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ACTS Kenya - 30 November 2009

The last 2 months in East Africa have seen the extremes of climate that so typify our continent. The region had suffered the terrible effects of months of drought and failed rains and not only large numbers of livestock and wildlife, but also many people had died as a result. The environment had taken a beating and the beginning of October saw the worst of the suffering, with many rivers dried up and not a blade of grass to be found on the floor of the Rift Valley, for instance, which resembled a dustbowl. It seemed almost unimaginable then that things could return to ‘normal’.

However by the end of the month rain had started to arrive in most areas and spread further through November with some areas even receiving so much in too short a time that flooding resulted in some districts and caused a bridge at the coast to be swept away.

But with the rains, as always, has come new Life, and new Hope! Now it is green all over and the animals are beginning to fatten and crops to grow. In the Maasai Mara the numbers of plains animals has increased sharply due to the birth of great numbers of babies of many species such as Topi, the smaller gazelles, Warthog, Giraffe, Cape Buffalo, Zebra and much else besides. The plains seem to be alive with new life, and in the surrounding communities this is also reflected in a new sense of hope!

Over all this time we have helped many teams and other groups to carry out their ministries in the region, including in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. The work of these individuals and teams of volunteers was even more essential and appreciated during this time of drought. We were also heavily involved with the arrangements and logistics and safari bookings etc for 3 sizeable conferences here at Brackenhurst where we have our offices. One of these was an Africa Conference for the Salvation Army which was a great success we understand.