"The belief is that if you pay public servants well
they will not steal!
Well in Kenya,
they ARE paid well, and they still steal!"
Not a very happy statement. But certainly in Kenya this is not surprising, since MONEY is the focal point of most people's thoughts these days. BUT it is none the less scandalous that the RICH should stoop to corruption and theft. We have over 40 Ministers in the Cabinet - each earning approximately 10,000 ++ pounds per month!! Tax FREE! For doing approximately nothing at all apart from 'occasionally' sitting in Parliament, and making statements to the Press. As I have pointed out before the average wage for the majority of Kenyans is averagely between 50 and 80 pounds a month with teachers and similar employees able to go up to about 500 pounds maximum per month. Then we would jump to University Lecturers and professionals such as doctors, lawyers, etcetera earning upwards of that figure but STILL far below the extravagance of the politician. Rising prices, and general economic decline, together with this increasingly widening gap between the RICH and poor can hardly be expected to curb the incidence of THEFT at every level. AND, since the VERY POOR are usually also unemployed and might account for 60% of the population it is also unsurprising that it is the Middle and upper classes that are more and more attacked, conned, and forced to pay up wherever possible. ADDITIONALLY in business and mission alike, where men and women are in paid employment the salary is rarely enough, and where it IS ENOUGH, it is still not more than desired, and so theft continues in the form of pilfering, embezzlement, and just plain THEFT. Life is short and HARD, and getting harder. Why WAIT when you can TAKE.
THIS IS THE GENERAL OFFICE OF TESTIMONY FAITH HOMES IN ELDORET, KENYA. It comprises the Director's (my own) Office, my Deputy's, the School Principal's, and the School Finance Office. It is a solid building and a busy one.
The Finance Office has a staff of 6 including the Chief Accountant. All are paid well above the average approved rate of pay laid down by the Government. Yet over the years we have had to remove one member of the work team after another - because of petty theft. PETTY theft - not major hauls of money or blatant embezzlement, but just petty pilfering very cleverly done. All have had 'testimonies' and were church goers - YET they still stole - even after being caught and warned at least once!. THIS MONTH - after careful checks and investigations - we have with the help of Desmond Hales - unearthed a whole network of carefully worked out scams concerning the Petty Cash Transactions in more than two of our School Accounts. We estimate ( a detailed backward check has now started into the last 4 years ) that we will have lost up to 2 or more THOUSAND POUNDS! And although this involves two of our internal staff, we have now to also consider the possibility that our Auditor might (unless he is totally useless at his job) also be involved! This is more than disappointing and upsetting - with little that can be done in the way of redressing the matter. The funds not easily traced now, and probably spent, are very unlikely to be restored to us. Retribution by way of prosecution, imprisonment also seem to be unproductive. We shall on Monday LOSE the questionable services of our two 'Christian' employees, both highly qualified. It will be hard for them to find alternative employment and they will now be faced with a very uncomfortable future. They have 'more or less' grudgingly agreed that they have manipulated our cash in their own favour, but seem quite unmoved to repentance. Both of them had been involved before in, September last year, and had been severely warned, reprimanded AND forgiven with no alteration to their conditions of service, and apparently with no change of heart or dishonest practice! YET is still unpleasant to see them go and know that their wives and children will also suffer. Not an EASY week!
BUT we have learnt a lot in it all, and trust that henceforward a number of loop holes in our accounting practice have been stopped and attended to and that we shall be that more safe and protected than we were before. Yet at the same time we are aware of an increasing sense of loss - loss of individual integrity. A kind of background murmur telling us to suspect everyone around us, and to beware of trusting anyone. This is very unhealthy spiritually, and reminds me of the outworking of the Love of God in us described by St. Paul in 1.Corinthians 13v7 (Amplified Bible) =
Love bears up under anything and everything
that comes.
It is ever ready to believe the best in every person.
So hard to BELIEVE the WORST of any person - even when it has been proved beyond doubt. God must still weep a great deal over the many that do not turn away from the evil, even after so many proofs of His own desire for them to live and be blessed; so many proofs of His Love.
oooooooooooooo
WOW it is the middle of March already! So much to do, so much to arrange, so much to BELIEVE for and to dream for, and all of it with both eyes scanning the 'sky', and both ears scanning the sound waves, for ANY sign of the return of the KING of all the Earth. NOTHING must divert us from that ever present sense of expectancy......... STILL very DRY and HOT here in Eldoret. The Town is full of dust, motor vehicles and people. SO MANY PEOPLE. There seem more and more week by week. More window gazers, more idle pedestrians, more beggars, more POOR .... and less and less prosperity, means to live, hope for the future.
EASTER will soon be with us - and in EASTER is the HOPE of all the WORLD. Satan would obliterate it if he could, and works hard in our world to actually accomplish it. BUT WE will SHINE even BRIGHTER to catch the eye and be noticed in the darkest darkness the world has ever known.
Our continuing love and prayer
John and Esther
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