Dear All,
We have just received a superb summary of the year at Riziki, written by Liz. I pass it on to you all, in full, and hope you enjoy it as we have done.
Greetings from Nakuru Kenya. I am happy to have a chance to write to you before the year ends. How fast the year goes. It feels like just the other day we were welcoming 2023 with all the hopes of a New Year, I am glad to have the chance to look back at the year and how it has been at Riziki.
Children
We have had a good year with the children. Five of our older children finished their high school education and were reintegrated back to a family member; it is usually a bittersweet moment when this happens as we realise how fast they have grown and need to leave in order to start the life that we have been preparing them for. One girl in particular left behind a very moving letter of what Riziki meant to her and concerns about her life after Riziki. She was grateful for everything provided to her at Riziki, the opportunity to be able to go to school and all she was taught at Riziki. She promised to uphold all that she was taught at Riziki and says she will miss the Riziki family. They are now waiting for their results which may be released sometime after Christmas. The results determine what colleges they will join and what they will study. We also had three children doing another national exam that will allow them to join Junior Secondary School. These are serious milestones considering they all, at one point, had no surety of whether they would join school at all. Together with the children we are all very grateful for the support we receive towards school fees and school related items.
We are also very glad to have had the opportunity to reunite two boys with their family. These boys, in separate incidents, were found wandering in the main highway and main centre lost. For the first time Riziki handled a lost child case and successfully managed to reunite these two boys with their family. One, we were able to find the mother through Facebook, while the other we were able to trace the grandmother through one of the schools the boy attended. Being close to a main highway and a children's home near a police station we anticipate that we will probably deal with a lot more cases like these. What was interesting, was watching the current children welcoming and temporarily accommodating these boys into their home. They helped them understand the routine and played with them so naturally and it was good to see that we can provide a safe loving temporary shelter for children who need it.
Another highlight this year is we have had very encouraging visits from children, now adults, who have benefitted from Riziki. You will remember Sofia; Sofia attended one of the children’s church events we held some time in 2017, I think, and that is how we first met Sofia and helped her go through school with support from a sponsor. Sofia gave us a surprise visit one afternoon and spent the whole afternoon with us reminiscing and expressing her gratitude for taking her in. She now has her own family, a daughter and husband and kept repeating how important it is to educate the girl. She feels more empowered now, to contribute to her household as well raise her daughter. It was laughter, a lot of it, because Sophia has a great sense of humour, but it was also the sober recognition that this story would be completely different if no one had stretched their hand out to help her.
So again, a very big God Bless you to all our supporters!
Shamba (Farm)
We feel very blessed this year with the output from the farm, we thank God and your prayers for rain that have allowed us to have a good supply and variety of vegetables from the farm this year. We also had a good maize harvest and for the first time a wheat harvest! Our homestead also grew by November 2023 we had two new female calves, two lambs, a looot of rabbits, (we had to do a second makeshift shed for them!) and chickens. Exciting news as we end the year is the new chicken shed that is now finished and will be helpful for us that as we grow our flock there is now space to accommodate approximately 300 chickens! This will be good for the supply of eggs for the children and selling even as we look to grow our sustainability avenues next year.
The Staff
The staff at Riziki are just stars; their dedication, commitment and evident love for the children is what makes Riziki what it is, a family. We are grateful for them; they are all on a well-deserved break till 2024. Remember them in your prayers as you pray for Riziki. Some of my personal highlights on the staff is one of the days in November while we were planting beans; a flock of fowls landed on the shamba and one of the farm assistants happened to be near just where they landed and it was such fun watching him chasing them down, he caught two and personally cooked them for the kids, the same with a stray hare that snuck into the compound and all staff and the children tried to catch it. You should have been around to see them all coming together to get this done. It was both entertaining and moving at the same time. Ian, as I know this is a sensitive issue for a lot of people, maybe you can just enjoy this part and leave it out of the newsletter. (Blame me for including it – I am sure you will appreciate it. Ian)
As you can tell, when we look back and count our blessings it's been a good year for Riziki, God has been good to us. We are grateful for any and all support we have received this year from all the friends of Riziki. Thank you, Ian and Diana, for your consistent love and support and what a wonderful gift as we end the year to know that you have recovered well, Diana.
We look forward to 2024 and all that it promises and a big Asante and Baraka to everyone.
Regards,
Liz
Our comments and prayer concerns.
We, Diana & Ian, are pleased to report that Diana continues to make a good recovery following her hip replacement. Thank you for your concern and prayers.
Prayer concerns
We give thanks for the dedication of our staff who work so hard for the welfare of the children in our care, both in the house and the shamba.
We pray for Liz, on whose shoulders rests the responsibility for ensuring the Riziki children flourish.
We pray for Julius as he continues his dialysis and as he manages the finances of Riziki.
We give thanks for the completed new chicken shed and pray that it will lead to many healthy chickens and many eggs. We pray too for a reliable, consistent outlet for the surplus produce.
We give thanks for continued good crops this season.
We pray that Riziki finds a new social worker who can be fully committed to the welfare of all the children.
We pray for all the children, at present with their nearest relatives to maintain a family bond, that they will be well cared for until they return to Riziki in time for the new school year.
Many blessings, Ian & Diana.