We started the day with devotions. Meghan shared with us an article that her father had written earlier which was closely related to our topic today. “The important thing is to always be alert to the opportunities which God provides us to give witness to our faith and then in whatever personal style is natural to us, bear that witness. Tell what you know about the power of God’s love and how it has worked in your life. Engage in those actions which demonstrate the power of what you believe, because actions still speak louder than words. In whatever manner we give witness to our belief, the important thing is to live it and give it.” Rev. Dr. John P. Davis III.

We each took turns sharing how God’s love has worked in our lives. The common theme seemed to center around how God has used each of us, in spite of circumstances that did not always seem favorable at the time, to bring us to this point in time so we could use our gifts in service to others. The book, “Half Time” by Bob Buford illustrates this concept so well. As men we often get a lot of our significance from our jobs and careers. Women on the other hand seem to get theirs from family. As men, when we reach this mid-point in our lives, in spite of enjoying business and financial success, we find that there is something missing. As part of this transformation there is the realization that in our attempts to leave a legacy, true happiness and success comes from serving others. We then talked about how giving up two weeks of our vacation time to come and serve here in Kenya is much more rewarding than selfishly serving our own needs by enjoying a lavish vacation elsewhere.

Today we continue our work with Don Penny, Director of IT at AIU, to continue the development and extension of the wireless footprint on the campus. In our efforts to integrate the donated equipment, we are trying to maximize the availability and bandwidth of wireless services to areas that are in greatest need.

Yesterday we had very productive meetings with Ephraim Mudave, Librarian to discuss their plans for a media center and books needed for the PhD and planned undergraduate programs. CLA was awarded a $100,000 grant from a foundation for this effort. Thus, we were able obtain their requirements so we can complete the documentation and delivery of this project.

We also met with Mary Omollo, who is the scholarship coordinator at AIU. She also administers the benevolence fund. Mary really has her finger on the pulse of the needs of the student body and very capably administers these programs. With the change in leadership at CLA, we wanted to make sure that we are in touch with their needs and can adequately respond in a timely manner. So both process and understanding how we can better work together were the key topics of our discussion. We look forward to taking a picture of the team with the current scholarship recipients after Chapel on Thursday.

Our final meeting of the day was with the new Human Resource Director, Peter Muroncia. Peter has a very strong background with a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Resources and a MBA. He also brings a wealth of experience to AIU in his previous career in microfinance. We discussed Peter’s vision for the Human Resources Information System requirements and the challenges they face in making this much needed transition. Change Management and financial resources seem to be the two biggest issues so our discussion focused on how we can best approach their needs given the current environment.