Kenya Report -- April 2005

REPORT ON ACTIVITY IN KENYA: April 1 - 24, 2005

Purpose: To enable persons, in churches and in schools, to work effectively with individuals who have disabilities -- a continuation of ongoing
training begun in 1997.

Team: Dr. David W. Anderson

Ministry activities:

1. Nairobi Great Commission School of Theology. From April 4
through 8, I taught an intensive, one week course to the 39 students
– CHM 3053 Spiritual Warfare, a study of the spiritual realities of the
Christian’s battle. Staying at the guest room on campus allowed
additional opportunity to interact with the men and women, now in
their final year of studies. Most of these students are Kenyan; nine
are from Sudan and have fascinating testimonies about God’s
provision and protection in their lives. The course was well received
and our class discussions provided many opportunities for inter-
cultural exchange of ideas. Teaching was done in one of the newly
constructed classroom at the school. The new building contains two
large classrooms, a computer room for student use, and a study area
which connects to the library.

2. Acorn Special Tutorials. On Saturday, April 9, Acorn held a graduation ceremony for the second group of students in the Special
Education Diploma program. This program is a two-year curriculum; six students had completed the sequence of courses and were receiving
their diplomas. At the same time, six students from Acorn Special Tutorials were “graduating” and received school-leaving certificates. The
event, attended by at least 100 family, friends, and children from Acorn, was covered by the local press. It was my honor to be one of the
speakers for the event and to hand out the certificates to the Acorn “graduates.” Diplomas were given to the adult students in the Special
Education training program by Mr. Juma, a representative of the Kenyan Ministry of Home Affairs.

3. Acorn Special Tutorials. From April 11 through 15, another
seminar was offered to area teachers entitled “Basic Concepts
and Approaches for Teaching Students with Learning
Disabilities.” This was the seventh seminar/workshop I have
conducted for Acorn since 1998. Nineteen teachers from private
schools in the Nairobi area were in attendance.

4. Preaching at Koma Rock Church of Christ. On Sunday, April 4, I had the opportunity to preach at Koma Rock Church of Christ in
Nairobi, where Dennis Okoth serves in a pastoral role. While there, I was able to view the construction being done to expand the church
building, a project for which my home congregation in Minnesota provided some financial assistance.

5. School visits / inservice training. During the third week of this trip, short seminars were presented at two Nairobi schools: Kenya
Children’s Community of Learning (KCCL), a private school for students with learning or attentional disabilities, and Oshwal Jain, a private
integrated school in Nairobi. The inservice training focused on differentiated instruction, multiple intelligences, and brain-based learning and
instruction.

Future opportunities:
Possible future expansion of training and ministry in Kenya came in meeting the directors of Premese Africa Development Institute, Dr.
Francis and Ruth Mulwa. Premese currently offers “distance education” programs in early childhood, social work, community health, and
business. Interest was expressed in having me teach some courses for Premese and in the possibility of developing a program in special
education.
One participant in the week-long course at Acorn is connected with the British schools in Nairobi. We discussed the possibility of my
returning to Kenya to present training workshops for combined faculty from several British schools. The training would relate to helping
classroom teachers develop skills to work effectively with students who have special learning needs.