SUNNY DAYS IN ELDORET

LIFE GOES ON HERE.         And this last week has reminded me of the early 70's when the January days were  filled with brilliant sunlight under clear azure skies, a gentle breeze helping to mitigate with the heat and the dryness.     In the midst of it all plans for School Development have been progressing, our teenagers sent off to College, trips to the dentist AND the doctor, School open and busy, and my sister, son and daughter in law all basking in the warmth, the altitude and the adventure of slowly getting to know US, and the 150 children that live here with us.       I think they have enjoyed themselves, though all have had their own physical 'high's and 'lows'.      Generally good health has prevailed against the threat of sickness.   Mainly it has been a case of adjustment to the difference in climate between here and Scotland.    
My sister, Pat, will be staying on with us till the first week of February.   But Harvey and Marion are beginning their trek home to Scotland on Monday morning, when they will be flying from Eldoret to Nairobi on the first leg.      We shall miss them.    They have made a lot of friends as well amongst the children, and I know that in a short time friendships have been made across generations, colour, and race.      Hearts have been won, and a lot of memories and happiness trapped on film, both still and moving.
The two little girls in our first photo have discovered a warm and happy friendship for each other.  The one on the left is the five year old  daughter of one of our staff, and the other is from Testimony House.   The one with loving parents and a stable home, and the other abandoned and without home or parents until she came to us.
Not sure if it was Marion or Harvey that took the picture - they have been taking so many - but it surely is a winner.       And also the one below it.     The little boy is also a son of a staff member, the brother of the one above.     Again in living here it is almost impossible to see any difference in the 'orphan' cared for and the children of stable families living with and amongst them.    I am always happy to see it, and these photos just underline it.
We are hoping that this short exposure to our happy, loving kids will entice Harvey and Marion back to us again soon.......??

The NEXT photo this week is one of building under construction in the centre of Eldoret.      I think it was taken to emphasise the way buildings actually go up here.    Not quite the ideal expected in the UK.     This building is being erected behind Eldoret Town Hall.  It towers above it totally spoiling the old sky line, and also the entire aspect of the main high street.
The Town Hall had been set well back behind lawns, and still is a fairly unassuming yet respectable civic structure pleasant to the eye.       From the Mayor's Parlour on the 1st floor you can look down the main high street, (Kenyatta Street) witch is one of the main shopping  and banking areas of the town, sloping quite steeply down to the river valley.    From the opposite end one could look up and see the Town Hall  as the centre piece of good town planning.        Not any longer though with this awkward, ill designed and sited edifice towering lopsidedly behind it.      Whoever allowed the plans to be passed, and the Civic Centre to be humbled beneath it should be fired.   URgh!!


Just a little glimpse of ELDORET the town - a town once spacious and airy but now crammed tight with traffic, humanity and restlessness.     No longer a quiet country town, but a growing County Metropolis, somehow taken by surprise.     It is now too fast and too crowded for me.      And soon it will catch up with me since where once Testimony was at the extreme edge, and verging on open fields, we are now almost surrounded by building estates, with hardly an open field to see anywhere.     How time changes things, and how LIFE DOES GO ON irresistibly and progressively.    

WE ARE GLAD to report that the funds promised to us toward building repairs and maintenance have just arrived, and that work on the sinking foundation of Drakeley Cottage will probably now be able to commence next week.    It will throw the 'Home' into a little confusion for a while, but there is no doubt that we shall now be able to save the house, and this is a great thrill to all concerned - including the children who are every excited about it all.

We are also going ahead with School Expansion, and hope to get Plans past soon to erect a further 4 classrooms in order to put in a second Stream of Secondary School classes.     The photo shows part of the area where development will be taking place.  For those who know the compound intimately the Basket Ball Court is sited in front of the photo.
As you know the School pays for itself from incoming School Fees paid by those parents from around Eldoret whose children attend the School.      These fees pay for the Teachers, consumable materials, and everything else needed to run the School.     Additionally the School - through these same fees - provided FREE places for each and every Orphan in the Children's homes.       Otherwise nothing else is diverted to the help of the Homes.   Thus the Homes stand apart and alone, dependant on God only.      Since Daryl has taken on the job of Chief Executive he has also made it his business to consider the School, and he has been given the job of watching over the building project.  

We have just had a word from AENON Trust, and we do thank all those who have recently send help to us through their kind assistance.      Spot on timing, as usual.   Quite amazing that it is so, month after month.
Yet we never get used to His Provision, and can never KNOW exactly what He will do or HOW.   We only know that He remains utterly FAITHFUL in answering the prayers of so many on our behalf.

Much Love from us all

John and Esther