TLC Children's Trust News Update 30th January 2018
Happy New Year to you all.
This letter is full of wonderful news. Please join us in saying thanks to God.
Praise God that He provided all we needed for Christmas and New Year. most of this was from the once a year appeal to members of Christian House Sitters.
As a result, we were able to provide the money for a celebratory Christmas and New Year meal for our children, staff and their children. We were also able to buy each child a new outfit and clothes for the staff.
Val & Keith Norton ( 2 of our trustees) ran a Christmas Craft Stall and raised money so we could buy the staff children an outfit for Christmas.
We now have 14 students at Secondary School. Their annual school fees have to be paid in advance and they each needed a bicycle to reach the school which is some miles from Home of Peace, a school uniform, books etc. This worked out at £375 per student. Once again our God showed that he is faithful and the final student was sponsored for the year 2 days before Christmas.
In previous newsletters we have mentioned the need for a vehicle for Home of Peace as it is situated far away from all the shops, banks, clinics, doctors, etc. so when they need anything they had have to phone for either a TutTut (a motorbike taxi) or for a hire car.
These then eventually arrive from town and transport them.
Far from ideal and really expensive but also dangerous. For example, if a child or member of staff was injured or became very ill at night it would take hours to get them to medical help. Even during the day, it would involve a wait of at least an hour on a good day or longer if they were busy.
God touched the heart of a Christian Charity (who asked not to be named) and they donated £5,000 to buy Home of Peace a good SUV.
Our Manager, James and our Administrator, Erick, looked at what was available locally but there was nothing suitable within our price range. Erick’s brother, Samuel, works in Nairobi which is a much bigger city and therefore has a far better range of available vehicles and better prices because there is more competition. He kindly took time off work and went around looking to see what was available and found a very nice Toyota SUV 8 seater with a recently reconditioned engine and in a very nice condition.
We, therefore, arranged for Erick and James to travel to Nairobi by bus ( an 8-hour journey) and they inspected the vehicle as well. They also arranged for an independent mechanic to check it over.
On the advice of the mechanics, there were a couple of minor repairs needed and the vehicle needed a full service, oil change, new plugs, etc.Going to Nairobi saved us £1,000. With insurance, Road Tax and other expenses this cost us £5,240.
This was all done and they arrived back safely at Home of Peace late on Saturday the 13th. Having driven all the way from Nairobi to the home and they were able to really find out how good the vehicle was and they were delighted with the way it performed.
On the Sunday they arranged for that some of the leaders from the local church to come to Home of Peace and lay hands on the vehicle and pray that it will be used safely and in the way and that is glorifying to the Lord.
Before Christmas we were told that Creech St Michael Baptist Church in Taunton was going to be taking up a special Christmas Love Offering for Home of Peace. Ray was given a chance to tell the members about the work and we were praying that they would raise enough to buy each child a new mattress
The SUV was a wonderful answer to prayer and is already making a significant difference but we were still concerned as we needed to buy new mattresses for all the students and children which we hoped would be covered by the Christmas love gift from the church. We were also told that all the children and students needed blankets as most of them have torn and worn out. The mattresses and blankets would have cost about £2,000.
The 44 Primary school children needed Jumpers and their school fees paid, the secondary school students who cycle miles to school every day needed a raincoat. We also needed money for replanting the farm and also for some maintenance work on the buildings.
We really needed a second house father as the male house fathers also do security at night and they do maintenance work during the day and then play games like football with the boys on a Saturday and during school holidays.
So as you can see we really needed a lot of money.
To be honest our faith has not been as strong as it should have been but we had a wonderful answer to prayer.
The church Christmas Love Offering came to much more than the church expected! Even the church leaders were amazed.
This means we can pay for everything we need and employ the extra house father putting his wages in the bank for the next 12 months and drawing it out each month.
Marilyn was sobbing and saying sorry to God for not for trusting him to provide everything at the right time.
Marilyn was thrilled to receive all this just before her 70th birthday (tomorrow 31st Jan). We also praise God as just over 5 years ago the medical experts did not expect her to live because of the previous surgery that had ‘gone wrong’ but a Professor of surgery took a chance, operated and by a miracle she is still here and working with Home of Peace on a daily basis.
We thank God for people who He has touched and who have a real vision for this ministry.
The monthly regular expenses naturally continue. A normal month, if there are no unexpected expenses, costs about £3,500 with food for 58 children and 16 staff, staff wages, medical expenses, medical insurance for our children and staff, staff pension payments, transport, firewood, etc.
Please prayerfully consider supporting this with an occasional one-off gift or by monthly standing order.
Please keep praying for this ministry.
God bless you,
Ray & Marilyn