Goals for 2011

One of the things that makes me happiest in the course of my job is when I see the members of our Kenyan staff growing and developing as leaders and as reliable, innovative workers.  A test of this growth always occurs when I'm gone for a little while.  Last year at Christmas, I left a list of things that needed to get accomplished before the end of the year, and when I returned in January, very few of them had been completed to the specifications I'd expected.  Over the course of the year since then, though, our whole team in Kenya has really grown in areas of organization, responsibility, and job definition, so I had high hopes when I left behind a few tasks to be completed over this Christmas.

When I returned last week, I wasn't disappointed.  Almost everything that I'd asked for had been done just about perfectly, and there was a stack of papers waiting on my desk for me to review - praise God!  It made me proud of our administration - the directors and regional coordinators are all really stepping up these days and allowing CARE for AIDS to grow with stability and consistent quality, and this professionalism trickles all the way down to the way that our center workers relate to clients each day.

One thing that the regional coordinators collected from each center while I was in the States is an annual center report for 2010.  As part of this report, the center workers were asked to list some of their goals for 2011.  I really liked the answers that we received, so I thought I'd share a selection of the responses with you...

Goals for the clients (from Sarah at the Gachie center):

1. Spiritually - they would know their God, accept the Lordship of Jesus, and be able to witness to others
2. Physically - they would adhere to medication and avoid reinfection
3. Economically - they would be empowered with skills and ideas so that they can start an income-generating project and be independent financially
4. Socially - help them form support groups that can benefit them financially, and discover their talents and strengths

If God grants me His favor, I hope to (from Moses, at the Banana center):

• Move clients to higher echelons of faith
• Be a role model to clients in matters and faith and Christ-likeness
• Give the best that I can give

The Goals for our Center - 2011 (From Paul, at the Kamirithu center):

We have various goals to achieve in our center during 2011.  First and the foremost is to let each and every client know that, despite of having HIV and AIDS, and sometimes being hated by their friends, families, and relatives, God still loves them and there is hope to live and serve Jesus.  
The other goal is to make sure that every client has known the Word of God through the proper doctrine of the Bible and gets born again for those who are still in darkness.  
The other thing is to empower the clients through the seminars and after nine months, each client will be able to depend on his or her own.  Spiritually, every client will not have any stigma, and will be able to stand before people or anyone who will be having the same problem and help him or her to transform that person. 

Please join me in praying that God would work through each of these workers to accomplish all of their goals during the coming year.  I am so thankful for the passion that each member of our staff has for transforming the lives of people suffering from HIV/AIDS, and I know that the power of the Gospel has only begun to accomplish the fullness of the work of Christ here in Kenya!