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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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.

Kipkaren News

~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.

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.

This week at Kipkaren Children's Home: An accident at the bridge, the blessing of a washing machine, and more

~by Emily Rop
Kipkaren Children's Home Secretary

We opened Kipkaren children’s home in the year 2006. We praise God for his grace, mercy and love since it was started. The home has been running well though with some challenges. For two years now, assistant parents have been washing clothes for 24 children by hand. That means that they stand bent over and doing hard scrubbing every day! We have been praying for a washing machine.

On 15th of July 2008, our prayers were answered. We receiced a commercial washing machine! Our children sung to welcome the machine, they were very happy you could see them jumping around and talking much about the machine, something they had never seen before! They stretched their hands to touch the machine and they slowly escorted the car to the administration block ceremoniously while singing and praising God for the gift.

We really thank God for every person who contributed to purchasing the machine in one way or the other. In a week's time, the assistant parents shall be able to enjoy the device and let their hands to heal out of the scars they acquired during their dedication to wash for the 24 children. They really showed God's care to the fatherless by working tirelessly.

Local Visitors
Last Sunday, 20th July, our children had a wonderful time with students from a high school named Kapsabet Girls who visited us to encourage the children, love and share with them the joy of the Lord. They encouraged the children about education and made friendship with them. They worked around the home and school you could see our children happy, felt loved and finally they blessed them with different gifts: bars of laundry soap, toilet soap and tissues. They visitors also promised to continue praying for us. Our director Busienei appreciated them and he said a true church is the one that looks after the orphans and the widows.

The Bridge Broke!
Normally once a month we visit a nearby church with the children from our home, which is across the Kipkaren River. The bridge was build by one of the ELI teams to assit the community and the children who are going to our school. Without the bridge, the children would have to take a detour of travel 5 miles on foot to reach the school!

Last Sunday, after visiting the nearby church, our children had to cross the bridge to come back to the home. On reaching the bridge, children crossed in groups, the first group crossed with Mr Matekwa who is a foster parent. When they were in the middle of the bridge, one of the bridge cables snapped with a huge sound! They fell down flat on the bridge! Though the bridge didn't collapse into the water, the children's legs were dangling off the edge and everybody was scared. After a minute of confussion and suprise they came back to their senses and supported one onother off the bridge. Glory be unto God that no one fell into the river! It is our prayer that a permanent bridge be build for easy transportations. Many people have lost their lives by crossing this river.

Health
This week we had many children diagonised with malaria though we thank God for the healing they are improving very much. Being rainy season, malaria is very common in this area. Despite of all this challenges the children are busy preparing for their end term exam. Also, one of the girls had to go to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital to get a filling. At the moment, she can smile without any fear of embarrasment or pain. We look forward to the day when our clinic's dental wing can open so the children can receive dental care locally.

We thank God so much for changing the lives of our children spiritually, academically, and even physically.

Beatrice: Our first athletics and drama competition

It was in the month of May when our teachers informed us that we would go to Kipchoge Keino Stadium for athletics. We were as happy as a king in the palace. We started our practice because practice makes perfect. Our games teacher, Mr. Kogei, took us for cross country training, and we ran throughout our village of Ilula. It was hard but we had to do it.

We did our practice for about three weeks then it was time to go for the competition. We were to meet other schools from the zone. We were very excited to travel to town. We were six children from my family (Rono family) who were to go for the competition. Our parents ensured that we were smart and ready to go. We prayed before we left for school that morning and they gave us some pocket money.

After finishing our Friday assembly and devotion, we boarded the car to Kipchoge. Our father Mr. Nixon was driving us and we enjoyed as we saw many things on our way. We met other students from other schools and there were bigger children than us. The long races started followed by the short races and the other activities.

After everyone had participated we waited for the results. We were very happy to learn that two of our students were to proceed to the district level: Joyce and Rose. We jumped up and down thanking our Almighty Father for enabling us to win. We came back to school very happy.

In the month of June after the athletics we started getting prepared for drama festivals. We prepared poems and shahiri. Some of them were entitled “Pesa” (Money), “Mwalimu Fidhia” “Donda Ndugu” and “Maritha”. The one about money was saying that money is not a very big thing and that we should not boast about it. I presented a solo verse in “Maritha”.

Our music teacher Mr. Edonga Ekai trained us on how to recite poems. He didn’t want to inform us where we were to go but he promised us that if we practiced well, he shall tell us. A list of names of those who were doing very well was read and I was glad I was among the group.

We presented at the zonal, district and two pupils managed to go to the provincial level. Hillary and Fridah went to Kericho for four days and they tried their best.

We thanked God for enabling us to reach the provincials. We are praying that next time we shall get to the national level.

Scophia: The day we went to Kipchoge Keino Stadium

It was on a Thursday evening and we had prepared the school team and they were practicing hard. They knew that practice makes perfect. We had prepared ourselves because on Friday we would face tough competition.

On Friday morning, I was so excited because I was among the team traveling to Kipchoge for athletics. I woke earlier that usual, took a shower and wore my best uniform. After taking my breakfast, I walked to school. At the assembly we prayed for those going to Kipchoge that they may have a safe journey and that they may participate well.

We reached the stadium faster that I expected. We went round the field where we were going to run. There were so many students from various schools who had come for games. After sometime, we were all assembled at the field to be told what to do. There were many big boys and I was so scared of them I thought if you could step on them by mistake, they would beat you seriously.

My team was the first to run and so children representing all the zonal school lined up to run. We ran as fast as we could but the race was tough. During the short races, one of the runners was disqualified as he was a trained runner.

Rose Jepchirchir was participating in walking race. She was in first position all through until when she heard the bell. Rose did not understand that she had one more round to go so she stopped and the two students behind her overtook her. She never gave up but continued and she became position three. Joyce Jerotich also managed to be among those who were to continue to the District level in the long races. We were given glucose then we ate lunch and came back to school happily.

I thank God for enabling us to participate in games. I am praying that next year we are going to get to the national level in athletics and make our school famous in the country.

Hillary's thoughts on sports and speeches

On 23rd of May, our school was going to compete with other schools in Eldoret [in athletics]. We did not have enough time to practice, and we had not even competed against any other schools.

We went right to the stadium (Kipchoge Keino Stadium), participated, and waited for the results. Some of the sports we participated in were in 3000m, 8000m, high jump, long jump, walking race and javelin.

When the results were out, some of our students were able to proceed to the district level and the others did not, but we never gave up.

Came the drama festivals, we were ready to participate in it again. We had composed and recited many poems both solo verses and group verses. I was presenting public speaking in “umuhimu wa Amani” (The importance of peace) and another one on HIV/AIDS.

We performed at the zonal and when the results were out some of the children were to proceed to the district level. Our school which was a little known became famous and by now it could be known in the whole province.

Thank God I was able to make it to the provincial level at Kericho with my sister Fridah. We came back to school and polished where necessary. The public speaking topic that I managed to present in Kericho was the one on HIV/AIDS.

We traveled to Kericho and met many schools with children in different uniforms. When it was my time to go to the stage to perform, I stood in front of the adjudicators and I was really shivering but before my presentation, I prayed twice to God to give me the courage to do well. I tried my best and when the results were out, I was position 10 overall.

I thank God for that and for the far he had brought me. I never gave up and I hope next year I am going to proceed further to the national level. I know that it was just a trial as it was my first time and I took the first positions in the zonal and district level.

I am expecting even better results next year!