WHERE ARE ALL THE FATHERS?

AN AFRICAN MOTHER carries her baby with her.   That baby goes where she goes, and shares in most of what she does, tied to her back.     A mark of devotion?   Just the burden and responsibility of motherhood.     It can be tiresome in every way.     But there is that which speaks of deep devotion and care.
Looking at this drawing on the left,  there seems such  security; the baby is so safe, and confident, and the mother so watchful and aware of the child.   But I also catch sight of' 'aloneness and worry' in the face of the mother.....
There are many mothers in Kenya - unmarried mothers.    No husband to be seen, no father to the child in evidence.    More and more women (and girls) becoming pregnant - in the family way,  but without the 'family'!      Is it enough for a child to be brought up by a woman alone, by its mother alone?       Is the motherly instinct to care and protect and love enough to provide everything a child needs to become become an adult?      
An elderly Danish missionary more than eighty, single and alone in her ministry here in Kenya  (Elisabeth Boye) once said to me 'I feel like a motherless child'      She was missing love and care of a mother at this time in her life.    Not even the concern and affection of friends could replace it.        But do children miss their fathers?    Is their a GAP in their human experience and development when Dad is away, or just not there?
In KENYA there are more and more fatherless children.   In the United Kingdom, the Centre for Social Justice has recently stated that 'Britain's record on family breakdown is now the worst in Europe.  The absence of fathers has become an issue of special concern to the CSJ.    Three quarters of households on social housing estates in the UK are  now headed by lone parents - usually mothers.   Only 15% of social-renting households are headed by a couple with children.   Nationwide 15% of babies are currently born without a resident biological father, and approximately 7  percent are born with no registered father on their Birth Certificate.    The consequences for children are toxic.   CJS has collated the evidence and now conclusively demonstrated that children who grow up without fathers, in a one parent environment, are 75% more likely to fail at school, 70% more likely to be drug addicts, 50% more likely to develop an alcohol problem, 40% more likely to have serious problems with debt, and 35% more likely to experience unemployment and a need for social welfare.    FATHERLESSNESS IS NOW REAPING A WHIRLWIND OF DESTRUCTION IN UK SOCIETY.         In 2007 UNICEF's Report on childhood development found that, out of all the industrialised nations, Britain is the worst country for a child to grow up in (it then came 21st of 21) - far worse than all the other countries in terms of poverty, happiness, relationships and risk.'   (Mark Stibbs 'I Am Your Father'  Monarch Books 2010  (www.fathershousetrust.com)

These figures will vary in 3rd world countries - but not for the better.     Family life is being systematically challenged by divorce, same sex marriage(?), 'come-we-stay' relationships, and just plain rape, adultery, and fornication all rife and growing worldwide.      The old social structures and traditions worldwide are being rejected together with a real knowledge of God.        The LAW of GOD is no longer known or understood - it is not taught in our schools, nor in our crumbling family structures.        BUT YES, there are pockets of Resistance to this trend - there is a REMNANT left that will stand for GOD and TRUTH, but to be sure things WILL get worse, descend lower, and hit bottom.        This little Remnant still standing will soon be sought out, hunted down, and expelled from this world  -   and then cometh the END.
BUT, and UNTIL the END comes we should seek to promote Family Life;  a Father and Mother living together with their children in a God conscious, stable and loving home.    A home in which children may be nurtured and brought up with regard to God, and what pleases HIM,  and with clear demonstration of the character and role of a husband and wife,  father and mother, Man and Woman.       GOD created a Man AND a Woman.   One of each sex, and they were  and ARE different.     Different in nature, function and purpose.
We forget this at our peril.

TESTIMONY FAITH HOMES seeks to encourage and increase the concept of Family life as it becomes home and family to the homeless and destitute children of Kenya.       The vast majority of our boys and girls have lost home and parents both.     Some have been deserted and abandoned; some have had their family ripped from them in violent greed, jealousies, and the mindlessness of war and political unrest.   Others are with us because their parents died of AIDS, generally passed on through sexual transmission outside of the marriage bed.         Our FOUR Family Homes are each headed by a married couple who act as Dad and Mum to their own birth children and about 35 other boys and girls from 0 -18+.     They grow as a family, together, sharing each other, space and time, and all of life, together.      They learn to be a family, and when children  leave us and go into the wide world, they take, hopefully,  that sense of family with them.    Generally they marry and make their own home, and return to show off their wives / husbands, and to bring their children to be Dedicated and/or Baptised.        Testimony Faith Homes is creating FAMILIES in Kenya.    Perhaps not so very many compared to the NEED - but one pebble thrown into the pond of life makes many ripples.  We are having an effect, be it ever so small.

I can assure you that the Devil, that old Leviathan, the Enemy of God and of our mortal soul, does NOT like this at all, and more and more opposes himself to it, wherever it may be found.      His greatest opposition is to Family Life illuminated by GOD.       He will do all he can to undo, upset, and even destroy it.     He will come to the individual couple, he will come to a ministry such as ours.    He IS a destroyer.    We know his ways and his trickery - we must need all pray hard for each other.    Pray hard for us, that Testimony will continue to CREATE a right pattern for life, and that each of us working labouring here together might be strong and kept safe by HIS power.      We need your prayer for our personal lives, and for the ongoing viability and provision of our lives together with the children in this place.

================= 

DARYL and Carol are due back from Australia next Tuesday, 16th October.   They seem to have had a busy, and very wonderful time together with all connected to Tyndale Christian School, and of course also with Joshua and Miriam who went with them to Australia.     They spent a week in Adelaide first then off to Sydney for about five days and just now winding up in Adelaide once more before finally flying back to us on Monday.      Last Friday, they had a mega meeting at Tyndale with old students and others that have been on previous visits and Teams to TFH.     Tonight another final meeting with parents and those who would like to visit us in the future..    Apparently the numbers keep on growing, and it is quite amazing how so many young people there are anxious to give time and energy to travelling so far to help us.    It is another 'miracle' I think.

All thanks to Mike and Dani Potter who Father used to receive the vision for it all, and the strength and love to see it through.    God's everlasting Blessing on you both, and upon your family with you.

Our three grandchildren, Jesse, Becky and Jeremy are just LONGING to see their Dad and Mum again, and quite excited about it - they will come with me to Eldoret Airport to collect them.    They seem to have enjoyed staying with us two oldies, and have given us a good and happy time.     Having to return to my 'Director's Chair' whilst Daryl was away I have realised that he will soon himself need an assistant since the work of keeping an eye on all the new Farm projects as well as normal administrative duties, including overlooking the School building development is really becoming too much.     Hope you will keep him in your prayers.       THREE new children since he and Carol left for OZ.     All boys 8 and 9 years old.   One with AIDS!!  

Our Love to you all.     Keep close to God, and He will keep close to you.     Remind yourselves constantly that He walks with you, and wants also to 'talk' to you as you go.   

John and Esther