Dear All,
Greetings from Holmfirth. We have just received news from Liz at Riziki. First, however, we would like to express our thanks to our supporters without whom Riziki would be unable to continue. Your prayers and donations are always received with gratitude. Diana and I are generally not aware of the details of individual donations to Riziki but we do know that without your support, Riziki would be unable to provide for the children in our care. Many children‘s homes in Kenya have closed during the pandemic but Riziki is still here. We thank God for all your support.
More news from Liz
Dear Ian and Diana,
It's great to finally get some free time to write to you. We started this month trying to get everyone back to school and we are grateful they are all back in one piece. (Several have long journeys to reach their boarding schools)
We then spent a few weeks helping the young ones left behind adjust to being back to school, the break was unusually long.
The two groups that did their final exams, for primary and secondary school, all received their results and the results were encouraging, particularly as they had a whole year out of school, doing most of their studies on their own. (We still have inadequate internet facilities at Riziki but somehow the children have coped.) The primary will join high school in July according to the new school calendar. We are very hopeful that they will join good schools.
With a majority of the older children now away at school it has been interesting to see the young ones pick up some roles in the house. Glen Kimani in particular is proving very responsible and is happy to help around the house with anything needed. The most recent is his desire to help in the kitchen with food preparation; he can light the fire for cooking (under supervision of course) and he has also been trying his hand at cutting kale. It is so encouraging to see them coming into their own, in this way.
Our college students, Faith and Collins, are doing well. Collins has grown into a responsible young man. He has just finished an internship with a local hotel, that he said he enjoyed. He is now back in school to finish his final year.
We got our rains very late this year; despite planting early, we were worried about losing the crop, but once the rains started, they came up well, so we are hopeful for a good maize harvest, as our maize supply is dwindling. We have a good supply of vegetables that we are already enjoying Swiss chard, and local vegetables. We are looking forward to butter nut, potatoes and tomatoes; we tried leeks and they did very well.
We are hoping to welcome some new children before July, so they can start the school new year with the rest. We have no details yet as we wait to be assigned kids by the children's department. We have a new shamba assistant, Wafula, who came in to replace Henry, and seems to be settling in okay.
The adults are all fine😁. The staff have done a good job of taking care of themselves and continue to be of good spirit, which has been very, very good for the children. None of us are of the age required to get the vaccine and so we have not received it yet, but we are hopeful it will come our way soon.
Our director (Julius!) made a full recovery; thank you all for your prayers and for consistently checking up on us. He is back to work but taking it slow.
Asante sana, (Thank you) Ian and Diana, I hope we can somehow see you this year, am certain the children would be thrilled.
Big God bless you to everyone that supports us in prayers and otherwise.
Kind regards
Liz
PS. Covid in Kenya today: 168 925 cases,
115 813 recovered, 3 087 deaths.
Our comments and prayer concerns.
We give thanks for the rain at Riziki and continue to pray for a successful maize crop.
We pray for the older children, back at their schools, and the younger children at their local school.
We give thanks for all the Riziki staff caring for the children in various ways.
It is with deep sorrow that we have heard of the death of Jack Frodsham at the age of 23. When Jack was a pupil at Rishworth School he learned of Riziki and raised significant funds for the home. He maintained his interest in Riziki until his death from a brain tumour, in late April. Jack had the amazing distinction of being granted his fixed wing and his helicopter pilots licenses on his 17th birthday. He was held in high regard by his friends and colleagues who have started fund-raising for Riziki in his name. They will be doing the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge in June.
Jack’s mother wrote about him:
“Riziki meant so very much to Jack, the project and children were always in his prayers until the day he died. Jack’s faith never wavered, he always witnessed for Jesus and he never feared death, his faith and charitable work sustained him. Jack never complained, always smiled and simply said "never be afraid, Jesus walks with us".
Jack always wanted to go out to Kenya; perhaps as restrictions on flights are lifted in the future then I can travel to Kenya and complete Jack’s wish on his behalf and meet the people at the project that were so close to Jack’s heart and prayers.”
Many blessings,
Ian & Diana.