Newsletter 5th March 2019

A big thank you to all our sponsors and the members of Christian House Sitters who generously gave gifts to help with Christmas food and clothes and Secondary School expenses.

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DECEMBER
December is always a really hectic month at Home of Peace. All the children are on holiday from school so need to be looked after all day, every day. This involves sports activities, clubs and loads of extra work for our wonderful staff.

Christmas at Home of Peace

It is also the month when school exam results come out and we find out which of our standard 8 children will need to go to Secondary School in January.

Each of our 21 secondary students has to have £400 spent on their Secondary School uniforms, equipment and school fees. This year that alone cost us an additional £8,400

We thought we would have sufficient designated sponsorship to cover this cost because for the past 3 years a Christian Family Charity has sponsored 6 students each year. As per normal, we sent them a letter in early November reminding them that the students needed to be sponsored for the coming year and the money was needed by the end of Dec. No reply was received. But that is not unusual. They never seem to confirm just send the cheque at the last minute. On the 29th of December, 5 days before the new school started we received a letter saying they had decided not to support the children this time

JANUARY
Praise God for protection
.

After the hectic December, we thought once the children and secondary students were back at school we could take a deep relaxing breath. On the 17th of January, our Administrator, Erick, was involved in a road traffic accident. Erick needed to go by bus to Nairobi for Home of Peace business. The bus was involved in an accident and he suffered a bad cut to his head that required hospitalisation and stitches.
He wrote saying:

Coming back we got an accident in Gilgil I get harm on my head and I spent night and day in hospital and back home yesterday morning.
I could die that day but God protect me. Big truck hit the bus we bordered from Nairobi.It hit by our back and mirrors were on my side.I really praise God I am still alive today.

FEBRUARY

February was a difficult month in many ways. Money simply did not arrive as expected and needed. When the due date arrived to send money for food, wages, etc we simply did not have enough and we had to tell them we would send what we had and send the rest as soon as God provided.

The next night as we were going to bed we were still very short. The phone rang and it was a wonderful Christian friend who wanted the full details and ended by saying that he would personally deposit what was still needed into our charity bank account. Thank you God for answered prayer and provision for these vulnerable children.

One of our girls was able to leave Home of Peace at the end of last year because she is now over 18 years old so are now an adult Also another two children left Home of Peace because their family situation was now improved and their family were able to take them back.

One boy aged 16 left because we could not send him to a boarding school for his secondary education. We could not do it because it would cost double the price of normal secondary school. His Mother said he must return home and that she will somehow raise the money to send him to boarding school as she believes that will make it much easier for him to get into university later. After discussion with the Dept of Children’s Services his return home was approved.

The Department of Children’s Services has allocated us an additional 5 children who have arrived in the past 2 weeks. These are all children with very real needs and who were urgently in need of being taken into a safe place.

We thank God for the privilege of looking after these children and giving them the opportunity to live a full and productive life. BUT they each need clothes, school uniforms, school fees, beds and bedding and so on. This will cost money that, at present, we simply do not have.

GOING FORWARD

Moving ahead we are asking God to raise a group of business people who are willing to form a Finance Committee with responsibility for helping generate funds for the extra expenses. Things like secondary school expenses, maintenance of the buildings and the van, and other items. They would hopefully also take responsibility for trying to find funding sources and submitting grant applications on behalf of TLC Children’s Trust.

If you feel that this may be something you can get involved in doing please let us know. It does not matter where you live as meetings can easily be conducted online. This may be a way that God wants to use your experience and skill.

We also really need additional regular monthly donors.

Your Church

Would your church be willing to allow time for us to make a short presentation either in person or via a video?

(Ray is happy to travel anywhere to share about this ministry and if he is asked to preach at your church but his travelling expenses would need to be fully covered.)

When churches catch the vision we find that they not only give but even more important it creates a new group of Christians who will stand with us in prayer.

To support this work in any way please

May God richly bless you
Love in Jesus
Marilyn & Ray