KENYA HAS A PRESIDENT!!

Mr.Uhuru Kenyatta

AFTER FIVE DAYS of 'waiting' and as Votes were laboriously counted, TODAY the Country has woken up to the news - UHURU KENYATTA is our President!       THE time is 7.20 a.m. in Kenya as I write this......TV is loudly proclaiming him - AND at the same time saying it will not be officially confirmed until 11a.m.!!   BUT the people are in the streets rejoicing ......   The whole week Mr. Kenyatta has led the race, and the whole week the Electoral Commission has played a game of 'cat and mouse' and for five days done their best to DELAY clear explanations of what was happening.     It has otherwise been an orderly and peaceful process; VERY different from 2007 when the Election erupted into violence.     The general atmosphere today (accepting the disappointment of the other contenders and their followers) is still one of calm, and relief that life can now go on.

WHEN I SET FOOT IN  KENYA in 1968 JOMO ~KENYATTA was President.   He was the FIRST President, rough, tough, and a modern autocrat.     Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta is this president's son, and will be the FOURTH President.       We now must wait and see what kind of President he will be.      Whatever character his Government might take, it will be entirely different from that of Jomo Kenyatta's, who ruled almost as a dictator.    We have a NEW Constitution now, one that severely restricts the powers of the President, and which is already changing the face of Kenya.        BUT I will take a rest at this point and WAIT till the 11 o'clock Announcement.     I must be sure you get the RIGHT information.

Mr. Jomo Kenyatta

It is NOW ten minutes PAST eleven in the morning, and the promised Announcements still not given - Kenya's usual problem with TIME and punctuality in particular.  We are expecting visitors at any time ourselves, so I have already written the rest of the Blog whilst delaying to make this short 'insert'.    It is 11.40a.m. now, and all are seated in the Nairobi venue - waiting still for the advertised Announcement to tell us 'once and for all' (we hope) exactly who IS the President Elect!    TIME GOES BY!!    It is now 12.40p.m......and STILL no sign of this Announcement.      Keep calm, Green, you should be very much used to WAITING by now!      Well I think I must cease to wait on this occassion in order that I do not lose my opportunity to send this week's Blog.      It seems safe to say that whatever the 'Announcement' might be it WILL merely confirm that Uhuru Kenyatta IS the President Elect......we trust there will not be a lot of opposition to this so that matters can take their course, and Government be able to press forward.       We HOPE they will not press forward as they have begun - with continuing delays, procrastinations, and seeming inability to plan ahead with some certainty.     Probably too much to hope since, in forty years, I have never been surprised by appointments, promises, or agreed procedures being kept without delay and excuses.      It is part of the social scene.    


THIS YEAR will see Testimony Faith Homes celebrate, God Willing, its 44th Birthday.    I will celebrate in December of this year, 45 years in Kenya.   The Country was only five years old as an independent Nation when I arrived.       It had passed from Colonial Government to that of a free Republic tightly led by a very single minded man.     Slowly Kenya has undertaken quite a choppy transition from a One Party to a multi party State in which the full fruits of 'democracy' are still ripening.      Kenya has advanced and is still advancing.  
Will Testimony Faith Homes find its own place in this onward and progressive surge toward change and advancement?      Testimony Faith Homes is in fact also in a time of 'transition and change'.      As its first Director I am now slowly seeing things go forward under my successor.     From just two small boys that I took into care in 1969 we have seen three hundred others come and go, until now we currently care for a regular number of some 140 boys and girls.     BUT, whereas, when I began the numbers of neglected children was not so much in evidence, and ways to help such children were many and welcome,  today it is different.   Today there are upwards of 2.8 million children in need all very much in evidence, BUT with ways and means to help them severely hampered by new government legislation based on sociological theory rather than practical common sense.     Where, initially, our own small assistance in reaching out to disadvantaged children at risk in the community was accepted with appreciation, we are now viewed purely as a 'tool' of the government, permitted only to help according to their own dictate.        This poses a lot of question and consideration right now and also for the future.      There are changes on the way.     We are not alarmed about this.   We know that God walks with us.     He has walked with us along the way all the years that are past, and He will continue to do so as long as we trust in Him, and look to Him day by day.

We, today, encourage you to remember the people of Kenya, and the children of Kenya that we have with us here in TFH as we together prepare to enter a new era under a new Government and Constitution.        We are praying for an increased sense of 'nationhood' that will over-ride tribal culture and tradition, and be the means of bringing cohesion to National identity.     Many have FEARED that this past week would see a repeat of the 2007 Trouble and Violence.      It is truly a cause of much REJOICING to see the opposite come to pass - PEACEFUL CALM and patience in the entire Country.     This must be landmark in Kenyan political history.  
The WEEK had passed quietly - almost boringly!     Shops shut, schools shut, and the majority away from work for the duration of the Election process.    Eldoret almost an empty shell during the period.     As from Monday things will be back to normal.     The CLOUD has passed over us, and life will go on.       WE are all well.   The children ready to resume school.    The weather has been glorious - hot and golden.    We Thank God for what has seemed purely and simply like a 'holiday'!     We thank Him for keeping us all in peace.

Our Love to you all in Jesus

John and Esther & Daryl and Carol