms for 49 children
• Emmanuel Prep. School: New Textbooks
• Nakuru CMD: New school uniforms for 42 children
• Pastor’s Children: Monetary gift to 75 Pastor’s Children
• Outreach Children:  Gifts for 6 Outreach children
• St. Joyuna Academy: New backpacks with relief food inside for 230 children (This will happen this month, since the students released from school in November and weren’t present in December.)

Service Learning Update

One aspect of Jamie’s role as Service-Learning Coordinator at Rosslyn Academy is overseeing the CFS program.  In January, 270 HS Students and 36 staff traveled to 15 locations across Kenya to partner with over 40 community organizations, churches and schools for 5 days.  Through these experiences we want students to share the love of Jesus through service, but to also learn from community partners as we work together.  This year the teams did this beautifully.  This is an overview of the service projects that were accomplished this year in collaboration with community partners and ministries:

• 45 goats delivered to vulnerable families in 2 communities
• Food relief distributed to over 200 vulnerable households in 2 communities
• 100 sanitary pad kits distributed
• 400 sanitary pad kids packed
• 1 tree nursery established
• 4 schools painted
• 2 perimeter fences constructed
• Dozens of bricks made
• 3 new church foundations/walls built
• 18 churches and 20 schools/homes visited which included many presentations and testimonies
• Classroom resources created and several classes taught
• Mangrove restoration project
• Road repair
• Beach cleanup
• Reef/Shark surveys
• Farm work (weeding, planting, etc.)
• Many meals prepared and dishes washed
• Several football matches and other games played
• So much love, kindness and joy shared

These trips also included educational opportunities.  Students visited tea and pyrethrum factories, indigenous forests, small and large-scale farms, and conservation areas.  They engaged in cultural awareness discussions and presentations, and learned from the extensive work being done through community partners.  The teams were also able to enjoy the natural beauty of Kenya by climbing mountains, trekking through forests and bush, seeing amazing sunrises and sunsets, and swimming in rivers, waterfalls and the ocean. 

Most importantly, over these 5 days they built new relationships with community partners and deepened relationships with their classmates and teachers.

HS Service Clubs:

Another aspect of this role, is that Jamie advises and leads several student service clubs in the High School.  These clubs focus on specific issues and work towards education, advocacy and finding solutions.  These include Project Imagine (Period Poverty), Green Club (Environmental Stewardship), Vikapu na Vikapu (partnering with local schools through Arts), the Disabilities Awareness Club (DAC), and the National Honors Society.  In recent months the clubs have been able to do the following service activities:

• Project Imagine visited St. Joyuna school in Ruai to distribute reusable sanitary pad kits and conducted a training session on menstrual health.
• Green Club conducted a tree planting activity, planting 30 indigenous trees on campus.
• DAC visited 2 partner special needs/inclusive schools to learn more about the inclusive model of education, and how they can best support them. 

In the coming months, there are several more service projects planned for these groups, as well as other Rosslyn classes!

PWF Relief and Development Partners Network

In January, Jamie had the opportunity to travel to Dubai for the 4^th PWF Development and Relief Partners Gathering.  This network first began in 2020, and it is always incredibly encouraging to connect with colleagues from around the world and to learn from the great work that is happening. 

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Prayer Requests

• For the millions of people in Kenya facing rising costs of basic goods, food insecurity and the uncertainty of what is to come.
• For the people affected by, and fleeing, the conflict in Congo and for those that are serving them.
• For the Nation of Kenya, and the individuals, ministries, communities and churches that we have partnerships with.
• That we would love God and others as He loves us, and that we will be faithful in all the areas that we are being called.
• For Sophie and Ethan…that they will feel a meaningful connection to our ministry and that they both will grow to love and follow Jesus.
• For our extended families as they live life without having us and the kids nearby.
• For good health, safety and protection.

Can we pray for you?  Please send us your requests at dunningsinkenya@gmail.com.

We love and appreciate you all!  Your support, prayers, and encouragement mean everything to us.  Thank you for partnering with us. 

Grace and Peace, 

Jamie, Jessica, Sophie and Ethan