| Gordon
Bramall
has received
the following email letter and photographs from Peter Davey who
heads up 'Rags to Riches', a charity of which St.Chad's Church
subscribes to. |
August
2009
A big Hello from everyone in Kenya and Peter and Linda in Portugal.
Its school
hols in Kenya, although it's what passes for the cool season
there rather than the mid summer we are enjoying in Europe. East
Africa depends on seasonal rains in April and May to permit planting
and to get the crops off to a good start. Unfortunately this
is yet another of those years, which are becoming increasingly
common it seems, where the rains are too short and too light.
Things are
fairly quiet in Kenya at the moment with the two groups that
were at loggerheads last year still bickering but just about
holding their coalition government together. Our hometown of
Nakuru is peaceful and we have been able to continue our work
without too many problems.
We thank God
that nowadays our programmes are able to continue on relatively
smoothly. We have 15 in Primary school to whom we provide uniforms,
shoes, books and a daily lunchtime meal. Four are in Secondary
boarding school, one in a Special School and one in Secondary
day school. The grannies continue to meet on Fridays, knitting
away and rearing the latest litter of piglets. Saturday mornings
are still very busy with 150 or so youngsters from all over the
slum area turning up for games, songs and a bite to eat.
Neither Peter
or Linda have been able to make it over to Kenya this year, but
when finances allow one or other of them will be there. Peter
will be traveling around England seeing sponsors and fundraising
in October, feel free to contact him should you wish to have
him speak in to your church or other group.
Although we
have faced some major resource challenges we are proud that the
children and grannies have been able to depend on the staff and
facilities of the charity. We continue to be in the greatest
debt to all our sponsors and fund raisers, thanks to you a varied
group of people on the other side of the world are being offered
assistance that not only lifts them out of desperate situations
but provides them with long term hope.
With this in
mind, I thought you might like to read in this issue about one
of our children, as it says a lot about what the long term commitment
to people can mean in practical terms. I have chosen our eldest
pupil, Catherine. By no means all of the children who have been
in the programme have excelled a she has, but she is an encouragement
to us and I hope a success story that can you can also take pride
in.
Catherine
is
about to take the final exams of her secondary education.
As you can
see she is now an attractive and confident young woman of nineteen
whom we expect to go on and make the most of her skills and abilities.
Things were
not always so rosy for her. We first met Catherine when she was
about eleven, playing and wandering around the rubbish dump.
At that time she was living at home with her Mum and the rest
of the children. She had an older sister who was sick with AIDS,
Linda began to visit the home and assisted them. Unfortunately
the sister died soon after.
Catherine and
her younger sister Julia joined our programme and began to go
to school and receive one square meal a day. However it wasn't
long after that her mother also fell ill and soon afterwards
she died. At this point the grandmother, Esther, took over the
care of the children. She had no husband and depended on scavenging
from the dump for her daily bread. Nevertheless she took the
children in and did her best.
Catherine's
mother's final request to Linda had been that she might look
after her girls when she was gone. Getting Catherine through
school became a priority for us.
She is a bright
girl and despite missing some years of primary education she
caught up with her classmates and after obtaining good marks
in her Primary examinations she was judged to be eligible for
secondary school. It must be said that she grabbed the opportunity
with both hands and has never looked back. She loved going to
boarding school, as you can imagine living with more privileged
pupils was a real eye opener, after a life spent in squalor.
She is always near the top of her class and conducts herself
well. It is always strange o see this smart, clean, well fed
young woman when she is on her way back home in the holidays,
trudging up the hill to her Grandmother's house in scruffy old
Hilton
After five
years in boarding schools in Nairobi and Nakuru district she
is now ready to take her final exams. She would love to have
the chance to go on to university, but it is more likely that
she will now seek employment or training. Whatever is decided
over the coming months one thing is certain, this young woman
is in a privileged position when it comes to taking her place
in the world.
Grandma Esther
by the way is now a stalwart of our grannies group and amongst
other things shares in the benefits of the knitting group and
the pig rearing programmes. Julia meanwhile remains in the programme
and is coming towards the end of her eight years of primary school.
So, I hope
that's good news to cheer you amongst so much gloomy stuff in
the media. We wish you a sunny and pleasant August at home or
abroad. Many thanks for your continued prayers and support of
the ministry. As someone once said to us, these children and
grannies have your fingerprints on them.
With every
blessing to you and yours
Peter and
Linda Davey
Previous letter from December 2008... more info >>
More
pictures - February 2010
  
  
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