MAKING ROOM

LAST WEEK I PROMISED to include pictures and tell the story of Victor Omondi, aged 4, and his sister Mischell Atieno, aged 6. They are the latest to join the Testimony Faith Homes Family, and are both living now in Jacaranda Cottage with Edward and Esther KILAREGI.
BOTH children were brought to our attention by their paternal grandmother, Hellen Ayieko, who at sixty one and a widow, has had the job of trying to succour them. It has not been easy for her. She has had four children herself, none of whom seem to have made it in life. TWO daughters have died already, and another, plus two sons seem to have lived loose lives - all of them succumbed to HIV and AIDS! All the family have squatted on waste land in a makeshift timber hut in West Eldoret, in a satellite cum slum known as Huruma. To-day the owner of this dubious piece of land has evicted them all - with nowhere to go. Shall we shed a tear for them? There are hundreds more here in similar and worse situations..............All living in sunny Kenya, one of the most desirable East African Countries, potentially a rich Nation. All living with millions more, landless and beneath the bread line, destitute of all earthly good, barely noticed by the government, without hope, and exposed to every ill; many also sinking into a morass of crime and perversion whilst the middle and upper classes take their ease.
In 2004 Hellen Ayieko took the only child of her deceased daughter Grace in desperation to the Eldoret Rescue Centre, itself a stagnant slum nowadays, and full of moribund street children.
Grace had died of AIDS, unmarried, leaving her 5 year old son Michael Odhiambo for her destitute mother to take care of. A few days later, as I was myself making a visit to the Rescue Centre, I found Michael forlorn and dirty standing alone in a corner of the compound. I brought him home with me to Testimony Faith Homes. He had not confided about his background and no one knew even the name of the woman who had left him at the Rescue Centre. If we had known THEN about his family we might have stumbled across Victor and Mischell earlier.

MICHAEL joined the Tyndale Cottage Family with Micah and Catherine YEGO. He joined Testimony School, and now, at 11 and in the 4th Grade of Primary School, he is achieving straight 'A's in every subject. Very active and enthusiastic. However, he has always been occupied by thoughts about his 'father' being certain he must still be alive ' out there '. and from time to time has spent time 'looking' for him. Some weeks ago he skipped morning school, and was later discovered in Eldoret in a small cafe where, he said, his father cooked! Well that was quite a surprise and of course we had to go and confirm it. We discovered a man there called 'Sammy'. He denied emphatically that he was Michael's father, but admitted that he WAS living together with the daughter of Michael's grandmother's SISTER, Florence. There was therefore a family connection. THE NEXT DAY, Hellen Ayieko, the grandmother, visited us at the Homes, and thus we obtained, for the first time, the whole story. Michael accepted what the grandmother recited, and with the ultimate news that we would now step in and help his cousins, he seemed to relax and accept his situation for what it is.

Victor and his sister Mischell are the children of one of Hellen Ayieko's sons - TOM - and his wife. Both parents contracted HIV and then later AIDS. Their mother died, and Tom has run off drunkenly into the underworld around them. The children (themselves both free of HIV)once again abandoned to the good will of the grandmother. She did the best she could, but without employment and although wiry and energetic, without a great deal of strength herself, she could do little. Both children are seriously malnourished, and we are unsure if this might not have affected the mental health of the youngest - Victor who has lived on very little since his birth four years ago.
Four months ago the second of Hellen Ayieko's daughters died of AIDS in the hospital during childbirth. The child, Esther Bahati, is still hospitalised but said to be improving from an infection (she shows no sign of herself having HIV!). Once again there is no father figure to be seen. We have let Hellen know that once the child is able to be released from hospital we are willing to also take her into care.! And what about Hellen Ayiko herself? Yes we have not forgotten her own need of care - pray with us that the Lord will help us to also assist her into a more secure and sustaining existence.

TWO DAYS AGO one of our grade 2 Primary children died in his mother's arms. He had gone home from school three days before with a stomach disorder. Doctors found nothing
wrong with him they said, doest him with an antibiotic which
seemed to help him, then suddenly he was gone. Just like that. Later we discovered that his mother has AIDS. The child is one of twins, the first having died at birth. Obviously his 7 year old brother is likely to have also died from complications aggravated by AIDS. The Government will say it is winning the battle, but the truth is opposite, and everywhere, everyday people, children and adults, are dying from this scourge. Many of our parents have been taken from the school because of it.

Pray with us that Victor and Mischell will now recover their loses and grow to love the God of LIFE and LOVE.

This must be all for this week. No diversions into personal views and thoughts. Very busy and still trying to get to grips with letters . God Bless you and be with you to encourage and uplift you day by day.

Lovingly - John and Esther