At the Bethel Children’s Centre in Ruiru, Kenya, 2012 ended with roasted goat, new hairdos for the girls, a day of swimming (all part of the Christmas festivities) and continued praise to God for His goodness! 2013 began with a new kitchen, new ceilings for classrooms, new mosquito netting for the children’s beds and continued praise to God for His faithfulness and provision! The new kitchen is complete and has beautiful, new countertops, and new ventilation for the stove. As a result, cooking will be less challenging The ceilings in the classrooms were problematic. To begin with, the roof leaked. That may not seem unusual - I remember the mop bucket in the middle of the floor of my classroom which was used to catch water from the leaking roof. However, leaky roofs in the “Land of the Rainy Season” are an entirely different matter. The roof was made of tin. Have you ever stopped for protection from a torrential downpour under a tin awning? Can you imagine trying to study with the noise that a rainstorm would produce in a crowded classroom? The new drop ceilings provide much needed sound dampening, and the leaks have been stopped. And, as a bonus, the ceiling is beautiful! The new ceiling will aid these children to do their schoolwork excellently as unto the Lord. Col. 3:23-24. We might now be accused of burying the lead, but we wanted to save the best for last! Bethel Children’s Centre has been able to open its doors to seven new children since November! These precious little ones are no longer on the street, hungry or being abused but they can now depend on food, shelter, clothing, and love. These are more children who will be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Eph. 6:4). Below are photos of Joy on the left and Jackline on the right, two of the new children at Bethel. Huruma wants to thank its supporters and co-labors for Christ for investing in these improvements and providing funds which will enable new caregivers to be hired, new beds to be bought and more food purchased for the increasing number of children at BCC. Bethel was able to welcome new children because it had the funds to do so.
As we look forward to another year of traveling the Jericho Road together, we thank you for your support and prayers. Mother Teresa once said, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” Know that your support has made a difference in the lives of these children. They are growing into strong, confident and loving servants of Christ. And, they are already making a big impact in the world. Seven children from Bethel will be entering (boarding) high school this year. Their non-believing classmates will see the light in their lives, and will want to know more about that. May God be glorified in the spread of the Gospel.
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Christmas is a very special time to children (and adults!) in Kenya. We were hoping to be able to Skype with Andrew and the children there in Ruiru, but we were thwarted by computer issues. However, we were blessed to be able to talk on the phone for a few minutes. During the Christmas season, most of the orphans go to visit relatives for at least a few days. These relatives may be elderly grandparents or distant family who can not take care of the child on a regular basis. Andrew tries hard to maintain this practice so that the children can have a connection to family and their fellow tribes people. This is good for their identity as well as in the spread the Gospel. However, there are some children who have to stay at the Centre because they have no one outside the orphanage. As a result, Christmas can be a particularly sad time for these children.
This year, there were about twenty children who stayed at the Centre. But, there were special festivities planned for the children this year. Thanks to the generosity of supporters, the Great Goat Quest of 2012 was on! The children rarely have meat, so any meat, at any time, is a big deal. But the most desired Kenyan Christmas feast is a meal called nyama choma, which means "roasted meat." The "roasted meat" is traditionally a goat. But every family wants a live goat, so goats were scarce (and scared, too!) The heroes of the story, Joseph and Joseph, joined the quest late. They searched high and low for a goat. Now, mind you, this goat for which they are searching is NOT going to show up wrapped in plastic, cut in nice pieces and ready to be tossed on the barbie! There will be MUCH prep involved - for the faint of heart, I will not go into it. Finally, Andrew received the triumphant call at 5:00 PM: A goat had been found! So, Andrew and the Josephs "prepared" the goat, while Agnes and the girls prepared another Christmas favorite, chapati, which is a flat bread similar to a tortilla. The family at Bethel had a short worship service and then enjoyed a wonderful Christmas feast. Andrew said their time today was a true blessing. Asifiwe Bwana! (Praise the Lord!) Bethel Children’s Centre and Huruma are undertaking a much needed and very exciting project: A New Kitchen! While neither this kitchen, nor the new one, would resemble the kitchens you are used to seeing, this project is going to make the lives of the children better by making food safer and food preparation easier. The current kitchen is a very small square building. The sides are vertical lumber. Nothing is sealed. The oven is a wood burning stove. There is no ventilation to speak of. The children are used to cooking in there but the heat and smoke are truly hard to bear. There is only a board “countertop” in the building - no sink or running water inside. The “sink” is on the outside of the kitchen and water is carted in buckets. It takes a strong, resourceful, and talented woman to cook in Kenya. I am nothing but impressed with their abilities. But back to the kitchen... The head of the orphanage indicated a need for a new kitchen. Why? (As if the above reasons weren’t enough.) Well, the kitchen was always seen as semi-permanent. The walls which surround the orphanage (to keep the children safe inside the compound) are made of rocks piled between chicken wire. This stacked rock wall (no mortar or cement) forms part of the kitchen wall. Here is the part that gets your attention: “the wall has been invaded by rats which hide between the rocks and breed and it has proven hard to get rid of them.” YIKES! The rats come out and not only eat the rice and beans in bags but have gotten so bold as to “eat the children’s cooked food.” Andrew very matter of factly said "this is a serious health issue." But this is just a another challenge in the running of the centre. The ladies have extra work having to prepare food n the temporary cooking area. The joy of the Lord is their strength! There are many other before pictures and before stories. More of those later. But here are some pictures of work being done on the new and improved kitchen! This is exciting to see! Things are moving quickly! Sealed walls = sad rats! But I am feeling no sympathy! Praise God from whom all blessing flow! His mercies are new everyday!
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The Jericho RoadThis is the blog of Huruma International Ministries. Huruma seeks to fulfill our calling to "go and do likewise" as instructed by Jesus in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The lesson of the Good Samaritan is not about achieving spiritual success through our own efforts. No, what we learn is that we are to give mercy, because we have been given mercy. We are all poor and needy. We are all travelers on the Jericho Road Archives
August 2022
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