Dear All,
We have been home from Kenya for a week. The children at Riziki continue to grow – in all ways. They are a happy and caring family with the older young people ensuring that the younger ones feel at home. Progress at school continues to be good. Just before we left Kenya, Julius got a call from Precious (on a borrowed phone) to say she had done her half term exams at school and had come 21st out of 50 in her class – a good achievement. Next day Neema also called, very excited – she had come 4th out of about 50! News of Emmanuel has just arrived – he is 133rd out of 453. These three are in their first term at secondary school. The new children we took in January have settled in well and feel part of the family. They are enjoying school but still have a lot of catching up to do.
At Riziki we continue to aim for self-sufficiency. On the farm, crops are growing well, now that we can irrigate from the dam. The solar pump is performing as expected. We need to install a raised water storage tank to deliver water when the sun is not shining! Crops described as ‘local vegetablesʼ are proving popular and we have started to sell the surplus. We would like to buy a maize grinding mill as the nearest commercial mill is some distance away. In addition to saving the costs of having our own maize ground, we would also be able to offer to grind maize for our neighbours. Not only would this provide a small income for Riziki but it would save members of the local community a long walk to have their maize ground.
The new cowshed is being built. The walls are up and the plastering done. The welder, Njoroge, has started on the roof and he is also making windows and doors on site. We are truly grateful to the donors who made this possible.
We have just bought a simple treadle sewing machine which will enable Catherine – who does the cleaning etc – to learn to sew. She is keen to do this and will be able to do simple repairs to school uniforms etc which soon start to look shabby and a bit tattered!
Points for prayer. We give thanks that the new children have settled in so well and for the warmth of the older children who help them; we also give thanks for the dam which should now enable us to have reliable crops; we pray for rain, especially in northern Kenya where people are suffering acute food shortages and dying.
We have recently made a new video with Gaggia Caffe Shop, based in Elland, featuring Riziki on their website. This can be accessed on www.gaggiacaffe.tv
Thank you for reading this newsletter.
Ian & Diana Hogley