NEWS

TUESDAY, 26TH FEBRUARY 2008
ALMOST TWO MONTHS have passed since the fateful Election Results began to come and change the face of this quiet and happy land. Two months commencing with terror, violence and abject misery for hundreds of thousands of innocent people.
Two months of ignorant, barbaric vandalism, hugely enjoyed and entered into by hoards of unemployed and unschooled youth spurred on by those who should have prevented it. Two months of ineffectual chit chat, and political maneuvering whilst honest men, women and children, were exposed to every kind of travail from being hunted from their homes to death.
And where are we now? It is still quite hard to tell. President Bush and his Lady Spokeswomen have come and gone leaving various words, usually not new, and definately somewhat deprecatory behind them. And poor Kofi Annan is STILL with us and the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb Party representatives. For him I feel the greatest sorrow and sympathy, for I think he agreed to come with the very best of honest motives and ambitions - only to find his quiet and humble logic quite rejected by men and women quite unwilling if not UNABLE to see his point of view. He has endured hardness like a good soldier. He has endured insult, innuendo, stubborn ignorance, duplicity, and arrogance. I would not have stayed! His quiet patience puts mine in the shade.

Of course in another way this was and is only what should have been expected. Kenyans may have 'looked' as if they wanted help to sort themselves out, but INSIDE they will NOT have actually believed or wanted it. They believe in themselves, and they believe THEY are the ones to sort themselves out without external pressure or wisdom. In some quarters this 'help' may even have been seriously resented. BUT they did and DO still need help - even if they reject, refuse and spurn it all.

The 'talks' have rambled to and fro, and if we must accept that some progress has been made, it has in fact been very little, and the basic intransiency of both sides is not much diminished. From inside Kenya it feels very much like living in the world of Alice in Wonderland............... Will we, won't we have a Prime Minister; will we won't we have an Executive President? Will we find agreement ? How long will it last? The present looks as foggy as the past, and the future seems full of possible pitfalls and stormy days.

Testimony Faith Homes remains calm, undisturbed and busy with the work of letting the Spirit of our God be SEEN. My Permit has been granted for a further TWO years, though they are going to make me pay TWICE what it was two years ago! It is odd to be here to GIVE and still have to PAY for the giving! EVEN MORE STRANGE THAT a Moslem has stepped up to offer his help us to obtain our original Immigration Status of some years back. He has connections with Immigration and has lived in Eldoret all his life. We have never met, but he says he KNOWS all about the work of TFH and would like to put things right for us. He will come to see us from Nairobi in early March. We shall see. BUT our hope remains as always solely IN THE LORD OUR GOD.

DURING THE weeks commencing in February the economy seems to be going crazy and the cost of the smallest items doubling, tripling as the cost of petroleum goes sky high, and transport of goods at a premium. The suddenness took our breath away, and we seriously did wonder if we would be able to survive the challenge. BUT Father has seen what was coming, and provided enough for us to STILL cover even the inflated and quite unplanned for increases. Not only us of course have had to be confronted by this nightmare but EVERYONE, and the shops look emptier and people poorer. Still more than 20,000 in the displaced persons camps.
Tomorrow we shall ( the Childrens Forum) be seeking to obtain places for some of the many thousands of children still there in terrible conditions.

MORE than £16000 of Aid sent to us from UK via the AENON Trust has been handed out, providing hundreds of families with basic clothing. Additionally we have helped dozens of children back to school, and to places of shelter and security. We are currently paying rent for some to at least have their own room to live in instead of a 6x4 tent. We helped others bury their dead, move their families to safer areas where their tribe is not a factor of malice. It has been a tremendous privilege to have been used to do this, and we thank all those who - reading this - may have been amongst those who trusted us to be so used, and who by their own giving made it possible.
We cannot say we have been able to completely solve peoples need fully, and certainly those we have assisted represent only a very small percentage of those who have remained untouched. We are now beginning to realise that Psalm 91 is not all JOY - though it is true WE have not (so far) been touched by the troubles and violence around us - yet we HAVE had to SEE the result of it, and to experience the sorrow of heart such sights bring.

The SUGOI children are still in their temporary timber dormitories in the Presbyterian Grounds. The Forum (and ourselves as an NGO) have continued to assist them, and the majority have been able to now be clothed and put back into School. Now they must wait patiently for the Lord to REBUILD in a NEW place.

ELDORET is currently remaining quiet. We are glad for it, but slowly things are beginning to surface about the past days that make our hearts heavy. TWO other children's home were burnt and the children have fled into the bushes, their guardians also having fled. It is quite awful to think that this has been happening in the dark so to speak, and that many of us have been ignorant of the plight of others close to us..

We are being exercised about the REAL meaning of FELLOWSHIP as it was enjoyed and experienced by the Early Church - and there is a new urge to draw together in a closer and more intimate manner both in our own fellowship, and with the surrounding missionaries and christian pastors, as well as with those who lives are entwined with ours from a lay perspective. We have been excited and stirred up by this, and we feel the Spirit of God is preparing us for something new and wonderful. Continue to pray for us.

Our love to you all always

John and Esther, and all at Testimony Faith Homes