WEEDING OUR GARDENS ?

 

THESE ARE NOT OUR BOYS,  but they could be, and right now we DO have some teenagers who are going this way - the Marijuana or BHANGI way, as it is called here in East Africa.      The Kenya National Institute of Drug Abuse has put High School kids as using Bhangi, more than any other Substance;  more than 36% of them.    And it does not arise only among High School students, but even in much younger age groups.    The incidence in our School at the current time is NOT so high, but it IS increasing, and we are determined to wage war against it, and to do our best to eradicate it from our premises.       Every day some 600 boys and girls aged from 5 to 18 are coming in and out of our School, together with 130 more from our Homes.     And Bhangi is being found increasingly!   We do of course take action when we do find this drug.     But we want to altogether  prevent it from ever finding a welcome into the life or experience of even one child.      This will not be easy in a climate which does not take Marijuana seriously.     

Indeed the Government here is considering 'legalising' it altogether - mainly due to two reasons;   first it is considered 'medically' a blessing, an up and coming drug in the treatment of mental and psychological disorders.   And second, it not considered as big a threat to society as Alcohol, Tobacco, Heroine, and other main line drugs.    Thus it is finding little opposition from the Authorities, whilst at the same time becoming a major cause of our young people being tempted away from school, work, and good behaviour, to a  anti-social attitude, careless of reckless, violent, and damaging manners and language.     The Marijuana plant is commonly grown in many gardens and farms!    It can be dried and smoked like a cigarette, or made into a kind of 'tea', drunk, or even chewed like a wad of tobacco.     Marijuana is generally a 'happy' or ' UPPER' that gives an inner ' HIGH' feeling of super wellbeing, confidence, and self esteem - an over dose of which produces a kind of reckless euphoria and even 'aggressiveness'.   There is also a 'delusional' quality mixed in with this, and as it all wears off, then, as with alcohol, self esteem gives place to self pity, despondency, and depression.   Suicide is also being attributed to the after effects of Bhangi.

Most Addicts are attracted to Marijuana in order to FIT IN, with their peers, To FEEL GOOD,  to Feel BETTER,  to DO better,  or just to EXPERIMENT.

WHAT ARE the EFFECTS of using Marijuana?

I have not come across any case of any one using this drug to have DIED as a direct Result.

However, when taken with other drugs the blood pressure, usually  70 - 80 beats per minute, can double. This increases the risk of heart attack.

Short Term effects include the following :-

Altered senses - such as seeing colours as being brighter than usual.

Altered sense of Time.

Changes in Mood.

Slow reactions

Problems with balance and co-ordination.

Memory Problems

Hallucinations and Delusions.

Pshychosis.

Most of these symptoms will be noticed after taking this drug.

We have had to deal with with  situations where a User, has become quite uncontrollable, and has had to be forcibly restrained, and also occasions where the User has collapsed,  and been unable to communicate sensibly; unable to know even who or where he was.

We have also noticed, as the National Institute on Drug Addiction has also noted, that the use of this drug immediately has an effect on School Grades and performance generally,  AND additionally also appears to reduce Life satisfaction which induces finding more difficulties with relationships with friends and family, compared to those who DO NOT use such substances.

We have seen also that together with the above, there is a kind of hopelessness that comes, taking away any sense of purpose or reason for living, resulting in almost total disregard to help themselves.

Some have advised me that 'Taken in small quantities, under guidance, Marijuana, is not dangerous, and may even be helpful.'     Be this as it may WE see only the kind of use that comes from a kind of dull and mindless freedom to get away from boredom, and even humanity itself.      As with Alcohol and other drugs, there can be little doubt that Marijuana is also used  to  block inner misery caused by family, and even individual, personally perceived, shortcomings or failures.     This is also an indication that the User of drugs, of any kind, has not perceived his or her personal strengths to deal head on with the problem, and looks for ANY prop to help them get through.

TO US, Bhangi cannot be put up with.    We must make sure it is presented for what it is - a powerful and potential DANGER, and (to our children), one of Satan's tools to misdirect, derail, and ultimately destroy their every hope of a normal, happy, and satisfying life, with all their faculties unharmed.

We are preparing to CAMPAIGN against it - INITIALLY, here where we are in Testimony Faith Homes and School, and perhaps even into our surrounding district.       We have begun by producing our own POSTER program, making our own posters, and to go with them there will be Tracts explaining the Dangers in taking drugs of any kind - especially Marijuana.      We hope also to have Seminars, and Week-end Crusades in support.      We will let you know how we go.

We don't want ONE boy or girl to end up LOST because of this green WEED!

++++++++++ 

AND I AM BOUNCING BACK AGAIN!     It has taken a little while this time round, but I can currently say that I feel truly back to normal, and going full steam ahead once more.

In JULY I had written that I was over what had seemed like the flu, and was feeling quite well from that - only that on checking my heart I was told my heart muscle was too thick, and that I needed treatment.   The 'treatment' amounted to yet another Pill, and I must say I have felt much lighter and brighter since finishing the Course,     But most of all Jesus watches over me, and over all the Alarms and Excursions of the  doctors, Bless them all!  

I have been a bit quiet since then, and during the latter part of August found myself once more facing

problems.    This time with my water works.     Well I have suffered from stones in the kidney, on and off since 1980, and then in 2010 had an operation on my prostate - but all has been well till the first week in August.   On being examined by my doctor he said he thought I might have Cancer.   I was not glad to hear it.     He gave me some more tablets and told me to come back in a month.    Things got WORSE, and this time I went a Consultant, an older man, and a specialist.     He also gave me an exhaustive examination, finally exploding into  "Cancer?  Nonsense!"   Just another stone, he thought, 

and the next day I was as right as rain - having painlessly passed the stone, and all well, with no damage.    However the whole episode had really pulled me down, and I had really felt down, and apprehensive.     I believed the LORD Jesus is with me, and that HE IS my source of Health, come what may, BUT .......    He was walking with me  all the time, of course, and had me in hand.    "in sickness And in health" He has promised never to leave us.     I am Thankful for this Reminder, and GLAD  to  come up from the deep to see the light of day again, and to KNOW that my feet stand securely on the Rock from which we cannot slip or slide..       Thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts

DARYL was taking me around the doctors and clinics, and all that time he himself was not feeling himself.      I had mentioned in July how busy, physically, he had been, and how tired he seemed.     He had also been troubled with his stomach, but continued to rush around seeing to everything from A-Z non stop - this last week seeing to leaks in the roofing, with himself on top of the Iron Sheeting sorting it out.

BUT  he was feeling bad inside, and finally downed tools to get solid Advice.

Tests have proved that his stomach has been invaded by an  infection picked up from unwashed or improperly cooked, vegetables!    He has been put on a 14 day course of drugs.    He is still up and about, and has just now popped in looking still a bit 'off'' and saying he was told to expect some unease for a few days.     Please spare him a prayer during the two  weeks ahead of him.

+++++++++++++++++++  

GENERALLY life continues here as usual.      This last week has been WET and cold;  wetter and colder than normal for September.    We should be dry, and a little warmer, waiting for SHORT rain in mid November - but these days we seem to have neither LONG nor SHORT rains - just a week or few days here and there, mostly out of season.      Eldoret is getting more like Manchester as far as the Weather is concerned.

But the School and the Homes all continue well and happily and still free of Covid 19 and all its mutations!!      WE really have experienced little of it.      SOME doctors are actually SAYING that there is no such thing -  it IS just another influenza, and has taken less lives in Kenya than other killers such as Heart Attack, Cancer, Pneumonia, ++.       Well the Government continues to put out daily figures and here are TO-DAY'S -

=====================================

Tested today         9,065     Positive Cases         1,001

Total Tested   1,397,923     Positive Cases     238,852

                                           Recoveries           224,900

                                           DEATHS                  4,757

===================================== 

And with this we leave you for this week.    God Bless you all very much, and keep you safe and law abiding.    Remember He Who is Coming, WILL COME SEEN.       

Lovingly from us all

John, Esther and Daryl Green,

and All with us in Testimony Faith Home and School

     

 

THIS IS PHOTO OF POLISH JEWS

being herded into Goods Wagons waiting to transport them from the Ghettos to Warsaw Railway Station, for transportation to Concentration Camps, where most would die.  All of this was going on when I was only two years old, in 1942.  I have no first hand of the awful horror these people were going through;  the bewilderment of suddenly being deprived of their humanness; of being seen as SUB human, and being instantly rubbished by those, a day before, they had seen as fellow citizens.   Dragged from theirs homes like cattle; beaten, spat upon, vilified, raped, and robbed. and every last thing they had taken from them.   THEN, at the last, killed off and thrown like garbage into mass graves.  Was there ever anything like this ever before.  Yes, and ever since, for the 'spirit' that got into men in Germany, in 1939 and for the next six years, existed, and still exists on planet Earth.    HOW did I find myself thinking of all this?    Well, I suppose it was what is now happening in that very troubled Nation of Afghanistan.    And then this week I came across the 2002 Film,  'The PIANIST'    A film everyone should see.  A true account of actual events.  If you watch it thoughtfully you will have to consider how it could be that one part of the human race could see another  part as sub-human, or rubbish, worthless of value.     It was the worst of times for the Jewish People, but would not be the last time the human race would find themselves seeing similar demonstrations of total inhumanity.   

Some have suggested that it cannot be honestly said that all those involved in the Holocaust were responsible, that they only did what the Fuhrer and 'Cabinet' told them.   In the Film, 'Piano Man', this is demonstrated in the scene where 'Wladyslaw Szpilman', the pianist, fleeing for his life, as a Polish Jew, from the  Nazis, found himself discovered by a Captain in the German Army who, being moved by his condition, and his humanness, protects the pianist and assists him to  keep  hidden so that he could escape.  His name was never known but his act of kindness and mercy speaks up for a huge number of his Nation who silently did not agree with all their Leaders said and did,  but feared to say so at the time.

This week I also listened and watched, on video, a performance of Beethoven's 5 Symphony performed by The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, conducted by the world famous Conductor Daniel Barenboim, now in his eighties. a Jew.

To emphasize his belief that all men and woman should be able to live together in peace and unity,

Barenboim has put together a full Orchestra which he conducts and tours with extensively, and whose individual members are made up of young musicians from Israel, Palestine, and other Arab Countries.   This is the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.    It exists to 'study and perform - in order to promote mutual reflection and understanding between nations.'     Daniel 

Barenboim has also written a number of books,  and given many interviews in which he has spoken a great deal about human rights and equality.    Something that he said in an speech he gave caught my eye.

He was talking about a Composer known as Richard Wagner.       (Wagner lived between 1813-1883. He was an accomplished Composer, and his music was especially liked by Adolph Hitler, and became the backdrop against which all the 'evil' of Third Riech was played against.     Wagner was himself no lover of the Jew, in his day.   His music was brilliant, but was it also able to be manipulated.)

Danial Barenboim wrote-

'Wagner the person,

is absolutely appalling, despicable,

and in a way very difficult to put together

 with the music he wrote,

which so often has exactly the opposite kind of feelings -

noble, generous.....

BUT then what about Hitler?     HE appreciated Art, loved the emotions stirred by Wagners music.

How could Hitler have two faces, two personalities.      Some say he was a sick man, and that his sickness affected his mind.      Today people buy paintings that Hitler painted.   He had studied Art, and wanted to be a painter.     But he did not succeed to Graduate from Art School.     Did he become bitter, and open up his heart to an evil spirit.    We do not know.   But this ONE man changed the cause of his Nation's thought and life; caused a World War to be fort and lost, and caused six million Jews to die.

Just one man!    This has really disturbed me.    And this same ' spirit ', yes I am calling it a 'spirit' is to be seen at work in our world today.    The most worrying thing to me is that Man's predilections in matters of colour, religion, politics, and even race, can all be used to stir up and enflame individuals and whole societies against each other.        In 2007 here in Eldoret, Kenya, we saw this spirit at work in that so many of one particular tribe (ethnic group) were targeted, and killed.    Just a spark, but even a spark can become the prelude to a forest fire.     There is tribalism in Kenya, and politically there is drift towards keeping those of each tribe in one area, to live and work.    It is not yet totally exclusive, but it is laying  the ground for a disunited society,  part of which can rise against another to assert it's own agenda.     WHY can't humans work TOGETHER, appreciating and valuing each other as true brothers and sisters, REGARDLESS of the shade of colour, spiritual belief and culture.    We ARE all members of one world wide specie of the animal creation.    All of us!    All HUMAN BEINGS.    Is it really impossible to work toward this end, in all we say and do?    Is it really impossible to LOVE one another as GOD loves us.

MAN has no enemy but himself, some say.   But Man DOES have an Enemy, and that enemy seeks the  total extermination of mankind, one by one, nation by nation.     He is the Devil, and it is he and the demons that surround him and do his bidding, that are at work each hour of every day, to enter into men and women, in order to USE them to destroy one another.        We all live in a very visible, material world, but we need to realise that we do not make the world go round the sun; there are powers we know nothing of, and to refuse to accept this is merely human pride and vanity in himself.     There IS a God, and there is a very real anti-god, in whom reposes every aspect of EVIL, and in whom is an insatiable desire to destroy - everything in the universe.

SINCE December 1872 my wife, Esther Wanjiru, and I 

have welcomed young people in need into our home and family'

more than 400 have come and gone, and none are forgotten

THIS  IS A PHOTO of our 49 Anniversary of the beginning 

of what has come to be known as Testimony Faith Homes & School.

Almost 300 attended his function, and there were representatives

from more than fourteen different tribes who had been brought up

in one of our four family homes.

Brought up to love each other, and to be brother and sister

to one another, and see each other as Family - as KENYAN!

If this could have happened, and it HAS, here in Eldoret, then it can also happen all over Kenya, and all over the world;  smashing down every barrier to seeing one another universally as ONE FAMILY together.    If we can see each other equally, then we can consider one another on the same level, and be able to listen to each other without seeking to hurt, injure or destroy each other, be able to solve ALL our differences which may at times want to assert themselves.     THIS is our prayer and desire.

I am not speaking as a Christian to Christians, I am sharing my heart as a Human Being to ALL those who are also human beings of whatever spiritual persuasion or cultural background, or  colour.  It IS possible to overcome all our own opinions and preconceptions, and see each other as family.    It has been demonstrated and continues to be so, here in Testimony Faith Homes, and is spreading here and there as a way of live and living.     I believe that Barenboim, the Conductor is also seeing this as he tours the  world with musicians who once held views that would have prohibited them from even sitting together. Now they sit and play music in the same orchestra, and when the Concert is ended they socialise and mix up together as family, bearing and suffering each other's differences.     In this there is no colour, no Race, no Culture, and no Religion.   PRAY for it happen where you are with those you meet every day - not only  your own family  and friends --------

Your brothers and sisters

John, Esther and Daryl Green, 

and all that live together with here

 in Testimony Faith Homes. Kenya

                 

 

A GOLDEN WEDDING !!

                                            John Green                                      Esther Iguru

 

On This DAY, the 14th August, 1971

this man and this woman

became One for life.

And to day

we Celebrate 50 years

of our ongoing life together

in Marriage

 It has been a Wonderful fifty years.

And I can do no better than repeat here

what I wrote in 2019

'I was born in England, and she was born in Kenya.

I was white, and she was brown.

When we met and fell in love, many warned me, saying

that we would not work out together, because

out cultures were different, and our children would suffer.

We went ahead anyway! 

I had already opened my home and heart to more than twenty youngsters who had no home or settled life.    The day Esther married me she became the instant mother of 28 with ages ranging from eight to fifteen - and they did not all experience 'love at first sight' for her!   

Esther was a High School Teacher.

She was also a sinner saved by Grace.    She had left teaching to be my wife, and the mother of other people's kids, as well as those God would give us as our very own.   She walked out of a settled and reasonably comfortable and secure life, into the unknown.   

Neither of us knew much about trusting God for our daily bread.   I had begun to find out two years before, when I had taken in two boys who were stranded and in trouble.   One was eight and other twelve.    She began when she married me

TOGETHER we leaned on the Everlasting Arms God, in Jesus Christ, and found it possible that He was able to provide our daily bread, and indeed all our need together with as many others HE brought to be with us.   

Yes, we were and still are, very different people and personalities, but our common faith and belief in Jesus Christ has bound us together, day by day, through many joys, trials, and temptations.    It was not always easy, or without offence or disappointment to each other, but God's LOVE always found a way to bind up our wounds, and to bring us to forgive each other, - also 'day by day'.

And so  we pressed  on, in His Name,  to remain faithful and true to each other, and to our promises made in front of God for each other.

We have, today, been married fifty years.    We have grown to love and value each other the more with every passing day,  and He  has used our hearts to become One in reaching out to all those that were brought to our doors, needing care and acceptance.    It has been an experience, and one that progressively taught us, through times of great happiness, and also times of frustration, disappointment, and seven distress, that God is with us, and will never fail those who put their trust in Him.       

It has also taught us both a lot about Marriage.     It improves as we endure, and walk together with God.

We are older now than when we began.    Yet we are still in love with each other; still in love with  the Family that have shared their lives with us as 'Dad and Mum' , and still in love with God.    Dear friends, be willing to love one another, as God loves us, demonstrating it in, and through the life of Jesus, and his Death on the Cross.    Love one another, and FORGIVE one another, always!

John and Esther Green

*****************

The Day dawned cloudy but warm enough

for us to sit on our veranda.

Late morning Daryl called us to the Office.

As we entered a surprise awaited us!

A king size Silentnight bed

AND

a Washing Machine

A Golden Wedding Gift 

from our Testimony Family, represented here by just three of them

all grown up now, and living their own lives

Our old bed had all but collapsed with wear and tear!

We were without a washing machine.

Our dear Sons and Daughters, Thank you,

Thank you for letting us be your parents for a little while

And Thank you all for sacrificing for our Happiness and Joy.

God Bless and Prosper you all

Dad and Mum

14th August 1971-2021

A LEANING WALL

THIS WALL IN LEANING out from the back yard of Green Cottage, outward toward our busy  Elgonview Road.   It began to lean soon after it was built in 1986, and it has gone on leaning - more and more, until now it is ready to fall on the outside sidewalk, and even onto the road itself.    Something must be done about it

WELL, before it actually FALLS we are going to have to take it down, stone by stone, to the existing faulty foundation.  Yes it is the foundation that is weak, and without strength.   BEFORE we do this, we have to protect passers by and traffic by putting up a shield of iron sheets, fastened to a wooden frame; this will also be makeshift protection for our own privacy.   It was started yesterday, and was about finished this morning when a passing County Planning Officer drove by and noticed it.   HE stopped and found Daryl standing at the Gate.   HE asked Daryl, what was going on, and was told about, and shown, the leaning wall behind the shuttering.   'You will need a License for that' said the County Planner.    'What for?' asked Daryl.   'To have permission to put up that Shuttering, of course.   It is outside of your boundary line, and thus on our side.  You have to have a License!'     So he was paid, and went his way.  I am sure it will not be long before this charitable local body will find a way to even tax us for the AIR we breath in our compounds.    And of course we now have to get the License before we can continue - and who knows, they may then Fine us for doing nothing about an obviously dangerous wall.

Does anything come to mind, as you read about this elderly wall?   God clearly came to mine, as I wrote about it, having no idea when I began to write  -  

LEFT TO ITSELF this wall WILL fall.     There is nothing  propping it up!  It is leaning on AIR,   AND it's FOUNDATION is almost non existent and unstable in itself.   . it was BUILT (born?)  was straight and erect  -  but as soon as the first stone was laid it had begun to slowly need help to remain upright - it began, imperceptibly, to LEAN.    The wall was without foundation, without what it needed  to ensure that it would not lean to the right or to the left.     You and I need such a Foundation, or we, like the wall, will be self inclined to go astray from our intended path, and find ourselves bending out of true, with nothing, and no one to lean on.    We will also fall.   BUT REJOICE, for we like the wall CAN, be rebuilt and made again upon a right Foundation.    We CAN be born again!

PAUL writing in 1. Corinthians 3v11 tells us that 'for other foundation no man can lay (for his life) other than JESUS CHRIST.'  - and also in Colossians 2v7 

'Have the roots (of your being) firmly and deeply planted ( in Him;

fixed and founded in Him).

Being continually BUILT UP in Him,

becoming increasingly more confirmed

and established in the faith..

(Amplified Bible Translation)

This verse goes along with the concept of the leaning wall having to be dismantled to its root, and a NEW Foundation set, and THEN rebuilding commenced.       And if the Foundation is RIGHT then the wall will no longer wander off line, but will find itself continually contained in its form, by the fundamental stability of its Base.   

Look at Isaiah 28v16 -  'Thus saith the LORD God, BEHOLD (look at this), I  am laying, in Zion (Jerusalem, Israel), for a foundation, a Stone, a tested Stone, a precious Cornerstone of sure foundation.  he who believes, trusts in, relies upon, and adheres to that Cornerstone will not be ashamed, or give way. or hasten away (in sudden panic).   (Acts 4v10-11;   Ephesians 2v20 and 1. Peter 2v4-6)  (Amplified Bible Translation).

I am filled with gladness, and anticipation at seeing my old backyard Wall rebuilt on a sure foundation, and given a new lease of life, a new Beginning, a new 'birth'.

And if you have loved ones in your family, as I have, who having no real foundation in life, apart from their own mind and judgement, and seem headed for such final ruin as my Wall, then take heart, for all is not yet lost to, or for them; for the Master Builder is yet able to REBUILD them, and give them a NEW beginning, standing on a SURE FOUNDATION,  a SOLID ROCK,    Hallelujah!! - Psalm 40v2-4

But what of the Country Planner?        He is just one of the 'fiery darts' of the Enemy, come to delay, slow down, or even prevent the divine work of Reclamation, seeking to be accomplished.    The Enemy of all our souls is anxious, nay even desperate, to see our individual downfall without hope or faith in our rebuilding.    He will not succeed if I am in the Saviour's mind.     He has no  mind to see us, any of us, stay in our ruin or death for ever.   HE wants us to live.     AND then who will be lost forever; who will be cast into hell?    Only the utterly un-reclaimable; the ones who to the last find no sorrow or repentance in his/her heart for their fallen state. BUT if we who KNOWS the LORD, and make out, stand, upon THAT Rock, our prayers must prevail.

================ 

I am happy  to report that I now feel quite recovered from all my 'flu like symptoms, and give all the Glory to Jesus who lives in us, and  IS our Health,     Esther, too, is well and active, though she does tire more easily these days, and tends to be more absent minded - well she was about the same when we married so I should not be surprised.   Daryl needs a break, and we are encouraging him to take some time off;  he has been feeling a bit physically and mentally tired.    He is a very active person, and finds it hard to be still.  I should probably drop  something in his coffee, and knock him out for a while.  We Praise God for seeing us through, and the path not always smooth or obstacle free, Made  to be passable and a WAY made for us all      

I reported on the State of the Corona 19 Virus last time.   Nothing has changed.    BUT we are still a RED Country as far as the U.K. is concerned.    Why?   We seem to be so much better off than Europe. 

I think this is due to the fact that Kenya is quite far behind other more accessible Countries in two major factors.   First Kenya has only tested   2,166,046  out of a population of approx 52 million, and second, Kenya has only been able to Vaccinate  2.5 of the current adult population.   This leaves a lot to believe for, and lot to be unsure of.       It may take us some time, especially when it comes to international travel for things to return to normal.    

The weather continues to be COLD, cloudy, with light showers of rain, AND a little sunshine.  For us in Kenya it is 'seasonable weather' for the time of year, which is comforting when we see such awful CHANGES in other geographical areas of the world.      I hope everyone on my E.mail, and Air mail address lists are receiving this Blog, and also the bi-monthly updates.    We are grateful for all those who remember us in prayer, and keep  up with our news.    God Bless you all, so much, in Jesus.

Much Love from us, and from all in the ministry here with us, staff and children.

John, Esther, and Daryl Green

     

 Green

 

ACCIDENT !!!

 

YES, one of our School Buses went off the road, delivering its last two students, on the way home late afternoon, this Wednesday.      It was full to capacity on leaving School, but had dropped all but two of our Primary boys.    One suffered hurt, and had to have several stitches, and both suffered shock.

As you can see from the photo to the right, this road is made hazardous by the construction of a deep gully, or drain, by its side, without any guard except a shallow curbstone.     Our Driver reported that as he drove up the road, he came upon a lorry parked on the right side.   As he was about to pass it, a motor cycle sped out from behind this lorry, and came straight at him.    He wanted to avoid hitting the motor cycle, but could not go the right because of the stationary lorry, so turned to the left, and found himself and the bus descending into the gully; the bus ending up leaning over upon the gully's far bank.      As you can see a number of people were about; it is a busy area.    This is the first really serious accident to any of our Buses, since we started running them.  Our Drivers are proud of their record, and conscious of their great responsibility in carrying the children day after day.

The School had to call an industrial mobile crane to put the Bus back on the road.   Sadly they could not get chains to go underneath and around the bus, and finally lifted it up from the Luggage Rack on the roof.   A lot of further damage was done, and the vehicle is still off the road.   We are temporarily using one of Happy Church's buses whilst ours is under repair.   All of us very thankful to Pastor Runji for his very kind assistance, as always.

To the left is a photo of Ms. Joshna Maharaj, a well known celebrity Chef.  She is based in Toronto, Canada, and she recently inferred in the TODAY'S PARENT magazine that Teaching children to eat with a  knife and fork is 'dripping with the shame of colonialism.'    She has received a lot of 'flack' from indignant readers, though I failed to find one coloured critic who had written in.     I felt sorry for her a little!

As an eighty one year old white Englishman, brought up in very  poor circumstances in England during World War 11, I was carefully instructed from infancy how to eat my food, starting with a small spoon and eventually to a knife and fork.    It is something I grew up with.   BUT 'forks' had not arrived at the dinner table before the 17th Century, and I can safely assume that 'hands' and 'fingers'  were in full use still.     But as implements were invented and introduced, they eventually outdistanced hands and fingers, if for no other reason than that of what was considered good hygiene.     I came to live in Kenya in 1968, and I moved around among the homes and families of the Luhyia people, who became my friends, and showered me with their generous open hearted hospitality.    I  found, then, that they customarily ate certain foods more easily, and conveniently with their hands and fingers.   I was taught to be able to do the same.    I enjoyed the experience, but on the whole, perhaps, after I had spent 28 years using European Cutlery, I did not become a convert to using my hands - unless perhaps where it concerns eating Chicken, or meat on the bone of any kind.    I DID find using my fingers made the meat, no matter what it was, finger licking good !

My wife, Esther and I, have brought up our own three children together in the same  house and family, - more than 150 of them, and taught them to use European customised table ware and Cutlery.    We have NOT taught them to be slack in this.     They all  had to grow up and go out into the world prepared  for the basic A.B.Cs of accepted social behaviour, without embrassment.    Kenya hotels, cafes, and restaurants all provide and expect to be used, knives and forks.     I do not think we regret doing this.    We did not do it because I was bent on colonialization at any level.     And thus I think Ms. Maharaj went a step too far.   

I was taught 'When in Rome do as the Romans do' a proverb attributed to St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Italy (born 339 -397AD).    To day we might say - When residing in a foreign country, follow their conventions - their accepted customs and laws..     Something very few immigrants seem willing to do without civil strife.     Today we do not have many 'colonialists', but rather 5th columnists coming in by stealth in from without, in an effort to take over from within.     I see the 'Black Lives Matter' faction easily fitting into such a category  -   But take care;  ALL lives matter, Black, White, Yellow, Pink, Brown, Olive skinned - there can be NO exception.    We do not need to emphasize one, or another.   To do so, is to exclude the rest.     

I  conclude by wishing Ms. Joshna God's Blessing.    I cannot accuse her.    She has an opinion worthy of thought and consideration.     Just let her forget about colonisation and racism, and give herself to loving everyone unconditionally - then she will be a truly divine chef in every respect.    Amen

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SCHOOLS ARE OPEN AGAIN, ours also, after a TEN DAY break.   Normal termly holidays have been curtailed, in order for students to be able to catch up on lesson time missed during 2020, due to C.19.

This, and the progressive change over from our old 8-4-4 Syllabus to THE new one, have made everything quite chaotic.  

NOW, to the end of the year, Classes will continue with two ten day breaks, and a week at Christmas.

All work and no play makes 'jack' a dull boy they say, but so far our students in all classes seem more than content, even with the current cold weather.   So far this year, in Eldoret, we seem to have had very little rain, but a lot of cloud and even our Dry Season,, early in the year, was much cooler than usual.

AND this is Election Year, and so far very low key, and quiet;   again due to C.19 and Government restrictions. on public meetings and so on.    The Nation as a whole prays for peace - with or without the 'prosperity'.

HOW ARE WE PRGRESSING WITH C.19.     Well, it is still with us.   \We have only tested two million, one hundred and sixteen thousand, nine hundred and seventy nine - out of approximately Fifty two million.    Daily figures are said to be rising.   yesterday 1,068 out of 7,395 tested actually proved positive.   This gave an R.Rate of 14%

Out of the total number of 2,116,979 so far tested, 201.009 proved Positive with 188,438 Recoveries, and 3,926 deaths.

Thus compared with other Countries, we have so far got off lightly, but still a hazard to travellers.

Nevertheless, life for us has actually hardly seen any sign to Covid.    We have for the most part remained almost sealed and set apart within our two compounds.     We Thank God for this haven of peace, and at such a time.    Bless you  all for upholding us with your prayers, and we pray that all our Blessings might redound upon you all, just where you are, abundantly.

Our Love and Blessing to your you all, in Jesus Name,

John, Esther, Daryl and all here with us.

     

      

HAVE YOU HEARD? PEOPLE ARE DESTROYING OUR HOME!

AND THIS TIME it isn't the Government, but those ill informed friends and associates who love to spread news without confirming it IS news, and not fiction, or just straight miss information.

ABOVE IS A PHOTO, taken today of the sitting room of Testimony House, and it is not being destroyed, or ripped apart as some 'gossips' are saying.     No way!     This is where our Family began, and it was where I and my wife spent twenty eight years of our life building a home for our children; both our own, and those who came to make their home with us.     It has remained a Family Home, and it is the intention of the current management of Testimony Faith Homes, that it will remain so.

BUT for the next year it is being loaned to Testimony School for use as a Boarding House for some forty of our Secondary boys, attending our School.     It is hoped that as the Covid 19 crisis, and changes that have had to be made, are overcome, that all things will return to normal, by the end of the year

RIGHT NOW - taking advantage of a brief ten day break in the School Year, Daryl, as Director over all the work of the Homes and School, decided to do needed repair and improvement to the fabric of Testimony House, the foundation of all that has come to BE here.      He did not just focus on the sitting room but on the whole interior, of dining room, nine bedrooms, toilets and ablution facilities.   A lot of work.    And, as I walked through it all, this afternoon, I felt a great happiness that the home MY family grew up in with SO many sons and daughters, was still being lovingly cared for, and preserved from within.      NO one is ripping up or destroying anything here;  we are all committed and dedicated to keeping well maintained and and in working order, just as it has come to be, year by year.

AWAY with gossip mongers, bent on mischief, and alarm, and let us all enjoy spreading the Truth instead, so that we may all walk in the light with each other - that light that is pure and clean and which leaves all things plainly as they are.      And to the many of our 'family' who may have been miss led into believing that their old home is being broken up, and unable to be visited or walked in any more, be SURE your home is STILL there, and is still visibly the home we all shared together.   I am glad to confirm this to be so.          

I must also confirm that all those who work in the Homes as parents are also still  with us, and together we prayerfully meet every morning in unity and faith that God is with us, and guiding our steps.   This photo was taken on the steps of Testimony House   On the back-row, from the left can be seen Sis. Grace Mwangi, Hesketh Muli, Mica Yego, and David Chumba.   In front , also from the left, can be seen Sis. Eunice Lahol,  Alice Muli, Catherine Yego, and Dorris Chumba.   We thank God for them all.

In these days of mobile phones, tweets and general tittle tattle filling the ether with individual news, comment, stories and general local affairs, if one coughs in Elgon-view, friends East, West, North and South, will hear that someone has T.B. Covid 19. or cancer. when actually all that happened is that someone cleared their throat!.     We need to be careful what and how we recount what we see and hear around us.    Let us test it before we share it.    Let none of us be found idle gossips of spurious facts.

SOME WILL WONDER what is going to happen to the Testimony House Family now that the house is to be a Boarding House for School boys, for the next six month.    They have been shared out among our other three Homes, temporally.   Almost a third are expecting to leave us this year having finished their education, and now looking for employment.    

And our beloved Mother, Eunice Lahol, who has been holding her family together since her husband, Francis, passed away in  October 2018 ?      Well, she will still be with us, but has opted to be with us as a Relief house-parent, rather than single Mum.     She has done well, but feels that now she would like to reduce the responsibility.     As a Relief parent she will step in when the parents of the Homes take their weekly day off, and also when  they go on leave.     She will have a small flat of her own in part of the OLD Jacaranda property, where our Pastor, Mike Kyalo and his wife, Jacinta, also have quarters.

SO we are not losing  Eunice - we would be lost without her - and she will not be lost to the children.

A good part of all of this hassle has been caused by Covid 19, and spacing.     And also due to a decision to make an experiment to see if our senior Secondary children mighty apply themselves to study more, if they were not at home, but in Boarding.     THUS all our Form 3 and 4 boys will be in Boarding for the next six months together with others from external families who learn with the School.    In December this will be assessed.     Finally, if it works and is seen to be beneficial, it may be that we shall continue to put our senior boys and girls into Boarding with our School.     Hopefully we shall then be in a position to use the existing School Boarding facilities, that have currently had to be diminished to make way for teaching space, due to the Spacing Regulations we are still suffering from.     

Is everyone happy?  Generally, it seems so.    The children find it all quite a happy eventuality.    Their parents perhaps not so thrilled, but willing to enter into the spirit of the matter.     Fortunately by December all will return to normal and we shall have our FOUR families in their four  Homes, and the Boarding boys will be returning to their own facility in the School.

By the way!     Testimony School has NOT separated itself from the HOMES.     The SCHOOL and the Children's Homes are still together under the one Board of Management, and Direction of Testimony Faith Homes & School.      I am confirming this here, as we have been asked about it recently, since some have heard differently!    Another instance of tittle tattle.

The Weather here is COLD, but we have been enjoying some sunshine most days.    Today it is cloudy and looks as if it will rain later.       We Thank God for His care of us all, over these difficult months, and we  Thank all of our dear, faithful, friends, and family members who are His Channels of Blessing.   We are so grateful and deeply appreciative.    You are all in the Miracle with US.

God Bless and Keep you safe and Believing

John, Esther, and Daryl Green, and all Family here with us.

 

AGING, DETERIORATION - AND RENEWAL!!!

ANOTHER VIEW OF TESTIMONY HOUSE, AND the TREE, recently lopped, and now with  almost half of its branches gone.    It WILL recover in time, but it will look a little forlorn for a while.     The Weather is not helping, since the Long Rains are holding off, and all is dry, and COLD for the time of year.    The first time in MY memory that Eldoret has not been having good rainfall by this time in JUNE.

The Farmers are beginning to cry out, wondering if they will in fact lose their crops, and be denied a Harvest this year.

Immediately to the right of the photo is the driveway that passes in front of Testimony House frontage.  Once this frontage was purely serving the need of the House, but this year it has begun to give room to School needs, and especially for parking space for our School Buses.     Looking out from Green Cottage sitting room window we find a view quite blocking out the sight of Testimony House, and the Buses, instead, seem to overcrowd us.

There are so many parents dropping their children each day for school, that is literally no place left available for the BUSES - which I suppose just underlines how many kids are actually attending the School these days.     BUT it does sometimes feel as if the School is slowly encroaching on the Children's Homes.      And of course the SCHOOL is more and more known than the HOMES.   The Homes now have a resident population of only 123 against the School Population of 800+.

IT IS TIME TO TAKE STOCK of where we have come to after 52 years - and where we are headed to.

===========================

THIS IS A PHOTO SOME SIX MONTHS AFTER WE BEGAN.   Me and a bunch of kids and teenagers, all of them homeless, and away from home and family circa 1970.     Even then there were so many youngsters adrift and alone.   I had come across two of them the previous August.

One was unable to walk and the other on drugs.

At 29 I found myself trying to be 'DAD' to a very variegated group of kids.    It was a beginning but not the full answer to what was needed.   Not until 1971 with my Marriage to Esther was God's full purpose revealed -  to us both.      What did a child, without home or family, need most?   He NEEDED a Loving Home, and Family;  he needed a loving Dad and Mum in a loving and secure Family Home.

Could WE, Esther and I, make our own home a family home for the homeless and unloved?  

The NEED was there then - 1970      We believed we should take the challenge, and let it lead us.      

SINCE then four Family Homes have come into existence, and hundreds of boys and girls have come to be part of those families, the majority now grown up, and away from us, making new extensions to those families.     And altogether ONE,  all embracing, Family has been created, and is continuing to expand, and to have contact and fellowship with one another into the future

BUT the Children, and the Family is REALLY the Result of something else, that almost got lost along the way.     I had been feeling very dissatisfied with my Christian life, and wanted God to show me how to reveal His Relevance in daily life.    The day I took Wilson and his little brother into my care I was literally without a cent.    Indeed for the previous nine months I had no sure income, and I survived by the kindness of God in the hearts of often complete strangers.   God, fed, clothed and housed me.   I was not afraid, BUT as I prayed with those two boys  that first night, I DID wonder how I would feed them the next day.     Reading my Bible before I slept, I found myself reading Matthew 6v6  'But you, when you pray, enter into your closet (private place) and when you have shut the door pray to your  Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly  (publicly).  

Suddenly, what should have been obvious to me all along was made brilliantly clear.    THIS was what I should do.   I should live by faith in God Alone to provide all my need, AND  the need of these children.

I should declare it, and I should demonstrate it - by caring for the homeless and destitute as if they were my own, totally dependent upon GOD's Grace.   We would be an Object Lesson as a Family, an Object Lesson proving God Heard and Answered Prayer.

Our doors were opened, the children streamed in, were loved, clothed, and provided for in every way, purely and simply by sharing our need with GOD alone.    HE shared with those who were listening with their spiritual ears,  and they readily obeyed His Voice and answered our need.

AND NOW, TODAY?

The doors are open.     Our four Family Homes with space for 144 homeless children still here.  We still trust God for EVERYTHING we need.    God still answers our Prayer and supplies our need.

BUT we only currently have 123 residents in the Homes - not an insignificant number, but we are NOT being sought to let MORE IN!!?        AND there are MILLIONS still outside!    And even the Government ADMIT this is so!!      So why the apparent dearth of hands beating upon our doors?

The Government has changed, and moving away from its own cultural heritage and beliefs, is adopting other, alien, cultural trends, listening to their voices instead of to their own hearts.    

The ROT began here in 2000, and continues to change the face of sociological practice and understanding.    The Government say THEY have the answer.    THEY will clear the streets of the homeless.  They will  annul the NEED for Children's Homes throughout the State.      BUT there are still 4.000,000 children and young people in distress in Kenya.

KENYA IS NOT PROVIDING ANY ASSURANCE THAT IT'S CHILDREN, CURRENTLY WITOUT HOME OR FAMILY, WILL BE PROVIDED WITH THE  SAME.     Their Answer is a hollow one, and one fraught with much real apprehension for the children

WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR A CHARITY LIKE OURS WITH AIMS LIKE OURS FOR CHILDREN IN KENYA.

If it concerns providing a Secure Loving Home and Family for children -  NONE.

Kenya Government will have ALL children  - they say  - Fostered or Adopted in homes and families across the State.     We do not believe it will happen without Abuse, and undue misery to huge numbers.

CURRENTLY -  What is the Government telling us we CAN do.

1.   Work with them, and re-plan our aims and

property to co-inside with theirs.

2.   To be willing to have those in our Homes on stand by for Adoption, Fostering, for for re-patriation to their family - if any can be found.

3.   To only handle children between 0 to 12 with expectation of their staying with us short term.

4.   To have Family Group Accommodation for only 15 per home.

THUS WE MAY HAVE TO DISMANTLE OUR 'FAMILIES' AND BECOME AN 'INSTUTION'.

For us to actually DO this would mean reversing
everything we have sought to build.

Our Family Homes were built to take in and help as many children as we could.

Each of our Cottages have provision to accommodate a Married Couple (Dad and Mum) plus no less than 36, including the children of the Parents in Charge.     NOW no house should shelter more than 15 children.      Already more than 50% of what was available is to be reduced, scaled down............

Instead of taking in homeless, parentless children from 0 to the end of their education, and ability to safely leave and enter into the world to start their own lives, we now will expect to have them from between 1 to 6 years  - unable to provide an ongoing stable home, education, or family life.

Charitable Children's such as ours will in future be termed Holding Centers;   children being held, sorted, and finally exiting according to the final  advice and decision of the Authority.

Of Course our views are well known, and we are not alone.    There are many others facing the same issues with the same apprehensions.     SO FAR, all is quiet.    Many of us are STILL unlicensed to continue as a Children's HOME.     Technically we can still be closed down at any time.   BUT right now they seem to be hibernating, and everything is on hold.     THIS may suggest Government is having second thoughts.    We just have to continue on as before, and wait on events, with Faith to-ward God Who made us what we are, and is the real POWER that holds us all in His Hands.     We should not fear what MAN can  do.      We PRAY !  We pray that we shall ALL be prepared and ready for whatever comes.       We do not wait alone,     We so not Prepare alone.   The LORD of Hosts is with us!  HALUJAH!    

===================== 

ELAINE AND FRANCIS WAINAINA,  have just completed their privately inspired Fund Raising for US, and for Neema Children's Homes not far from us here in Eldoret.    Francis and Elaine cycled around England visiting  our Anglican Cathedrals raising Eleven hundred pounds sterling each for TFH and Neema Homes.    They cycled together on a tandem bike.     The are quite indomitable, full of effervescent energy!      Francis was our very first Assistant as from 1995 to 1982.   He married Elaine in 1975 (then teaching at Moi Girls) and they became the FIRST Mum and Dad of Jacaranda Cottage.   They have remained with a deep interest in the Homes, and in all of us who work and labour here, their love and care for children unabated.      Thank you dear Brother and Sister - you are among the oldest, closest, and  most affectonately held family members.    Thank you for your  Love and Care in the LORD Jesus.   Thank you for your undying friendship, encouragement, and testimony.  Thank you for being so  Alive in Jesus - and not just for us, but for ALL who know and are in touch, with you.

  

LASTLY  Esther and I are going on well.     If you can access my Facebook Page you will know already that I am recovered from what began like 'FLU, and ended like 'flu.  It took almost a month to overcome it.    Main symptoms were a very deep cough, and severe fatigue.    IN the course of checking me out my doctor discovered that my heart had a problem - with a 'thickened' heart muscle.  However generally my heart was otherwise in good nick, and he hopes to deal with the muscle positively.   I feel fine today, as I write, and my thanks to you all who have been in prayer.    Bless you all so so much

Esther has also kept WELL, but has had similar but less virulent symptoms around her.    A lesser cough, and unusual tiredness.  But she remains her very active, happy self.      WE think our FIRST Jab in March may have had something to do with it.

We had our 2nd JAB yesterday with no obvious effects of any kind.   Everyone else is keeping well, and NO case of C.19 among any of us.     Generally the situation remains the same in Kenya ------

Cases Tested 26/6/21  6,424     Tested Positive 646      R.10.1%

Total Tested  -  1,933,402   Positive  181,885  Recovered 123,853

Deaths -3,556

(35 new cases in our Area.   Population in our area published as 1,163.186)

God be with you all, giving you confidence, assurance and peace of mind.

John, Esther, Daryl and all in Testimony Faith Homes & School