JUDGE ORDERS PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO EXEMPT SDA STUDENTS IN ROW OVER SABBATH

By Pamela Chepkemei www.standardmedia.co.ke

Nairobi, Kenya: Secondary school students who subscribe to Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church are exempt from weekend classes thanks to a landmark order by a judge hearing a dispute over Sabbath.

High Court Judge Isaac Lenaola directed all public secondary schools in the country to allow SDA faithful students to skip classes from Friday evening through Saturday in fulfilment of the obligation to their faith.

The order was made after the Seventh Day Adventist Church (East Africa) Limited filed a petition seeking a relaxation of the rules for SDA student worship while a case between them and Ministry of Education progresses in court.

The Church approached the Ministry last year to resolve the matter but the Government failed to act on the complaints, according to the Church.

The Government promised to issue a circular to all the principals of public schools asking them to respect the right to freedom of religion but it was never done.

Consequently, the Church decided to file a case to safeguard the fundamental rights of all students subscribing the SDA doctrine.

The Church has accused 25 public schools of violating the fundamental rights of SDA students studying in those learning institutions.

It claims the complaints by Adventist students of being bullied and harassed are replicated across all public schools countrywide.

It was alleged SDA students at public high schools are harassed, intimidated and discriminated against on account of their religious beliefs.

Denied rights

The court issued interim orders restraining principals, administrators and Board of Governors of all public schools from preventing SDA students from worshipping during the hours between sunset on Friday and sunset on Saturday pending the hearing and determination of the petition.

"All principals, administrators and BoGs of all public high schools be and are hereby restrained from in any manner whatsoever, preventing or impeding SDA students attending the schools in question from conducting worship during the hours between sunset on Friday and sunset on Saturday," said the judge.

The Church has named the minister for Education and the Attorney General as the respondents.

Already Alliance Boys' High School, one of the learning institutions accused by the Church, has been allowed to join the proceedings of the case as an interested party.

The school told Justice Lenaola it was apprehensive that adverse orders would be issued against it before it was heard.

Religious beliefs

The school is among 25 others that have been cited by the Church as having forced students to study or sit exams on Friday evenings and Saturdays in disregard of their religious beliefs. Other schools accused of discriminating against SDA students are Limuru Girls', Kenya High, Alliance Girls', Alliance Boys', Precious Blood Riruta and Sunshine secondary schools.

Through lawyer George Oraro, SDA church in Kenya seeks a declaration that SDA students are entitled to their fundamental rights to worship without any hindrance.

Pastor Samwel Makori, the church Executive Secretary, says the harassment, intimidation, bullying and punishment of Adventist students has escalated to distressing levels.

"In July 2012, Alliance Boys' High suspended two Adventist students who declined to attend Saturday classes and, therefore, failed to take exams which were conducted on that day," says Makori.

The clergyman said from 2011 onwards, public schools in a variety of ways sought to restrict and in some instances wholly curtail the opportunities available for Adventist students to worship and fellowship during the Sabbath hours, he added.

He claimed that Adventist students were being denied the right to practice their faith in accordance with the fundamental tenets of their religion.

"In all these schools, adherents of other Christian faiths whose day of worship is on Sunday are given the full opportunity and facilities to practice their faith in accordance with the fundamental tenets their respective churches," Makori says.

The complaints have been raised to the affected schools by parents of affected students and local church pastors with very little success, the Church petition says.

But Alliance High School in response denies the allegations. The school principal David Kariuki says it has always allowed SDA students to practice their religious beliefs.

"The school has since its founding 87 years ago afforded students of all faiths, SDA students included, reasonable and ample programmes to worship as is appropriate and within the carefully designed school programmes which take into account students of all faiths," says Kariuki.

Court orders

The school wants to be given an opportunity to participate in the proceedings because the orders sought directly affects the administration of Alliance High School as well as its programmes.

"We are apprehensive the court may issue orders against the school without giving him an opportunity to be heard," said Mr Kariuki.

The court directed the school to respond to the petition within seven days. The case will be mentioned on June 6 when Justice Lenaola will give further directions.

 

THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN

FAMILY LIFE BY PROF. R T MUGERWA

After the fall by our first parents sin entered this world. The God informed the three the consequences of the decisions that they made and everyone received their own share of the curse!

THE SERPENT: Genesis 3:14-15  So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.  ¹⁵ And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

THE WOMAN: Genesis 3:16  To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

THE MAN: Genesis 3:17-19  To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.  ¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.  ¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

They all had new masters the serpent had to deal with a hatred from the humans, the woman was to be ruled by the man, and the man was to be a subject to ground!

From then it has become a constant battle in this world to fight these consequences of sin. The serpent is going as far as possible to escape the wrath from the humans, the man is in a daily struggle working hard to make sure that he conquers his curse and have a comfortable life where the ground doesn't pronounce to him that death to him, his struggles is a result of many initiatives that are aimed at making this world better and fight the curse. And he has succeeded in making it better and at a time of climate change man is in struggle to minimize the effects of the curse.

Now why is it a sin when women try to fight their curse in having their original state before in when man her husband hadn't been given authority over her? Why is her quest seen as a struggle with Gods law?

Aren't men erring in the struggle to make women remain in the state where sin put them? Why is it so difficult for men to accept women's quest to have their freedom back as a result for what sin brought?

I know traditions have played a big role here especially with tribe like Luo and Kalenjin which put a woman in the same level as children, when they come to the bible and find a verse that announces women to be subject to men they thank the sin and accelerate the curse by using the bible to stop any attempt by women to rise beyond their curse and become independent.

By men standing in the way of women from being ministers they are erring, as it is right to try to make the cursed ground fertile by applying FERTILIZER the women have a right to fight their curse state of being subject to men and be independent.

BEING A SEASONED ADVENTIST

"And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid." (Mark 7:24).
In this story among the lessons derived is tribalism!
But i am inspired to see a problem common in our midst. Jesus after Had a long day dealing with Religious guyz and His followers He decided ohh no He craved for privacy, which He never recieved, moved to a cursed land (for Him He know there was no different but for them who were after to challange Him couldnt set a foot in the land) just to have privacy where no one can see or trouble him.
At times i have seen guyz attatched to a perticular local church to an extend the church becomes a family and that even if moves to another place they travel even 100km to maintain the contacts! This is nice but having a fellowship that can impact its members that much its good! But our goal is to have a global church that is warm and welcoming members from all our churches!
Therefore we need to be seasoned church members with a faith that isnt limited to space, location or conveniences!
Wouldn't you be a global member fitting any church and making yourself at home! God help us!

A VERY TOUCHING STORY THE FAITHFUL DOG

A VERY TOUCHING STORY***THE FAITHFUL DOG

A dog was so faithful that the woman could leave her baby with it and go out to attend other matters. She always returned to find the child soundly asleep with the dog faithfully watching over him. One day something tragic happened.

The woman as usual, left the baby in the "hands" of this faithful dog and went out shopping. When she returned, she discovered rather a nasty scene, there was a total mess. The baby's cot was dismantled, his nappies & clothes torn to shreds with blood stains all over the bedroom where she left the child & the dog. Shocked, the woman wailed as she began looking for the baby.

All of a sudden, she saw the faithful dog emerging from under the bed. It was covered with blood and licking it's mouth as if it had just finished a delicious meal. The woman got angry and assumed that the dog had devoured her baby. Without much thought she beat the dog with a wood to death. But as she continued searching for the"remains" of her child, she beheld another scene.

Close to the bed was the baby who, although lying bare floor, was safe & under the bed where the body of a snake was torn to pieces in what had been a fierce battle between the snake and the dog which was now dead. Then reality dawned on d woman who now began to understand what took place in her absence. The dog fought to protect the baby from the ravenous snake.

It was too late for her now to make amends because in her impatience and anger,she had killed the faithful dog. How often have we misjudged people and torn them to shreds with harsh words and deeds before we have had time to evaluate the situation?.

This is called SIN OF PRESUMPTION Presuming things our way without taking the trouble to find out exactly what the situation really is. Little patience can drastically reduce major life long mistakes. Who Are You misjudging right now?. Don't think what you think others are thinking, Take time to get the whole truth.

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LOVE UR MUM ALWAYS EVEN WHEN YOU MARRY

A poor couple who lived in a small village in Southern KENYA. They had only one son. Gave him the education they managed . Son graduated as an Engineer in the nearby University. Eventually, got married to a rich girl. Initially, they lived with his parents in the village.

Soon the wife got tired of village life and persuaded the husband to move to the city leaving the old parents in the village. ... As time passed by the husband saw an advert in the newspaper about a vacancy in Juba (Sudan).

The Mother prayed for him a blessing and told him not to forget them. He was successful and lived in Juba for years with his wife. Regularly he used to send money to parents. Eventually with time he stopped and forgot about his parents ever existed. Every sunday he went to church to pray God and immediately after t hat he used to see someone telling him in a dream that his Prayer was not accepted.

One day he related story to his Pastor who advised him to go back to Kenya to visit his parents. The man flew to Sudan and reached the boundary of the village. Everything had changed. He could not locate his parents' house.

He asked a young boy about the where abouts of his parents. The boy directed the man to a house and said: "In this house lives an old blind lady who lost her husband five years ago. I also hear people saying that, She has a son who migrated to Sudan 40 years ago and never came back again." the boy continued, "The Old lady has been crying, longing to see his son"

Son kept quiet and enterered the home and finds his mother on the bed. He tip-toed as not to wake her up. He hears the mother whispering or mumbling something. He gets closer to hear her voice. This is what the mother was saying: "God ! I am now very old and blind. My husband just died. There is NO HUSBAND to lower me in my grave when I die. So please send my only son to fullfill my last wish. "

This is the ending of a story where the PRAYERS of a mother is accepted. A human body can bear only 45 del (unit) of pain. But at the time of giving birth, a mother feels up to 57 del(unit) of pain. This is similar to 20BONES GETTING FRACTURED, all at the same time!!

LOVE UR MUM ALWAYS EVEN WHEN YOU MARRY REMEMBER HER ALWAYS.

NOTE: WE ONLY HAVE ONE MUM.

SPONSORED STORY BY:

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YOU ARE WELCOMED.

 

 

 

 

 

MUIC

Have a Blessed and Hilarious Day.

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This is worth reading, register as a voter today to make a difference

When I lived in Kibera, I shared my modest crib with Onyango,Kimani, Kipngeno,Mutisya and Abdi. Abdi and Kimani shared a bed because Abdi was new to the city.

The only thing that seperated our "bedrooms" was a "leso", an old dirty bed sheet and a black polythene sheet that Mutisya had picked on his way from Industrial area.

We shared everything and we showered in shifts and on alternate Sundays. Life was hard but we were happy.

Kimani pushed mkoko at Marigiti and in the evening he will come home with a mixture of almost everything that was sold at the market.

From it, we made a stew. Everyday it tasted distinctly different and authentic even though the ingredients remained the same, the quantity varied.

Sometimes the pilipili or dania will be in plenty hence the taste of the day.

We listened to Kameme together and KBC salamu za hodi hodi together and shared ushindi bar soap for washing and geisha Kubwa for bat
hing. Played draught at weekends.

In short we were more than brothers, and we remained so for 5 years until the elections were called. It was time to part ways.

We got new identities jaluo, mkamba, kaleo, sapere,walalo and Banye. Identifying ourselves with the rich politicians we shared a language with was the thing,

not the poor we had been with for years.

The wealthy man from my tribe won the election I headed to the same room I had shared for five years with people of my class, albeit with some election posters to deco our crib.

Mheshimiwa headed for Grand Regency to celebrate. That night we slept without food.

After a while things came back to normal we were back to sharing everything with Abdi, musyoka Onyango etc. Whenever there was bereavement amongst us, we all attended.

Just the poor people. Mheshimiwa was busy on the beach. But when Mheshimiwa got bereaved I mourned for him for weeks, even though I won't be let to go past his gate.

When he engaged in Corruption, I defended him fiercely just because he spoke my Language, to cut short.....I voted for mheshimiwa, he lives big but life for me, Onyango, Kimani, Abdi is still the same.

What if we had voted for one of us regardless of his tribe, could life be different??????? Identify with your own true tribe. RICH or POOR are the real tribes of Kenya.

However the latter are the Majority and are ruled by the minority.

Poor people rise up and fight for your rights Did you know the only common thing between you and your much cherished Mheshimiwa is the language.

Nothing else NOTHING!!!!!!!!! But the list of common things you share with Musyoka, Onyango, Abdi is endless.

Think and Educate other Kenyans and ask them to join www.muicbook.com
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MUIC
Have a Blessed and Hilarious Day.

GLASS OF MILK

He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his
nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door.

Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water! .. She thought he looked
hungry so brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it so slowly, and
then asked, How much do I owe you?"
don't owe me anything," she replied. "Mother has taught us never to accept
pay for a kindness."

He said .. "Then I thank you from my heart."

As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but
his faith in God and man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and
quit.

Many year's later that same young woman became critically ill. The local
doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they
called in specialists to study her rare disease.

Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name
of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes.

Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room.

Dressed in his doctor's gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at
once.

He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her
life. >From that day he gave special attention to her case.

After a long struggle, the battle was won.

Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for
approval. He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge and the bill
was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take
the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally she looked, and something
caught her attention on the side of the bill. She read these words ..

"Paid in full with one glass of milk"

(Signed) Dr. Howard Kelly.

Tears of joy flooded her eyes as her happy heart prayed: "Thank You, God,
that Your love has spread broad through human hearts and hands."

There's a saying which goes something like this: Bread cast on the waters
comes back to you. The good deed you do today may benefit you or someone
you love at the least expected time. If you never see the deed again at
least you will have made the world a better place - And, after all, isn't
that what life is all about?