Kindfund

What a welcome! It was so good to be back in the place that stole our hearts just over one year ago. Last time out, we experienced a pretty eventful and sometimes frightening few weeks with local violence in Ngaremara leading to the evacuation of the entire centre on our final day. Praise God that since that day, Ngaremara

has been a relatively peaceful place and God has protected each and every person within Kindfund in that time.
We got out of the jeep after a long 2 days of travelling to be greeted with many hugs and happy faces, faces we had got to know last year and were delighted to be reunited with. We spent our first 2 days in Ngaremara spending time with the younger children as well as a few of the teenagers who had been attending secondary school in the area. It did not take long for these little ones to recite back and sing everything we had taught them last year and for us to be reminded of how energetic and fun this bunch of youngsters were. It was also great to reunite with Pamela and Gillian who once again went out of their way to make us feel welcome and made sure we never went hungry. (Not an easy task!)

After these 2 short days, we headed up to Wamba to be reunited with the majority of the children we had met last summer. Arguably this welcome was even more impressive and humbling than the last. We could hardly get out the door of the jeep due to the volume of kids mobbing the vehicle. After many more hugs and high fives, we soon settled back into life in this beautiful part of Kenya. It was so great to see all the kids again, particularly those we had been sponsoring and praying for through the year and seeing how many of them had grown and matured.

Our main vision and goal for the 2 weeks was to share Christ with these precious kids both through sharing the gospel and simply spending time with them showing them God’s love. Having been out last year, we had a much clearer idea of what to expect and had decided to split the group of almost 80 kids into two main groups. Each morning we held a meeting for the younger children that largely took the form of a Bible Club for the week. During these meetings, we shared a different miracle that Jesus performed through his lifetime and considered what these meant to our lives today; namely that Jesus provides, heals, empowers, understand and saves. There was also some fantastic singing on show as well as a lot of healthy competition in our quizzes between the boys and the girls.
In the evenings, we brought together the 27 teenagers for a separate time of worship and teaching that was more relevant and useful for their age group that took the form of discussional workshops. During these meetings we both feel that God really spoke, teaching these young people about their incredible value in Christ, the seriousness of their sin, how to read the Bible/have a quiet time and how to be salt and light to others around them.

The majority of the rest of our time in Wamba, consisted of playing games, making crafts and getting alongside these amazing kids. We also spent one afternoon climbing a nearby mountain with some of the kids, something they found a lot easier than we did in the scorching heat while trying to avoid the many 3 inch thorns on the ground below. Each night also consisted of some incredibly intense games of Uno with both children and leaders regularly showing their passion and competitive edge. It is fair to say that despite the kids love of the game, we both will be taking a considerable break from it and don’t want to see another Uno game for a long time.

Our short stay in Wamba soon came to an end and it was time to pack up and head back to Ngaremara for a day before setting off on our homeward journey. After a few more games with the little ones and one final game of Uno, we waved goodbye to Kindfund for another year, praising God for his goodness and provision during another memorable stay. We already miss our Kenyan friends and we can’t wait to get back out again in the future. We love you guys and we thank God for you all!
Andrew and Paul

Quote from Andrew:
“Kindfund has grown a special place in my heart and personally for me, this year even outshone last year’s trip. God continues to do amazing things in the lives of these amazing kids who once again inspired and challenged us in ways they will never realise. I leave Kenya once again feeling greatly blessed by those I met and only encourage more of you to invest time, money and prayer into this amazing work. Asante Kindfund!”

Quote from Paul:
“Coming back a second year and seeing the kids reinforced how much I missed their infectious smiles and endless energy. These 2 short weeks again again struck it home how blessed these Kindfund kids and young people are to have a loving home with safety, shelter, food, education, friends and above all the gospel message presented to them. It was such a privilege to witness how Kindfund has impacted their lives and how Ken, Pam, Gillian and all of the staff are working tirelessly to care for these kids. Let’s keep on supporting and praying for Kindfund!”

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Children

In 2019 we have received 12 young children into our three homes one of which was under 6 months. Total numbers are c 130 as a few of our older teenagers have moved out to their communities and relatives.

Four of our teenagers moved to polytechnic in January (three girls undertaking catering and one boy vehicle mechanic). They are currently on August break and the three girls are enjoying helping with the cooking at Wamba home where we have just over 60 of the children. They have been introducing some more exotic food to the children and staff). In January also four of our teenage boys did well enough in their end of primary exams to go to Secondary School.

The Primary School for our children is progressing well with Standard two to eight at Wamba and Standard 1 and Nursery at Ngaremara. Remoteness means that the 25 children at Ndikir are taught on site there along with some children from the local community who attend our classes. One of our Board members here in NI who is headmaster of a primary school in Ballymena has set up an exchange with Kindfund Hope Primary sponsored by the British Council and already a teacher from the Ballymena school has spent two weeks at Wamba. A Hope primary teacher will visit Ballymena later in the year.

The first week in August we hosted a large team from YWAM Athi River (South of Nairobi) of young people reaching out as part of their 5 month discipleship training course. They shared with the children at Wamba and Ngaremara for the week of Bible teaching fellowship and games. A small number visited Ndikir for one day much to the benefit and pleasure of the children there.

This week we have two young men from Fermanagh Christian Fellowship (a teacher and a hospital worker following up on their visit last year) running a bible camp at Wamba including time with the teenagers every evening. Last week for a couple of days on arrival and next week for a few days before departure they are engaging with our younger children at Ngaremara.

Staffing

Staffing has remained stable in 2019 with a small turnover. We have had a few issues which we have had to deal with requiring disciplinary action but otherwise less stress than 2018 when we had some key staff ill.

A temporary manager engaged at Ngaremara to cover illness has been let go while on probation and we have restructured to promote two of our long-standing staff to fill the roles. An additional House mother for Wamba has been recruited this month to address the proportion of our children at this home because of the location of the primary school there.

We continue to run seminars on Child Protection and are alert to address any signs of poor behaviour on the part of staff.

All our staff have signed employment contracts.

The manager for Wamba and his wife visited N Ireland for three weeks in April/May. For the first week they attended the BES International Conference at Enniskillen. We extended the visit as a holiday in recognition of 10yrs service with Kindfund

Government

We remain closely in touch with Government officials at all three homes. We continue to receive referrals of new children from the Child Officers and the local Chiefs (Government administrative officials).

We have issues (as do all Children’s Homes in Kenya – we have recently joined the ACCI – Homes association) with the Government over their failure to renew registration for our two main homes and accept the registration of the third. This also applies to the registration of our primary school. However, we continue to press on and to function, enjoying good standing with the local Government representatives.

Projects

Apart from replacing two double latrines at Ngaremara and carrying out regular maintenance work we have had no major projects since we installed the water tanks at Wamba. We still need to install electricity at Ngaremara and have other wish list projects for the future.

Currency

The £ has fallen in value from a peak of 164ksh to the £ pre the Brexit vote to currently a recent low of 123ksh to the £. Until the more recent changes in the Government we were achieving c130 to the £.

Common sense dictates that we conserve our resources to cover running costs in case of further deterioration or until the £ recovers

Management by Kindfund UK

Pamela Dobbin and Gillian Stevenson are currently on their second (June to Sept) extended visits to Kindfund Kenya this year and Ken Dobbin will travel to Kenya mid-September for his slightly shorter second visit (5 weeks). All three expect, God willing, to be out again this year with Ken and Pamela spending Christmas and New year there with the children.

Kindfund’s AGM is scheduled for 10th September this year.

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It may be Bank Holiday Monday but at Manoo it was time for some serious work.

Today we decided gardening would be a good way to relax and Nzau was keen to get to grips with some of the equipment. We now have a fully fledged trained gardener. He enjoyed getting on the ‘Bob the Builder’ gear, wellies and being let loose on the grass.
Next job will be the chain saw and some logging and splitting with an axe. Ken will be sorry to see him go home

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