Dear All,
Ten years ago, today, we were in Kenya, at Riziki, celebrating the official opening of Riziki Children’s Home. The crowd of well-wishers was large and there were many speeches, entertainment from a church choir, and by the children who were the foundation of Riziki.
Julius has compiled a summary of the first ten years of Riziki.
He wrote (with minor editing)-
Riziki came to be in 2008 with the inspiration and financial support of the late John Hunwicks and his late wife Yvonne, may their souls rest in eternal peace. This came about as a result of finding that a children’s home we were supporting belonged to someone other than we had been led to believe.
The land where Riziki stands today, 2.8 hectares, was bought on 3rd September 2008 and trees were planted all around the boundary of the field. 156 trees were planted, but due to a severe drought, the trees were watered every three days with water ferried from Nakuru because the area did not have enough water. All except ten of the trees survived. These ten were replaced later and today the field is surrounded by beautiful trees.
In January 2009, the building work started with a 120,000 litres underground water tank. In February 2009, the construction of the main house, which was to house the children, twelve girls and twelve boys, began and was completed in May 2010. Furnishing began with twelve metal double-decker bunk beds, six for boys and six for girls, and tables and chairs in the dining room. Later Ian suggested the dormitories named as “Orchard” and “Ryedale” in acknowledgement of the initial donors.
The first seven children, three girls and four boys, arrived on 7th June 2010, from a dump site near Nakuru town called Gihoto where all the garbage from the town is dumped. The number of children continued to increase year after year coming from different parts of the country. Over the years, Riziki has received forty children but some have been sent home after it was discovered that their relatives gave false information about the children. Two went for a relative’s funeral but did not come back to the Riziki home. The numbers continue to grow, the most recent, and the smallest child, came this year, 2020.
On 24th June 2010 Riziki was registered by the government as an NGO. It was fully registered as Riziki Children’s Home by the Kenya Government on 30th December 2010 after meeting the entire compulsory requirement of the law.
On 1st April 2011, an additional, adjacent piece of land measuring 5.6 hectares was bought with funds from a donor.
ACHIEVEMENTS
The children have grown from small children to young men and women. We thank God for bringing us this far as Riziki family. The number of children grew from seven to the present twenty-eight, but three have left the home because of the age limit. Riziki still educates the three while they are with their relatives.
EDUCATION
All the children have done well in school over the years and they continue to achieve good results. Two girls and one boy have gone through secondary school and joined colleges and university. We now have twelve children in secondary schools, some in the very best secondary schools in the country. Five are in form one, three in form two, one in form three and three in form four who were supposed to sit for K.C.S.E this year. Due to covid-19, this will not be possible. We have five children who were supposed to sit for the K.C.P.E this year but again it won’t be possible because of the same covid-19. The remaining eight children are in lower primary school.
GENERAL APPRECIATION
We acknowledge and appreciate the good work done by the donors, without whom we could not have come so far. May the good Lord bless each one of them abundantly.
We have received help from various charitable foundations. The following come to mind. The Kirkby Foundation; John Humphries’ Kitchen Table Trust; Franciscan Aid. Through the generous donations from many people the project has developed considerably. These donations have led to:-
The purchase of all land, building and furnishing the Riziki home including fridge, deep freezer, and cooker with a gas cylinder plus refurbishment of the old, original buildings on site.
Funds to feed and clothe the children and provide medical care,
The education of all our children from primary to college,
Chain link wire fence which surrounds the entire compound,
The water dam and the digging of the channel from the road to the dam,
The first two milk cows and subsequently chickens,
Several large plastic water tanks for the washing bay and irrigation,
Solar panels for the house and irrigation pump,
Two water pumps for taking water from the underground water tanks
Water recycling system, greenhouse, silo store plus metal silos, large barn and new cowshed,
Chopper for making animal feed, milking machine, maize grinding machine, moisture meter for testing grain,
Television, video recorder and music system for entertainment,
Photocopier, sewing machine, computers for office and children,
School van, bicycle,
Funds for a borehole that failed to find water but the balance of which was used to construct a 250,000 litres underground water tank. Mains water is still not available,
A safari to the Maasai Mara for the children,
The construction of two houses, one for older girls and one for assistant director.
We thank a Kenyan, Mr. Kamau who gave money to buy a 5000 litres water tank.
Our sincere thanks goes to the Kenyan locals who have been donating clothes and other essential requirements to the children such as pencils, rubbers and exercise books and one time somebody donated primary textbooks.
We cannot forget to thank and appreciate the work done by a group of five families from Nairobi led by Eunice Fedha and her husband who over the years gave the children an early Christmas party before they left to their homes for their annual visit to their nearest relatives, as stipulated by the authorities.
We also cannot forget to thank Brian Njuguna. Although in a wheelchair he visited the children regularly and on one occasion, together with his friends, he donated two bales of clothes to the children and during one of his visits with his friends and the children planted trees which have grown.
Also, our sincere thanks go to the Egerton University students who, over the years, visited the children and cooked food for them.
We thank the American lady, Crystal, who visited us one time and also a group of Americans from South Carolina led by a Kenyan pastor living in USA who visited us and made hot dogs for the children.
There are many others but we cannot write them all. We highly appreciate their work.
THANKS AND APPRECIATION TO ALL OUR DONORS
Our thanks go to all our donors. Some have given regularly, often sacrificially, over the life of Riziki. Some have donated for specific projects, others to cover the daily costs of feeding and clothing the children and their education. Some donors live in Kenya, others far away in U.K. and other countries in Europe and in North America. We cannot name all the people who have given so generously so we choose to leave all our donors to be anonymous. (We, Diana, and Ian, do not know the names of many of our donors, nor how much any donor has given, unless they choose to tell us! Julius has often said ‘A shilling coming in is better than a shilling going out’!)
The whole Riziki project has relied very much on prayer to meet our needs. Jeremiah 33 v 3 was given as a word of prophecy for Riziki by a church member.
The two remaining major developments we would like for the farm are a new chicken shed and a biogas digestor when we have enough cows to provide the manure!
We thank Allan and Margaret Nicholls for the good work they have been doing over the years transferring funds from UK to Kenya so efficiently. May the Almighty God bless all who have supported us in so many ways.
Sorry we will not be able to celebrate this occasion in a big way but we will plant a few trees to make the day.
May God bless you all, Julius.
PS. We have just heard from Liz that they have planted trees and the children had snacks as a special treat to celebrate the ten years. No visitors were allowed in the compound.
Thank you for reading this newsletter.
Many Blessings, Ian & Diana
Reminder: The Aenon Trust has a new email address. [email protected].