Tomorrow, December 18th. Philippa intends to jump out of an aeroplane, raising money for Riziki. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.
We bring Christmas greetings to you all from Riziki and from ourselves, Diana & Ian, at present in southern Germany with our son John.
Other news from Riziki. On December 15th Liz wrote:
Dear Ian and Diana,
Am so glad to finally find some time to sit and write to you before the year ends. We have had a very tumultuous couple of months with all the school unrest and children being sent home. Currently we have Precious at home, just after returning Alex back to school on Friday! (Children in Kenya have had a very difficult year, trying to learn remotely, often with very poor or non-existent technology. In addition, after months with no school at all, the school year has been compressed to complete it by Christmas with very short holidays. Children everywhere have been under great stress, often leading to mental issues. It is not surprising that there has been unrest among the students leading to protests and fires. Parents have had to pay for the damage caused!)
We are grateful though that this is the only bit of bad news. The rest of the year has been great and we are happy and grateful for everyone who partnered with us in prayer and finances and allowed to provide the care the children needed.
Our highlights this year:
Thanks to the generous support we receive we were able to take in two boys this year Shawn and Brian who were victims of abuse. They joined school and have counselling sessions every week, and it is great to see them settled in and enjoying being part of the Riziki. We pray that with more support we can be able to take in more children next year.
We are happy about how well our children have done this year. A good number of them have been trusted with leadership roles in school.
Emmanuel Rotich is House Captain
Alex Mwaniki (joined high school this year) is class representative
Grace Wanjiku - Class representative
Evans Lokol - School President
Glen Kimani - Hygiene Prefect
Ruth, Sharon, Brian - Class representatives of their respective classes.
All this position are elected positions so they were voted in. We are so very proud of them.
The farm has also done well this year too. We just had one poor crop -maize, otherwise we have enjoyed bananas, avocados, butternut, all sorts of vegetable, eggs, milk, we currently have lemons and looking forward to mangoes soon. This week we had a new addition to our cows a female calf. We have not named her yet. We have a crop of beans in the shamba that is looking good and we are hopeful for a good harvest.
Schools are closing next week according to the new academic calendar. It's going to be a short break just for Christmas and then right back to school. We hope we are able to provide a special lunch for Christmas.
I would like to give a special mention to our staff. Who have worked tirelessly this year and evidently given their best. Their attentiveness and care for the children can be seen by how the children are flourishing. May God bless them!
I will end here Ian and Diana. Words are not enough for the support and love you have shown us this year. May God truly bless you! To everyone else that has supported Riziki in anyway, a big God bless you and thank you very much for your sacrifice.
Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy 2022. Let's all keep safe. Let's all keep healthy!
Baraka
Liz
Our comments and prayer concerns.
We ask for your prayers for all the Riziki staff who have been so loyal, supportive, and hard-working throughout these difficult months, giving thanks for them.
We give thanks for funds to provide clothing and pray that Riziki will continue to be able to source all that is necessary for all the children.
We ask for your prayers for Julius and Liz, for strength and wisdom to support the whole Riziki Organization.
Many blessings,
Ian & Diana.