UPDATE

SATURDAY, 15th MARCH 2008

 

Hullo Again!   Yet another week had fled past at breakneck speed.    There seems so much to do these days.    Partly this is due to the fact that we have been re-organising the way things are done from the point of view of general maintenance, and also because the Town is picking up again, and a whole crop of government departments are calling Meetings that have been delayed due to the recent crisis.    Especially this concerns me as I sit on so many different Committees related to Children's Services.  Some have not met for up to nine months!       This takes chunks of time out of a day of planned activities needing constant adjustments and changes.      Daryl has been a great assistance in this because i have been able to leave him to do many of the practical matters whilst I am away from the compound.

 

Each week one of the Homes is inspected by me and two other staff members.  Everything is looked at inside and outside from the point of view of wear and tear, and general hygiene.    It is really working out well, and we can see the improvement and help it is producing. both for us as Administration, and also the parents themselves.

AS I WRITE the roof of the Hostel is going on, and plans to commence the plastering are going ahead for Monday.     I HOPE the photos I sent by E-mail were able to be accessed by you all = sent a week or so ago?   Please let me know if they did not reach you - we are still having occassional problems with our Server, and there are times when it seems outgoing mail is interrupted.

 

Manu has been suffering with his stomach most of this current week  - Doctor things it may be a Peptic Ulcer = he has been under extra pressure with final Presentations and Papers all made more difficult at the last moment by his computer crashing!   Hope to see him later to day.

 

THE RAINS  really seem to have commenced.     Most of last night was a continuous downpour.    How the many tented thousands spent the night in their leaking and draughty tents dosn't bare thinking about.      Really a terrible prospect.    Yesterday in the paper I read  -

UPROOTED FAMILIES WON'T BE SETTLED SOON, SAYS MINISTER!

'They have nowhere to go back to.  They will only be able to go back after their homes are rebuilt.

According to the minister the displaced people will be resettled where they lived before the chaos.   However, some of the victims who have expressed fears over their security wish to be setlled in NEW areas.

One spokesman for the Displaced aged 76 expressed fears that their lives would be in danger if they returned to their old homes......Another, a mother of five small children, said that security had not been improved at her Eldoret farm, and that it would be madness to return there.  Continuing she said - . 'Reports on the ground indicate that our farms and property have been acquired by some of our neighbours.   How can the government tell us to go back, and we are still psycholoogically traumatised.'

Certainly this is the view of the majority of those still camping out in the incrasing discomfort of the camps - including Eldoret's.     People are refusing to be made to leave the comparitive safety.       They do not see that to go with their tent back to the place their previous home and possessions were destroyed will save them from a quick and perhaps more thorough destruction.

 

This was also expressed in a District Meeting I attended on Thursday morning.

As a result of our discussion a hasty Meeting was arranged with our District Commissioner for this coming TUESDAY, 18th March.      Three of us that will attend are also Members of the Area District Advisory Council which represents to the DC area needs.     All of us also sit on the UG Children's Services Forum representing the District Children's Department, District Probation Services, District Labour Office, and various prominent Children's Institutions including of course our own. (A group of 10 altogether)

The District Commissioner who represents Central Government is NEW.       It may be a very interesting and far reaching meeting.        We shall also be discussing the increase of Street Children, and the Trade in GLUE.

 

MANY Christians are continuing to MOVE or perhaps FLEE from troubled areas of conflict to what they consider 'safer ground'       A Bishop was with me here at home this afternoon who is contemplating the same.    He plans to take his family and church administration to an area more friendly to his tribe.       FEAR seems to be in so many hearts - but FEAR can be a sin, if it describes a lack of TRUST in our God to Protect, Defend and BE WITH US through the 'fire and flood' of life.    Jesus after all also said 'He who would save his life, will lose it.............Can we RUN anywhere that is SAFE apart from into His Arms?         To us it feels as if this is the TIME for the Sons and Daughters of God to make a STAND.      To be - in Jesus Name - ROCKS that will not get out of the Enemy's way,   LIGHTS THAT WILL NOT BE PUT OUT.      If all those who have the POWER to declare the Kingdom GO, then there will indeed be nothing left to prevent the Enemy from doing whatever he wants.......   The People of God should never FLEE, should never RETREAT, but having done all they should finally STAND in His might and strength.      We need to demonstrate the TRUTH that GOD is with us, rather than being as those who know not God or His Strength.

 

Pray for us as we pray for you in your trials and temptations; in your conflicts and terrors.

 

Lovingly

 

John and Esther