Martin and Mary Print, Footsteps International.We visited Kenya for 3 weeks in August. We thank God for a safe visit which was simultaneously encouraging, challenging, busy and restful! The violence following the election has ceased, but the legacy includes inflation, increased unemployment, a drop in tourism, and many thousands still unwilling to return to their homes for fear of persecution.
Church on the Rock School and Sewing Project, Kware
We met Bernard and Ruth and spent the morning with them in the Kware slum, Nairobi. They were well, and bright and optimistic as always. Ruth’s father had been killed recently – mown down by a vehicle while walking along the road.
Many of the classes at the school were being taught, even though it was holiday time. Some were doing revision; some may have come in just because we were visiting! The sewing project was ‘on holiday.’We spent time talking (and videoing) a pupil called Janet, and subsequently visited her home – a one room tin shack which she shared with her parents and 4 siblings. It was pitch black inside until Janet lit a flickering paraffin lamp. Cooking took place over a charcoal stove (jiko) in the corner of the room.
Inflation has dramatically increased the costs of foodstuffs. Specific items that Bernard and Ruth requested (in addition to general prayer for continued success in what they are doing) were:
• Money to provide a fifth day of school lunches
• Money for revision books for the school (£240)
• Money to repair the school toilets which were blocked (£500)
Naivasha – Sunshine Rehabilitation Centre
Progress on the construction of the new buildings has slowed dramatically, with a dormitory, staff accommodation and a dining hall still to be built. The accommodation they have provided
is of good quality.We are now looking after 75 boys, around 20 having joined over recent months to replace the older boys who have moved on (and some children who have returned to the streets). One long-standing staff member (Grace) has just resigned, leaving Simon’s wife Rebecca ( ‘Mama Chege’) very short-handed. On one day she had to work on her own cooking for the boys – the other staff being sick or on holiday.
We had great fun with the boys – taking them for a long walk to Lake Naivasha (about 9 miles return) which ended up with most of them swimming in the lake. We also organised a mini-Olympics for them, plus the inevitable games of football!
We met about a dozen of the older boys who are now out ‘at work.’ This was simultaneously very encouraging and very sad. Most of the boys are working, with varying degrees of success. However, they were all struggling. In October last year, many of them had been earning good money helping build the new Sunshine Home. Since then, the work has dried up, and many have used up their savings to support families during the troubles earlier in the year. We spent time with them, encouraging them, praying with them, and offering to make a loan fund available to help them buy items needed to run their businesses. Several of them have now submitted business plans which we are evaluating.
Kamau and Jennifer (who married last summer) now have a lovely daughter called Veronica, and, Mark and Naomi (who married in February) are expecting their first baby soon (it arrived on 13th September – a baby girl; they are all well).
Specific items we were asked to help and pray for included:
• Financial resources to continue the work. We have simultaneously been affected by inflation (30%+), and adverse exchange rates (down 15%) having a combined impact of over 40% on budgeted costs.
• Establishment of a small business loan fund to help the older boys set up sustainable businesses.
• Water conservation measures which seem ever more critical if we are to offset the effects of the variable rainfall.
Naivasha Polytechnic
Although it was officially holiday time, there was a lot of activity at the Polytechnic. Simon had offered 40 young people from the nearby refugee camp places on training courses. Tearfund (Holland) agreed to fund these, and Footsteps put in the money to pay for their lunches as it was too far for them to go ‘home’ each day. This influx of trainees has to some extent offset the drop in recruitment that followed the violence at the turn of the year.
We met the young ‘Internally Displaced People’ (or IDPs as they are called) at the Polytechnic, and then went with two of them to visit their ‘homes’ in the camp. They are living in tents provided by the UN, with food being provided by the Red Cross. We met and talked to the mothers of a boy called Jackson, and a girl called Dorcas. It was a very moving experience. Although the camp was well organised, the people had only the possessions that they had been able to carry with them as they fled. However, they were all full of trust that God would provide for them, having saved them from being killed in the violence.
Francis Kagotho, one of the Sunshine Boys who is orphaned and tends to run back to the streets, has now enrolled on a welding course and is doing well.
Specific items we were asked to help and pray for included:
• Financial resources to continue the work. The same factors mentioned above apply to the Polytechnic.
• Prayer that Tearfund (Holland) will continue to support the project. They supply around 40% of the funding needed to keep the project viable.
Global Intercessory Prayer Group
Joseph Sundra, the chairman of the Polytechnic board of Governors, has been inspired to start a multi-denominational prayer group in Naivasha. It started meeting a couple of weeks before we arrived, but the occasion of our visit was an opportunity for a formal launch, complete with a parade in the streets (which we did not attend) then an afternoon of speeches and prayer, plus cutting of cake.
Please pray that the group will help unite the various churches and tribes in the Naivasha area.
Tumaini Children’s Home and schools, MombasaThe ‘TKs’ are doing well. The next big step for Jael and Vivian is where next after school finishes this December? Jael is not very academic; Vivian seems to have given up the idea of being a doctor (probably she won’t get the very high grades needed), and was talking of accountancy instead. She still writes and sings lovely songs, and was talking of learning the keyboard so she can accompany herself.
We met Bernard Mwangangi, the son of one of the guards at Tumaini who has really enjoyed his motor mechanics course (which Footsteps sponsored). He is now doing an industrial attachment at the police garage, and we gave him money to start a driving course. A mechanic who can drive has the potential to secure a good job in Kenya.
Mwinyi, the disabled boy for whom we bought a tricycle, had stopped coming to school. We found out that his mother had moved to the other end of the village (about 1 mile from the school) to live with (yet another) new man. We tracked them down, and encouraged him to come back to school.
Finally, the remaining three classrooms at the high school are nearly complete; construction had to cease as Education for Life ran out of funds, but they will re-commence shortly as they have now received a donation from a UK church.
Port Reitz Clinic, Mombasa
We visited Port Reitz Clinic and toured the hospital for disabled children. We took books into the wards and spoke to the staff. The books were a great hit with the young children, especially the bored children who are confined to their beds!
Bombolulu Wheelchair Centre, Mombasa
We visited the APDK wheelchair centre at Bombolulu and met old friends such as Paul, Lucy, Matthew Lukindo, and the disabled workers in the workshop. Things have been very tough because tourism has fallen away sharply as a result of the violence. We bought two wheelchairs, leaving Matthew to decide who should receive them!
Hope for the Hopeless
We met Moses and Lillian Otieno while we were in Mombasa. Moses manages the support we give to orphans and poor families in Lake Victoria. The support is providing vital help at very difficult times for these families, especially as the harvest has been poor.
