~by Emily Rop
Children's Home Admin Assistant
It is with great joy that we share what the lord has done at Kipkaren children’s home this week. We are doing well. God has been gracious and merciful to us all. We thank God very much for what he continually does in the lives of our children, we have seen children develop in all aspects of life spiritually, academically emotionally and even physically.
This week the school has closed for August holidays, our children this time round improved so much both in position and marks in their respective classes.
Teachers are doing commendable work in training and guiding them to be good future leaders who will lead and show good example to people they will get opportunity to serve in future. You could not imagine how this kids were when they first came. Some were 10 years old and they had not seen a classroom before! They had been looking after other people's cows. One of those kids is Victor Nyukuri, who is now in class two, and Justus Kiplagat who is in class one. Both boys can now express themselves, read and write. It is amazing and we thank everybody who is contributing for their upkeep.
This week we had visitors from Califonia: David and Judy Blackford. They have been a blessing unto our children and entire home. They prayed, counseled and encouraged our foster parents following the post election violence, some of our foster parents came from the community that was most affected. We thank God that now peace is restoring and the evicted families have started to settled.
The Children’s Home directors went for their annual leave and the kids are missing their granny night where they could share stories, riddles and songs together . They will be back on 24th of August and Mr Ezekiel Moiben has been in charge of the home during their absence.
Holiday
The children are enjoying staying with their parents, assisting them by doing daily chores like weeding flower beds. During this time, they have planted one thousand trees and are aiming to plant another three thousand before the school reopens. Parents too have the pleasure in helping them do their evening studies seeing them one by one thus learn their strong and weak points.
Educational Tour
Beside helping their parents at home, the children wish to go out to see wild animals, visit other children’s homes at least to get new ideas. Finances are an issue, though we are trusting God to provide for future trips as to break the monotony of staying in the same place from time to time.
Spiritually
Our children are growing spiritually. This is evidenced from the testimonies and sharing they give. They have very powerful testimonies they have started sharing their past experiences without fear. They also confess that since God has provided a home for them they don’t feel any pain any more in their hearts. They have kept on presenting choirs in the church during presentation time. We are for the idea of recording these songs so that we can sell and get a source of income but so far finances is an issue at the moment we are trusting God for a sponsor to support us in recording and producing these songs.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
News from Ilula
~by Caroline Kiptoo
Children's Home Admin Assistant
Bwana Asifiwe! Praise God! It has been a successful and busy week for all of us at Ilula this week. Glory and honor to God for seeing us through and for answering our prayers. The Lord has continued to guide our paths. The children are home for August vacation and are enjoying every bit of it. During their end of term II exams, their performance was above average in general. Their languages especially English has improved a lot. Most of them can now communicate fluently in English. They will be going back to school on Monday, August 18th for extra coaching for two weeks.
Birthday Celebration
There were 3 children celebrating their birthdays in the month of August. The celebration was colorful! The three children and some staff members celebrating their birthdays in August joined hands in cutting the cake and ensured that at least every person tasted it. Pastor Dave and Judy who were visiting Ilula from Kipkaren were part of the visitors who made the party a success. Judy encouraged the children to celebrate their birthdays and be thankful to God for everything he has done in their lives.
Visitors
Pastor Dave and Judy from the US who had been at Kipkaren visited Ilula Children’s home early last week. The children were glad to welcome them with a bunch of flowers at the round about. The visitors were so happy to meet the children and they looked forward to interacting with them, getting to know them and playing with them. Dave and Judy also conducted a one day seminar with the house parents on having Visions. The parents benefited a lot from the seminar. They also spent most of their time with the children cheering them at the field during soccer competitions, playing with them and taking meals with them. They left on Tuesday to go back to Kipkaren. As they bid goodbye to the children and staff, they encouraged the children to love one another as God loves us. They were happy to have been a blessing to the children and staff and to have also received blessings at Ilula.
August Vacation
The children have had lots and lots of activities to do since they closed school two weeks ago. They have been very busy cleaning their rooms, gazebos and the compound ensuring that everywhere is clean all the time. They have also been helping at the kitchen garden to weed and plant more kales. The older kids have been working on their small garden beds behind their houses weeding and planting more crops. One child who loves gardening a lot was blessed when he received some water melon, pepper and cucumber seeds from his sponsor.
The kids have also been participating in sports. There was inter-house competition in soccer between Chepsat family Vs Kiprotich family and Rono family Vs Kosgey family. Every family cheered their team and for sure it was a success. It is quite encouraging that the Ilula children understands and appreciates that at the end of every game, they are all winners. Despite the fact that in a game there are winners and losers, the Ilula kids appreciates that we are all winners. One child said “At ELI, we are all winners!” isn’t this great? Praise God!
VBS which is normally conducted during the holidays started yesterday August 14, 2008. Edna one of ELI’s staff who is concerned with the Children’s Ministry led the VBS. The children are enjoying it very much and are learning a lot. They are being taught bible stories, memory verses, missionary stories and new songs. They will have a chance to present what they have learnt in VBS on Sunday at church.
Children's Home Admin Assistant
Bwana Asifiwe! Praise God! It has been a successful and busy week for all of us at Ilula this week. Glory and honor to God for seeing us through and for answering our prayers. The Lord has continued to guide our paths. The children are home for August vacation and are enjoying every bit of it. During their end of term II exams, their performance was above average in general. Their languages especially English has improved a lot. Most of them can now communicate fluently in English. They will be going back to school on Monday, August 18th for extra coaching for two weeks.
Birthday Celebration
There were 3 children celebrating their birthdays in the month of August. The celebration was colorful! The three children and some staff members celebrating their birthdays in August joined hands in cutting the cake and ensured that at least every person tasted it. Pastor Dave and Judy who were visiting Ilula from Kipkaren were part of the visitors who made the party a success. Judy encouraged the children to celebrate their birthdays and be thankful to God for everything he has done in their lives.
Visitors
Pastor Dave and Judy from the US who had been at Kipkaren visited Ilula Children’s home early last week. The children were glad to welcome them with a bunch of flowers at the round about. The visitors were so happy to meet the children and they looked forward to interacting with them, getting to know them and playing with them. Dave and Judy also conducted a one day seminar with the house parents on having Visions. The parents benefited a lot from the seminar. They also spent most of their time with the children cheering them at the field during soccer competitions, playing with them and taking meals with them. They left on Tuesday to go back to Kipkaren. As they bid goodbye to the children and staff, they encouraged the children to love one another as God loves us. They were happy to have been a blessing to the children and staff and to have also received blessings at Ilula.
August Vacation
The children have had lots and lots of activities to do since they closed school two weeks ago. They have been very busy cleaning their rooms, gazebos and the compound ensuring that everywhere is clean all the time. They have also been helping at the kitchen garden to weed and plant more kales. The older kids have been working on their small garden beds behind their houses weeding and planting more crops. One child who loves gardening a lot was blessed when he received some water melon, pepper and cucumber seeds from his sponsor.
The kids have also been participating in sports. There was inter-house competition in soccer between Chepsat family Vs Kiprotich family and Rono family Vs Kosgey family. Every family cheered their team and for sure it was a success. It is quite encouraging that the Ilula children understands and appreciates that at the end of every game, they are all winners. Despite the fact that in a game there are winners and losers, the Ilula kids appreciates that we are all winners. One child said “At ELI, we are all winners!” isn’t this great? Praise God!
VBS which is normally conducted during the holidays started yesterday August 14, 2008. Edna one of ELI’s staff who is concerned with the Children’s Ministry led the VBS. The children are enjoying it very much and are learning a lot. They are being taught bible stories, memory verses, missionary stories and new songs. They will have a chance to present what they have learnt in VBS on Sunday at church.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
This week at Ilula Children's Home
~ by Caroline Kiptoo
Ilula Children's Home Administrative Assistant
It’s a pleasure once again to share some of the activities that have been going on in Ilula this week. The Lord has continued to be good to us and has protected our children from sickness especially being a rainy season. No children were taken to the hospital this week.
Dedication & Opening of New Gazebos
The two new gazebos were dedicated to God and officially opened on Monday 28th July. Ribbons were cut by the director, assistant director, parents and children representatives to officially open them. The children were very excited to finally use their own gazebos. They moved in the same evening and served their food from there. The children’s home director Mr. Laban Rono encouraged the parents and children to take good care of the gazebos. He told them to maintain cleanliness as usual and to ensure that the tables and benches were taken good care of. He went further to encourage those families that remained in the older gazebos to appreciate and continue praying to God for funds to be found so that theirs could also be renovated and be put iron sheets like the new gazebos and to be painted too. He thanked the families for the good work they have been doing and living together in harmony and encouraged them to continue with the same spirit of togetherness. He reminded the children that as much as every family will be using their own gazebo, we are still one family in Jesus Christ.
The children are very happy to share family time together in their gazebo. Mrs. Mary Chepsat (one of the parents) said, “It is now very easy to serve food to my children, to monitor them as they feed, to help them do their homework as they will be in one place and to take good care of my family as a whole.”
At the Kosgey family, Priscah shared that her children are rejoicing and thanking God for being in their own gazebo. She reported that her children have already come up with a duty roster on who is responsible for cleaning the gazebo, cleaning the tables and those helping to serve food. Priscah said that they are training them to do some of the activities by themselves as they will be going for their annual leave soon. They want them to be responsible children.
One of the Kosgey children that were excited the most about every family using their own gazebo is Apollo Gitahi. Apollo (9 years old) requested his parents to be the leader of their gazebo and promised to work hard to ensure that everything is in place. Apollo is now the leader in charge of cleanliness at Kosgey’s family. Apollo’s mother Priscah was amazed at Apollo’s determination to be a leader despite the fact that he is still young and there are other older children at her family.
Games Kits
All the children now have new games kits given to them at Samro School. They came home yesterday rejoicing and praising God for the games kits. They said they will be wearing them during inter-house, inter-wing and inter-home competitions. They are now putting more efforts in the various sports games and can’t wait to meet their siblings in Kipkaren River Children’s Home for their next match. The younger children at Ilula are trying to emulate the actions of the older children. For example one of the boys Edison, was trying to jump very high in high jump so as to beat his older brothers. Every time the bar was lifted he wanted to try and jump over it like his brothers did.
The Needy
Ilula children have a big heart for the needy and sick people. As the Kosgey family’s children were watching news on TV recently, they saw a young child with a heart problem who needed a lot of money to undergo heart surgery. One of the children, Hellen, challenged her parents about what they would do about it. Her parents replied they would pray for him and at that moment they all believed and prayed to God to heal the young boy. After the prayer, Hellen seemed not to be satisfied and requested her parents whether they can contribute some money to help the child. We thank God because our children are concerned and care about other needy people and the less fortunate.
Duties and Responsibilities
Day by day, Ilula children improve in their duties and responsibilities. One area they have really improved in is the area of marking their clothes so that they don’t get lost. One boy Vincent had found it very hard to knit his name on his clothes. It was not until he received his new games kit that he ran to his mother’s house to ask for a needle and thread to mark his kit. His parents were very proud of him as he did the job perfectly though it was his first time. All the parents have observed a great improvement in time keeping from the children. They have noted that the children have learnt to be where they are needed at the required time. They have also improved greatly in the side of personal hygiene and general cleanliness. One parent reported that children ensure that they are clean before going to the gazebo.
Food
The children enjoy the delicious meals prepared daily for them by the kitchen staff. One of their favorite foods is githeri (mixture of cooked maize and beans). As I was visiting with them one lunch time, I noticed most of them enjoyed eating githeri. Some went to an extent of picking the maize in their plates first then finishing with beans. They normally have githeri 3 times a week. On Tuesday, they were very happy to eat green beans and maize. Mr. and Mrs. Chepsat had harvested their beans and blessed the children with some. The green maize was purchased from town.
Baptist & Hillside
It was so sad to lose one of the cows Baptist early last week after suffering from pancreas injury. The children were very sad to lose one of the cows that gave them milk. Just one day after Baptist died, Hillside calved. The children were all smiles when they heard the good news. One child said, “Thank God that Hillside has calved! Now we can get enough milk.”
Thank you for caring about our children at Ilula. Please let us know if you have questions, or if you would like to sponsor one of our children.
Ilula Children's Home Administrative Assistant
It’s a pleasure once again to share some of the activities that have been going on in Ilula this week. The Lord has continued to be good to us and has protected our children from sickness especially being a rainy season. No children were taken to the hospital this week.
Dedication & Opening of New Gazebos
The two new gazebos were dedicated to God and officially opened on Monday 28th July. Ribbons were cut by the director, assistant director, parents and children representatives to officially open them. The children were very excited to finally use their own gazebos. They moved in the same evening and served their food from there. The children’s home director Mr. Laban Rono encouraged the parents and children to take good care of the gazebos. He told them to maintain cleanliness as usual and to ensure that the tables and benches were taken good care of. He went further to encourage those families that remained in the older gazebos to appreciate and continue praying to God for funds to be found so that theirs could also be renovated and be put iron sheets like the new gazebos and to be painted too. He thanked the families for the good work they have been doing and living together in harmony and encouraged them to continue with the same spirit of togetherness. He reminded the children that as much as every family will be using their own gazebo, we are still one family in Jesus Christ.
The children are very happy to share family time together in their gazebo. Mrs. Mary Chepsat (one of the parents) said, “It is now very easy to serve food to my children, to monitor them as they feed, to help them do their homework as they will be in one place and to take good care of my family as a whole.”
At the Kosgey family, Priscah shared that her children are rejoicing and thanking God for being in their own gazebo. She reported that her children have already come up with a duty roster on who is responsible for cleaning the gazebo, cleaning the tables and those helping to serve food. Priscah said that they are training them to do some of the activities by themselves as they will be going for their annual leave soon. They want them to be responsible children.One of the Kosgey children that were excited the most about every family using their own gazebo is Apollo Gitahi. Apollo (9 years old) requested his parents to be the leader of their gazebo and promised to work hard to ensure that everything is in place. Apollo is now the leader in charge of cleanliness at Kosgey’s family. Apollo’s mother Priscah was amazed at Apollo’s determination to be a leader despite the fact that he is still young and there are other older children at her family.
Games Kits
All the children now have new games kits given to them at Samro School. They came home yesterday rejoicing and praising God for the games kits. They said they will be wearing them during inter-house, inter-wing and inter-home competitions. They are now putting more efforts in the various sports games and can’t wait to meet their siblings in Kipkaren River Children’s Home for their next match. The younger children at Ilula are trying to emulate the actions of the older children. For example one of the boys Edison, was trying to jump very high in high jump so as to beat his older brothers. Every time the bar was lifted he wanted to try and jump over it like his brothers did.
The Needy
Ilula children have a big heart for the needy and sick people. As the Kosgey family’s children were watching news on TV recently, they saw a young child with a heart problem who needed a lot of money to undergo heart surgery. One of the children, Hellen, challenged her parents about what they would do about it. Her parents replied they would pray for him and at that moment they all believed and prayed to God to heal the young boy. After the prayer, Hellen seemed not to be satisfied and requested her parents whether they can contribute some money to help the child. We thank God because our children are concerned and care about other needy people and the less fortunate.
Duties and Responsibilities
Day by day, Ilula children improve in their duties and responsibilities. One area they have really improved in is the area of marking their clothes so that they don’t get lost. One boy Vincent had found it very hard to knit his name on his clothes. It was not until he received his new games kit that he ran to his mother’s house to ask for a needle and thread to mark his kit. His parents were very proud of him as he did the job perfectly though it was his first time. All the parents have observed a great improvement in time keeping from the children. They have noted that the children have learnt to be where they are needed at the required time. They have also improved greatly in the side of personal hygiene and general cleanliness. One parent reported that children ensure that they are clean before going to the gazebo.
Food
The children enjoy the delicious meals prepared daily for them by the kitchen staff. One of their favorite foods is githeri (mixture of cooked maize and beans). As I was visiting with them one lunch time, I noticed most of them enjoyed eating githeri. Some went to an extent of picking the maize in their plates first then finishing with beans. They normally have githeri 3 times a week. On Tuesday, they were very happy to eat green beans and maize. Mr. and Mrs. Chepsat had harvested their beans and blessed the children with some. The green maize was purchased from town.
Baptist & Hillside
It was so sad to lose one of the cows Baptist early last week after suffering from pancreas injury. The children were very sad to lose one of the cows that gave them milk. Just one day after Baptist died, Hillside calved. The children were all smiles when they heard the good news. One child said, “Thank God that Hillside has calved! Now we can get enough milk.”
Thank you for caring about our children at Ilula. Please let us know if you have questions, or if you would like to sponsor one of our children.
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