April Update

APRIL UPDATE

April isn't over yet, but so much has been going on we just couldn't wait to post an update!

We've had family members visit for the funeral of William's Aunt, finished Term 1 at the school, taught Bible Study classes, hosted the April Discipleship Camp, spent a day at the home of Collins Okoth and had Jullianne Waldrop from the U.S. visit with us for 2 weeks.

SCHOOL'S OUT!!!

Term 1 officially ended on April 4th, followed by two weeks of "tuition" (remedial classes). The kids have now gone home until May 2nd and we sure do miss their smiling faces. Before they left, our visitor Jullianne Waldrop, had a chance to help at the school - teaching Bible lessons, doing arts & crafts and teaching math and English. Below are few pictures.

Here Jullianne and the children are attending tuition do a "creative drawing" exercise. Even Madame Perez, the Head Teacher, participated!

This is Jim. Jim is actually too young to be in school but he was so cute & excited about drawing that we didn't have the heart make him leave. Jim is William's nephew and an orphan. His dad died a few years ago so Jim is now staying with us. When school starts back in May we'll enroll him in Baby Class.

Everyone was so proud of their art work and happy to show off their pictures!!

Besides doing a creative art class, Jullianne also taught the Bible Class one Friday.

Here she is sharing from scripture the story of Jesus welcoming the little children. She went on to talk about how He also knows and loves each of them. The students then made hearts to take home to remind them of how great His love is for them!

Below Prizier and the various classes display their hearts.

As you can see from the pictures it was a blessed time for all!

AWARDS DAY

Awards Day was held the last day of school to acknowledge those who have performed exceptionally well. Joined by students, teachers, parents and members of the community, William and I thanked them for their hard work and help in making the first Term a success.

Madame Perez leads the students in a song.

Parents and well wishers look on.

Below Jullianne Waldrop congratulates the top students and awards them a prize. We just loved this boys boots!

As a special treat all the students received toothbrushes and toothpaste compliments of ABC Family Dentistry in Greeneville, TN!

April Discipleship Camp

The CML Ministry holds Discipleship Camps 3 times a year and this April marked our our 11th Camp. The camps are always a favorite of the students - providing them opportunity to receive in-depth Bible teachings, develop critical thinking skills and practice their social skills.

Our theme was based on a Beth Moore Bible Study called "Believing God". The teaching sessions revolved around 5 Faith Based Statements; (1) God Is Who He Says He Is (2) God Can Do What He Says He Can Do (3) I Am Who God Says I Am (4) I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me and (5) God's Word Is Alive & Active In Me.

Here William is teaching about the "Attributes of God".

In this session I was speaking about "Moral Purity & Media".

Jullianne shared a personal testimony and encouragement during the session on "Relationships".

Between sessions the kids hang out and continue class discussions.

Lawrence enjoying a good laugh!

Everest read a poem he had written about loneliness.

Outdoor games were always preceded by warm up exercises. This may be what Lawrence was laughing at...lol!

Below -Brian, Everest, Charles, Jack & Collins lead praise & worship.

Tilly and Elisha are both CML Scholarship graduates who now volunteer as Camp facilitators. Below Tilly is speaking to her peers about "Self-Esteem" and Elisha was teaching the session on "God Can Do What He Says He Can Do".

Pastor Tim joined the Camp this year and taught several sessions, including this one on "I Am Who God Says I Am".

The third day of Camp we had an unexpected hail storm. Within 10 minutes we received several inches of hail that destroyed our garden and surrounding crops.

Crops like the sukuma wiki above, are staple food items in our community. It will take months for them to recover from the damage done by the hail.

VISITORS.....

With the funeral of William's Aunt on April the 2nd, we've had several family members visiting. I just had to take a picture when Movine, one of William's sisters, left with her children. One of the most common means of transportation used for short distance travel is the "piki-piki" or motorcycle. Below Movine and her 3 children all managed to squeezed onto one bike!

We also had a chance to visit the family home of Collins Okoth before Jullianne had to return to Nairobi. As you can see below, his sisters, cousins and mother Tabitha (right of Jullianne) all welcomed us. We had a delicious meal and the day provided a wonderful time for fellowship and making new friends.

March Update

We have had several days of rain recently and I never thought I'd be so happy to see that wet stuff coming down! Our water tanks are full again, crops are being planted, the evenings have cooled down and best of all no more waiting in the water line at the spring. We are so excited I won't even complain about the house being flooded the other day. Besides, other than ruining William’s computer cord (which wasn’t good) it gave the house a good washing!

Besides the excitement caused by the change in weather, here's what else has been going on in March.......

CML ACADEMY

Term 1 is almost over and the school will close for Holiday on April 4^th. This last week of exams has been a busy one but also encouraging as we see an improvement in the pupils school performance and overall development.

Below are pictures of each class.

Madame Maurine (left) and Madame Grace (right) teach the Kindergarten classes. Here they are with the Baby Class. Can you believe these classes are already learning two languages....English & Swahili!

Nursery Class

Pre-Unit Class

Madame Monica with Class One.

Mr. Collins with Class Two

Madame Perez (far right) is the CML Academy Head Teacher and also instructs Class Three

Mr. Marklinus teaches Class Four

We are grateful to our teachers for their good work and efforts in helping the students come up in such a short time and look forward to Term 2.

Many people ask about our current school needs, and while our goal is for the school to become self-sufficient we realize that may take some time. For now here is a partial list of things still needed:

School uniforms. We have 23 students without uniforms or proper footwear. For $20 you can purchase a child’s uniform and a pair of shoes & socks.

Continuing education for untrained teachers. Like most schools in Kenya, we enlist the help of both “trained” (certified) and “untrained” teachers. We have two “untrained” teachers that we would like to assist in becoming certified. They would enroll in a local two-year program that is conducted during the school holidays and provides them with a certificate recognized by the Ministry of Education. The cost for each teacher is $725. For both the cost would be $1,450.

Classrooms & kitchen for Pre-K classes. Currently the Baby class, Nursery class and Pre-unit classes, 43 children in all, conduct their classroom studies in the church sanctuary next to our house and the kitchen is operating out of what is supposed to be a kiosk/storage building. It is our sincere prayer to construct a building for these classes and kitchen on the property where the other school building is located.

This is the building we are currently using for the school kitchen.

All 3 Kindergarten classes are squeezed into the same room used by the church as the sanctuary...and each Saturday chairs, tables, charts and blackboards have to be moved.

While we would like the building to be built with brick and cement, but funds will dictate the type of building we can afford. Estimated cost $5,000.

We need construction help as well as financial help. If you have a group that is willing and able, we have local tradesmen that can do the technical stuff!

Please contact us at thechristianmile@yahoo.com if you’d like to help with any of the above needs.

TRIP TO MAASI MARA & RUSINGA ISLAND

I just love surprises...especially good ones! By far my favorite surprise this past month was getting to visit with some wonderful folks from Texas.

Invited by our friend by Beth Plumlee to join her energetic group, we visited the Maasi Mara for the 1^st time and traveled with them to Rusinga Island where they conducted a free medical clinic and attended 2 school dedications. What a treat to see such willing hearts and hands and to make new friends!

Beth & William are all smiles!

Below are two pictures of one of the class rooms built by Beth's mother "Mimi" (Beverly) at the Dr. Williams Primary School

Here Mimi poses for a picture with Charles (left) and Brian (right). Charles & Brian are orphans from Rusinga Island that Beth & her family have sponsored since they were small. Both boys are very bright and excited about finishing their education and pursuing their future. When not in school the boys stay with us and have become a blessed addition to our family!

The computers being used by these students are solar powered!

The new Science Lab built by the Bray family.

The Bray family during the Science Lab dedication.....what an investment in the future this family has made!

February Report & Happy Valentines Day!

Yes, it’s that time of the year again.....hard to believe since I know some of our friends in the US are still digging out from under snow!

While many have been experiencing record breaking cold - hot and dry still describes the weather here. We are in the middle of a serious dry spell and two days of brief rain last week was just enough to “wet our whistle”. Daily trips to the spring to fetch water continue and I’ve discovered one advantage to waiting in line to get water - it gives me a chance to put my hot, dirty feet in some refreshing cold fresh water. Ahhh!

Other than the weather, our year is of to a great start and we find ourselves amazed at how God is growing the ministry and adding to our numbers. Just last week when the final two teenagers headed off to boarding school, William and I were talking about how there were “just” 10 of us at home now. I had a good laugh when I realized that we thought 10 was a small number!

Here’s a bit more of what’s been going on:

CML ACADEMY

Pupils and teachers are settling in and the first C.A.T. (continuous assessment test) was given this week. According to the results we have some work to bring the kids up to the level we know they need to be at academically. Good thing teachers and pupils are excited and ready!

In the above picture we are giving students drinking water following play time. Because drinking water is scarce we discovered many children were drinking less than a glass of water per day. We are so blessed to be able and provide them with clean drinking water!

We are slowly furnishing the classrooms with desk and chairs and recently purchased 50 new small plastic chairs for the kindergarten classes and a new Kenyan flag. That just leaves desk for the older kids to be finished, tables for kindergarten and desk for the teachers. Right now every desk and coffee table in my house is at the school and I can’t wait for them to get their own…ha! ha!

PROJECTS AROUND THE FARM

In addition to the Christmas chicken giveaway (see last update) I’m happy to report that we are now eating and selling chicken. Our total population is still around 100 but we always have new ones being hatched and old ones that need “recycling” (ummm… this means eating).

Yes we have Bananas! After planting over 20 banana tress we are now eating and selling some very sweet bananas. The kids love them and so do our neighbors.

Above- Tom, Brian, Mark and Joab handle the bananas with care while making some personal selections in the process!

We still need to go deeper in the well, but finding help to dig has caused a delay. Many of the local men are mining these days and so the experienced diggers are out digging for gold. We have been able to prepare for putting a top on and it's beginning to look more like a well now!

MANDAZI HUT / CANTEEN

In my last update I reported on one of our graduating students Joab who’s now selling mandazi (Kenyan version of a donut) from a small 3-room hut we built that functions as the school kitchen. In addition to making and selling mandazi, he has also been cooking porridge for the kids and lunch for the teachers. Now Joab has turned the end room of the canteen into a little store and is selling candy, sugar, tea, eggs, oil and other small items. Talk about your entrepreneurship! Our hat is off to this energetic and industrious young man as he learns first hand about business, budgeting and customer service.

DISCIPLESHIP

We continue working closely with 12 kids. Some have returned to boarding school till April but Joab, Monica, Maurine, Mark, Martin (Mezee) and Collins are still at home with us. Our daily devotions and family discussions remain lively and insightful and we see God transforming their lives in many ways. Whether it’s giving money to help pay schools fees for another young person, leading worship or Bible Study at school or teaching the Sunday school class at church, we see them reaching out and impacting the lives of others.

VISITING DAY

The first Sunday of each month is visiting day at two of the local High Schools where some of the kids we disciple board, so last Sunday off we went with a bag full of drinks and mandazi. What a joy to hear each one is doing well in adjusting to the 2011 school year and that they are making new friends as well as seeing old ones.

Below Brian is enjoying some juice during visiting day. Brian attends Kanyawanga Boys School and is a Form 2 (10th grade).

We help sponsor several boys at Kanga Boys High School so there was a big crowd when we delivered juice and mandazi. In the background you can see other groups sitting around the commons area "Visiting" with students.

An unexpected surprise was the presence of a lady selling ice cream. We had never seen this before and many of the boys had never even tasted ice cream. What a treat for all! Here you can see the ice-cream lady behind the boys as they enjoy their cones!

SCHOOL OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Our on-going training for local Pastors and church leaders continues. In conjunction with Clarence Matheny Ministries, the School of Leadership Development met this month and covered the topic “Honoring Christ With Our Lives”. Sessions included such subjects as; Avoiding Ethical Landmines in Ministry and Honoring God through Daily Decisions.

WALKING THE COW HOME (My big cow adventure!)

Last August William bought me a cow for my birthday. At the time we were about to leave for the US and so decided to let the cow stay with the original owners. It was agreed that once we got back we would come get the cow and “walk her home”.

Feb 13^th was the day to go get the cow. Joined by Monica, Hemstone and Joab – William drove us all to the farm at 7:30 am where we met Collins with the cow. Several well wishers came to see us off and Pastor Ken prayed for our journey.

We were told that taking a well known “short-cut” would reduce our walk to about 1 1/2/ hours…. so off we started. Then we stopped. Two of the boys had to go get something from the Pastors house so we had to wait. While we were waiting I decided to hold the cow (this is where the adventure began). While holding her, she spooked at something and started running. Still holding the rope (big mistake) I tried to run and pull her back. One of the boys was yelling at me to let go…only he was yelling it in Luo using a word I haven’t learned yet…… so I held on and started yelling “Whoa Betsy”!

I soon found myself being drug across the ground…still holding the rope. When I finally let go, it wasn’t quick enough to avoid a serious rope burn…ouch!

With my focus on keeping the cow from getting away and it wasn’t until I got up, dusted myself off and saw shock in the eyes of the boys that I realized I’d also scraped both my elbows, side & hip. I must have still been numb from the excitement because I told them I was ok and ready to walk the cow (now named Betsy) home.

Our 1 ½ hour journey turned into a 3 hour walk – and the scenic walk included a number of hills and valleys, numerous fields of sugar cane, homes with children running out to greet us, other sojourners walking cows and even a river to cross.

All in all it was a beautiful journey. Waking the next morning however to find additional bruises and a sore swollen foot I can say that while the trip was worth it.....this cowgirl has officially retired!

William took this picture as we arrived home and yes, we are tired after our long walk. If you look close you can see a sling shot in Toms (far right, blue shirt) hand. He and Joab were aiming to get a bird to cook along the way but I think I scared them all off..lol!

Below Maurine helps me wash some of the dirt off.

Let us Praise Him today day for His never ending love

and for all the wonderful things He has done!

Happy Valentines Day to all!