Dear All,
We have just received the letter below from Liz, forwarded to you with only some tiny editing!
Dear Ian and Diana,
First of all, thank you for your patience in getting this email from me and thank you for constantly checking up on us via WhatsApp calls and video chat. Your encouragement and support is deeply appreciated.
On 7th December one of our major newspapers, The Standard, carried a news story titled 'Thousands of children sent away from charitable homes'. The article highlighted the effect Covid-19 has had on charitable homes that has seen more than 21,000 children released from homes back to the community. Problems cited include: sinking into debt due to lack of funding (global economic impact - most funds come from outside Kenya; lack of proper capacity to handle spread of Covid among other reasons.
Kenya's Covid numbers are going up every day and so are the deaths, but the economic and social impact is also real and very concerning.
It is in light of this information and so much more that we are surrounded with, that we choose to be grateful every day for the ways in which we are blessed. Our journey since March has not been easy but looking back, we see a few highlights.
Thanks to your quick response and generosity we were able to set up an activity-full afternoon program, that included crocheting, make-up lessons, football, dance and workout.
Through these activities the children have really discovered themselves. Some who couldn't dance are now pretty decent and I cannot begin to tell you what that does for self-esteem. Some of the less confident ones are now more confident just because of these activities; you will experience this when you visit.
I think our proudest moment was when the Riziki boys took on some community boys in a football match and won 2-1. They played hard. The community boys did not go easy on them at all. None of them could keep their eyes open past 8pm that day😄.
Another highlight would be our shamba and our farm workers who have fed us with consistency these months. We have not lacked in a variety of vegetables. We have had a good supply of butternut, cabbage, local vegetables, sorghum and millet. We have also enjoyed potatoes, soya beans, bananas, lemons, sweet potatoes at various times this year.
I also have to be grateful for the children. This has not been an easy year for them by any means. Not being able to see their guardians, having the same routine every day, being in the same space with everyone every day, this cannot be easy but a majority have held up remarkably well. I am mostly happy that in any discipline cases we have had they have accepted correction and adjusted, which made it easy to move forward.
I am also very, very grateful for our staff. They have been such a blessing. Rachel and Elizabeth managed to take their monthly leave and Evans is currently out on his. I was happy to see them pulling together when we were one person short when each was on leave. Nothing went wrong. They are truly remarkable people. Hellen still cannot take her leave, because of travel particularly with young Max, but hopefully, when the children get back to school, she can get some downtime.
Finally, I am grateful for you and Diana, for your words of encouragement as well as your support. I always know I will be heard when I come to you. Asante Sana. Of course, all our supporters are also very dear to our hearts; every pound given has helped us stay open and keep the kids safe, learning and growing during this period. A big ‘God bless you’ to everyone. Thank you for your prayers and support.
Unlike previous years we are spending Christmas together with the children. We are hoping to have a special Christmas lunch together, maybe with cake and sodas and some chicken🤭. Any help we can get with this would be great.
On another note, our TV started screen problems last month. We have been using it for all tutorials (dance, crocheting and workouts) and now we can barely see anything’. It looks like it's slowly giving out. We will be grateful for any help we can get to get a new one, because repair might not be economical.
I know we will be talking before Christmas, but have a Merry Christmas from all of us at Riziki and keep safe. The same to all who support us. A very Merry Christmas, you have all made a very difficult year, less difficult for us. A big God bless you and Asante sana to everyone, Liz.
Last week we received this WhatsApp message below,
Hi Diana, we had our first guests this year, last weekend. They came from our bank. Their CEO has a vision to plant 50 million trees in 10 years and so they came with 200 trees, cypress and others that we planted around the compound. They only stayed for an hour and a half, all masked and it worked OK.
The new dormitory for the older girls now has direct access to the main house. We have no up-to-date news about how the building work is progressing.
Our comments and prayer concerns.
Riziki is not exempt from the difficulties facing other children’s homes in Kenya. We particularly remember Testimony Faith Homes and Neema Home in Eldoret where we also have dear friends. So far we have just been able to provide the funds needed to look after the children, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. We ask for your prayers that this will continue and that Riziki can live on, remaining safe through these very difficult times and into the future. All at Riziki are clearly doing everything possible to look after our young people and staff. We particularly thank Julius and Liz for their tireless work, without breaks, over the whole year.
We also add our thanks to all of you for your interest in and concern for Riziki and wish you a blessed Christmas and a happy new year‘
Ian & Diana.
PS. Covid in Kenya today: 92 459 cases, 73 459 recovered, 1 604 deaths.