TLC Children's Trust Happy New Year to all our wonderful supporters.
Christmas and new year are always an exciting time at Home of Peace and this year was no exception. Thanks to the generosity of our, Trustees, Supporters and members of Christian House Sitters we were able to supply Home of Peace with a special Christmas and new year meal and with a gift of clothing for each of the children and students and a gift for each member of staff and a small gift for each of the staff children as well.
OLD BUILDING DIED
When we took over running Home of Peace there was just one small building. It had been paid for by Life Community Baptist Church in Horsham, England.
Since then, in order to be a registered Children’s Home we have had to build many new rooms and facilities and they have all been built to a high standard using brick and cement. These include four dormitories (each with an attached staff bedroom for the housemother or house father), a sick bay and first aid room, a kitchen, a dining room, the Social Workers house (originally our nursery room but later converted), toilets with wash rooms, a laundry room, bicycle storage, etc.
The old building continued to serve. It had been repaired and repainted but 11 years later it was still serving as our storeroom, our social workers office, and as our second dining room.
Sadly it died. It had never been properly built with bricks and cement just with wood and mud plastered and painted so we were amazed how well it had lasted but sadly the weather and termites eventually destroyed much of the structure even though we had done our best to maintain it.
NEW BUILDING
As a result of the generosity of a lovely, faithful Christian couple who support Home of Peace every month we were able to commission builders to remove the old building and build something more suitable in its place. They felt God was leading them to make this amazing gift. This was a tremendous answer to prayer.
After the work was almost completed a charity, Foxglove Trust, very kindly agreed to pay to have the floors tiled so that they would be much more hygienic, and longer lasting. Foxglove have been a wonderful ongoing support to this work.
| VAL & KEITH In October, Val & Keith our wonderful Trustees, held a fund raising afternoon tea and as a result were able to send £620 to Home of Peace. Then in December they arranged another fund raiser for Christmas and a friend of theirs also held a fund raiser and together they managed to raise over £1,000 for Home of Peace which was amazing. They are an special couple and together with their family and friends are a tremendous blessing. If you think you may like to arrange something like that and you would like some advice let us know and we will ask Val to contact you. EDUCATION Education is vitally important for all of the children and students who are at Home of Peace as they realise that without a good education the cycle of poverty and deprivation that landed them in a children’s home will simply continue. However, with a good education, they stand a far better chance of being able to go on and make a success of the rest of their lives. Covid caused chaos. The whole school year was disrupted, and terms were changed and in the end the school year which normally would begin in January ended up starting in July but God provided. Our children are doing very well at primary school. The older students are doing well at secondary school and at Technical College. We are delighted that there are 7 students going to Technical College because this equips them with the training to be able to get a decent job. At the moment we have students training in hairdressing and beauty therapy, electrical installation, and dressmaking and tailoring. Four of the Technical College students should be able to leave Home of Peace within the next few weeks and start their lives in the ‘real world ‘. We are not able to continue supporting them once they have left Home of Peace but what we do is we allow them to keep the bicycle that they have been using to get to and from college and also give them a gift for the first two months after they leave so that they have an opportunity to get themselves established and buy the equipment that they will need. We know that the department of children services have other children lined up that they are longing to send to us as soon as these have left and made space available. The secondary school students who have pursued the academic pathways are also doing extremely well and we were thrilled this year to have our first student go on to university. He had done so well that he was offered a bursary to cover part of his fees and one of our sponsors very generously offered to cover the remainder of his fees and living expenses etc for the four years that he will be studying for his degree. He is loving the new experience and it is also providing motivation and inspiration to the rest of the students to see that there are ways in which God can provide a future for them. HOME of PEACE STAFF The staff at Home of Peace work extremely hard and do a wonderful job and I know that they would appreciate your prayers. |
| FINAL COMMENTS Marilyn, continues to be in constant contact with the Home of Peace management Team on a daily basis supervising and helping with any problems that come up. She feels that God called her to this work, and He will give her the strength and ability to continue. Please pray for her. Pray also for Ray as he has the difficult job as our Treasurer and Trustee The financial needs are naturally ongoing. It costs a lot of money to feed 56 children, plus all the members of staff, plus pay staff salaries, plus medical expenses, plus overhead such as fuel, gas, et cetera. Then there is the cost of clothing, bedding, school fees, uniforms, books and education supplies. Not forgetting ongoing maintenance costs. In addition all the staff get a monthly supply of maize for all their children. Between them they have 50 children. We are totally dependent on God to supply this money and so if you feel that this is something you would like to be involved in or like to get your friends or church involved in please let us know. To support this ministry with a one-off gift or on a regular basis please Click Here May God richly bless you, Love in Jesus, Marilyn and Ray. PS For more frequent brief updates visit and ‘like’ our Facebook Page Click Here |
