Greetings to all from a very hot and wet Nakuru in November (not at the same time: hot sometimes, pouring others !). It has been a really full-on time since we last wrote, so there is lots of news to share.
News from Nakuru
Back in August, we had our lovely visiting family, the Tindal, come back to spend a couple of weeks with the girls. What a blessing that was, with many wonderful activities, crafts and much general fun to be had all round. We were also joined in mid-August by a lovely young lady from Devon. She spent a month with us, living in our Alps house, before she headed off to university. The girls absoluetly loved having her around. She, the home-girls and I, along with a couple of our ladies, also thoroughly enjoyed a trip to the local swimming pool.
We were also blessed with a visit from John, the retired vicar from our sending church, All Saints, Wickham Market. He came to stay for a few days while out here helping to lead a Rooted in Christ conference. Both Alan and I, aswhell as the home-girls, all very much enjoyed participating in a couple of mornings of Bible teaching.
Celebrations…
A couple of weeks ago we dedicated five of our babies. It is almost a year ago that we dedicated 16 of them. So it was definitely time to catch up with this. What a wonderful morning of celebrating as each of the five little ones were lifted to the Lord and dedicated back to Him. Just as Hannah did with her longed-for child Samuel, in the book of Samuel.
We had further celebrations last weekend as one of our long-standing staff members is expecting a baby at the end of November. And so, we held a baby shower: a first for us! And what fun we had all round. We were able to bless her and her new baby in Jesus’ name as we celebrated them both. We gifted her with presents and shared some yummy snacks and cake.
News on the girls…
(As always, the names of the girls and their little ones have been removed for their own protection)
Back in June, our tiny 13 year old gave birth by a planned Caesarean section to a really teeny baby girl. We had a number of issues in the early days, mainly due to Mums age. But nowadays both are doing so well, and Baby is adorable.
In late June we were joined by another young mummy and her baby boy. Although her baby was 14 months old, he weghed the same as a new-born baby due to extreme failure to thrive. This was due largely to his very low birth weight and extreme neglect all round by the family. He could not sit alone, had no teeth, and in almost every way he was like a 2-month old. But today, four months later, he is doing so well. He has almost doubled his weight, he can sit alone and almost stand. He can clap and is cutting his first two teeth. This is all thanks to the high input of love from all of us, from weekly physiotherapy and monthly peadiatric consultations. Moreover, from the love of a Father who has been watching over him in all of this time.
Goodbye’s and Hello’s…
Our four sewing school girls all graduated from their sewing programme at the end of August. It was a wonderful morning, celebrating all that they have achieved. Following on from that three of them have been successfully reintegrated with family. And with the gift of sewing machines (a work in progress) they will be able to develop a steady income for themselves and their little ones. One of the girls has not been reintegrated however, due to the complications around her family and her community. So she will most likely continue with futher vocational training.
We also said goodbye to four of girls and one little one. Two of our girls, who we are particularly proud of, are our first Beehive girls to gain a place at University. One is studying Psychology, and the other is studying Human Resources.
Previously we mentioned a girl whos family was a victim of the horrific floods earlier this year. Thanks to a grant making body for flood victims we were able to fund her mother to set up a new small business and a small family home. So we were able to reintegrate her and her little one with them back in July.
We have recently welcomed a couple of very young girls into The Beehive: both 13 years old. They both gave birth by caesarean sections at the beginning of October. However at the time of writing (beginning of November), one of them is really not settled and so it may be that she does not stay with us for too much longer. We would so love to give both her and her tiny daughter the love and care that they deserve.
Other News…
Last but not least in a whole variety of recent events, the work on building the dry-stone wall at the land began in the middle of September. Unfortunately, due to a lot of very heavy rain, some of it fell down. And so it is having to be re-built with a small foundation. We continue to pray and trust the Lord for the finances to start the actual build itself in the very near future.
If you would like to help us in this journey, feel free to contact us or head over to our donations page if that is something you feel able and willing to do. No donation is too small and is so so much appreciated.
