Riziki News – October 2019
Dear All,
Greetings from a very wet Holmfirth.  It is two weeks since we left a warm, sunny Kenya after a very busy but enjoyable time.  We had two celebrations in Eldoret and three visits to Riziki.

We have known Testimony Faith Homes in Eldoret since its inception in 1969, founded by John Green.  The jubilee celebrations were a joy to experience with dozens of former children rejoicing together, many meeting their brothers and sisters again after many years.  It was a real tribute to the love and faith of John & Esther in particular.

The blessing, two weeks later, of the first phase of the new Neema school was equally joyful following the hard work and devotion to vulnerable children of Joshua & Miriam Mbithi.

When we arrived at Riziki, all the young people were home on school holidays, so it was wonderful to see the family all together. They really are a family, caring, sharing, working and playing together. Over nine years we have seen children with little hope for the future grow into delightful young adults, making the most of their opportunities.

We are delighted to report that we have appointed a new social worker / house parent, Helen, who has settled in well.  She has thrown herself into all expected activities and more.  We hope she will give the stability needed for a happy family. We were able to discuss plans and move forward with developments.

It is our aim at Riziki to become self-sufficient with the farm providing all the basic food we need and cash crops to cover other expenses.  For some time we have hoped to build a large barn and we were pleased to start this. Two days were spent sourcing and buying the appropriate timber and when we left the barn was nearing completion.

We are wanting to increase our small herd of cows, to six milking cows and we have now bought a milking machine which should increase efficiency.  Training is on-going.
We were very pleased to be joined at Riziki by Janet & Stuart Brown who have known Riziki from the beginning and also by our son, John, for whom this was a first visit (but perhaps not the last).  A contribution from Janet and Stuart is included in this newsletter.

RIZIKI NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 2019.
 
Janet and I had the privilege of visiting Riziki on two occasions in early September.

The first was on a Saturday afternoon when the children had returned from school and had time to play and enjoy their childhood. There were smiles, laughter and joy. It was a real pleasure to experience a loving and happy community. This was family life at its best; with children playing and supporting each other.

Riziki has now celebrated nine successful years, thanks to your support and prayers. The children have been offered a wonderful opportunity, and we were quite humbled by the consistent thanks and assurances that ‘we will not let you down’. They are all doing well academically, and the majority have achieved positions at or near the top of their classes.

We took the opportunity of seeing the new dam, the shamba (garden), greenhouse and livestock. The rains had materialised and their harvest was good. Their harvest is providing most of their food needs, and in future years, providing the rains are adequate, they will be food self-sufficient.

Returning the following Wednesday with Ian and Diana Hogley, we devoted our time to the business of the Home and its future needs. We expressed our sincere thanks to Julius for his commitment and energies over the last nine years. The children refer to him as ‘Pa‘ and Riziki will always be very special. But time is moving on and Julius felt it was opportune to stand down as Director in favour of Liz, his daughter, who has been acting as Assistant Director for the last four years. Julius will remain a Trustee and continue his important role of mentoring the children. (We will give all the help we can to ensure a smooth handover – Ian & Diana)

In many ways, this a very positive step. It secures the medium to long term future of Riziki with a leadership re-energised with new commitment. Liz believes that a full-time presence at Riziki is important and the Trustees have agreed the construction of a house and a dormitory for the older girls on their vacations from boarding school. We met Helen, their new Social Worker, whose presence will allow Liz to develop new strategies for the Home and the children. We were very encouraged by a very positive outlook for Riziki.

We hope to extend an invitation next year to Liz, to visit the U.K. and share her hopes and aspirations for Riziki to you all. Please continue to support this very happy and successful family, we all know as Riziki.
 
Stuart and Janet Brown. 

Thank you for reading this newsletter.          
​Ian & Diana Hogley

Riziki News – August 2019
Dear All,
Greetings from West Yorkshire.  We are busy preparing for a fund-raising Afternoon Tea on Saturday giving our guests the opportunity to donate to children’s homes in Kenya.  We have not been to Kenya since our last newsletter so we rely on Julius, Liz and the children for our information.  I have no new pictures of children this time but will rectify this for our next epistle!

We have two more contributions from the children, again with their hand-written thoughts transcribed for publication and their names removed.

One of the primary school girls wrote:-
I came to Riziki when I was seven years old and now I am fourteen.  Riziki means something important like a home.   I have people who care much about me and I am provided with anything that I need.  If I compare my background and Riziki, Riziki is the best home.  At our home you are not provided everything you want.  You learn to economise items.  In Riziki there is security; no-one can sneak and go out without authority.  I came to Riziki when I was in class one but now I am in class eight.  I am expecting to sit for my KCPE examination.  We are supported in any challenge and circumstance.  People from different places come and advise us.  We appreciate for whatever you do for us and the support you have given us.  We came from different backgrounds and have come to be brothers and sisters here.  We care much about our management and the director who gives us his time to come and look after us.  For each and everyone who is supporting Riziki, thank you very much.  May God grant you love, knowledge and understanding.  I hope you love us like the way we love you all.  Greetings to each and everyone of you.  May God bless you so much.  Thank you.
 
One of the primary school boys wrote:-
My Life in Riziki.

Riziki is a good place to me.  It is a solid foundation to which I build my life.  Riziki has been a good place ever since I came to Riziki.

It has been a good place because it has helped me in my education.  Before I came to Riziki, my education has been of many problems.  I went to school without taking breakfast.  When I was in school, I had nothing to eat and I borrowed from other pupils.  I was often sent home for not clearing school fees.  Life in Riziki has been different.  I have been provided with books, pencils, rubbers and rulers.  I have also been provided with food, shelter and clothing.
Riziki has also been a good place because it has helped me greatly with my health.  When I was at home I was never taken to hospital when I was sick.  I was just told I would feel better or was bought medicine from the shops.  It has been different in Riziki concerning my health because I have been given proper medical attention.  I have been taken to hospital when sick and given the medicines prescribed by the doctor when required.

Riziki has been a good place to me because it has provided me with clothing.  When at home I never wore a new cloth.  I never wore a cloth that fitted me.  All the clothes were the ones I was given by the elder ones.

Riziki has been a good place because it has provided me with a good environment to live in and to read in comfort.  When at home there was a lot of noise, no books and no people to explain to me about a certain concept.  It has been very different while here at Riziki because I have been provided with a quiet place to study, books, and there are people to explain to me about a certain concept better.

Generally, Riziki has been the best place to be.  With my brothers and sisters in Riziki, social workers and other staff members and with people supporting Riziki, it has been the best place for me.
 
On May 30th Julius wrote:-
The greenhouse (which was damaged by a storm) has been repaired at a cost of KES. 40,251/- (£350) materials and labour.

The shelves for the small house which is supposed to be the store have now been built after a long delay by the local joiner and it is now only the painting is remaining.
 
There is still little rain at Mang’u but more in town and Kiamunyi but we hope it will increase with time, we planted beans and they are doing well despite the little rain. (Rain has since come and refilled the dam.)
 
Again, on July 10th he wrote:-
Bwana Yesu Asifiwe, (the Lord Jesus be praised).
We trust that you are all well.
Thank you very much indeed for the good work you are doing, we know that it is not easy, it needs commitment and one to have a willing heart, God sees all that you are both doing your efforts will never be in vain God will reward you for your service to the children. We all appreciate your hard work and it is our prayer that God continues to bless you.  It is good to hear that your church  decided to contribute towards the well-being of the Riziki children.  May God bless you all.

We are all doing well despite the ups and downs in life and the Riziki children are well too; they continue to work hard in school.

The house painting work is on-going (this is done on a five-yearly schedule) there was a delay because the painter had some other work to do.

It looks like both Faith and Collins will join colleges in September; their applications were not successful so they will have to change their courses and apply afresh.   (We ask you to pray they will both be accepted for suitable courses)

Please pass our love and greetings to all in the family.   Julius & Esther
 
On July 11thLiz wrote:-
Am sorry I have taken a while to write,  but am glad to finally have the chance.  Am sure you are now aware of all the challenges we have gone through and we ask for your prayers for strength. 

The farm is doing well, we have quite a good supply of all vegetables now,  and we are encouraging the community to buy from us at the gate. The response is low but steady and we hope that with time we will have a lot more people buying from us. 

We have just finished a crop of tomatoes, and Elizabeth was able to freeze some,  so we have a good supply until the next crop which we are hoping to have in the seed bed next week. 

We had a pleasant visit from Collins last week, he stopped by on his way back from Nairobi to follow up on his college application which didn't go well. He looks well and the rest of the kids were so happy to see him. Of course his first stop was the farm and for the couple of days he would be found there and the kitchen helping out. It was really nice to see him.  We are currently looking for another possible college opening for him. 

Faith also visited yesterday and we spent half of the morning together.  She has been unwell, but recovering well,  she is looking forward to joining college and we are trying to find the right thing for her as well and we will let you know as soon we do.  We are hoping they both get accepted to colleges in September.  (Both Collins and Faith are over 18 so are not allowed by the government to live at Riziki and are with relatives but still visit Riziki when possible.  We continue to be concerned for their welfare until they become independent.)
 
The rest of the children are doing well, and we thank God.  Elizabeth and Catherine, staff, have been doing a good job of taking care of the daily tasks and children, especially now that it has taken us very long to get a proper fit in a social worker.  Everyone is so tired, and we ask that you continue praying for us and a new social worker. 

The house is being repainted and its great, from our last health inspection report some areas needed addressing and we thank you all for responding fast to this.
 
We are looking forward to the holidays.  Children's church,  birthday party (we were not able to have one in April) so it's going to be busy.  But also great to have everyone home. 

Looking forward to seeing you soon. Baraka  Liz

Thank you for reading this newsletter.          
​Ian & Diana Hogley

Tea, Coffee & Refreshments

SATURDAY AUGUST 3RD 2019 1PM TO 5PM
At "Wayfields", Briar Court, HOLMFIRTH, HD9 2JJ.
Produce, Cards, Handicafts and Jewellery stalls
Donations on the day, please

Dear All,
Before we went to Kenya in March, we had a request for the children to write about their views on their life at Riziki.  We invited the secondary school pupils and the older primary school children to give their thoughts and they all were happy to do so.  Much of this edition of Riziki News is the response of two of these young people to this request.  I have transcribed their hand-written thoughts for publication and removed their names.

One of the older girls wrote:-
I came to Riziki when I was nine years old.  Now I am now eighteen.  My life at Riziki has been very interesting.  Riziki has exposed me to a lot of things I could not understand.  I remember when I was living with my parents that life was not smooth.  I could not get what I wanted because my grandmother was unable to provide.  I was just living not knowing the destination, but when I came to Riziki everything changed.

All my needs have been catered for.  I found people with whom I can share my problems, and everything is running smoothly.  I have grown spiritually, mentally and physically.  Above all, I enjoy the company of my brothers and sisters at Riziki.  I love being at Riziki because it has changed me positively and I am happy about it.  I love all the people at Riziki because they provide parental love which is very essential for our growth.  I thank everyone who has supported Riziki and pray that they continue touching people’s lives.

One of the primary boys wrote:-
My Life in Riziki.
My life has changed here in Riziki.  Since I came here, I am being given education and the basic needs.
At home things were very difficult compared to here at Riziki; lacking school fees was a big problem and providing of the basic needs.
In Riziki I go to school every day, I attend lessons just like the other pupils in our class.
Since I am here for a period of time, I am looking forward to succeed in my studies.
I am looking forward to a bright future.  I also have a good family at Riziki who are always there for you in time of joy.  In time of sorrow they are also there.
In Riziki I get to understand more about life and also knowing about myself.  I also have a very different environment compared with that at home.  Most of the time I was affected by the harsh weather conditions which caused discomfort for all our family members.  But here I am sheltered and protected.
I really thank you for the support you are giving to us and may God bless you.

Further contributions will be shared in future newsletters.

During the week the children get very little free time as the school day is very long and includes Saturday.
After church on Sunday is largely free time and the boys often enjoy kicking a football around. Daily devotions are held, before going to bed.  Sometimes one of the children may lead a group.  Otherwise, Liz or our social worker will lead.

We are delighted to report that the new cowshed is now completed and occupied by two cows (Turi and Annah) and a recently born female calf, Nicola.  Another calf is expected soon. We pray that female calves will continue to be born.

We are pleased to report that the dam has made a significant difference to our farming with irrigation of food crops working well.  We give thanks that we have been able to grow surplus crops and have established sales of local vegetables at the Riziki gate.  Of course, we still depend on rain falling on Riziki but with the increased water storage we can last longer before crops wither and die.

We are also thankful that our three young people who started secondary school this year continue to do well.

We are thankful for the completion of the cowshed plus the provision of a female calf.

We pray for the provision of a high level water tank to feed water to our crops and for a simple maize grinding mill.

We thank God that many people support Riziki and pray that the everyday costs of running Riziki will continue to be met as they constantly rise with inflation and growing children.
 
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

Riziki News – April 2019

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
 

Riziki News – January 2019
Dear All,
A happy new year to you all.
Julius wrote on January 12th
The Riziki children are now all back in school.  We have taken four new children into the home, all at the request of the children’s department, after being committed by the court of law.

Shalon, Filex, Maxwell and Evans
 
Shalon Wambui is six years old.  Her single mother was imprisoned for neglecting her children.  The three boys are brothers,   Filex Etabo is 7 years old,  Maxwell Lobei is 9 years old and Evans Lokol is 10 years old.  Both parents are dead, the mother having died last May.  Since then they have been with their old and sickly grandmother who is unable to support them.  They were being helped by neighbours before their story reached the children’s department.  Two of the boys and the girl have never been to school.  We want them to join the other Riziki children at St Ceciliaʼs primary school as soon as we can, complete with their uniforms, shoes and school bags.
 
All the children went back to school on 3rd January 2019 both primary and secondary and it is our prayer that they will continue to do well. The three starting their secondary education in form one form went on 7th and 8th of January.
On 7th Liz and I took Neema and Emmanuel to their schools.  Liz wanted to see Lenana school so I dropped her there with Emmanuel and I took Neema to Buru-Buru girl's school  Both schools are in Nairobi.  The whole day was a real headache.  I picked up Liz from Lenana and we got back home at 12.30 am., very tired indeed.  On 8th both of us took Precious to Naivasha girl's school. The three schools are great.

Faith and Collins did not do as well as we had hoped in their final exam KCSE. Faith got a C- and Collins got a D+.  We hope they will be able to join colleges.

In the shamba, we are just about to start harvesting maize and the fields are green with vegetables.  We are now reaping the benefits of our water harvesting dam, allowing us to irrigate the crops, and also our water recycling system.
Now we are through with the schoolsʼ problems, the cowshed work will start next week when we bring in materials.  We trust the work will now have started and we look forward to seeing the completed and occupied cowshed on our next visit!

We thank Julius, Liz and the rest of the team for their dedicated service to the whole Riziki family.
 
We are all most grateful to our many faithful friend for all the support, spiritual and financial, and for the comments we receive from you, following our newsletters.  Thank you for reading this newsletter. Ian & Diana Hogley

Riziki News – December 2018
Dear All,
The school year in Kenya has finished.  The Riziki children have returned to their relatives or guardians for the required annual visit so the home is very quiet!  Our new social worker has settled in.  We now have three ladies at Riziki called Elizabeth which I shall find very confusing.  We have Liz, our assistant director, Elizabeth the cook and Liz, the social worker!

Julius writes
All the children performed well in school both primary and secondary, their performance was very encouraging indeed.  The three children who sat for K.C.P.E this year passed well.  Emmanuel had 403 marks out of 500, Neema got 384 marks and Precious got 382 marks.  Faith and Collins finished doing their K.C.S.E and we wait for their results to be out sometime in December. Lucy's conclusion of her course is delayed because of a college problem with the whole class.

Some of the children have been sick with various complaints but were taken to hospital and treated and now they are all doing well. Neema's hand problem recurred but now she is well again.  Faith fell sick just before the exams, but she was treated and went back to school and managed to sit for the papers.  Grace's ear problem has recurred, and she was put on medication.

Regarding the irrigation; we are still laying more pipes to let the water get to all the crops and we hope and trust that the results of the hard   work will be good.    Liz has planted a lot of native vegetables - e.g. cowpeas and others; some of the them are planted in the greenhouse and the others are out in the fields.  She is using the dam water.  Soon we will be harvesting the maize you left in the shamba.

On 20th October a family from Nakuru with a group of 25 primary school children visited Riziki.  The children spent the day together playing games and doing Bible study and quizzes.  They had great fun.

On 27th October we organised prayers for the three doing K.C.P.E. exams.  We invited our church pastor for the occasion and a group of friends from Nairobi attended.  It was wonderful.

On 17th November that young man in a wheelchair came with more friends and he had good time with the children playing indoor games.  He seems to love the children.

Liz organised a children’s church on 24th November and over 200 children of upper primary and secondary school from the community attended.  She had a big group of youths from Happy Church who had volunteered to help her to teach the children and it was wonderful.  All the children enjoyed it so much that some of them did not want to go back to their homes!  They stayed as late as 7.30pm, being persuaded to go home when Esther and I arrived at that time and found the situation.  Esther played a big part to persuade them to go home.

On 25th November Emmanuel, Neema and Precious were invited by the director of St. Cecilia to attend a prize giving to those who performed well and got 400 marks and above.

The children went to their relatives on 8th December.  On the evening of the 7th we held a Christmas party for them with Christmas carols, we also used the occasion for thanksgiving prayers because of the success of the 3 children.

We managed to take Peter, the builder, and Njoroge, the metal welder, to Miti Mingi Village to see the cowshed we like and later they both produced quotations for building ours.  We plan to start the construction work in January 2019 after the cabbages which are in the area have been removed but the delivering of the materials is going to start in December 2018.

We have managed to buy shoes from Amie for all the children and we hope that they will be good shoes.  Aime is from Miti Mingi Village, a large children’s centre, just outside Nakuru.
 
Later Julius wrote again.
Bwana Yesu Asifiwe, (Praise The Lord Jesus). We trust that you are all well.  Thank you very much for the good work all of you are doing.

The three children have been chosen to join very good schools, Emmanuel will go to Lenana School in Nairobi, Neema will go to Buru Buru Girls School in Nairobi and Precious will go to Naivasha Girls Secondary School in Naivasha.

The children will come back on 29th December so as to prepare themselves to go to school on 3rd January 2019, God willing.

Due to the new Government traffic rules under NTSA we need to prepare the Minibus KAS 263F for police inspection towards the end of this month.  It needs work costing over £1000 to meet the requirements!

God is great and with Him all things are possible.  We thank Him for giving us rain - we have had rains in the last few days and the fields are green with plenty of vegetables. The dam was filled again on Monday after heavy rain.
Please pass our sincere greetings to all the family and friends.  We wish you all A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019
Julius & Esther
 
Liz (Kivindyo) has also written
It has been busy days down here trying to get the farm up and running so we can make proper use of the dam water.  On the day the director wrote we only had one person working at the farm, Wycliffe, but we had to quickly hire another to help with the load of the work and so Eric joined Riziki on Tuesday this week and work seems to be progressing fine and there is plenty of it.

Liz (S.W.) is doing fine.  She has quite a bit she needs to adjust to, but I am patient to see how she will fair, with a bit of training.  She and the children worked on various Christmas decorations and the children really enjoyed doing them. They also looked great on the tables for the Christmas party.

I was not able to bake this Christmas because we had an accident with the oven door, the top glass shattered as it was being cleaned, and I was not too sure if it can be used that way, without the glass covering.

Liz and I are the ones left in the house this December as Elizabeth (cook) and Catherine took their leave days this month. Liz has been busy writing reports as we need to renew some the children's committals in January and February. 

Next week we go to court to see if we can commit three boys and a girl.  I will give you more details on them when they get committed.  Sometimes it’s not a straight forward process. If they are placed with Riziki we will have 4 new faces in January.  Exciting!  The plan is to have 10 new faces.  However, this is dependent on the government placing the children with us.

Tony has been using a lot of his free time this holiday, sketching.  I believe with a bit of guidance and encouragement he might do something great with his interest in all things art.  See below two of my favourite sketches. Liz

Thank you for reading this newsletter.  We give thanks to all our supporters for gifts which enable Riziki to move forwards, Ian & Diana Hogley

Riziki News – October 2018
Dear All,
We have been home from Kenya for a couple of weeks, with many pictures from Riziki. Our previous short newsletter was a picture of the new dam, full to the brim after one night of rain and holding 800 cubic metres of water.

We have bought a solar powered water pump so that this water can be moved to wherever it is needed for irrigation.  Our filtration system for recycling our used household water is also working so the same pump can deliver that cleaned water back to its high level storage tank.

The water from the road should allow us to grow good crops all the year round. We know we can produce crops for sale when food is in short supply in the neighbourhood.

Some of the crops we grow are; Onions, Cabbages, Cassava and Kale. We also grow maize and beans which are dried before storing in silos.  These provide the basic food for the children, supplemented by the other vegetables we grow.

The children have very long school days, which include Saturday, so during the school week the Riziki compound only has children from early evening till next morning.  The older children do not get home from school till about 8pm!  On a Sunday they attend the local church and then enjoy much freedom to play as they please in the afternoon.

We are about to replace our basic cowshed with a larger and easier to clean, simple structure. This change will enable us to keep more cows in better conditions and will be easy to extend if appropriate in the future.  Our next capital project is to build a new barn as our storage situation for hay and other crops is critical.

Two of our young people are about to sit their KCSE exams, completing their secondary education.  Three of our primary children also sit for their KCPE exams, and will then go on to secondary schools, depending on their results. They are in our prayers at this important time in their lives.  
 
Thank you for reading this newsletter.  We give thanks to all our supporters for gifts which enable Riziki to move forwards,
 
Ian & Diana Hogley


 

Riziki News – July 2018
Dear All,
Greetings from southern Germany where we are having a few days with our youngest son.  While he is at work there is time to write this newsletter without distractions!

On July 8th, Liz wrote
I pray all is well with everyone. It has been a busy couple of months at Riziki and I am happy to finally get a chance to properly write a detailed email and not just responses.
April was a busy holiday for us; the children were at home for four weeks, during which time we managed to get a lot done. As we had discussed, we engaged with two lady counsellors to help us address some of the counselling needs we have - the holiday period proved to be the best time for non- urgent issues and so we are hoping to continue this in August. 

The children are all well. They just completed a mid-term break. I was not able to spend any time with them as I was at home recovering from a motorbike accident that left me with soft tissue injury on both legs, one more severe than the other. However, I was able to spend some time with Faith this week while she was out of school for two days with Pneumonia. She seems well prepared and ready for the final exams in November and we are very hopeful she will do well. Apart from academics, she has been involved at school in generating ideas for an app. This was a competition, sponsored by Safaricom, and she, together with a few other girls in school, presented ideas for an app that would help patients access fast medical care from doctors. The idea took second place after one for farmers. Faith was very disappointed in this and is very keen on wanting to follow up on this idea after school and see where it goes. I am personally very glad to see her keen on other things outside academics!

We have not settled on a social worker yet and we will be re-advertising the position next week. The one we have currently has health problems that are hindering her from carrying out her job effectively. She disclosed her health problems two days after getting the job and after observing her for two months, she, unfortunately, does not have the energy needed to be responsible for children. So we are back to going through mountains of job applications and interviews.

I am happy to report the water recycling project is going well and we seem to be getting water! It is coming in slowly but it is there. Praise God! I am also very excited about the water surface harvesting and we should have a significant improvement on how we deal with drought months if we get them next year.  A big thank you and God bless you for backing this project.  We needed to do it this year with the heavy rainfalls as we have no guarantee of such heavy long rains next year, Asante sana.

Speaking of rainfall, we are taking advantage of the two seasons of rainfall. After removing beans we planted a crop of maize immediately, just to take advantage of the extra months of rainfall that we don't normally get. The beans harvest was good. Our rough estimate is probably 12-14 bags. We are still cleaning and drying them so we will know the final number when we are ready to store. Moses has taken a break. He took his annual leave from yesterday and went to see his family in Bungoma; he has not been with them for 8 months. Fred is in charge now!

In August we are looking forward to receiving Crystal a volunteer from the United States. She will be staying with the Director, Mr Kivindyo, and spending time with the kids during the day. This August we are also going to the Masai Mara National Reserve!  We have not told the kids yet but am sure we will not be able to contain the excitement. The dates are 16th-19th, Crystal will be joining us.
That is all for now. A big thank you to all involved for all you do.  Asante Sana and a Big God Bless you!
Liz
 
On June 12th Julius wrote
All the children continue to do well in school both primary and secondary, their performance is very encouraging indeed. They are all well except that Phyllis who fell sick complaining of stomachache. She was taken to Kabarak hospital and she was treated.  Next day, while in school, she was still complaining of the same. I was called by the headteacher at around 8pm so I took her to Valley hospital where she was admitted for two days.

On 6th June Liz was hit by a motorbike.  Fortunately her legs were not broken but one needed bandage support and she is recovering.
                                                            
We planted early, before the rains.  This time we decided to plant more beans than maize and we are expecting to harvest quite a number of bags.  Attached are pictures of the beans being dried and also shelling the beans; the other crops are doing well.

In April during the school holiday Liz organised a children church and 280 children of upper primary and secondary from the community attended she had a group youths from happy church who volunteered to help her teach the children and it was wonderful all the children enjoyed very much, Diana's beanbags were used during the games.

We are planning to visit Amy when Liz's leg is able to walk and after the visit we will be in a position to talk about the shoes and the quotation for the cowshed. We plan to take Peter with us for him to see the cowshed and take measurements.

About the cleaning water system.  The construction work is complete.  Now they are removing the poles and timber which were used to support the concrete slab. Then the tank will be cleaned and we will wait for the water to flow through the sand and ballast and into the tank. After that we will install a water pump and the necessary pipes. The fundi said that it will take 2 months for the water to pass through to the tank.

The school van was hit by two tragedies in April.  The gearbox got damaged and we bought a another one and then on the schools opening day the engine seized and we were forced to buy another cylinder head.  These two cost a lot of money  During the repairing of the engine we hired a matatu to transport the children to school for 3 days morning and evening.

July 5th.  The cleaning water system has shown signs of water starting to go through so we wait and see then we will install the water pump and put the system on work.

The surface water dam work started recently and the work of digging is progressing well.  A liner will be installed next week so no water will ever drain in the ground.

Thank you very much for the good work you have continued to do may God bless you all.

Please greet all in the family and friends. We thank you most sincerely for the good work you are all doing for the sake of the children May God bless you all abundantly.
Julius & Esther

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter.  Your interest in Riziki is much appreciated.  Without your help, Riziki could not exist. 
 
Ian & Diana Hogley
 

Riziki News – May 2018

Dear All,

Greetings to all our readers.  We appreciate your interest in Riziki, your prayers and your financial contributions, without which it would be impossible to give the Riziki children the love, care and education they currently receive.  Our supporters are found from Scotland, to the South East, the South West and Northern Ireland.  There is help from within Kenya and other countries too.  For this support, all involved with Riziki praise God.

When we wrote in March there had been some heavy rain in Nakuru after a very prolonged drought.  That rain has continued over much of Kenya.  Unfortunately there have been severe problems in Nairobi with flooding causing buildings to collapse, and near Nakuru, at Solai, a dam burst caused the deaths of some 47 people.  This was about 30 miles from Riziki which was not affected.  Much further east, on the Tana River, the biggest hydro power dam is overflowing which is a big life threat to the people living on the lower part of Tana River.  The Government has advised them to move to higher ground. 

Unfortunately, our social worker/houseparent had to leave in mid-March and we have not yet found a suitable replacement.  Elizabeth, the cook, and Catherine, the cleaner, are kindly sharing the responsibility of staying at Riziki overnight until a replacement is found. Julius said “God is going to give us a new social worker - we only need to pray and trust.  We know He is able to do all things.

The water-cleaning system is almost complete.   We then need to install a pump and pipes to take the cleaned water to storage. 
 
Another concern is that there is a lot of water flowing into Riziki from the road and we all are of the opinion that we should build a dam to harvest that water which will be of great advantage when the rains are not there. The size will be 20m x 10m x 3m.  It will roughly be Ksh 460,000 (£3000+) for digging of the hole, the materials, the labour and other items.  We have a quotation from G. North & Son the greenhouse people who will supply materials and installation.“   We intend to consider this project further as and when funds are available!  You will appreciate that Kenya, like much of the world, is experiencing more extremes of weather and we are doing our best to work with this.
Compiled from emails from Julius
 
The winter quiz was very popular.  If you would like the answers, please let me know and I will make sure you get them (If you have asked already and not got them then just remind me please!)
 
Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter.  Your interest in Riziki is much appreciated.  Without your help, Riziki could not exist.

If you do not wish to receive this newsletter, please let me know and we will remove you from the mailing list.
                   Ian & Diana Hogley