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R-L Jesse Ronata,  Betty Wanjiru,  Maureen Cherop, and John Kanyingi.

FOUR MORE LEAVERS!    Jesse Ronata, Betty Wanjiru, Maureen Cherop, and John Kanyingi, all poised to leave Testimony Home, their family group, to set up on their own, earning their own living and happily independent.      They really look happy in this picture, and indeed I think they really are happy.  In the photo they are have just cut their 'Going Away Cake, and are getting ready to hand it round to their brothers and sisters and other members of their family.
The Function took place in TESTIMONY HOUSE their 'family home'.       Esther and I were there, Daryl and Carol, and also Hesketh and Alice Muli - all at one time 'Mum and Dad in Testimony House.
I was First Dad from 1969 to '71 when I married Esther and then together we were Dad and Mum until 1998.     In that year Daryl and Carol took over as parents for the next 8 years and then Hesketh and Alice took over from them.     Also joining in for the occasion were Joe and Beatrice Rop from Jacaranda Cottage, Francis and Eunice Lahol from Drakely, and Micah and Senge Yego from Tyndale together with a few other friends of the family including Pastor Wyjkiffe Ondanga, himself an old boy. A full house of about sixty.      There was singing, prayer, encouragement and a very special joyful and excited atmosphere.      Very informal, very poignant, very memorable. Each of those now preparing to leave the Home were presented with a Bible and gift of Seventy two pounds sterling (approximately Ksh,10,000/-) as a small stake in their new life, made possible by TFH Christian Fellowship as from their Sunday Offerings.
Pastor Wykcliffe gave a brief word from the Bible, and I did my best to encourage and to remind each one to trust in the Lord and to go hand in hand with Him into this new chapter of their lives.     Many others, adults, children, all family members, wanted to add a word.    It was a GOOD time, at times serious, and at the same time fun, and full of laughter.
AND in any case none were going far away except one.

THREE of our Girls from the Testimony House Family will be moving out in the course of the next week.     Two are Primary School Teachers, and one is an Accountant still pursuing her CPA whilst she works.
JESSE RONATA is 24, one of a family of four that have all been part of the Testimony House family.
They all came to stay with us in 2000, twelve years ago.    They had all lost their parents to AIDS and a missionary couple that had taken them under their wing were leaving the Country;   knowing Daryl and Carol who were then Mum and Dad at Testimony House, they asked if TFH could help in providing a home.      It was not an easy transition for any of these children, but they have all managed to make it through school, and the many challenges of teenage, into the unpredictable waters of adult life.     JESSE is the last to leave, and she does so as a trained and gifted teacher, whose faith in God has been the strength of her life.    She would like especially to work with Special Need Children, and will be working with TFHs Special Unit for Slow Learners for the next year.     We are very proud and happy for her.
BETTY WANJIRU is also 24 and arrived with her four brothers in May 1998, fifteen years ago.   She is also the last but one of her brothers and sisters to leave home - although she is really still within the compound!     She is employed by TFH School Accounts Office as an assistant Bursar, and is also the Warden of the Hostel for 40 High School Girls.    Quite a demanding post, but she is well able to cope with it all; a little lady of distinction.      She leaves a brother who has just completed his Form 4 Secondary education.     Three other of her brothers are all in Banking or Accounts, and already away from home.    Their father, and mother both, succumbed to AIDS, but before he passed away, their Father came to see us and to appeal to us to take care of his children.    We agreed, and he legally directed in his Will that on his death we would become their Guardians.  He passed away just a few months later.   They have all done well in every way, and if he had lived he would have been a proud father indeed.
MAUREEN CHEROP is 20 and came to stay with her elder sister and three brothers in 1994 nineteen years ago.     All five children had been suddenly orphaned by the death of their single mother.  Always very affectionate and well behaved each one has grown up through school to find employment. Maureen is the last to do so.      She chose teaching as a career and was accepted in training.   She has just accepted an appointment about 150 kilometres away from us, but still will be able to visit without too great a difficulty.     Maureen recently lost her fiancee in the Nairobi Westgate Shopping Mall disaster.    But she is a young lady full of optimism and faith in God.    She will make it through life.
For the first four years of her stay Esther and I became her parents.     Cannot help but be glad and proud to see her facing life now with confidence.
JOHN KANYINGI, is now 27.     He came to stay with us in 1999 with his sister Dorkas.    He may be younger than his Birth Certificate states, but there is no real way to tell.      On Admission to Testimony he was supposed to be 9.       The Birth Certificate arrived later....?       John has always been of a quiet disposition.      Not a recluse, but just likes peace and quiet.     Studious,  responsible and dutiful,
he did not do so very well at school, but is happy and content to be now employed by TFH School as the Assistant Pool Attendant for the New Swimming Pool.       I think he will do well there since he is very 'cool' in every sense - and man to have around in a crisis or scare.      He contributes very much to sense of 'security' needed at the pool side.      Very proud for him.       He works under the eye of the Swimming Coach, herself once an Olympic Athlete.

SO all four will be finding their own lodgings and leaving home.      BUT we know they will remain part of the Family, and that they will visit often.    It has been our privilege - all together - for us to have been able to watch them all grown up, and to be involved in loving and caring for them all.   It was a Wonderful evening.

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FOR THE LAST FEW DAYS the summer weather has giver way to COLD temperatures once more it has become cloudy again.      Our seventeen youngsters who were circumcised last week are recovering well, with a lot of extra attention and fortifying FOOD.

TOMORROW is the last day of the month, and then on SUNDAY December will begin.    The children will be busy with Christian Camps both in and without the compound, and others will be beginning to practise for the Christmas Concert and Carols.       Guests will begin to arrive - the first being Tammy from Australia on the 5th.      We are learning in this month and Season that happiness is not dependant on material prosperity but upon a contented spirit, and joyful fellowship with one another.   Certainly that old saying ' The Best Things in Life are FREE' remains true.     I learnt it as a kid growing up in north Yorkshire during and after the War.         CHRISTMAS will be celebrated cheaply but with great gladness of heart, and a considerable amount of laughter and plain happiness in the midst of our usual focus on the Coming of the King ..........Glory be to God.        

With Love from us all HERE, in 'chilly' Kenya not far from the Equator!!!

John and Esther