THEY DO SAY THAT SILENCE IS GOLDEN.    I guess it can be better than talking too much, but WE have just not seemed to have the time, among many other things that daily can interrupt the day,preventing our sitting  down to write.    Thus the delay in displaying our Top  Eleven Primary Students who sat this year's Kenya Certificate of Primary Education.      They did well over all, and Number One was the son of Johanna Nanjelo, one of the very first children to come to us in 1969.  He scored  431 points out of 500.  Johanna passed away some years ago now, and before he did so he asked us to take care of his only son and child, Andrew who was then about 4 years old.    Johanna worked for us as a cleaner in the latter years of his life, Christ having burst in upon his life whilst is jail.    Thereafter he became an enthusiastic witness to his salvation.      Regretfully his wife left him soon after the child was born.     Like his father, Andrew has a clear and busy mind, and a is footballer of some ability.   Unlike his father he came to Jesus when in Nursery School, and has so far kept away from the Marijuana that impaired his dad's brain, and personality.       But Johanna would be so glad and happy to see his son today,  so anxious that he might have a life so much better than his own had been.     Andrew is now 13 and will go to Secondary Form 1 in January.
Perhaps the greatest JOY for us, Esther and I, is to see old boys and girls, now married, bringing up their own children with loving care and pride.    There are already so many for us to delight in, and many come to visit us with there parents. 

What about Education here in Kenya?     Well it was, until yesterday, supposed to be on the way to change.     8-4-4- was introduced in 1984 - basically 8 years in Primary from 6-14 then 4 in High School and 4 in University.     It has been reasonably stable as a system but has not properly prepared all children equally.     As a system it made no provision for children whose future might not be so much academic as technical or otherwise practical.     An effort was made in '94 to introduce such subjects as Woodwork, and Metal Work. and schools were told to build suitable workshops and equip them in order to make this workable.   We did so ourselves.    Regretfully the Government changed their mind a year later and gave up the idea - after a lot of private money had been spent.to no advantage.     The NEW system was introduced last year and our own School, Testimony School, was chosen as one of several others who would 'pilot' the program.      This system would have provided for children to be admitted to Primary at 4 for nine years, then 2 years in Lower and 2 years in Upper Secondary School, and thereafter University.    In the last 2 years of Secondary it was proposed that various trade and technical course would be introduced as assist in widening job opportunity later.
It was generally felt that this would be a very welcome and much needed improvement in every way.
YESTERDAY in the Daily Nation we were confronted, out of the blew, with the Headline -

BACK TO 8-4-4

AS NEW SYSTEM PUT ON HOLD.

'laying bare the folly of poor planning.'

This will set education back quite a step, although the Ministry of Education is still saying that the 'new system' will still hope to roll our by 2023/24.....      Government is not known for good planning and even for policy statements seriously made, after having second thoughts too late.   A good many parents, and School Administrations are sure to be rather frustrated by this turn of events.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

TODAY - I will celebrate 50 Years since I first set foot on Kenya soil on Friday 13th December 1968.

I was unmarried and twenty eight years old.    I had never set foot outside of England, and I had come to share the Christian faith without any promise of support or security apart from what was set out for me in the Word of God presented in the Bible.       Nothing special arranged for the day as far as all that is concerned.     Rather I have been busy putting up Christmas decorations in Green Cottage in order to delight our grand daughter Abigail who will be five next March.    Took me a bit longer than previously, and I had to call in a few of our boys to pitch in help me.     Age creeps on....   Still we managed to finish everything, and well worth it to see Abby's face!

BREXIT is still creeping on.    I was glad Theresa May managed to hang on as P.M.    A very courageous lady.     Strange that it was John Major who brought us into the E.U. in the first place, and to my mind he did so without true regard to the Nation, or to his Sovereign.     I believe he was wrong, and I said so at the time - I also happened to actually be in Maastricht at the time.    But I am not actively political, though I suppose I have also seen myself more or less on the Conservative band-wagon.   I am very saddened by the way the Commons have been acting.    I feel now that no political ticket is worth having - perhaps this has always been true for the Christian.     After all Jesus Christ, God Himself, is the ONLY Leader to follow, the only True and Righteous One.      And I would fear for the United Kingdom to remain IN the E.U. and be swallowed up in it, and digested by it.     But. again for me it is not a political matter at all - but it is a Spiritual and a Moral one.     We shall see.
God watches over all the nations.

This will indeed be my 50th Christmas in Kenya.
Esther and my 47th Christmas together..    She recently ceased to struggle against the greying of her hair, and so now we are looking more of an age together, which we are of course.     But whereas I began to turn grey in my middle 40's Esther didn't   -    she stooped to keeping every white hair hidden or even transformed.       I never minded, but NOW she says she feels the time has come.    Well, Lord, whatever she feel, it makes no difference to our love and care for each other, and we are both sincerely glad,  to be together 'for better or for worse' having discovered the wonderful miracle of His Oneness in our lives together.     

Well it will soon be raining again, and it is also almost our supper time.     I must say cheerio, and trust that you all  continue to be blessed and drawn closer to the Heart of God.       His Love for each of us beyond believe, but there is no doubt that it is exists.

Much Love in Jesus to you all

John, Esther, and Daryl Green