Empower President Dr. Carrie Miles recently visited Kenya and Zambia. Below is her trip report.
By Dr. Carrie Miles
You have not gotten an Empower report from an American in quite a while, I know, but I (Carrie Miles) was in Kenya and Zambia for three weeks in April. I was accompanied by (Ugandan) Dr. Frank Tweheyo, who joined me in Nairobi. I have not been to Africa since 2022, and seeing how the ministry has matured and blossomed in my absence was an extraordinary experience. I felt the Spirit on so many occasions – including the beautiful worship by the participants in the Zambia seminar, which I am linking below. Believe it or not, this is not a choir, just the people in the seminar. This was my first time in Zambia. Lusaka, the capitol, is a lovely city which I enjoyed very much. No awful traffic or blight, at least, not where I was.
But Zambia was at the end of the trip. Let me tell you about the beginning. I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya, at 1:30 AM. I was worried about handling my luggage, but a lovely young man was conveniently nearby offering to help. I spent what was left of that night at the Crowne Plaza, which was also lovely, and Bishop Frank Tweheyo joined me later the next day. We took an Uber (can you believe it?) to Limuru, where we had a program at the Lifelong Learning Center at St. Paul’s University the next day.
This program was the highlight of a big splash that Empower Kenyan partners are making. I have written before about our partner Faith Kiberu. Faith’s husband, the Rev. Jonathan Kiberu, was an archdeacon a few years ago when he came across a flyer from St. Paul’s for the New Man, New Woman, New Life seminar, and suggested she go. Faith said, “Let’s go together.” So they did. Jonathan Kiberu is now the bishop of Nairobi, and Faith, now Mama Faith, as wives of bishops are styled, has become a powerful advocate for Empower in Kenya. In conjunction with Dr. James Njau at St. Paul’s University and Dr. Zablon Bundi’s African Prime training center, Faith and others have trained dozens of Nairobi clergy and their spouses. My first program upon arriving in Nairobi was to meet with a group of 30 of these future trainers for a TOT – Training of Trainers.
A more extraordinary group of people I have not met. They assured me that not all of them held doctorates or the Anglican honorific of “canon,” but I believe the majority did. One of the participants and already an active advocate of the program (whom I quickly adopted) holds the title of “Venerable Canon Doctor Scholar Wayua” (although “Scholar” is not a title but her given name). She is also an ambassador for the church: The screen saver on her phone is a photo of her meeting Pope Francis. My dear V. C. D. A. Scholar is extremely enthusiastic about the material, called me a “prophet,” and likened me to Luke and Matthew. This attribution will either convince you of the power of the program, or make you doubt Scholar’s judgment.
These groups had been together through the New Man, New Woman, New Life seminar and the Master Class and boy, were they bonded. I am sure this program was a huge boost to the organizational development of the diocese. We had a great time together going over facilitation and adult learning concepts, as these participants are going to be/already are taking NMNW throughout the diocese. We ended with a lot of laughter as the participants received their certificates (I am not sure what this walk meant, but they got me to do it too), and they gave me a gift!
The connection with Mama Faith, Bishop Jonathan, and this remarkable group of people has enormous potential to transform the Nairobi diocese, potentially reaching tens of thousands of people. Two of the ladies had already taken the material to 500 Mother’s Union (an Anglican women’s organization) members. And Mama Faith, as the president of the Mothers’ Union, has already recruited two other dioceses, Murang’a South and Embu.
The next program took us to introduce the program at one of those dioceses, Murang’a South. Once again our hosts were the bishop, the Rt. Rev. Julius Karanu Wa Gicheru and his wife, Mama Bishop Jenifer. Usually the New Man, New Woman, New Life seminar is for 30 – 40 people and held over three days. But for this one, we ended up with 75 people and only two days. We made it work, thanks for our brilliant facilitators, and it appeared to be impactful for the participants. One pastor got up at the end and confessed that he has been teaching exactly the opposite of what he had discovered through the Bible studies we presented, especially about the wide-spread belief that women are cursed by God. He vowed to go home and correct his mistake.
The team of facilitators we had with us – Dr. Frank Tweheyo, Canon Dr. Scholar, Canon Dr. Peter Maina, and Dr. James Njau – were extraordinary. I was not needed at all, and I am not sure that participants even understood me (it’s not that they do not understand English – they just do not understand my English.) But they understood the Africans. Plus, the Africans were able to say things that I, an old white American woman, could never get away with. Like Frank telling men to stop jumping on their wives like goats, and Scholar urging them to enjoy their marital sexuality.
I am also a distraction. Sometimes I forget that I am visibly different from the people I am working with. We were invited to a dowry event, called a ruracio, about four hours outside Nairobi. Apparently, for the Kikuyu at least, a man never really finishes paying his wife’s brideprice/bridewealth. For example, if he negotiates that he will pay 10 goats for her, he only gives her family nine goats. He still owes them another goat. So they have a big party somewhere down the line, at which the parents are presented with the other goat. In American terms, this party was more-or-less a twentieth anniversary vow renewal. This dowry event was for an old friend of Empower, Jackmorris Wachira, and his wife, Irene. We drove there with Bishop Jonathan and Mama Faith. There were probably 500 hundred people there, and the party had been going on for sometime before we got there, as we had a hard time finding Irene’s parents’ house on top of a mountain. As we walked in, the master of ceremonies said, “And here we have the bishop, mama bishop, a guest from Uganda (Frank), and a mzungu (me. Mzungu means traveler around)!”
Jackmorris did not know I was coming so he was very surprised to see me, and I had to give a little greeting. And of course, as guests of honor, we were seated upfront, behind the couple. And as I say, I forget I am so conspicuous, so I was surprised by the attention, too.
Here is a Youtube link to a beautiful video of the party (which includes my speech).
Our second TOT, at Dr. Zablon Bundi’s African Prime Institute, unfortunately had to be cancelled when Dr. Bundi’s mother died unexpectedly. Frank and I were able to take tea with him and express our sympathy.
Our last event in Kenya was a Round Table, a half-day meeting with some of our stakeholders and people that Mama Faith had invited to learn about Empower. Again, another lovely and impressive group of people.
Frank and I then went to Lusaka, Zambia, where we conducted our “master class” (advanced training) with a group assembled by Professor Moses Chalwe. We had a wonderful time with them. Unlike our programs in Kenya, which were mostly with Anglicans, this was a Pentecostal group – which maybe explains the Spirit-filled singing (and definitely the speaking in tongues at the end). I do not seem to have a good picture of the group but here is the best I have. And do listen to the recording.
Here’s the recording.
When we had the Round Table, I was asked to give my vision for Empower. I told the group how impressed I was with everyone we worked with, and how confident I was that they would carry Jesus’ message of redemption and agape love. I told the story of how Frank and I were in Rwanda in 2022. We had facilitated trainings for maybe 20 people at Pastor Francis Rubakare’s church there in 2011, 2012, and 2013, but could not go back until 2022 because of civil unrest.
In 2022, Frank and I were asked to preach, so we team-taught what we call the “overview sermon,” which summarizes the seminar contents. I taught about the Fall in Genesis 3, asked the congregation of about 300, “Did God curse the woman in Genesis 3?”
We usually get a big response to this question. (Here is a link to a Youtube that explains the meaning and importance of this issue in Africa). But that morning, only one woman, way in the back, raised her hand.
I thought maybe they did not understand me, so I tried again. No response. My translator tried. Frank tried.
But then Frank and I looked at each other, and realized that we were “preaching to the choir.” We may have only trained 20 people originally, but they had spread the Good News.
Afterward I was talking with Pastor Francis and mentioned this. Pastor said, “Somehow, people got the idea that they are cursed by God. But I teach that we are blessed, not cursed.”
Then he looked at me and asked, “Didn’t you teach me that?”
So this is my vision for Empower: That more and more people become change agents in their own cultures. That they know that God loves them. That they know this love’s meaning for how we treat each other. And that this transformation becomes so ingrained that people regard it as such a deep truth that it never had to be taught at all.