2017 Summer Family Retreat

This summer, Ageno Community invited mothers with children who have special needs to visit the future home of Ageno for a six day retreat we hosted in our home in Kendu Bay, Kenya. We were honored to have eleven families participate in this year’s retreat. At first, they were hesitant because they had never been away from their homes for more than two days, but by the end of 6 days they were asking for more!

When our guests arrived amongst cheers and ululations from the volunteers, they were exhausted from traveling but grateful for the opportunity to attend the retreat.  By evening they had settled in and the next morning were refreshed and ready to start.  We started each day with praise and worship and morning devotions and ended each day with a time of sharing. It was one of these sharing times that we noted a great change in the parents’ interactions. The first night they were more reserved, but by the third day, they were sharing, chatting and laughing. There was so much sharing and laughter that we ended late into the evening. It was so much fun. It felt like a sisters’ sleep over.

We shared with them our dream of building a center on donated land near our home. During the retreat we took the opportunity to walk over and pray and dedicate this land. That week the land was being fenced and a shed was built to be used for storage during the construction of the building. Everyone was excited to see work being done towards this goal and kept asking us, “when will it be ready?”.

It was a pleasure training the parents – our sisters in Christ.  One of the training sessions was a question and answer time. As most of them are single moms, they shared with us their struggles and desire to know how they can financially support their children.

One of the therapeutic activities we offered was beading and the ladies talked about this becoming a possible trade for them to help with their financial needs. Olivia, one of our trainers, also talked to the parents about making  and selling hook yarn rugs from scrap yarn. Hopefully, that idea can translate to an income opportunity as well.

Networking and Mentoring was alive and well during the week.  A 16 year old mom, who was very shy, needed guidance. Her child suffered with a cleft palate. This child needed an operation. Thank God we were able to guide her to an organization who could help and we provided transportation to take her child to Kijabe Hospital for that operation. Thankfully, the mother and child are back home after successful treatment. Please pray for continued healing for this child.

Ageno’s objective is to work or guide parents to other organizations and available resources that parents may not be aware of. Ageno would like to help in all ways, but this is not possible due to our limited resources. Therefore, we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance to know where we can help and He has led us to two children, Marcus who is 5 years old and Mildred who is 8. Both are in desperate need of wheelchairs. It is our prayer that we will be able to provide them soon.

The retreat was very successful. It was wonderful to be able to offer hospitality to these families and show them the greatness of God. We shared quite a bit of information with them as well as having lots of activities and fun. Many of the parents shared with us how refreshing it was to have a time to relax and be cared for, which is something they had not experienced — even the blessing of not having to worry about what they were going to eat.

During one evening’s sharing time, a parent, Beatrice, thanked Ageno for helping her see her child’s disability in a positive way. Her simple, but profound statement was, “The Lord loves me so much that He chose me out of all the moms to take care of Marcus, my previous gift”.

It’s amazing what the Lord can reveal when time is spent before Him. Ageno Community’s message has always been loving your child as a gift and blessing from God. Your gift is packaged especially for you!
The climax of our retreat was when six of the parents received the Lord Jesus Christ in their lives! Praise God!

We especially want to thank all who participated in our Spring Fundraiser Dinner. You made this retreat possible. We can’t thank you enough. God bless you!

Lydia Owallah