Ilula turned 5!

Ilula Children’s Home celebrated their 5th anniversary on Sunday September 21st. It was a wonderful time as the children and staff members joined the community members in celebrating God’s love and goodness.

Every family had a chance to present a song and memory verses. Some of the older kids represented the rest in sharing their testimonies. The children really made people laugh through their testimonies and everyone was thankful to God for what he has done, what he is doing, and what he is yet to do in the lives of the Ilula kids.
Leonard Kiprop 13 from Kosgey family was among the children who gave their testimonies. He thanked God for what he has done to the children’s home and to himself. He made the crowd laugh when he said “I came here when I was speaking in soprano but I am now speaking in bass.” Leonard is one of the children who talks less and likes working in his small garden. He has planted beautiful vegetables and strawberries and all the other children admire his garden a lot. Leonard shared about the talents that God has given them. He said he wishes to be an electrician or technician in future because he is very good in fixing broken radios, repairing bicycles and watches. People were so amazed at what Leonard can do. He was very thankful to ELI fraternity that gave him the opportunity to explore his talent.
Kevin Serem 13 and from Kosgey family too talked a lot and made the people to laugh. There was a lot of applause when he finished sharing his testimony. He thanked God because of getting a chance to be admitted at the orphanage as he was among the last children to be enrolled. He shared how he had arrived with a deteriorating health but after getting medication, his health improved greatly. Kevin was very thankful to ELI for providing for their food, medical, education and the loving care they receive from their parents. He shared how it is very easy to be taken to hospital here when one is sick unlike back at home where it was hard for them to go to hospital when they were sick and if at all they had to go, the hospital was so far. There were problems of getting medical fees back at home which forced them to resort to herbal medicine which were so bitter and could not heal them. He mentioned the herbal medicine in Kalenjin (sakitiek) which made the people to laugh even more.
Gabriel Kiptanui 13 from Rono family said he has benefited a lot from ELI and said that it is God who has worked through ELI for him to succeed in various fields like academics that he is doing very well, health wise, spiritually and even physically. He thanked the parents for taking good care of them teaching them the word of God and that he is born again now. He thanked them for taking good care of their clothes and other emotional issues. He was very happy that he has parents to take care of him after losing his own biological parents. He gave special thanks to Babu and Gogo (Mr. and Mrs. Rono, children's home directors) for providing them with guidance and counseling. He thanked all the other staff for playing a big role in their lives.
Gideon Kiptanui from Kiprotich family thanked God for the effort ELI is doing for them to be well catered for. He appreciated the good food that they get. He commented that they cannot fit into the clothes they brought from home now and the ones they were given when they arrived. He thanked the assistant parents for ensuring that their clothes are clean all the time.

Mr. David Kosgey talked on behalf of the parents and he shared that it was very tough for them when they started. They had to do all the work from bathing the children, serving them food, cleaning their rooms and gazebo to giving attention to every child. He was thankful to God that now the work is much better with the assistance from the children who are now grown up and have been assigned some responsibilities.

Mr. Laban Rono the Director Ilula children’s home commented “This far, the Lord has provided and taken care of us.” He thanked ELI as a whole for providing finances and support to the home. He said without them, it would have been hard to care for the children. He commented on the growth of the children since they arrived to date that they have grown tall, they have added their weight and some of the boys have broken their voices. In the side of education, he extended a big thanks to Samro School for providing good education to our children. He also thanked them for their school fee which is much better compared to other schools. The director thanked the community members who have played a big role in supporting the orphanage especially during the post election skirmishes early this year. The community played a big role in providing security to the home. He advised the children to respect every person from the community because they are part of us.

Mr. Samuel Teimuge the Ilula Children’s home board chairman appreciated the entire home for their efforts all the time in taking care of the children. He commented on a lot of changes in the children physically, spiritually, emotionally and academically. He went further to thank the children for their hard work and respect they had towards their parents, teachers and the elderly and towards themselves. He appreciated the work the children are doing in their small gardens in planting vegetables and other crops. He showed the people some of the healthy vegetables the children had taken to church from their own gardens. He motivated the children on what they want to be in future. He gave a good example of John Rono who is well known and a friend to the kids that is now studying at the university to become an engineer. He urged them to pursue their careers.

The climax of the celebration was marked with the cutting of the cake which was done by Mrs. Angelina Rono with the help of the house mothers. Mrs. Rono commented on the children’s development that there is a great change!

Health
A few children were taken to the hospital last week and are now fine. The sewage at the children’s home which had polluted the environment was sucked and the children and parents especially at the western wing are now enjoying the fresh air.

Visitors
Mr. Daniel Ndungu a visitor from Eldoret town visited the children with 1 bale of wheat flour and 25kgs of rice. The children were very happy and thankful to him for his continued support. Mr. Ndungu has been visiting the children severally with different gifts. Another visitor called Sharon visited the children and brought them some clothes.

The AIC Kenya Bishop visited the orphanage. He was actually coming to meet a group of pastors who were having a meeting at the Ukweli Training Centre. It was a big surprise for him to find a large group of children singing for him at the round about. He appreciated what ELI is doing and promised to send some food to the children. He was especially encouraged by Vincent Ngunzulu’s testimony of what God had done in their lives.

School bags
The grade 2, 3, and 4 kids from the children’s home received new school bags. They were very grateful for the bags and promised to work harder at school.

Games Competition
The Ilula staff continues to prepare for the volleyball and soccer competition between them and their colleagues from Kipkaren River. They look forward to the competition early next month. The Ilula kids seem so excited about the competition and they can’t wait to see their parents play that day. They have been encouraging them and motivating them everyday to put more effort in their practice.

News from Congo and Sudan

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If you'd like to sponsor one of our kids in the slums of Bukavu, Congo, or in Southern Sudan, please contact Diana at our Upland office.

Kipkaren News: September 22

~Report submitted by Emily Rop

The children are doing well, busy preparing for their mid-term tests.

Saying good-bye to Jane
The children and the entire home were happy seeing off Jane Sawe who was going to a Teachers Training College after completing high school. Jane has been working in the children's home kitchen for the past two years. She is one of the first orphaned children to be taken care of by Empowering Lives.

Jane said “I thank for giving me a chance to serve with the orphans. I was served also: I was able to share my heart with them and give them encouragement and hope in Christ who is the the author and perfecter of our faith.” She continued to encourage the children that God has provided a home and loving parents. The day was colourful and full of compassionate love. Everyone imagined how Jane could be today if it were not God to touch the hearts of other people to support Jane through Empowering Lives. People shed tears of joy for what God is doing He is a father of the fatherless.

Visiting the sick
Last week, our children had an opportunity to visit a sick neighbor. Betty has been sick for a long time and the children were able to assist her to do laundry, cut her grass [with machetes], fetch some firewood and water, and pray for her healing. I thank God for the compassionate hearts our kids have.

Washing machine
Nowadays, even the assistant parent have time to visit the needy since we have been given a washing machine. For the past two years, the assistant parents have been doing the children's laundry by hand. Having a commercial washing machine is not only saving them time, but it's especially good on their backs and their hands.








Staff activities
The staff of Kipkaren have been busy preparing for friendly matches between them and the staff of the Ilula Children's Home early in October. It will be fun to see them compete and to see who will take the trophy. Also, our staff had an opportunity to be taught how to use fire extinguishers. We use open fires for cooking, and paraffin lanterns whenever the power is out. It is important for us to know how to put out a fire.


Visitors
Our children were visited by students from a nearby secondary school. They had an opportunity to interact with the students, and the students blessed them with different gifts like soft drinks, biscuits and bars of soap. The students promised to pray for our children.




Bereavement
We had a big challenge two weeks ago. Our director, John Busienei, lost his sister through a tragic road accident. Fifteen people from Bush's village lost their lives, four of them were members of the same family. Our children felt for their directors. Some children went to console them in their home through singing and praying with them. Despite these challenges, God saw us through. His mercies were new every morning. Glory and honour be to his name.

Health We haven’t had any major problems recently except common colds. The kids are growing well. They are going on practicing new songs hoping to make a recording sometime.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers.

More news from Kipkaren

~by Emily Rop
Children's Home Admin Assistant

This week, our children were ending the youth camp and they are ready to resume for their studies. Some of our children aged 12 years and above had a wonderful encounter during the camp time, they had an opportunity to interact with other youth from different places hence they felt part of the community. They stayed for five days in the camp. When you'd run into them while they were at camp (which is hosted at the training center next to our children's home) they were very excited!

Some committed their lives to Christ, nine of them were baptized and truly their lives are transformed.

One of them named Linus Kipkoech testified and said that he will never miss another camp because the teachings about how to overcome temptations and forgiveness enabled him to forgive his uncles who took their property and some of the cash their parents had left when they died, and they were taken to an aunt's place where they could not go to school nor wear good clothes yet the uncles were using their money to educate their children. Since his parents died, Linus' heart has been wounded, especially when he remembered his uncles. After the camp he no longer holds any bitterness in his heart rather than to pray for them and he said let the will of God be done.

Healthwise, the children are doing well. Juli and Michelle, our nurse practitioners, did general examinations on all the children and she was amazed on how our the children are doing growing strong and healthy. We thank God for his care and protection. This month of August we didn’t have many cases of malaria.

Our maize is now ready for harvesting. The children roast it in the evenings as they share their live experiences and past stories with their parents . Our children did commendable work of transplanting trees about two thousand and we still have another four thousand which we intend to transplant as we are looking for market for the remaining so that we can sell and get some income.

Our director whom the kids call Babu and Koko (grandfather and grandmother) came back from their leave. The children put a ribbon on the gate then the directors had to cut it as they entered the compound. The children sang and hugged them as they shed tears of joy! You could see the children felt a sense of belonging and the orphaned spirit is not seen any more.

The kids are back to school and their spirits are very high promising to work hard as they continue to trust upon the lord to remind them whatever they have learned.