News Update May 2008 - Bread of Life Kenya

News Update - May 2008

We are pleased to announce that Bread of Life Kenya has now been officially registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. This is a huge answer to prayer and has happened much quicker than expected, so we give all the thanks and praise to God!.

In the last few months since our last newsletter, progress has been made in Kenya. A coalition government is now in place following peace talks and negotiations between the president and the opposition leader.

Please are being made for a government initiative to re-house the thousands of people who were displaced by the post-election violence, but this could take many months. Food prices are still high and the country’s economy has taken a huge blow. Tourism is one of Kenya’s main sources of income, and it could take a long time for the industry to recover from recent events.

The children and staff at SCCH are all well, although there has been some illness among the children due to the cold weather there.

During the recent violence and disruption many schools were closed through fears for the safety of children and teachers traveling to and from their classes. Fortunately most schools have now re-opened and all the children at SCCH have returned to their lessons. Mercy is the oldest of the children at the home, and over the last 3 years she has found it very difficult to join in at school after the loss of her parents. She remains at home during the day to help Rose with the daily tasks. However she has now gone back to school full time and is finding it easier to be around her classmates, this is another wonderful answer to prayer.

Due to the increased prices and decreased availability of food, there are many desperate people in Kenya; inevitably in difficult times there are some who turn to crime, and SCCH has had a recent break-in when some clothing and chickens were taken. It is so sad when desperation leads some to steal from children, but we praise God that none of the children or staff were harmed.

As life begins to return to normal, the staff at SCCH are making plans for the future of the home and the children. Security is obviously a concern and will be the first priority in the coming months along with the development of the land adjacent to the home. The cost of raw materials, tools, seed and many other items rocketed in the early part of the year and many items are still much more costly than previously; this has caused delays to the development of the land and buildings, and it may take much longer to reach targets set by the Children’s Department.

Through the generosity of supporters and from various fundraising events, many essential itms have been provided for the home, including beds, bedding, mosquito nets, school uniforms, shoes for the children and running water on the site. There is however, still a need for some items such as a secure storage are, designated kitchen and fencing around the land.

Being almost directly on the equator, Kisumu has around the same number of daylight hours throughout the year, this means that from around 6 or 7 at night, there is complete darkness, particularly in outlying areas of the city such as Sije that have no street lighting.

One new addition that has greatly reduced the risk to security tat the home is having electricity and lighting; this is now fully connected to the mains supply and has made a huge difference to life at SCCH. It makes the home less attractive to potential thieves, and the children can make use of the time to do their homework and enjoy their story and colouring books.

Please pray for:

• Long lasting peace in Kenya, political stability and for the members of the new government,
• All those people who have been displaced or who have lost loved ones in the recent violence,
• Those struggling to survive in the wake of economic disruption,
• The children at SCCH, and those caring for them,
• Increased security at the home with proper perimeter fencing,
• Funds for a designated kitchen and storage area in order to comply with legislation,
• Development of the land adjacent to the home – for production of vegetables and keeping small livestock.

Fundraising:

On Friday 9th May we had a ‘pudding evening’ at St Thomas’ Church organized by Diane Holliday’s cell group. A total of £255 was raised through ticket sales and donations; a huge thank you to all who brought tickets and contributed to this successful evening. As a follow on from this there will be a recipe book produced containing most of the puddings that were enjoyed on the evening, these will be available to purchase for a small cost to raise further funds.

We want to say thank you to all who have contributed separately by selling and buying greeting cards, donating money, sponsoring a child or allowing us to claim gift aid.

Capernwray Evangelical Church will be holding a car wash event in June, with proceeds going to BoLK. Once again a huge thank you to all those who will be involved.