TLC Children's Trust Next Friday we will be driving up to Yorkshire for a week to see our Trustees Val & Keith Norton. Normally we can keep in touch by email, telephone and SMS or WhatsApp messages but ideally, we should see them at least once a year. We are looking forward to this as they are also our very good friends and wonderful trustees. They work hard fund raising for Home of Peace throughout the year.
They will be running a stand at Aldborough Christmas Event next Saturday to raise funds for Home of Peace. Please pray for this as the fair is out in the street and there will be a lot of Christmas stalls with canopies to protect them from the weather. Pray for no strong winds or heavy rain. We will be posting some pictures to the Home of Peace Facebook page after the event so be sure to visit the site and click ‘like’ as that will ensure you get all Facebook updates
A lot has happened since our last newsletter! We will try to give you a few of the highlights and will not be going over the normal routine things that you no doubt know about from past updates
Thing have been ’interesting’ as the cost of living has increased worldwide. In Kenya our food bill has gone up by about 60%. That is an essential we can’t reduce!
This at the same time that people around the world have been struggling and sadly some have found it necessary to reduce their giving.
We want to thank God for all those of you who have been so faithful in your giving. I do not know how we have managed but somehow God has always provided (often at the last minute)
Your gifts make it possible for us to look after, feed, accommodate, clothe, educate, and provide medical care for all the students and children many of them would otherwise have been left to starve to death.
Thanks to your support they now end up educated, healthy and well adjusted. Previous 3 students have gone on to university, others have trained at Tech College and qualified in hair dressing, beauty, tailoring, and electrical work, etc. These now have a live and it is largely thanks to the generous, often sacrificial, support of people like you. God bless you.
Clarification we refer to those in Secondary School as students rather than children and we say Children for those who are below Secondary School. All our students complete form 4 as this is very important in order to get a decent job.
Our staff are all paid a basic wage as stipulated by the Kenyan Government and in addition we pay their medical insurance, pension contributions and the 52 staff children all receive a gift of maize every month with sufficient to feed them for the month. The staff work 5 days a week and get 3 meals a day when they are working.
ELECTION
In August Kenya held their Presidential Election. Sadly, the country has a past record of pre and post election riots, violence and killings. We thank God that we did not experience any problems this time even though there was a change of President.
Naturally we do not get involved in politics and we always tell our staff that they should not allow political differences to influence their behaviour, but we must say we were encouraged to read that the new President says he has a history as an evangelist, and so does his wife and they both claim to be strong Christians. He says he will try to put Christian values first.
President of Kenya
His Excellency Hon.William Ruto PhD., C.G.H.
COURT COMMITTAL
All the children at Home of Peace need to be checked and recommitted to our care on a regular basis by the Children’s Court. The committals are for 3 years at a time unless something unexpected happens during that time. In August the Children’s Court and the Dept of Children’s Services examined all our children’s records and we received confirmation of the committal of them all.
All our children and students are with us by order of the Children’s Court.
On the 1st of September the Dept of Children’s Services and the Court had to allocate us an additional 7 children who were in desperate need. Sorry we obviously can’t give the details. We created additional space by moving those who had turned 18 and were just finishing their final school year into other accommodation next door to Home of Peace. So, 7 more school uniforms, 7 more school fees and books, 7 more sets of clothing, 7 more to feed and the list goes on but we believe God sent them and He knew what He was doing so we trusted Him to bless them and supply their needs. Praise God He did in the most amazing way. We thank God for all who were involved.
STORM
There was a severe storm at Home of Peace during the night of the 26 of September. It damaged local houses in the surrounding community and sadly badly damaged the one dormitory roof. We managed to get the roof fixed quickly. The builder we use is honest, fast and does a good job.
KENYAN TRUSTEES
Our Kenyan Trustees of Home of Peace Children’s Home meet every few months to monitor the work, make suggestions and report back to us in the UK. They also individually visit as often as they like and can inspect anything without prior notice.
The meetings last for a few hours and also involve informal chats over lunch and an opportunity to visit everything at Home of Peace and chat to the staff.
In the pictures you will see
James, our previous Manager who has retired and is Chair of our Kenyan Trustees
Mary known as the Prayer Warrior. She is a wonderful lady in her 80’s
Samuel. Our Technical Expert who checks all the electrical, building and plumbing and very often repairs things himself as a gift to the work. He is in demand all over Kenya doing contract work for Kenya Power.
Behind the computer is Kevin our fantastic Senior Manager. Unseen is Erick our Purchasing Manager, because he took the pictures. Erick saves us money always getting us wonderful bargains.
DAYCARE
We provide a DayCare facility for our pre-school children and for the children of our staff at Home of Peace. The DayCare looks after our youngest children and those attending ECD (Early Childhood Development) classes after they finish their 2 hour ECD session.
Hellen manages the Day-care.
In October we moved the DayCare from outside of Erick & Hellen’s house to its own room at Home of Peace (see photo) as this is safer, easier to supervise and better for everyone.
The inside has been painted and the tiled floor laid and during the holidays members of the Art Club will draw and paint pictures on the walls which you will see in the next newsletter.
EXAMS
Do you have children who have sat exams? Do you remember when you sat exams?
A stressful time!
Here is a message we received from Kevin, our Senior Manager.
Our children in primary school will be sitting for their exams from the 28th of November 2022. Please pray for them as they undergo their eight-year test.
Our secondary school students in Ndori will be sitting for their final form four examinations from the 2nd of December 2022. Please Pray for them.
DECEMBER
No we have not yet reached December still a few days to go but we need to plan ahead. The secondary students, the primary school children and the ECD children are all on holiday for 2 months. Please pray for our hard-working staff.
Christmas and New Year are fast approaching. Every year we try to give the staff, students and children a special celebration meal with treats, and we try to give every child and student a gift of clothing. If we are able, we would like to give the 10 youngest children each a small toy which will be something very special to them.
Most of the funds for this traditionally come from the wonderful members of Christian House Sitters BUT sadly due to the Covid restrictions on travel over the past couple of years coupled with the problems of inflation and a massive increase in living costs we lost a lot of members so if you feel that you would like to help us cover the cost of this important time please mark your donation ‘Christmas Celebration’
Any help greatly appreciated.
To send a gift for Christmas / New Year
or the running costs of Home of Peace.
God bless you,
Love in Jesus,
Marilyn & Ray