Faculty and graduates on graduation day- Dec 20th
This month, we celebrated the first graduating class of 5 Family Medicine residents from Kabarak University. On the day of the medical school launch in 2015, Stephanie shared one incoming resident’s story: 
Dr. Boaz from Burundi is no stranger to hardship. In 1994 his father moved the family to DRC for concern for their safety amidst the Hutu/Tutsi conflict. At the age of 10, instead of being in school, he and his brothers did sold goods in the streets to survive. At a young age, Dr. Boaz witnessed preventable deaths from diarrhea and other illness when he lived in a refugee camp- the seed to study medicine was planted. After losing his father and brothers in the war as they attempted to travel from DRC back to Burundi, God sent people to water that seed in Boaz- a Burundian pastor, missionaries from Korea and the US and family members all contributed to seeing that Boaz finished secondary school and medical school in Burundi.
Four years later at his graduation from residency training, we marvel at how much Boaz has matured professionally and spiritually. We are so proud of the four men and one woman from our pioneer class of family physicians– equipped for whole person care as primary care leaders and change agents in under served communities. Four new residents started in September, and we are now the largest Family Medicine residency program in the country

 Across the street at the OneLife campus, we are preparing for another graduation celebration. Next week, a team from Redeemer Lutheran Church in MD will return for their 9^thtrip to kick off our 3-month LEAD program for those who just graduated from high school. We’ll also invite our FIRST graduating class of university students from OneLife Africa to join the great celebration banquet- the first time for a dual graduation celebration.

Otherwise on the home front, the kids all started at a new British school 15 minutes down the road last September. Having the Eastvolds around allowed us to take our December holiday camp for OLA high school students to a whole new level! Our families have traveled together these past few months- to Andrew’s home village in Western Kenya and the beautiful beach at the Indian Ocean. Jonathan and Boaz have become our fearless swimmers, while Peter dreams of growing dreadlocks and learning how to play the piano.
Pics below: First day of school; December student holiday camp; camp counsellors in Eastvolds apartment; boat ride on Lake Victoria (Andrew’s home) to see hippos; kids tree climbing at Andrew’s elementary school; taking the kids horse backing riding at Lake Naivasha; at the beach where Bo finally faced his fear of the camel; typical days at OneLife

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas season with family and friends. We sure enjoyed our Kenyan Christmas this year with our family at Kabarak (Andrew’s Aunt Jennifer & Uncle Samuel), the OneLife community and a feast for the construction workers!

There is never a dull (or quiet) moment in our household- which is still on campus at Kabarak University. We hope we’ll be writing our next update from our new house at OneLife, located above the Eastvolds apartment. May your New Year also be blessed and filled with adventure!
 
Thank you for partnering with us in so many ways.
 
Serving with you,
Andrew & Stephanie Onguka
Jonathan (7), Peter (5) and Boaz (3)

[Would you consider if you are able to sponsor one of these students at $1,000 a year for 4 years of high school education, spiritual and leadership development? If so, we want to hear from you since we make every effort to be intentional in our pairings of students and donors.]

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