Jehovah Jireh

Wow.  We have been so overwhelmed by people’s responses to our April 8 post, “To Change a Life”.  Since that post, we have received pledges from several new monthly contributors to help regularly support the Children’s Home, as well as several large one-time donations to help us through the remainder of this year.  We are humbled and blessed by your response to the needs here, and the sacrifices being made on behalf of the children here in Kitale.  THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts!!  You are all an inspiration to us.

About a month ago, God began impressing upon our hearts the need to practice what we preach.  We realized that we couldn’t ask any of you to sacrifice if we weren’t also willing to sacrifice to help the children.  We began looking at our budget to see where we could cut down in order to divert more of our budget to helping the children.  Our biggest expense is our housing, so we decided to start there.  To be honest, I was very resistant to praying and asking God for His guidance as to how we should change our living situation to be able to help the children more.  It was nagging at me day and night and I found myself very irritable and unable to sleep.  What it came down to was fear.  I was afraid to ask God where He was leading us, for fear that it may be to a much more “rustic” lifestyle...and what if it even included a lack of running water or electricity?!?!  I was also fearful that He would lead us to a place where we couldn’t keep our rottweilers.  I know they are “just dogs”, but honestly, we really love them!   

I don’t know why I am such a worrier, especially since God has proven Himself to us time and time again.  And this time was no different.  Before I even handed over my fears, He started revealing a new and wonderful plan for our living arrangement.  Long story short, today we put a deposit on a new house that we will move into on May 25, just in time to finish up our current lease which ends May 31.  The rent is lower than our current rent, and it is on a shared compound, which reduces our cost for the night watchman, which is shared between all the tenants.  It has a small little private yard, that the landlord said we could fence and keep our rotties!  We still needed to find a home for our German Shepherd who needs to RUN miles and miles every day....but God provided for that, too.  A friend called last week looking for a dog needing a home.  Lindy will be going this weekend to another large compound, with a couple who loves dogs and is also getting a new puppy to keep her company.  Because we are going from a two acre property to a “postage stamp” yard, we no longer have need for a full time grounds keeper, eliminating that cost as well.  With this move, we will cut down our housing expenses by 40%!  AND I will still have electricity and running water!  In fact, we are actually gaining space in our kitchen, dining room, and living room...all the spaces we use most to host people for dinners, art class, Sunday afternoon worship, etc.  

I feel like God Himself is wooing us...as if He hasn’t done enough already by providing a way for our salvation.  God is Good.  ALL the time.  

          

Going Kuku!

Kuku is the Kiswahili word for “chicken”, and as of a week ago, we have nearly 200 of them that will eventually be helping us to support the children at KCCCH.  This project started over a year ago, with a lot of research and visitations to other successful kuku projects.  The next phase was fund raising, followed by the planning and building of a top-notch kuku house that would protect our investment from the weather and disease, as well as allow for expansion of the project over time.  The project then had to be put on hold when we took an unexpected furlough from August to December of last year.  Since we have been back, we have been able to build a store room attached to the kuku house, and find and hire a young man, Paul, as our poultry and livestock manager.  And last Thursday, after 3 weeks of delayed deliveries, we finally received our first batch of 203 day old chicks.  

The first few weeks are the most tenuous, with fragile chicks recovering from the transition process, as well as needing to carefully control the temperature of their environment in a land where the electricity is constantly coming and going.  Fortunately, we have Paul, and he is doing a fine job of caring for these future egg layers.  In the first week, we lost only 4 chicks, and each week should be easier and easier.  Paul is on the KCCCH property 24/7 for the first few weeks, checking on the chicks every hour.  He even has a bed IN the kuku house where he sleeps at night, waking every hour to make sure the electricity is still on to run the heaters.  When the electricity goes out, Paul starts up the charcoal heaters, which are much more difficult to control temperatures with.  

Not only are we pleased with Paul’s skills, but we are also pleased to be able to offer him a job.  You see, we believe Paul will be a wonderful mentor and example to our kids at the Home.  Paul was once a street boy, taken in by a local children’s home called Challenge Farm.  When Paul began to significantly struggle in the latter part of high school and wanted to drop out, Challenge Farm offered to teach him the trade of Poultry Management and running a poultry business.  Paul has been working with Challenge Farm’s poultry business for over a year now.  We have been developing our relationship with Challenge Farm, getting our kids together for activities and learning from their administrative staff.  When we indicated we were looking for a new Poultry Manager,  the administration at Challenge Farm highly recommended Paul to us.  He is eager to learn, very tedious about his work, and demonstrates a great attitude towards the staff and children at KCCCH.  We are so excited to have him as part of our staff, and hope the relationship will be mutually beneficial.  

It will take about 4 months for our chicks to reach maturity and begin laying eggs.  We already have a market identified, and should be able to bring in several hundred dollars per month in profit, ON TOP of no longer having to purchase eggs for our kids.  This is just one of our goals in bringing our Home into a place of greater sustainability.  

This project would not have been possible without the financial support of multiple donors who contributed for the building of the kuku house, the store room, and all the supplies needed to get our first batch of chicks “up and laying”.  The money we bring in once the hens start laying, will cover the continued maintenance of the project as well as bring a profit.  We would like to thank each of our friends who contributed to this project, including Christian Relief Fund, Il Faro International Baptist Church, the Barnard family of San Diego, CA, the Northam family of Mbale, Uganda, and the Benson Family of Arlington, WA.  THANK YOU for believing in what we are doing, and helping us to make a difference in the life of these children.  May God bless you richly as you have blessed us!

To Change a Life

What does it take to change a life?  As a missionary to Kenya, I have come to Africa to do just that.  Having lived in the promised land of America for 40 years, I am no stranger to the appeals from various aid agencies and their promises that for just a dollar a day, you too can change the world.  Only now, I live in Kenya and I see the needs of people every day and I can tell you, it takes more than a dollar a day.  I know people in America have needs too, but here the needs are just so big, so obvious, so in your face.  Like the glue boy Joseph who staggers over to greet me whenever I drive into town.  He is missing several teeth, his eyes twitch back and forth, his clothes are in tatters and it looks like he has just crawled out of a muddy ditch because that is where he slept.  He knows me well enough to know that I won’t give him cash because I know he will use it to buy shoe glue so he can huff it.  I know this because he is never without his glue bottle.  If the glue bottle is not dangling from his lip, it is stuffed up his sleeve.  He says “Hi, I’m Joseph!” as if he hadn’t told me his name a hundred times before and thrusts out his filthy hand for me to shake. “Buy me bread,” he slurs and then he offers to watch my truck while I head off.  The wheel wells in the bed make a handy seat and he jumps in.  

As I walk on to do my errands for the day, in the back of my mind I’m having a debate with myself.  Do I buy him any bread today?  Do I have him pick some trash off the littered streets and deposit it in a waste bin?  Or do I say as I usually do, “Sorry Joseph, not today.”  I don’t want to continue to enable his choice to live on the street and panhandle, so sometimes I tell him about one of the ministries in Kitale for street kids.  But Joseph has already heard about that and doesn’t want to give up his “freedom”.  What about the other hundred plus kids living on the streets of Kitale?  You see it doesn’t matter what you came here to do, there is always someone who is trying to make themselves your agenda.  “But what are you going to do for me?” they plead.  

What about the 50 kids at the Children’s Home I came to serve or the 28 staff of the Children’s Home and Bahati Academy?  I have to focus on them.  They each have their own story, their own needs.  Felix, a senior in high school, wants to finish high school.  He is struggling, but close to the finish line.  He has made some mistakes, but a high school diploma is his best chance at a future.  Lena didn’t qualify for high school so opted for a trade school and she is doing remarkably well.  She is in beauty school and already earning money and excited about her future.  She returns to Nairobi next month to attend additional courses in working with NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations).  She hopes to be an advocate for orphans, especially those with HIV.  I think she’ll do a great job.  

High school is not free in Kenya.  The average cost of sending a student to high school or trade school is $70-100 per month, depending on whether the student attends day school or boarding school, and the day school options are very limited in Kitale.  We have 13 students in high school or trade school right now.  That puts our need for next term secondary school fees at about $3900.  I have to bank the fees in full by the end of April so kids can go back to school for second term.  But according to the Children’s Home bank account, that just isn’t going to be possible.  

As a comparison, the Children’s Home receives a total of $3500 per month in regular support that is meant to cover ALL our expenses.  After paying our staff the required minimum wage (and believe me, they deserve MUCH more than what we are able to pay them!), we have approximately HALF of our total income left to take care of 50 children.  This means we have about $35 per child which is supposed to provide food, water, clothes, shoes, school uniforms and supplies, an education, and medical care.  If you do the math, it doesn’t add up.  And next February, we will have five more kids starting high school or trade school.  I pray that the kids we are helping at the Children’s Home can get a good education so they can eventually find work to sustain themselves.  I don’t want to drive into town and see the faces of kids from my own Home begging on the streets because they didn’t get to finish school.  

One of my favorite quotes that has followed me from my childhood says,

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It's not.”   ~Dr. Suess, The Lorax

I’m thankful that I know somebody who cares “a whole awful lot”.  His name is Jesus.  He cares about you enough to die for you and He also cares about how you care for others.  He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: even as I have loved you, so you also are to love one another.” John 11:34

I’m hoping there are a whole lot of someone’s out there who will be touched by this urgent need.  But don’t wait for someone else or some other day.  You can be the one today.  Thanks for your help.  Thanks for being someone who cares.

For the love of God and His children,

Jason Beagle, Administrator

Kenya Church of Christ Children’s Home