Turning Point Trust Blog

Great (and not so great) Expectations

by Jon Parsons on February 20, 2012 Leave comment

A busy 2 hours this morning, with hardly a moment to draw breath!

This is the time of year when many kids haven’t yet gone back to school, because their parents / guardians don’t have the necessary fees, or can’t afford the uniform or books or fare. So we had many people today needing God to provide for them.

One lady who came to Eunice and I began telling her story, and it was basically of a life full of discouragements and failures, whether it was in her family or any business she attempted to start. We realised that there was a spiritual root to this, and sensed there were curses placed on her that she needed to be released from. We both had a very strong sense of the Holy Spirit being active while we prayed, and the lady was sobbing as we spoke God’s freedom over her.

People seemed keen to stop today, and we prayed for many who were sick. One lady suffering from cataracts reported an improvement in her vision after prayer; another said she felt relief from the pain in her head; others were suffering from high blood pressure, kidney problems, chest pain, stomach problems, and one person who asked for prayer for his mentally ill brother.

This last one challenged my faith, and I realised that sometimes we may unintentionally limit what God does by our lack of faith. I realised when we started praying that I wasn’t expecting this person to be healed of his brain-damage – that I could easily pray for his comfort, for peace, for his carers. But for complete healing – that his brain would work normally, and he would be able to function normally? I realised I didn’t expect God to do that. Fortunately, I was only supporting Eunice in prayer, and she was praying with the faith that I was missing.

Why can I pray for someone with a headache, or an eyesight problem, and be surprised when they are not healed? Yet a mental illness I consider more difficult for God to heal, or less likely that He will heal. Why are my expectations sometimes so great, and other times less so?

TP UK Prayer Day 3rd March Details

by Jon Parsons on February 18, 2012 Leave comment
The clock is ticking! We are very much looking forward to the Turning Point “Build the walls!” event on March 3rd at Christ Church Woking. To date there are groups of people signed up from Alton, Swindon, Cambridge area, Bristol area, Chichester, Guildford and Woking itself. If you have not confirmed then now is the time to think about it, as it’s two weeks from tomorrow! Please send your name to jo.parsons@tptrust.org

When and where? 10.00am to 2.30pm at Christ Church, Woking.

What and who? Jo will be there in person to lead this event. You can expect to be brought fully up to date with various aspects of the work, to see and hear from different people involved, to meet the wider “Turning Point family” including the trustees, and to have the opportunity for many interactive and visual ways of praying, recognising our different backgrounds and styles. We will also be exploring what the road ahead might look like, worshipping together, and you will be able to go home with resources to help you pray and engage with Turning Point more effectively during 2012.

There will not be any children’s programme but it’s a big space, little ones are welcome to play at the back. The Beacon coffee shop has a lego table.

What should I bring? A packed lunch, or you can easily get lunch at many places close to the church. The Beacon coffee shop inside the church also serves lunches but will not be able to cater for all of us without prior warning. You may also find it useful to bring a Bible, a notepad, and there will be a few items for sale; plus the church has an independent Christian bookshop on its premises.

Tea, coffee and juice will be available throughout the day for anyone attending.

How to get there: Christ Church is in the centre of Woking facing into Town Square. It does not have it’s own parking, but is surrounded by various pay-and-display and pay-on-foot car parks. If you are arriving by train, it is only a 5 minute walk from the station. I would suggest looking for the parking for The Peacocks Shopping Mall, or the Victoria Way car park a little further up on the A320 ring road. It is a large Anglican church with good facilities and easy disabled access. We will be meeting in the nave – the main church sanctuary. If you want to make a day of it and would like other information on parks/walks/places to eat afterwards, please ask!

Don’t forget: we can’t provide resources if you haven’t told us you’ll be there! jo.parsons@tptrust.org

Literally literacy: update 2

by pippa on February 14, 2012 Leave comment

The Turning Point adult literacy class have been running for 3 weeks now and after a rather chaotic start, they have settled into some vague routine. We have about 14 regular members attending English and numeracy classes on a Monday and we’ve divided the group into a higher and lower class, one run by myself and one by Michael (a volunteer teacher).

Lessons have included:

  • Mental addition and subtraction
  • How to work out percentages
  • Budgeting
  • Pronunciation of English words
  • The English clock (very different to the Swahili clock and this poses many challenges in communicating in English!)
  • Grammar for forming simple sentences
  • Keeping a written diary of daily activities to practice writing skills

On Tuesday and Wednesday I run a very basic literacy class which is currently being attended by a smaller group of 3-4 committed ladies with 2-3 others coming when they can. This group can be simultaneously immensely frustrating and incredibly rewarding! Myself and Eric are having our patience’s tested as once again members struggle with ‘a for askari (soldier)’, ‘e for embe (mango)’ ‘i for inzi (fly)’, ‘o for omba (pray)’ and ‘u for unga (flour)’ is forgotten. BUT the frustration of teaching it over and over makes it even more gratifying when the ladies begin to understand, remember and form words. And the surprise on their faces when they grasp something and realise this is something they can do is priceless!

As the classes settle into a routine and we see how they benefit and what sort of classes/subjects are most useful to the members we can begin to think about offering the lessons to more of the TPFP members.

“One day only, Mondays”

by Godwill on February 13, 2012 Leave comment

“One day only, Mondays”

This statement dominated our morning prayers as we tried to invite people to come and pray with us, explaining that we only have HotS once a week. Of course, this was after them inquiring of what we were doing.

We had a low profile morning, praying with only five people, one of them I shall call him George. George came back to tell us about his improvement: One Monday we prayed with him, blood pressure and diabetes were his prayer request, and this morning he told us how there has been great progress in his life and health. He delighted in God’s power to heal and how he had reduced his drug intake, his health condition improving by the day. We rejoiced with him and gave all the glory to God.

Another gentleman we prayed for also had problems with his blood pressure, we believed that he too would experience the very same healing in God’s timing.

Finally we prayed with a lady who had been a victim of a ‘false prophet’, who conned her out of money on the promise of helping her to secure a job. We prayed for peace in her family as well as a back-pain & stomach ache.

Recently, as shared last week, we have received news from the past on how God healed and is healing. One such lady who was suffering from epilepsy we prayed for two weeks ago. She used to have seizures 3-4 times per week, but since we prayed she’s had none. And so for people we prayed for today who did not receive their healing immediately, we trust God to touch them at the right time.

But the rest who got their healing will always remember it happened one day only, Mondays.

Testimonies

by Godwill on February 8, 2012 Leave comment

Today we had the benefit of hearing lots of testimonies from the past.

Similar to previous weeks we had the privilege of praying with a number of people with varying needs and expectations. We were also excited that most of the ailments were revealed to us during our time of preparation.

One of the testimonies we had today was about a lady whom we prayed with last week, she was feeling discouraged with life, this morning she was upbeat and said she feels strong and was hopeful as she asked for more prayers. Remember the epileptic lady? well she hadn’t experienced another seizure since the prayer time, the seizures used to be as frequent as three times a week. An elderly man who had rashes on his legs told us of great improvement after prayers.

These are great testimonies that really encouraged us, knowing that God was indeed using us, as vessels for His glory.

Today we prayed for many with backpain, headache, stomach pain as well as malaria. One guy felt relief on his chest after prayers.

We dedicated an infant to God, we prayed for delivarance for a middle age man whose wives keep leaving him over petty issues, we declared protection on a guy who recently was a victim of robbery and had injuries from that awful encounter.

We thank God for another great morning of prayers and testimonies.

One step closer to the dream

by emilysmith on February 3, 2012 Leave comment

Check out our latest globalgiving page raising money to help Ombisa study to become a nurse. If you’ve been following Turning Point for a while, you may have heard of Ombisa before; he features in out testimonies video.

Ombisa joined us in 2004 having had a tumultuous start to life. Despite this, he has taken hold of life and grasped the opportunities given to him. Turning Point has helped him through primary and secondary school, where he performed well and got good grades. Now, with your help, we can give him the chance to further his academic abilities and study to become a nurse. This will be a first step to realising his dreams of becoming doctor. He’s excited about it and so are we!

Ombisa is aiming to start in March when Nairobi University next takes admissions to study nursing. We’re keen to give Ombisa this chance of continuing his education but in order do this we need your help. Please do have a gander at the globalgiving page, share it among your friends, put the link on facebook and donate! This is your opportunity to support an ambitious student from Kibera and make a real difference to his life.

FYI: Turning Point has a fundraising page with some simple steps on how to successfully raise a bit of money for Turning Point. Why not test out our steps by holding your own fundraising event for Ombisa?!

Turning Point Prayer Bulletin – 1st February

by Jon Parsons on February 1, 2012 Leave comment

It is an exciting time! Today marks the official first day of operations for our Laini Saba Centre. The church opened a few weeks ago, and last week Pastor David, Margaret (Social Worker) and Godwill (Youthworker) spent some time in that area meeting and chatting with some of the young lads and girls they found. Many of the girls are exposed to vices such as prostitution, drugs & alcohol, and the lads are often school drop-outs, who may spend their daytimes begging, scavenging, or stealing to get some food. David & Margaret have invited some of the girls to come and eat with them today. Godwill is hoping to establish a sports programme to attract some of the lads. Margaret admits that it is exciting to be involved with this new centre at the start, but that it’s also a little scary. We don’t yet know how God wants TP to develop its work here, and we are encouraging David, Margaret & Godwill to think wider than what TP has done in the past, and to give God the freedom to direct them in any way, so that His purposes are the ones that prevail.

Over the last few weeks we have had many meetings with Mary & Ben who run our Kianda Centre. They have a massive heart for the kids in their area, and desperately wanted to do more than TP is currently able to do. After much discussion over the budget for this year, we have come up with a way that they can expand. 65 kids come from 9-11 each morning, and receive Bible teaching, breakfast, and an opportunity to safely play.Of these, we are sending the 5 oldest to primary school. 19 of the rest have been to school before, and they will now transfer to the School Transition Class running at our Mashimoni Centre. Of the remaining 41, the youngest 20 will continue to benefit as they are now, but the 21 others will stay for the whole day, getting lunch whilst they learn in a new School Preparation Class. This class will prepare them to go to primary school next January, and will be run by Lillian, a qualified teacher who has been preparing for this role under Florence, our Mashimoni Centre Prep Class teacher. So Mary & Ben are excited, as are we, to see their centre growing and able to have a greater impact in their community.

Pippa, our intern, is having a great time teaching literacy and numeracy to members of TPFP, our microfinance programme. There is a wide diversity in the level of education within TPFP, so Pippa is running a couple of classes each week, and a local volunteer, Michael, is running a third. Some are teaching written Kiswahili, some English, and everyone is learning Maths. Strange sounds are emanating from the classroom, together with much laughter – check out the blog here. We hope the knowledge they gain through these classes will help them to understand and run their small businesses more effectively and more efficiently. Pippa finishes her internship mid-March, but the good news for TP is that she’s hoping to return once she’s raised the money she needs to support herself in Kenya.

Up at the farm the mums are slowly adjusting to community life. In this first stage they live in a courtyard setting, cooking and eating together, farming the land together, and living in very close proximity to one another. Tensions obviously arise because of this, and petty jealousies are surfacing. Whilst this is to be expected, it is certainly keeping Samuel, our Farm Manager, on his toes as he never knows what’s going to come next. But the mums are gradually learning the skills and gaining the strength they need to live off the land. Many are feeling the effects, and suffering from aching backs and the like, some even seeking medical attention for these complaints. Gradually their bodies will become strong, but as anyone who’s undergone physical training will testify, it can be a painful process at times.

We are waiting till the rains arrive to replace the crops that were ruined by the frosts in early January. The mums need to experience these changing seasons, so they can have hope that when they get their own smallholding, they will be able to live off the land. Whilst Kinangop is a fertile area in Kenya, it too can suffer from drought, but we hope that by the end of February, or early in March, the rains will come.

Jo is planning for the TP UK Prayer Day on 3rd March. The day will run in Woking, Surrey, from 10 – 2:30, and more details will be coming over the next few weeks. We are encouraged at the responses we have had so far, and are expecting it to be a great day, with updates on the current work, and news of opportunities that God is bringing for the future. If you have any questions, or want to let Jo know you’re coming, email her.

We hope you are now better informed, so can pray more effectively for God’s work here in Kibera. Thanks, as always, for standing with us, for being the look-outs as we build the walls.

God bless,
Jon & Jo

2012 A Unique Season for TPFC

by Godwill on February 1, 2012 Leave comment

Turning Point Football Club is getting ready for the 2012 season which usually features more than 80 clubs of different age categories from U-10, U-12, U-14 and U-17  from the vast Kibera slum.

But unlike the previous seasons where the young lads have been toiling hard to get results, this season and hopefully subsequent years alot of our emphasis will be on tactical play, more on discipline in positioning and general basics.

TPFC (red) in action

Indeed last weekend during two friendly matches at Toi primary school, TPFC U-12 exhibited a piece of this approach when they played away to Uweza FC, even though they went down 1-0 the boys displayed a mature kind of play. Their older boys U-14 drew 1-1 using the same fashion of play.

The truth is that it might take long for the boys to blend and be a team to beat. But the flip-side of it is that, this kind of approach is long term and will travel with them in their future play for those who’ll turn pro or get to play top flight football. This fused together with the introduction of sports ministry appears to be a very exciting season, indeed a unique one.

OF HOPE AND DREAMS

by Godwill on January 31, 2012 Leave comment

This week hots was one of the busiest so far this year. As we were preparing to sit down at our station, we usually have brief prayers just to dedicate the ground, two ladies were already waiting for us so we started off on a busy foot.

We welcomed Molly to the team as a replacement for Emily and she was a blessing with her welcoming personality and wise counsel to the people who stopped for prayers.

Of the two ladies whom we started with, one had severe headache which left completly after prayers, she was among the people who experienced total healing. Alongside her was a gentleman who had pain, weak  joints and low energy he felt better after prayers and believed he is healed.

As we were praying a young man came, he wanted prayers concerning dreams that he had but couldn’t understand, and just like in Joseph biblical story an interpretation was vital, this is rare at hots. It turned out that the interpretation matched his situation,  a stray wife and growth in his church.

But it was also the hope and optimism that some of the people we prayed for had that was uplifting. A lady who had a story of her three and half  years old baby who had gone misssing after recent evictions in some parts of Kibera came to us sobbing fearing the worst of her child, but after prayers she left hopeful, we encouraged her to keep praying and to have faith in God, an old guy retired and with a big family asked for prayers for provison and job opening.

These are amongst the people God brought to us, we stood together with a man and lady both epileptic, a lady who wanted her husband back after he had abandoned the family, and a number who had social needs.  

We continue to give God all the glory as we get the privilege to be his servants every week in this awesome ministry.

Turning Point needs you!

by emilysmith on January 28, 2012 3 Comments

We’re looking for some faithful Turning Point supporters who would like to donate some of their time and passion to help us raise awareness of TP’s work. As our work in Kibera grows, we need our support base to grow with it, so we’re exploring new avenues down which to parade our work and invite more people to join in our journey.

You may know that we ran a stall at New Wine last summer and we would love to attend more events in the UK to connect with different groups of people. But all our staff are in Kenya and our trustees are very busy and important people who simply can’t make it to every event.

Currently, we’re missing out on opportunities to share our story because we don’t have enough people ‘on the ground’ in the UK. We have an excellent team of ambassadors who champion our cause in their areas but we want to expand this team, ideally to have a list of people around the UK who we can call on at times throughout the year to attend different events on Turning Point’s behalf.

We’re looking for people who are on-board with our vision and have partnered with us for some time, people who have shared the journey so far and have the passion and motivation to share their commitment to Turning Point with others. Preferably people who have come and seen our work in Kenya or would consider a future visit.

This would not be a huge time commitment, just the occasional evening or weekend when you’re available. If you are interested we would love to hear from you, please contact Emily: emily.smith@tptrust.org