CHILDREN OF THE STREET ?

LAST SATURDAY EVENING late at night, two students, walking from Town to their University College Hall were attacked by Street Boys and cut up; their bodies thrown into the Sosiani River near the Town Bridge.      A crowd gathered and mob justice meted out - one youth being 'strung up' and hanged whilst more than a dozen others were seriously hurt.     Street Children 'live' under this bridge, and it was just assumed they were to blame, though no one SAW what happened!  The Town is no longer considered safe, and immediate ACTION had been taken over this last week to pick up as many 'Street Children' as possible and incarcerate them in the local police cells and remand facilities.     No one knows What to DO with them.     In the early 70's  one Nation was no frustrated by the growing numbers that they just told the Police to get rid of any vagrant found on the street - they DID so, violently.    They shot them on sight like rodents!

Street boy with glue

I REPORTED a few weeks ago that I had been appointed to head a Task Force to deal with this problem.  The whole matter has now been aggravated by the incident related above.       Since 1994 young people have been coming to the streets to find a living any way they can - mostly through crime and immorality.   Many came very young, and grew up on the street, married on the street, produced their own families on the street.
Many of them are STILL on the street living in their own communities - a population within a population.   TODAY it is thought that there are more than a thousand children and youths currently living in Eldoret Streets, and who are a growing threat to the rest of the community.       The new Governor of U.G. County of which Eldoret is the major city, is determined to eradicate the problem..............

30% of the Children my Task Force picked up  fortnight ago are back on the street having either run away from the 'Homes' they were committed to awaiting investigation, or who had been returned to their own home and family.      The majority of these are already used to street life, and hooked on drugs and other substances and habits.      TFH had taken three boys in from that FIRST Police Swoop.    The eldest who was 9 years old ran away during his first week with us; he returned to his drunk mother.      The other two remain with us up to date, and yesterday they were once more in front of the Magistrate together with their Mother who had been discovered brewing beer in town.     She is a drunkard.    There is no secure home for her children.
The Magistrate extended the stay of these two boys for a further week, whilst further consideration is given to the matter of what will happen next.      We think they will be permanently committed to us.

On Thursday Daryl and I attended the CUC - the Central Committee that had mandated our Task Force to find answers relative to this problem.      The Meeting was packed, and our Report was heard in deep silence.     What did we recommend?
WELL, whilst accepting the enormity of the situation, and with youngsters STILL coming into the town daily, we said that IF the streets were to be kept free of such youngsters we would need to have suitable and big enough premises to HOLD them in, after having been apprehended.       Once arrested then they would have to be interviewed, and where necessary rehabilitated, reintegrated or otherwise placed into society - all within a THREE month period.       We did not think it would be possible to find such a Facility that could deal with more than 150 at a time.    We could not therefore see a QUICK answer.   BUT The Task Force had found a facility INSIDE Eldoret Town that is currently idle and unused.    It was once a Social Centre under the then Department of Social Services for Eldoret Municipality.    Later it was also used as a 'Drop-in Centre' for Street children to find a hot meal, counselling and recreation OFF the streets on a day basis - NO sleeping accommodation.     Some 300 a day passed through their hands, and they managed to reclaim a number of them and re-direct them from the 'street' to school or their own home.      TODAY the Centre is empty.     The facility is THERE,   and it would be possible to provide for a boarding situation to cater for perhaps 100 at a time.     Staff is THERE, but mainly idle.    THUS if the government could step in and permit the property to be USED NOW as an immediate Detention Centre we might be well on the way to getting started.
ADDITIONALLY the Reformed Church of East Africa in Eldoret has also offered one of its Youth Centres which was initially built to cater for Day Care of Street Children to be used.     This would need provision of more toilets and showers as well as some alteration to allow for a dormitory for some 40 children.
IF FINANCE IS AVAILABLE we could be seeing progress within the coming month, and so stem the tide and reverse the situation.    
WE WERE thanked for the work so far done and given a full and substantial Mandate to push forward, and to COST both possibilities and report back within the week.

VERY ENCOURAGING,  but we will not know how REAL the desire to ACT will be before we know the Cost and WHERE the funds will come from.      IF it is to come from the Community, and from the Non-governmental organisations and charities we may find DELAY.         We are TOLD money is available, but actually FINDING it when needed is often difficult!     We shall see.     MEANWHILE the Town is restless with both the townsfolk and the street communities ready for a fight.      So please continue to pray over this situation which potentially could very seriously disturb the peace of this usually sleepy town.


IN THE MIDST OF THIS SOCIAL CRISIS the Kenya Revenue Authority continues to busy itself on behalf of Government in harassing those private charitable organisations and individuals that are working hard on a shoe string to assist the Government to care for its own children - FREE of charge.
This week Joshua Mbithi of NEEMA Children's Home reported that the Revenue Authority were demanding £100,000 in back taxes and had frozen all their Bank Accounts so that they could not carry on!    He and his wife Miriam were pulled into the Revenue Offices where they were subjected to threats, insults, and other innuendo non stop for most of the day.    FINALLY, late in the afternoon it would seem, they were told to go - with the demand that they pay only  £12,000  over a period to be determined.        A huge drop from the original DEMAND but still a FORTUNE.     Poor Joshua was severely tried in all this.     He is now intending to to to law about it since they do not have this kind of money, and feel it is unfair in any event.
WE ourselves have not heard anything more about own own problem with KRA.   They last demanded 3.4 million Kenya shillings (approx £27,000).     However WE have lodged an Appeal for EXEMPTION, and we wait to hear the result of this.
It is AMAZING that the world can be so SO greedy and so short sighted as to seek a share of what it imagines are the huge financial returns and riches charities like ourselves are hoarding up somewhere, when all the time WE are as poor as church mice ourselves, sacrificing to assist THEM to take care of what is basically their own responsibility.     Where is the Thanks and the Appreciation?      NOT ON EARTH I think!

THE MONTH IS ENDING.      Today is the 13th Birthday of my grandson, Eric Green.     Eric is our son Steven, and Anji's son, and like his sister Tonia has for the most part grown up away from us.   We see them both very erratically.    But each time we catch sight of them they are taller, more mature and good looking than before - or is that only the imagination of a rather biased Grandfather and Grandmother.    Well, Eric, we congratulate you as you enter the 'Teens' and Wish you a very happy year ahead.     We have you deep in our hearts.       I shall soon be 37 - on the 11th of May.      I still have, at this rate, about three more years before Life begins all over again!

Much Love to all of you.     Keep looking UP, and your heart MERRY.



John and Esther & Daryl and Carol

FACT OR FICTION?

The Rt. Rev. A.A. DAVID, Bishop of Liverpool (centre) 1935

I SEARCHED FOR A PHOTO OF ANY ANGLICAN BISHOP WEARING GAITERS!

I was only able to come up with this one!   And WHY would I want to bring gaiters into this week's Blog.   Just an association of memories really; memories that have their root in my initial entry into Kenya in 1968.
My place of work was in a small centre called MASENO at the time.   It has grown a lot since those days.
But then, in December 1968, it was quite small and perched about 4,000ft above sea level, some 25 kilometres or so from Kisumu, down at the Kavirondo Gulf, the entrance to Lake Victoria.  Maseno had a Teachers College (Siriba College, now a University), a National High School (Maseno School) and a Government Training College for Government Officers.     The rest was part and parcel (with the School and Mission Hospital)of the Anglican Diocese of Maseno North.       I had a small rent free cottage on the compound of the Mission Hospital where I worked as Chaplain, both to the Hospital and also Siriba College.    It was in that small cottage that the first children of Testimony Faith Homes came to live.    It all began there.      It was a very sleepy, almost Olde Worlde scene.     Rural, friendly and peaceful socially.    It reminded me very much of Wiltshire in the 1950s  -   even Cricket matches on the Maseno School field on a Sunday afternoon, band music,  school boys in grey flannels, blazer and straw boater.    Was this really Kenya....?    YES it was, one that was almost entirely gone - a final little remnant of pre-Independence.    It had all gone and changed completely within a year of my arrival.
My neighbours, living just a kilometre away from me were the Venerable and Mrs. Kenneth Stovold.  Ken was Archdeacon to the Diocese of Maseno North.    His wife, Hilda, was Matron to Maseno School.  They were in their late fifties, and we became good friends till they left in the middle Seventies.     Ken was always dressed in the traditional 'apron' and 'gaiters' of Anglican clerical attire - though I had NEVER seen it worn in England in my own lifetime.      It reminded me of Trollop and Barchester Towers!      Just another thing that seemed to add to the heady unreality of the little world I suddenly found myself in.   Even now, looking back, it still has dreamlike feeling about it - but it WAS very real indeed.    But WHERE am I going with all this?

' In November 1970 I suffered an attack (the second since I had arrived in '68, and which now I am convinced was Cerebral Malaria.)
I was standing cooking in the kitchen one lunchtime (I was then single and had 15 boys living with me.     I was no longer living in the Mission Hospital but had moved into a much bigger house about 3 kilometres away into the countryside, down a very rough and often muddy road.)     I had just dropped like a stone onto the floor of the kitchen.   The boys had then carried me, (unconscious) to my bed, and then one of them ran the three kilometres to the Church House in Maseno and told Hilda Stovold, the Archdeacon's wife, that I had died!!
She, poor lady, was quite distraught with no one at home to help her know what to do next.    So, she jumped into her car - a little VW Beetle, and chugged down the mud road to find out for herself!     She was a small, rather anxious, lady of a nervous disposition.     By the time she arrived, an hour or more had gone by, and I was just coming round.   I felt as if I had been drugged, sluggish but awake!
On seeing me Hilda became the more flustered and insisted on taking me back to the Mission Hospital.
It had been raining, and was still continuing, and the already muddy road became a quagmire.   She got stuck halfway back to Maseno, and asked if I would mind getting out to push.   I did so, and we went on a little further.   Then, about a kilometre further on she got a flat tyre!    She had a bad heart, she said.  She was sorry to have to ask me, but could I change the tyre for her!   I did so, and at last we reached the hospital, much wetter and muddier than anticipated.       The young African doctor looked me over and asked how old I was.    "I was 30 this year",  I told him.    "Ah, yes!" he said, wrinkling his brow professionally. "It's pretty certain you are commencing Epilepsy; it often begins about your age."    He then rummaged in a desk drawer and gave me some Phenobarbital tablets, and told me to let him know if I had more 'attacks'.
I was feeling alarmed by this time, and still a little unsteady.     Mrs. Stovold was looking more and more nervous.    It was still raining.    I had no umbrella.
"I  do hope you don't mind...?"  It was the Archdeacon's wife speaking.  I turned toward her.  We were all three still in the doctor's office in the hospital.  "  You see I should be all alone on the return journey if I take you back, I think perhaps I won't risk it.     I am sure you will be alright....won't you?"   She was peering anxiously at me through her spectacles.
I got up and hurried home.   On the way I considered the situation.   If I DID have Epilepsy then I was not a fit person to look after all these boys.    If I did not have Epilepsy then I did not need the tablets!   I took the packet out of my pocket and looked at is as I walked along in the rain.   I emptied the tablets into my hand, and threw them into the next puddle.    Whether I had Epilepsy or not, the Lord only knew, and only He could sort it out.     I never did have another such 'attack'.    Neither have I ever had an attack of Malaria since that day."    (Extracted from my book A Cry From the Street) - By the way if you buy the book you will read on the Title page that 'The contents and people mentioned are all fictitious'.     I can only say that I am personally sure I did not imagine any part of it.   The people, the places, the events are ALL very real, and described first hand.

Esther reminded me last night how truly amazing, if not clearly miraculous, it is that in all the 43 years since this event happened, I have NEVER had Malaria, never had such an 'attack' and never even fainted!  Who IS it that looks after us when we turn to him and trust ourselves into His Hand.   It is JESUS.   Keep HIM in mind.

Beatrice & Joseph Rop

 THIS WEEK HAS SEEN THREE FUNERALS TAKE PLACE, and all of them have touched one family.
First of all Carol's step sister passed away suddenly after a very short chest infection, in hospital.      THEN an UNCLE of Carol's also passed away very quickly - both leaving families to mourn and sorrow.
Finally the 90+ year old Mother of Joseph Rop, husband of Beatrice (another sister of Carol's by the way) also passed peacefully away in her sleep.      Quite a demanding week in respect of having to visit, and comfort the grieving whilst at the same time grieving ourselves.   For Esther and myself, of course, we are also drawn into it since they are all our family 'in-laws'.     Daryl, as Carol's husband, has also been more than busy lending his support and energy into helping arrange and inter-act with at least two of the funerals all of which have taken place this week, with Carol's step sister being buried today in her home.
My Esther has gone with Daryl and Carol today.     I have remained at home mainly because funerals here take almost the entire day - from about 9a.m. to 5 or 6 p.m. and in this particular case it will all be done in Swahili or Kalenjin rather than in English.     Usually so many words of comfort and commendation for the departed one, and choirs and prayers - a true Days Program of Farewell.
BUT Esther is that rare soul that never flags or fails in grace, patience and love.
She is very special, weeping always with those that weep, whilst always having an uplifting and encouraging word, and positive spirit about her.     I feel very much privileged to have found her as my companion and friend these many years. She has needed every one of her many good qualities to put up with me and my many opposite graces.     She is truly an example of 'Saving Grace'.


SO LIFE GOES ON.    It has been wonderfully sunny each day, but also rains nightly.   The children all at home, happy and free of study and school.  The Building works still continuing, and are nearly coming to conclusion.    And KENYA  once more forging forward into what we believe and hope will be a new era of peace and prosperity.
The only particular event of the week past has been the Ceremonial Funeral of Baroness Thatcher - the Iron Lady of England.      Always reminds me also of Bismark the Iron Chancellor of Germany of the last century.
I also watched the Film about her this week.       Most people will  insist I am 'Conservative'.     I am a Christian.      Humanly I am a traditionalist in regard to anything that I feel recommends a Christian England. I enjoyed, therefore the 'cermonial' its glitter, glamour and history.    I enjoyed the grandeur of St. Paul's Cathedral, and the rigour of the liturgical service which stood starkly apart from the representatives of the State and irreligious congregation.      God Save the Queen ......... little remnants of an England I once had a part in, but which seems to be slipping away into a society very different.       When I came to Kenya I felt myself at once an 'alien', and now when I visit England, I feel almost the same.      It has helped me at least to know that THIS WORLD - even the best remembered and loved parts - is not my home.    My REAL home is before me, and I am on the way toward it.     What a DAY that will be.

God Bless you all.    I have written notes to many of you.   Please do remember us and to pray for us at this time especially.
With our love as we walk the week ahead together with you - through thick and thin in JESUS!

John and Esther & Daryl and Carol

DID HE, OR DID HE NOT?

AT LAST, on Tuesday 9th April, Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta was Sworn in as Kenya's 4th President.
And YES, he did hold a Bible in his right hand as he did so - and not just ANY Bible but one that had been used and owned by his father, the 1st President of Kenya, JOMO Kenyatta.     He also laid his LEFT hand on another Bible held by his wife Margaret Kenyatta to underscore his belief that they would stand together supporting each other.
Hope everyone is now happy and satisfied that all that outwardly could be done was done to persuade the watching world that promises made WILL be kept.
BUT WE ALL KNOW that promises can be broken, even the best of them!    Usually on the day we make them it is all 'Smiles and Good Will' but once put to trial by disappointment, unfaithfulness and stress the smiles and the happiness can fade away, and those initial words prove breakable and of no account!!  Consider how many men and women standing before God at an altar, swearing their life long constancy and faithful loyalty to each other, later find a reason to FORGET, NEGATE, and totally ABANDON their words and Vows.     Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones once wrote - 'What right have we to expect nations to stand by their promises and to keep their vows to each other, if men and women do not do it even in this most solemn and sacred union of marriage?     We must start with ourselves, we must start at the Beginning.  We must observe the Law of God (not Moses) in our personal and individual lives.'
A man is only as good as his 'word'!     It used to be that a man's 'word' was his bond - his bondage - that which bound him to being true to it.      This was considered the proof of a man's integrity, strength and quality of moral character.       In those days - how far back should we go - a promise was a promise, a VOW was a Vow, and to break either was considered the greatest shame and sacrilege possible.      TODAY, with the world divorce rate rising every month, this concept and confidence seems to have been swept away in a continuing 'mud-slide' of moral decline.      By the way I read this week that one Nation has now passed legislation in relation to marriage/partnership of any kind - that it should be for a Agreed and and Certificated period of TWO years only!     It would seem that in THAT nation no one can keep their word longer, and it may well be that it cannot be kept for even shorter intervals of time!!!     Has Humanity, after thousands of years of progressive thought and learning, now entered into its dotage, and begun to decline into a universal condition close to Alzheimer's?
As a Christian, I believe in MARRIAGE.    I believe in it as a sacred contract to be arranged in front of God to be durable for life between one man and one woman.      I believe it ought to be indissoluble; a secure and reliable foundation on which to build a refuge strong and endurable; a 'family' home where the warmth and  dependability of love and welcome may always be found.      The building block of our world society, interlocking us into a network of conformable and dependable units working together for each others good.
TODAY we have 'partnerships' instead of marriage, partners instead of husbands and wives, and progeny instead of sons and daughters.       Soon Marriage and Family will be outmoded by the unrecognisable.
OUTSIDE of Religion there may be a reason NOT to see Marriage as something special and sacred.   And, since religion is somewhat challenged and considered out-dated, it no  longer has a voice that is heard.  SOON  a man and a woman, two men, two women, or whatever other union will be fashionable enough to try out, will all be as 'acceptable' as each other.   'Marriage' if any longer in the common vocabulary, will mean nothing more than a casual, sexual relationship of no particular gender, and of an indeterminate, self determined length.     THIS is where the world is going.     This is where the Government of the United Kingdom is going, in front of the Queen.          She has declared her stand as a Christian, but if the new Marriage Bill goes through SHE will have to sign the Bill to make it LAW......She HAS signed other Bills, some quite recent, that are definitely NOT based upon or encouraging to a GODLY life.      
CHRISTIANS, AND ALL OTHER GOD BELIEVING PEOPLE  -   WAKE UP, stand up, and cry out aloud when you see your Faith and Belief being eroded and endangered by an UNBELIEVING world system which is universally directed and in the hands of an EVIL spirit;  Satan himself.

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OUR THREE LITTLE  GUESTS FROM ELDORET'S STREETS, ARE STILL WITH US! They are all very happy and well behaved in fact. Our Social Worker and the house-parents have done their best to put them at ease and encourage their confidences regarding their past and present history. Very LITTLE has been gleaned so far. We have TWO weeks to try and unravel their past and to find a home or family that might belong to them. One week left - will we succeed? Maybe not, and then this will mean we will have to keep them a while longer, perhaps till they have completed school!

We expect the other Homes to have been having a similar experience. NEVERTHELESS, we are determined to put an end to this 'traffic' from country to town, AND to find a way to clean up the street of stragglers, beggars, AND children out to make a living. Our NEXT Meeting will be on MONDAY next week. We will keep you posted as to how we propose to go and, and what progress is made.

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ON FRIDAY THIS WEEK,  Schools closed across the State for the 'Easter Holiday Break'!!   All rather cock-eyed this year because of the election and so on.     It is usually a short Break of some  two to three weeks.  (We shall re-open on the 6th May.)    UNLIKE all other holidays it will be purely recreational without any EXTRA TUITION intruding into the freedom of the students to just relax and take a rest from Books.     This is by LAW now, and is a totally new departure from what has been practise before.     

THUS our School is now empty of its 800 students.     The four Homes are of course still very much full, plus a few more than usual as our 'family members' studying away in College and University will be home as well.     House-parents will be busier that usual since they will have to find ways and means to help the holidays to pass well and happily all day - where before there were still EXTRA studies to be done.

This year it will be more difficult still since the RAINS seem to have been more, and prolonged.

We have the mornings free at present, but as from 3 or 4p.m. the RAINS come heavily down and continue to do so well into the late evening - and again later in the night till early morning.   The world for us is a WET  one just now.     Good for the GARDENS, and bit depressing at times for the COWS and even the chickens, who seem to cluck and jostle each other less on wet and sunless days.   Maybe the roar of the raindrops on the iron roofs of their shelters is just too loud and oppressive !!!   Its simply POURING DOWN with deep eruptions of truly menacing thunder and lightening as I type this!!    We are ALL holed up in our houses for sure.

This rain has also SLOWED DOWN work on the School Swimming pool which ought to have been completed by now.    Still a lot of MUD around, and this means finishing the surrounding area of the pool has almost come to a standstill.    We are hoping all will be complete by the end of the month if the Weather-men are right and the Rains cease by the end of next week.    We shall see.

OUR SON MANU is celebrating his 29th Birthday with a Party for his friends and work mates today in his own apartment.     It will be rather WET.......his apartment being quite small he had made arrangements to have the party in the garden!!!      He expects about 20 guests and it will be a kind of Farewell to his Youth, he says,- since next year he will join the pre-elderly 30s!!!!     His actual Birthday is Monday the 15th.       The Family,(Daryl and co, me and Esther and possible even Helen) will have our own celebratory supper with him on Monday evening here at home in Green Cottage.

TOMORROW I will be sharing the Word of God at our Sunday Morning Fellowship with the Family - some 140 kids and 20 staff and others.     We usually begin with Worship and Prayer prior to Breaking Bread together.     There are hymns and singing and testimonies, and then the Word.

'I have gone astray like a lost sheep!

Seek thy servant!

For I do not forget thy commandments

Psalm 119v176

THE ONE THAT LOVES ME SAID TO ME,  'I will NEVER leave thee nor forsake thee!'

BUT I STRAYED!   I wandered away from Him until I WAS all but lost, unable to find a way back to the safety of His arms.   I was in despair - as a Christian!

In the original GREEK in which the New Testament is written Hebrews 13v5 has God assuring those who have come to know Him through faith in Christ Jesus - 

I WILL NOT IN ANY WAY FAIL YOU, NOR GIVE YOU UP,

nor leave you without support!

I will not, I will NOT, 

I will NOT in any degree leave yo helpless, nor forsake you, nor let you down

(relax my hold o you)

ASSUREDLY NOT! 

CAN someone who knows Jesus STILL wander away and get lost?     I DID!

And getting into a subsequent mess, I cried out for him to FIND me  -   again, NOT because I had kept his commandments, but because I still BELIEVED in them; that they were good, and meant to guide my life.    YES, Jesus, to whom I belonged, in whose hand I had put my own, and who had secured my forgiveness and salvation with his own Blood, had promised NEVER to let me go.

WE HAVE ALL SINNED, AND FOLLOWED OUR OWN WAY (Isaiah 53)   AND we will ALL suffer temptation to go on doing so until we DIE.    SIN is in our FLESH, - in the stuff we are MADE of.

God did not put it there - but it wormed its way in .......

SO we WILL all find ourselves in a tight place sometime!    Where will my help come from?

Psalm 121v2 assures me that - 'My help cometh from the Lord who made the Heavens and the Earth.

TURN TO JESUS -  The very one that gave his life for us on the Cross.    He will not forget you or give you up,    HE will rescue us from our going astray.   He WILL save us to the uttermost!

AND EVEN MORE THAN THIS PSALM 121 TELLS US that HE is our Keeper, the One that never ceases to care for ME - He will watch over me SLEEPLESSLY.

When He sees me straying He will follow after me, and will BRING ME BACK to my true home.

HE WILL PRESERVE ME FROM EVIL;  He will preserve my soul!    FOREVER!

IS YOUR HEART HEAVY TODAY?

Are you heavily born down with sins that have separated you from God's Love?

Even Jesus felt forgotten of God as he hung on the Cross.   WHY?    Because of my sin, Because of YOUR sin, that He carried for us - which ultimately HID him from God; from his Father's sight.

HE said on the cross UNDER the thick blanket of OUR SINS,    WHY have you forsaken /left/ departed from ME.        The sins that you BARE hide you from my sight, prevent me even from being SEEN by you.

BE SURE JESUS KNOWS how it feels to be ALONE ad CONDEMNED.

He took YOUR trouble and MINE - that SIN that so easily sticks to us - and made it to BE his own.

He knew how that sin of ours FELT when it touched the purity and holiness of GOD.   He Cried out!

My God!     My GOD!

AND SO DAVID cried out too, desperately to the only one he knew that could help him. He cried -

SEEK THY SERVANT

DAVID knew as well as Jesus did that He was born to Serve God, and that SIN Had taken him out of the way and hidden him (made him to get lost from God's sight)

'I am HERE Lord, under this SIN, behind this SIN!    SEEK for me - LOOK for me, for I am Your Servant - I am here only to do YOUR will and to KEEP your word

Why are you cast down oh my soul - and WHY are you so disquieted within me? - Psalm 42v5

LOOK AWAY TO JESUS.......remember HIM!

CONFESS YOUR SIN, your back-sliding - the error that has come between you, leading you astray and AWAY....

ADMIT TO HIM that you WANT to be his servant - that you ARE his servant, and that you acknowledge and accept that His Commandment, His Word and Way IS good.

HOPE THOU IN GOD ALONE.

He is already looking for you - seeking you out.

He will never give up on you, neither forsake or forget you - if you have called on his name.

AND IF YOU HAVE NOT KNOWN HIM?    If you have not believed on His Name?  What then?

CRY out to Him NOW.   Accept Him as Lord and Saviour, the ONE who has purchased your Forgiveness with His own life blood, making you to BE a child of God.

THEN YOU WILL BE HELD ON TO - NEVER LET GO OF - NEVER AGAIN TO BE GIVEN UP AS DEAD OR CONSIDERED TO BE PERMANENTLY LOST.      You will be SAFE somehow, somewhere in the Saviour's Arms.

KEEP CLOSE TO JESUS.     Our prayers ascend daily for you, day by day - not ALL of you every day, but day by day we pray for some of you without forgetting any.      Take good care and be of good cheer.

John and Esther & Daryl and Carol

THE PRESIDENT HAS A WIFE!

A VERY HAPPY COUPLE!    And VISIBLY together - our incoming President Uhuru Kenyatta and his wife Margaret.     They have been married for 23 years, and on the 3rd April Mr. Kenyatta asked if his wife could HOLD the Bible whilst he LAID HIS HAND upon it, during his Inauguration and Swearing-in on Tuesday of this coming week.
IMMEDIATELY there has been an out-cry from the public objecting to this.   Their point is 'How can a Head of State Swear on the Bible when someone else is holding it - why is he afraid of touching it?'
HOWEVER,  the TRUTH of the matter is NOT that  the President will not TOUCH the Bible as he takes the Oath - He WILL lay his hand upon it; it is only that his WIFE will be holding it for him as he does so.
No Big Deal to my way of thinking.     Interesting how people of a certain way of thinking will always find a way to TWIST words to mean what they want them to mean.       OUTWARDLY, at least, the President Elect wants to demonstrate the close relationship he and his wife have toward each other.   BUT some are saying the President Elect is unwilling or afraid to TOUCH the Word of God (the Bible) for his own private reasons, and that is a bad omen.      This has never been intimated in the press, who have throughout clearly reported the true case - that the President will place his hand ON THE BIBLE as he takes the Presidential Oath - it is only that instead of HOLDING it himself, his wife will hold it.     Sad how something meant to be a demonstration of marital solidarity and support can be used for evil surmising.         Of course there are many that believe the worst about the 'man' who is to lead us.        But here he is by God's Grace.    Let us believe the best and trust in God, for the State, ourselves, and for the man's family.


LAST SATURDAY, as I had shared, we all went to the Wedding of Joshua and Miriam Mbithis daughter Esther to Dan.     The Service was held in town at the AIC Fellowship Church.   It was not full but almost so (it holds about 3,000 people) It went very well, and then afterwards the Reception was held in the grounds of a College known as Alphax College. A truly joyous and auspicious occasion. One of our Old Boys, Rev. Moses Ongong'a officiated, and a number of Testimony Family Members also attended even from out of town. There were also a little group of 'angels' who had 'flown in' from the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Both the Mbithis and the Greens have known them for some years now, and from time to time they have visited.........Always in time to be a Blessing to us all. To us they are 'angelic' even though they look human enough! I have included a photo of the happy couple AFTER their Marriage, AND a photo of Esther and me with our some 'angels from Guernsey' - Daryl tacked on at the far right. They are all back in Guernsey now, and we hope for another flying visit sometime in the future as the Lord might dictate. John Henry, third from the left, is the eldest of them all, and truly adventurous for an 'angel' insisting on getting a ride back to the Mbithis on a piki-piki - His outward appearance being 80 or so, he demonstrates very well Life springing Eternal. We do all appreciate their willingness to come to do the work of God amongst us; they cheer and encourage us every time, lifting up our hearts, and also minister God's provision before they even know our need. 

THIS WEEK has been a busy and active one for me - and also for Daryl who is himself involved with me in activities that take us both away from the Homes.    BOTH of us are invited Members of what is known as the Eldoret Court Users Committee - The CUC.     This is a quarterly Meeting of the Judiciary and Magistrature, Lawyers and Advocates,  together with senior Police Officers, Probation and Children's Officers.      Basically this is an empowered Country level watchdog and regulator on criminal and social justice as it may be administered in the locality of the Uasin Gishu Country.      The Committee last met on the 21st March, and during its deliberations the matter of Street Children was once again brought up.  Numbers were noted to be rising on the streets of the Town of Eldoret.    Exact numbers could not be given but well over a thousand it was thought - many as young as three years.       Police were demanding some collective action - but what?     A TASK FORCE was set up, and I was appointed Chairman.     Our first Meeting too place on TUESDAY of this week.     We sat (nine of us) in one of the High Court Rooms.
The outcome was a unanimous plan to BEGIN to clear the streets with almost immediate effect - we would start with seeking out FIRST all those seven years and under.       The Police estimated about 30 could be picked up.      It was decided to contact all the Children's Homes in the area in order to ask for TEMPORARY places for those picked up - to stay for two to three weeks whilst vetting and research into their histories were carried out, AND THEN either repatriated to their families or found alternative help.
On Wednesday Morning we met with the Eldoret Children's Forum and set the matter before them and obtained their assistance in contacting the Managers of Children's Homes in the area.

Anthony

On Thursday we had an audience with the Police Chiefs in Eldoret and organised for them to make an unexpected SWOOP to pick up children 7 and under that very day.      They would be held over night in a special facility, then taken to Court the next Day.     They picked up FIFTY TWO CHILDREN. (52).
On Friday at 9a.m. I was at the Court.       Only 27 vacancies had been offered by Children's Homes. TESTIMONY FAITH HOMES had offered to take THREE boys (Anthony 7, Joseph 6, and  Newton 7.)  I was in the Court for almost two and a half hours as all fifty two cases were heard, and the children temporarily assigned to the Juvenile Remand Home and to seventeen different Charitable Children's Homes.  

Joseph 6

It is known that most of the children living on the streets are NOT orphans - they do have parents and even homes.     It had been hoped that when they did not appear overnight that parents would immediately show up at the Police Station to enquire - but none did so.        Nevertheless it is hoped such parents WILL be found and that they will be persuaded to take hold of their responsibilities as they stand before the Police and Magistrates.      We shall see.      As an operation it went well and according to plan - but it will not stop here.       There are HUNDREDS more still on the streets, and we must go after them, and help them to realise the street cannot be home sweet home for them.        The Task Force will meet again on Monday 15th April, and it hoped to commence PART TWO of the 'Clearance Plan'.        It will not all be solved at once, but little by little we hope to accomplish the Task almost to completion by the end of the year.      

Newton 7

THE THREE LITTLE BOYS WE HAVE TAKEN INTO TO TESTIMONY,   undoubtedly have home and family somewhere.     We will of course have to find out during the coming week or so as many of the real facts of their background as we can.      Mary Atieno our Social Worker will be quite busy trying to win their trust and discovering their history.     All three boys are VERY happy today, and seem to think they have arrived in 'heaven'.........Their future - like all the others that have been picked up - is uncertain right now.   We will need great wisdom, justice and mercy as we research their lives to discover what has forced them to the Streets, and what will be the best action to take in their BEST interest.     Please join us in prayer for this.
It is also a lot of EXTRA work and running about for Daryl as well as me.

l to r - Janet, Dominic, and Naomi

TODAY IS THE SCHOOL SPORTS DAY!         The weather is not very nice in that there is little sun and the sky a bit grey overhead.    It has been raining a LOT this week.     Our School Field is in the process of being levelled and replanted with grass, SO this year we have had to borrow the Eldoret Sports Club field which is about  three kilometres away from us.      Everyone has gone there, leaving me here typing.    It will be a great time I know - it always is.      Maybe some photos next week.       The three boys above will be there enjoying themselves AND three others that came in November last year - a boy of 7 Dominic, and his two sisters Janet 9 and Naomi 13.   They were supposed to stay with until the end of December but they have just now been committed to us permanently - their parents both died of AIDS and the family refuses to have anything to do with them - because of the stigma attached to them.    None of the have HIV even.  Lovely children who are able to remember loving parents and a happy home!

SOMEONE WROTE ON MY FACE BOOK PAGE and suggested that The Christian Church needed evangelising - that it had, itself, gone to sleep and become unaware of the world it existed in.
I wrote back and said that JESUS had tried doing that - and had ended up Crucified!!       Jesus had come and found the Jewish Church cold and unaware.    He tried to wake them up to SEE and to HEAR, but they were blinded and deafened by their own righteousness - and they rejected, objected and put their hands to their eyes and ears whilst shouting AWAY WITH THIS MAN - we will have Barabbas.........

EZEKIEL, in his day, also found the People of God deaf to God's Words.  Ezekiel 3v12-13 finds him being led of the Spirit of God - He says 'I went in the bitterness of discouragement, in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of God was strong upon me.'
Ezekiel was not in the MOOD to go.    Not anxious to be the one to GO!     Certainly SATAN our Enemy and God's, does not want any one of us to GET UP and GO with the Word of God - ESPECIALLY to those of a failing heart and spirit!    He does not want those one time 'firebrands' and disciples of Christ, to be RE-AWAKENED.      They are back in his hand - shall he let them be RESCUED?
In chapter 3v15  Ezekiel found himself led to a special community of the People of God - his own people - and he stayed and lived with them, and became 'overwhelmed' with astonishment at their lives - and he was silenced.   He could not witness to them.        These people - the People of God - were living without regard for God.  He was amazed..       Some 'christian' church groups are like that - they have become as the world without realising it.......Ezekiel was SO surprised to realise the condition of his fellow Christians, that he laid down for seven days unable to act.     He knew them all well - he was one of them, and until that moment had been as blind as they were.   BUT God's hand was upon him to WITNESS.   God's Holy spirit had opened his understanding.   He knew he had to do this.   Whether they would hear or not - he HAD to speak what God had told him to speak.      As he lay mulling this over, the LORD spoke to him again and said -

Son of man I have made you a watchman to the House of Israel (The People of God)

THEREFORE, hear the Word at My mouth, and give them warning for me.

WELL dear ones, we are ALL, each one of us, WATCHMEN and women.      We must not avoid the issue, but GET UP and witness to the truth - even amongst our own brethren - amongst our own congregation.       We must each one be quick to Exhort, and to Encourage one another.........And let us not FEAR to do it, for HE HIMSELF is alive by our side to give us the STRENGTH and COURAGE to do so.

Our Love to you all and our thanks for sharing what you have with us.     Pray for us that even more might be  burdened to support the ministry of God's Word and the Reclamation of children lost and away from home.

God Bless and be with you

John and Esther & Daryl and Carol Green