How time is running! It is now only two
weeks left of the school-year. Two of the children in
our family, Pauline Wairimu – ”Nimmo” and Margaret
Waruguru Waithera – ”Tete”, are sitting their Kenya
Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) now. And in
Soweto we have four children sitting for KCPE (Paul
Omondi, David Mwangi, James Njoroge og Caroline Wanjiru
Kombo). This is a very special day for them, as the
marks they are getting will determine whether they
proceed to Secondary school, and if so, how good
a Secondary school they will attend. We will tell you
later when we know the results!
Christmas is now approaching very fast.
And Christmas will be very extraordinary this year for
the children. Nairobi Chapel, the congregation we
attend, has every year a Christmas-project involving a
children’s home. A lot of people from the congregation
will come to us on 21st December to deliver
gifts for the children. Earlier, we handed over to them
a list describing useful things the children would
need… People in the congregation, both Kenyan and
foreign, are accepting children into their homes to give
them a special Christmas. But only carefully choosen
families are allowed to accept these children into their
homes. They have to be active, church-going members,
and also well known by the leadership of the
congregation.
We went to Splash just this other
day. Anne and Faith seem to enjoy the wet element.
From
earlier years we know that the children are exposed to a
lot of activities as swimming and picnics during this
3-4 days event – and of course a lot of sweets…
Actually, all our children between 6 and 16 will
participate in
this. Only little Sharon, who turned 3
on 16th November, will remain home with
Marianne and Jonny. We believe this will be a special
treat for our children, where they can experience God’s
love for them through these families. At the same time,
we also feel it is an acknowledgement by the
congregation towards us that they asked us to be the
chosen ones this year.
As you might have noticed, we usually
have some visitors. Among them were two ladies from the
Swiss organisation Caritas. They wanted to see what we
are doing, and it will hopefully lead to some support
for the building project. We also had 10 people from
Norway visiting, led by a friend of Jonny. A secondary
school in Stavanger has a project in the Kuvinda slum in
Nairobi, but wanted also to visit us. That’s nice!
They first went to Soweto, then came for supper in our
Doonholm family. Our hope is that another secondary
school in the Stavanger area can be involved in our
project!
This time we also want to highlight one
of our support groups in Norway. Jonny’s mother has a
”Kenya-group”, where meetings are held in the homes of
the members. The number of members has varied, but they
are all ladies past 60 living in the Stavanger area.
They meet once every month, discuss the latest news from
Maisha Mema in Kenya, read the newsletter when it comes,
enjoy some good food, and discuss the forthcoming “basar”.
Because it is the ”basar” that draws people. Usually
arranged in June, it has now been going on for some
years. The result is about 50.000 NOK (around 7.000 US$
or 4.500 GB£) a year. These ladies will sell
raffle-tickets at supermarkets, Jonny’s father sells in
the neighbourhood, and the whole thing is crowned by the
“basar”-day in the Blue Cross Hall – packed with people!
- for this day is popular! Raffle tickets for several
thousand NOK are sold only this day, and people also get
an evangelical meeting with lots of good song and
music. And it is quite agreed that ”the mother of Jonny”
(as she is often called…) leads the meeting – often with
some built-in surprises where people are called in front
to sing a song or to give a testimony. We really wish
to express a big thank you to all the people in the
”Kenya-group”, and hope you will have strength to
continue the good work!
Allow us to enclose a couple of funny stories from our daily
life here. Sheri (will be 9 in January) and Sharon (will be 7 in February)
entertained Jonny some time back with dancing and singing. Suddenly an
unmistaken sound came from Sharon, whereupon Sheri with big indignation tells
Sharon, ”Do you really believe you can travel to Norway if you keep farting all
the time?” Well, the expectations about going to Norway are big. In fact, we
try to lower them a bit, so that it should not be obvious that a child has to
go to Norway every year. And when we are still with Sheri and Sharon: Jonny
asked Sheri what she wants to be when she grows up. She answered very
diligently “air hostess”. The natural question was then why? ”That’s
obvious”, answered Sheri, ”because when I have
served the passengers, I can eat as many hamburgers as I want!”. Jonny did not spoil the
expectations about becoming an air hostess by saying
that this might not be quite the reality… But then
again, Jonny adds that he has never been in an airplane
heading for USA…
Maisha Mema now has an agreement with an
American couple, Richard & Jane Taylor, who have been
around 16 years in Kenya (see the Links page on
http://MaishaMema.org
about Penuel Ministries if you want to read more
about them). He is 72 and she is 64 years old, and they
have arranged many pastor’s seminars and marriage
conferences. Ric has his background from the building
industry, but is also an ordained Reverend. He has
promised to be the building leader for our project, and
has met the architect to discuss the project with him.
Ric & Jane have also experienced their ups and downs in
Kenya, and have a similar experience as Jonny had some
years back. Marianne has known Ric & Jane since 1991,
as they were hosts for Covenant Players several times.
They are also the only white people we have regular
contact with, and we really love them! Taylor Mission
is now officially a partner with Maisha Mema, and we
have given them a ministry description. They are also
our official contacts in the US. We plan for Ric to
come back to Kenya in March, and he will then lead the
building of the perimeter wall + other infrastructure
on our plot. In May next year, they will visit Norway
on a combined vacation and ministry tour. We have great
expectations for this tour, where Ric & Jane together
with Jonny will participate in church services, meetings
and house fellowships in May.
Take care, and please pray for us
in Kenya!
Then it only remains for us to wish
you a blessed Christmas and a Jesus-filled new
year!
