STEPPING DOWN, BUT NOT SHUTTING UP!

YES! of course Tyndale Christian School Team is with us yet again, having safely arrived last Wednesday.     They are here until about the 23rd July, and have already begun their labour of love among TESTIMONY and also at Neema Children's Home.   The weather so far not bad, but not VERY warm or sunny.   But there is a little sun between the clouds  and plenty to do and friendships to make in the days ahead.     Mike and Dani Potter are leading the team and it is great to renew fellowship and also to meet new people.    THIS TIME round they will be putting up fences here and there, putting DOWN a path or two, erecting clothes lines where there were none, restoring and upgrading the Poultry Unit, and, and helping to equip and upgrade our Bakery.    And this year the Team is mainly consisting of Girls, so we pray they will prove their strength and stamina in doing some challenging work.     The Team stays in a Christian Guest House in town, and come to us for Breakfast, leaving after supper each day for the Guest house to sleep.   Our school transport assists in transporting then two and fro, and also in getting Team members to Neema Home.

THE FIRST photos today show a view of our Dairy area.  To the left we are looking from the driveway towards the boundary hedge.  The Dairy man's house is middle right with the red roof.  You can just see the roof of Green Cottage beyond the hedge and across the road.   Tyndale Cottage is behind us as we look.   All of this on the Jacaranda Cottage Compound.
The NEW fence is going up to the right, and you can just see part of the OLD fence to middle left of the photo.    The idea is to provide a larger area for the Paddock for the cows, to exercise in. The cows otherwise remain cared for intensively.
The second photo is taken from he HEDGE end and looking down toward the Milking Station. In this photo you fan clearly see the old fence, and the line made for the NEW one.    We now have, as I have previously told in a previous Blog, TWO cows, and two calves.    ONE more cow is to soon join us hopefully - another generous gift from Tyndale School Team.
We have a good Dairyman, and have ordered a double Milking Machine, to make life a little easier for him.     At present our 2 cows are pregnant, and are not yielding much.   But when the THREE will be with Milk we will be able to supply the need of all four of our Homes AND the School with enough Milk.   Even with the overhead cost, it will be MUCH cheaper than buying milk in Town.   We are believing the LORD will smile on this endeavour.

To the right are three of our girls all looking suitably mischievous little cherubs,.   Behind them the Dairyman's house again, and to the right again the main GATE from the road into the Day Care Centre which is just out of the photo to the far right.       We have THREE other Homes on this side of the road with some 96 boys and girls under 18 - yet it still has space and order as a compound that also comprises the Day Cared Centre the Dairy, AND one of our Vegetable Garden Plots.
On the other side of the drive just in front of the girls is Tyndale and the new Jacaranda Cottage.

 Today some of the new double bunk beds for the Girls Hostel arrived - four of them - and by Monday the rest should have arrived, and all the beds made up - all gifted by members and friends of Tyndale School.  Everything else has been made ready, and as I mentioned last week, the Team will be using the kitchen/dining/sitting room facility  during their stay on this occasion.       We are VERY happy that the plan to use part of Old Jacaranda for the Senior Girls has worked SO very well,     THEY are also very happy and excited at the prospect of moving in on the 1st August.       We also received the sitting room chairs and finished all the paintwork there during this last week.   It looks good.

It looks a little cramped, but there will only be, on average, about 12 girls using the space at any time.

All of what we have done here to make the Girls Hostel a reality has been accomplished through the Legacy left by our dear friend Miss. Jean Potts, who I know would have been overjoyed to see it.  She was always so glad to see any progress for the good of the children, and vocally publicised all that we did in her church and indeed wherever she went, no matter that she was well into her eighties.

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THE POUND STERLING began to FALL here when the U.K. announced it would LEAVE the European Union.    Everyone seemed initially complacent about it on the day, but since then the pound has dropped from an exchange value of Ksh.150, to Ksh. 125.   A very considerable loss to all those dependent upon its steady value.
Of course we know this will be reciprocated in other places as well, most of all no doubt the United kingdom herself.     Kenya herself should be appreciating this situation, and indeed one might expect a decrease in the daily cost of of living - no sign of it yet;  it is still climbing.     So please remember to pray for us,when you have your time with our Father in Heaven.     We know HE watches over us, and we know HE will not forget us, or be unaware of the global situation of which we are a very tiny part.

YES!  WE HAVE AN EVEN MORE SERIOUS PROBLEM!    The problem of finding how to EXIT our children from the Homes when it is time for them to find employment and a future.    We have been forty four years in Eldoret.    More than 300 children have grown up and left us - each one with a job of some kind.   Not always what they wanted or had even trained for, but at least something that promised money enough to live on - even if not much more!     During our time in this Town we have found sympathy and understanding enough from local government, and the private sector.   But when we began here in 1972 there were only forty thousand inhabitants in Eldoret .   Today there is reputed to be more than 1.3 million!!    Not much else has changed here, especially in industry and trade.     It is said unemployment stands at over 60%  -  the majority being twenty and under!!   This obviously poses a problem; a challenge, and indeed a very real crisis in places like ours - places that take Children in who are helpless and hopeless with the idea of providing them a future, only to find that future blocked.

THIS YEAR we have TWO boys still WAITING, after a year,  to find a job  -  any job.      In September there will be SEVEN more!!     They go through School, and then we do our best to fit them into some training - even up to University if they can attain the necessary grades.... but when they graduate with Certificates, Diplomas, and Degrees, there is nothing available to do in their chosen Fields no matter what they are.     THIS is frustrating, so frustrating that it may encourage turning to Drugs, and even Crime.        We appeal to the Children's Department, and Government!   We cry out to our local Chamber of Commerce, and Business and Industry.   Nothing.      YES, we know it is a National Problem - a World Problem - but who is looking for answers on behalf of their own flesh and blood.     Or who cares that the baby they bring to us to care for and to be saved from the streets, is later to be thrown back to the street purely and simply because  the Government, by that time, has ceased to CARE.      I have been told by some officials that it the concern of the Private Sector (of the Charitable NGOs) to care, and find the answer.       We have been applying ourselves in doing exactly this without Government aid, assistance, or even real care.      Isn't it right for some appreciation to be shown; some assistance to us to find a FAIR exit opportunity for our children - in order that we might be morally able to see them go without anxiety - without ANY fear that we wasted our time.
We have never asked or required financial aid from Kenya to provide even a shoe lace for any child in our Homes since they began to come in 1969.     We still do not ask,     BUT we are entreating Kenyans to care about the future of these children, and to make the years that have gone into bringing them into adult life, both meaningful and worthwhile; children from all over the State, rescued without fear or favour as a 'GIFT' to the Nation.

THE YOUTH of Kenya, altogether face a quandary so grave that I believe it seriously affects their ability to study and focus with any sense of real expectation that it will reap a reward.   They look around them, talk to those who have left school and college ahead of themselves, and they wonder more and more what the future holds..
Look at these faces!  Faces of OUR children in the midst of doubt. For all the promise of a place to go and earn a living, they are more and more believing they are alone and almost stranded.     It is a Depression that is setting in, and it did not start today.
We are now running a Hostel for Boys of 18 and over, plus another for Girls.    We see in front of our eyes the effect on their minds in regard to how they will live and prosper in the future when they must finally leave us; leave home!     After all EVERY parent is experiencing this situation      Although I CRY today on behalf of the Orphan and the Destitute without real home or parent, to be provided help to start an independant and life in Kenya, I must also remember those at home with their parents - your children.      ALL our children are already asking- before they Graduate - 'WHAT NOW?'   Will you look the other way?   Will you be silent and let a child of yours rot away on the street?   Will you say he is no concern of yours?

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We are all well, and still enjoying the joy of having Elisabeth home with us, though the time is flying past too quickly.     She will have left us again by Thursday next week.  But still very Thankful that she was allowed to be here with us.    Thank you Lord Jesus.

We received on Wednesday this week, a Donation from friends in the UK, send via the AENON Trust.    We do Thanks Appreciate every shilling - An Update will soon be sent to all.

Love from us all,  John Esther, and Daryl Green