Article on Will

The story of Will has been reported differently by AP and CBS News, and the details are yet to be confirmed. Here is one of the articles in the Charleston Post and Courrier.


http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/sep/08/slain-man-saw-mission-work-in-future/

Martyr

A long-time friend and faithful supporter of mine passed away recently. I first met Will Coker when we both came to serve in Kenya at CGA with a missions team in 2003. We became close friends and even shared the same tent. When our team returned home to Charleston, Will was instrumental in helping me decide to leave my college basketball coaching career and serve in Kenya full-time. After I quit my job and was beginnging to fundraise, he invited me to move in with him for several months to help me save money. He even hosted a garage sale at his house.

In the time that I lived with him I saw his strong, genuine faith in Christ. He spent many nights studying the Bible carefully, praying and worshipping God. Almost every day when we would meet, he would share with me something new God was teaching him. His faith deeply impacted my life and he became a mentor to me in so many ways. With Will there were very few "shallow" conversations; most of them get very deep very quickly. He was bold about his faith and shared it with just about everyone he came into contact with whether it was in America or another country.

After building many strong relationships with the children and staff at CGA, he returned to Kenya several times to invest more in those relationships. He had also done mission trips to other places such as Burundi.

Recently, Will was living and working in Afghanistan as an engineer. We had been emailing each other right up to the day before he was taken captive. That day he had told me that he would be travelling to Charleston on September 15 for a short break and then returning to Afghanistan to work until next June. True to his character, he was leading Bible studies in his workplace and also evangelizing outside of the workplace.

More details of his death are still coming out, but apparently he was kidnapped from work around September 2nd and held hostage for several days. Sometime later his body was found in a cave. He had been strangled with a belt and also beheaded.

We can’t be sure of the reasons why, but most likely it was because of his outspoken faith in God. He was a mighty man who was never shy talking about his faith, and surely he must have stood strong up until the time his life was taken.

Will had just turned 59 last week. He will be missed dearly by his three grown children, grandchildren, newly married wife and all of his friends throughout the world. His life impacted many others while he was alive and also now through his death. The CGA family will miss him, but we know that he is before the throne of God now and we will meet again someday.

I am thankful for the contribution he has made to my life in helping me come to serve in Kenya and drawing closer to my Lord and Saviour. I hope that when my time here is finished I will have impacted the world for God's Kingdom as much as he has in the 59 years God granted him.

University, Here We Come!

CGA’s pioneers are once again blazing a trail for the ones following behind them. They began at CGA in Nursery back in 1997, finished primary school in 2006 and then went off to various secondary schools and completed that step in November 2010. With their impressive results on their National Exams several of them received opportunities to be selected to join University, sponsored by the government.

Bill Clinton Owuor earned an A- and will be joining Kenyatta University to study Commerce.

Brenda Ollimo earned a B and will also be joining Kenyatta University to work towards a Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education

Cathorine Agiro and Edwina Ollimo also qualified, but we are still awaiting word on which University they were selected for and which program.

Carolyne Aoko Orony will be starting Teacher’s College next week. Her program will be for two years and when she finishes she will be a qualified primary school teacher.

We are proud of their success and how God has used CGA to help them reach these heights.

Developing Leaders

All of the CGA secondary students returned to CGA during their August break between Term 2 and Term 3 in their various secondary schools throughout the country. We had two successful weeks of extra teaching in Math, Physics and Chemistry. Then their reunion was 29th August – 1st September.

Just like in April, a group of ten University Students from Compassion International’s Leadership Development Program travelled to Mbita to work with our kids. This time they were also joined by 13 secondary students from the Bondo/Rarieda area across the lake.
It was a lively and spirited four days, as the leaders taught on spiritual gifts, the local church, leadership in Africa, self-esteem, sexual purity, drugs and alcohol, personal devotions, relationships with the opposite sex, entrepreneurship, Biblical perspectives on poverty, career planning and academics. There were also powerful times of worship and prayer as well as time set aside for fun and games.

It is so encouraging to see these young men and women wholeheartedly serving the Lord by mentoring these secondary students with such passion and vigor. They take time to hear their problems, advise them and pray for them. Our kids are blessed to learn from these individuals. They are receiving everything they need to succeed in life academically, socially, physically and spiritually.

One of our students commented to me, “I wish I could get to where those people are.” I encouraged him by telling him that it is within his reach. If he puts God first in his life, stays disciplined and works very hard, he also has the chance to qualify for University.

It is blessing to have mentors like these for our secondary kids. They also come from a challenging past, most are orphans that have worked hard to reach where they are now and have a strong testimony of what God has done in their life. I think it provides much hope for our kids that they can also make something of their lives by putting their faith in God.

Over 100 secondary students benefitted from the program this week.

Admirable Alicent

Though the Suba Laker Juniors finished third place in the KYFA 2011 Under 15 Tournament, Alicent Awuor was still awarded as the best player. She scored several goals in the 7 games and was outstanding all over the field, helping the Lakers win their pool and finish in third place. She was awarded with a nice duffel bag, a trophy, t-shirt, certificate and other gifts. She was smiling ear to ear as she received her reward. We are proud of her!

So Good

The Juniors also competed in the KYFA tournament in the Under 15 age category. Though several of the teams had older players, our young girls really competed well. In the group stages they won three matches and drew one to win their pool. They went on to win the quarterfinals in dramatic fashion. They celebrated like they had just won the world title.

Due to an unfortunate error, we had to face the #1 team from the other pool in the semifinals instead of the finals. So the two best teams played the match of the tournament in the semis. We went ahead five minutes into the match with some great passing and a classic finish by our smallest player, Teresa Atieno. A few minutes later Port Victoria equalized on our defensive error. We played great football, passing it around and controlling possession, but we missed many chances. In the end it came down to penalty kicks where we were defeated 3-2.

In the third place match, substitute Winnie Akinyi scored a goal in the 2nd half to bring home the trophy. The juniors were rewarded with a nice trophy, medals for each player, and about $7 cash that each player took home.
They played great football and showed how strong they are.

Winners of Losers

This past weekend, the Suba Lakers brought two teams to Kisumu to compete in the KYFA tournament. Our Senior team played in the open age category against some of the best teams in the region. One special part of the weekend is one of the club’s good friends, Kelsey Moore, also played with the team. Kelsey had lived in Kisumu for a couple of years and was visiting again this summer. She has come to Mbita several times to help coach our girls. The players were really excited when they found out she was going to play on their team. It always helps to have another mature player that knows how to pass and move the ball around. Our younger players learn a lot from that.

In the first match, we took charge early and won 3-0 against Kasagam. Kelsey scored two goals and Dorothy Adhiambo one. We thought we had another match that day, but had to wait for the next morning. On Saturday, we started off poorly by losing to eventual champion Victoria 3-0. In the next two matches we drew 0-0 with TYSA from Kitale and 1-1 with Smart Ladies from Kisumu when we scored a late equalizer from Pauline Otieno. So we ended up finishing 3rd in our pool of 5 teams and qualified for quarterfinals.

We were matched up against the 2nd best team from the other pool, Ibinzo. They scored in the first half on a clear off-sides infraction that wasn’t called. In the 2nd half we battled hard and even had a chance to equalize, but missed a penalty shot. The girls were exhausted after playing four matches in one day. Fortunately for us, the losers of the quarterfinals had their own consolation playoff. So on Sunday, we played Kisumu Leeds and scored two goals in the 2nd half to come back from behind and win 2-1. The goal scorers were Dorothy Adhiambo and Pauline Otieno. In the consolation Final, we managed to score a lone goal by Irine Achieng to defeat them 1-0. Seven matches in three days concluded with three wins, two losses, two draws and 18 exhausted young girls.

For winning the consolation bracket they received t-shirts and a ball.

It was a great opportunity to compete against good competition. We learned a lot about our team’s strengths and weaknesses and know what to improve in the future.