Rafiki link

Everything here is moving on very well and Kenyan students have worked very hard to finish their history essays competition and they are now eagerly waiting for their results and not forgetting about prizes that will be awarded to the best students in this competition.

Students at Longonot secondary have been posting information on their blog on weekly bases at http://longonotsecondary.blogspot.com and they are very excited in this, also not forgetting our little kids at Ngeya who had no laptops are now again back to their Rafiki link activities and they are also excited that they will be learning computer skills again. They have been able to post little information on their blog at http://ngeyaprimary.blogspot.com

It has also been a pleasure for us to receive a team of 6 people from the USA who are spending time with our students at Maai- Mahiu secondary sharing about girl child life experiences since they want to look for ways that they can use to empower Kenyan girl child, we are praying for them and wishing them all the best in what they are doing.

Rafiki link main site rafikilink.blogspot.com will be updated twice per month, follow up with us to see what is happening.

Lastly, we are not forgetting to remind you to vote for CTC on the Chase community giving challenge on facebook, click on this link to vote for CTC http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/412123008-ctc-international-inc

Knowledge that brings freedom

It has been an amazing time for the malaika mums as our vistors has been with us for two weeks. It was good to see old friends and also to make new friends who came with the team.

The climax of this teams visit was the seminars that malaika mums attended with other 50 women. In a patriachal culture that has little or no place for women, this seminar meant everthing for these women. They learned about boundaries, communicating with their spouses and how to relate and talk to their kids on sexuality and other sensitive issues that affect them every day. The seminar also covered an important training on health and nutrition and how to use the available resources and foods to provide the healthy bodies. The conference room was full of energy with women getting the sense empowerment and hope of freedom. It was a great time together.

During the seminar the women experienced art therapy for the first time. They learned about colors and how to communicate feelings using colors. It was sad to see some with their life sorrounded by red signifying danger while others painted black as a sign of hopelessness in life. They were in tears while told to share their stories.

Finaly the all the women went to the mural wall and practice what they hd learned. To express their feelings through art and it was so powerful to see all of them scrambling for paint brushes to paticipate in the gratest mural they have ever seen. Thanks to Kaitlin and her sister Leah for coming for the first time in Kenya to help all of us experience the joy of art.

At the end of the day, it was very evident that people need the information and knowledge to be given to them so that they can exercise the freedom that belongs to them.

Will keep you updated as more continues to unfold.

By Liz Josiah

Its Worth the Effort and the Trouble

A year is gone now since I came back from the comfortable and convenient Unites States of America. With a little hesitance and apprehension I started working for CTC. I was not sure how things will work out for my family, myself and for the big CTC family.

There was a ton of changes for all that were involved. We were not sure how things will turn out as we started together. New faces all over, big expectations and low expectations, Good things expected while others were not sure. Confidence and encouragement flowed freely from all who were involved. It was a time full of mixture of emotions.

I now look back and appreciate the opportunity to serve with CTC. We had an Ubuntu day last Saturday May 22 2010. Just a normal day when we give back to the community. But this one turned out to be an evaluation Saturday. We planted the trees as usual and then gathered together for a drink after some good hard work. One person after another gave their comments on how CTC have affected and impacted their lives in one way or the other. They all loved the work they have been doing with their own hands. A sense of pride and ownership of the good that is happening in our town. And then we wondered what the future holds for CTC in this community. There is lot of hope and expectation due to the performance of all the other activities.

Thanks to our sponsors and donors; Your work is not in vain. Through our relationships and being there to listen, many are experiencing the love and the acceptance that every human being needs, and even so those that are poor in the community that we are serving.


Being a full time community servant by profession and a minister of the gospel by calling, I love the opportunity to share this love by doing more than by words and hence the extra opportunities to tell the Story.
Our work is worth all the effort and the trouble we have to go through to accomplish the mission.

Thank you to volunteer Alice Johnston for sharing your story!

Big thanks to Alice Johnston for her television debut on Topeka local news. She was invited to tell her story as well as the story of the Maliaka Mums. Alice has launched her very own campaign to raise funds for new sewing machines for the women. We are so proud of her work for CTC International.

Also big thanks to CTC Volunteer, Aimee Lirette, for her public relations skills. We knew that Alice had a story to tell of her own and are so thankful that she was able to share with her community.

Malaika mums project is still progressing as mums are working harder to make their ends meet.
The amazing thing is that from the previous month, mums made 700 L.I.F.E bags. still on that month we had a tour to Gilgil during the national field day which was very educative to our people and they were also very excited.
Members who were present were anxious and curious to learn more about us after finding out the amazing work that CTC have been doing to the community of Maai- Mahiu.

An all new look and some exciting news

Hello everyone,

Hopefully by now you have noticed that CTC has gotten a makeover. We have changed our look and are so excited to share these changes with all of you. Please be sure to visit our new website. We are just working out some finally things on the site but are really pleased with the way that it is turning out. http://www.ctcinternational.org

Some other great news is that Zane Wilemon(Founder/Executive Director) is in Washington D.C. right now preparing for the annual D.C. Summit Series. DC10 is an invitation-only event that connects top young minds and inspires a new generation of leaders to succeed in business and in life.
With over 700 guests and panels including President Bill Clinton, Blake Mycoskie(TOMS shoes), and John Legend we were more than excited to be invited to attend. However, we were ESTATIC to be asked to be the offical bag of the event. That is right over 700 of the L.I.F.E. bags made by our Maliaka Mums will be sported around all weekend at this event by attendees.

When we learned of this we immediately called up our friends at Veritas Fashion and the H.O.P.E. campaign and asked that their artist collectives create designs for these 700 bags. We were so happy to get such amazing designs and to be able to include our community of like minded people who want to use their art to give back.

We are wishing the best of luck to Zane on his trip to D.C. and are so proud of everyone that came together to make this work out.

Special props to the women that make these bags and have found a sense of empowerment with a skill that is quite literally being used on the other side of the world.

Thanks to all of you that have made this possible from our screen printers at Under Pressure(Austin),to the artists, to our FABULOUS intern Cali Huffman for her graphic work on our new L.I.F.E. Bag tags.


For more info about
Veritas Fashion visit http://www.liveveritas.com
H.O.P.E. visit http://hopecampaign.org
DC10 Summit Series http://dc10.summitseries.com/

More Pictures from the Field Day

Our staff at work: