| 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
  
  
Rags
to Riches News June 2010
At last I hear you say! Yes it has been a while but here at last
is an update and a reminder of the work in Nakuru that you are
involved in. This time I have decided to bring you word direct
from out coordinator Josephine, who is in charge on a day to
day basis up there in Hilton. I for one am greatly encouraged
by her reliability and perseverance, she and her husband are
doing a great job and the work goes well.
Some of you will know that I (Peter) have been unwell for a while
and as a result have had to cut back on a lot of activities,
including any plans to go back to Kenya. Fortunately we have
been able to reorganise things so that the day to day work carries
on. The admin that I normally do when I go to Kenya is being
adjusted so that I should be able to do it by email etc. from
home. We also plan to send other members of our board to Kenya
from time to time to bring a report of what is happening with
the young people and the grannies. So the work goes on and here
is Josephine to tell you more
Hi Peter and Linda and all in the work with us
We are very thankful for your commitment and sacrifice that you
are doing to see that Ministry is going on well also for your
recovery Peter and I thank God for that. We are praying for you.
I am able to give you a report of all that we have been able
to do:
GRANNIES;
We usually meet and have a great time together.They knit, socialize
and eat together.They are 16 in number.But unfortunately one
has just died this week and will be buried on Friday. She is
the Granny of Robert and Kennedy. At the moment we are up there
with the grannies and the family members most of the time making
the preparations for the burial. The Grannies have the project
of the pigs which assists them to buy food when they sell them.
They have project of poultry which they started this year and
this is continuing on well. The challenge that we face with them
is that most of the time the ladies are sickly because they are
elderly and their environment is not good, they live next to
Nakuru dumping site, some of them just live in polythene houses.
So they have many problems of different sorts with their health
and although we often assist them it is hard to meet their medical
bills. Some of them are HIV positive and so they usually need
special diet which for them is hard to get. But they are grateful
for the assistance they are given for buying milk and flour,
but we pray that we can do more for this group as time goes on.
SECONDARY PUPILS;
We have one boy, Pepsi, in a local secondary day school, we assist
his parents with fees and uniform, he has another year and a
half to go, and we have three boys, Anthony, Richard and Joseph
in secondary boarding school. Their school fees, uniforms, pocket
money and bits of shopping is be paid for by the ministry. Two
of the boys leave school in 18 months, the other has two and
a half years more until he finishes.They are working hard in
school and their grades have increased. In fact it is true that
their future is now changed, after school they will not go back
to that dumping site, they will be able to start a new kind of
life.
PRIMARY CHILDREN;
They are 16 in number and they are working hard in school. Because
of the ministry they are eating lunch in school, their tuition
fees and exams are been paid for and uniform has been bought.
They are very clean and smart, one cannot think the are from
the dumping site.This is a different generation that is coming
up because of your support.
Margaret is still in special school and boarding and she is doing
on well. She is among the best-and the ministry is paying school
fees and taking care for her. We are praying for God's direction
for the time after she finishes is a few years because the school
will not be able to stay caring for her and it is not easy to
find someone who will employ an orphan young woman with learning
difficulties.
CHURCH;
Cyrus and I are pastors in Hilton community and we are very thankful
to have the opportunity to minister there. From when we started
God has given us 20 to 30 committed members.We usually have seminars
and last month we held some open air meetings, did house to house
evangelism, some of those we talked with gave their lives to
Jesus Christ. Of course there is much to do there but it is difficult
to reach there without transport and assist the people we want
to, at the moment we are trying to visit the family of one who
has died as well as visiting the sick. We hope that one day we
will be able to purchase some kind of transport.
SATURDAY CHILDREN;
We still have so many who come along to the church compound on
Saturday mornings. They are 100 or more .They are taught from
the Bible, have games and they eat bread and bananas. Pastor
Cyrus helps me some time to do that. He sends his greeting
Thanks and
God bless you
Josephine Wambui
If you would
like to write to Josephine you can reach her at joswambui71@yahoo.com
I also want to add a brief word about Catherine. She received
her exam results in January. Although she passed well her grades
were not good enough to consider university. She thinks that
nursing may be her next choice. At this time she is staying with
family near to Nairobi. If she is serious about nursing or other
further training I know she will contact Josephine, although
I don't think we will be able to offer her more financial assistance.
We know that her life has taken a giant step forward from that
of her parents and we have every confidence that she will go
on to make a successful life. We will keep you posted about her.
As always our thanks go to you for your continued interest and
assistance with the work in Kenya.
With love from
us both
Peter and Linda
Rags to
Riches News - October 2010
We trust this finds you in good health, we are just in the season
of annual meetings in England and in Kenya, and so it seems an
appropriate time to bring you up to date with the work of Rags
to Riches as we sum up another year in Hilton.
As we look back over the year, 2010 has been a very steady time
for the ministry, there have been few changes and the work has
continued much as before. The economies we made last year have
meant that, whilst we have not been able to do all that we would
have liked, all the programmes that we do support have been able
to continue without interruption. Due to ill health Peter has
had to abandon plans to visit Kenya, however it is hoped that
Linda and her daughter Philippa will be able to visit Nakuru
next Easter. Despite the limitations, Peter is still able to
keep a supervising eye on the ministry and some reorganization
has meant that financial and executive control remains firmly
in the UK board's hands.
The “Rags to Riches” Project – Hilton, Nakuru
These days our team in Hilton comprises Pastors Josephine and
Cyrus Mwangi. They are joint ministers of the church in Hilton
and Josephine is in sole day to day control of the administration
of the project. Thanks heavens she continues to prove herself
reliable and resourceful and the continued success of the project
is very largely down to her. The project’s goal continues
to be the educational, social and spiritual regeneration of the
Hilton slum area.
The School
program still assists 21 children. Catherine left the programme
at Christmas and was replaced by the youngest child of our ex
cook, Njoki. Catherine has moved nearer to Nairobi to stay with
a family member. Her results were good, but not good enough for
University. Her thoughts are now turning towards nursing. However
we have not received news yet about an application to nursing
school and so we will wait and see if she finds a place and if
she will approach us for assistance.
 Anthony and Richard
are still being sponsored to attend boarding school and continue
to do well in their third year. We also sponsor Joseph at the
same school and he is doing well as he approaches the end of
his second year. Pepsi has continued to receive some assistance
from us towards the expenses of his third year in secondary day
school and we are pleased to hear that he has settled down and
is doing well after a rebellious time when he first started secondary.
Margaret is still at her boarding Special School where she is
part of the training school; we remain indebted to the head of
the school who continues to keep her under her wing. Of course
this cannot continue forever and we continue to explore ideas
about her future, this is something that Linda hopes to take
forward when she visits. 14 continue with their Primary Education
and two in Nursery school. They are now a very fortunate group
with their smart appearance, well fed bodies and extra after
school tuition. They were once considered the worst kind of rejects
by the other pupils as well as by some of the staff, these days
they are amongst the most privileged and successful pupils in
the school. We are proud of them as they are a testament to the
long term commitment of many of you who have seen these children
through years of school.
Nowadays we
pay for the day students to take a meal at school which appears
very much the same as we provided and saves us a considerable
sum in staff wages as well as pleasing the school. We continue
to provide the children with books, equipment, uniforms, shoes,
etc. The ministry also funds the health needs of all these children
and their immediate family or carers. The pastoral care of the
children is a large part of the work of Josephine and she continues
to take a keen pastoral interest in them and is available to
meet with them to advise, assist and counsel. Its coming up to
the end of the Kenya school year and three of our children will
finish primary school. The new year will see a lot of discussion
as to their future. Only those with good results can be considered
for secondary school, the others will have to be helped into
work or further training. We shall keep you posted as to how
they get on in the coming months.
The Saturday
morning children’s ministry continues up at the church compound,
with Josephine and a few volunteers heroically working with around
150 children from the nearby slums for a couple of hours of games,
stories, singing and food.
 The “Grannies”
continue to meet on Friday mornings with knitting, conversation
and lunch. Their pig project received a boost this year when
new sties were finished, the group continues to run the project
efficiently and it brings in a small income for them all. In
January we were able to convert an empty building into a chicken
house and the long talked about poultry project began. After
much discussion they decided to limit themselves to egg production,
which they felt they could manage easily. Everything is going
well, and just recently a Kenyan charity has donated a small
sum to the grannies which they plan to use to expand egg production.
The grannies
have proved a reliable and hardworking group. For some time we
have wanted to be able to offer them special help with their
medical needs. Most of them are poorly to some degree and a number
have long term chronic diseases. Since they are often caring
for grandchildren their health is of particular importance. We
are happy to be able say a recent donation has meant that we
are able to at least start donating a small amount each month
towards their medical expenses, hopefully funds will become available
that will let us continue this and make it a regular part of
the work of the charity.
So all in all
we have a lot to be thankful for, despite the regular challenges
to resources we have seen our givers staying loyal to the project
thus ensuring continuity in the work. Its marvellous to think
that we never once had to give up on a child or granny for lack
of finance. Of course we now approach our most demanding financial
season as we look to raise an additional £800 in order
to kit out all the children for the new school year in January
as well as finding school fees and all the usual assortment of
books and equipment that children everywhere need. So, this is
a gentle reminder to any of you who work with churches or other
groups and like to give on particular occasions....... This is
the time!
As always we
want to thank you for the marvellous difference that your partnership
with Rags to Riches has meant in the lives of the children and
the grannies. We hope you enjoy the photos that Josephine has
just sent over, all of these Kenyans are where they are today
thanks to people like you.
With our love.
Peter and Linda
Davey
Rags to Riches Newsletter June 2011
Dear Friend
of the ministry, its been some months since we were last in touch,
we have been waiting until our daughter Philippa, who also a
board member of rtr, got back from her visit to the project so
that we could include the latest news and some up to date photos.
Since Peter's illness he's had to step back from the travel and
the rigors of visiting Kenya so its been great to see the next
generation coming to the rescue!
In her 10 day
visit Pippa was able to see all our staff and many of the children
and grannies whom we assist. Its some five years since she worked
as coordinator of the Hilton project and she saw an amazing change
in the children she knew so well from that time. Apart from the
continued need for extra finance to boost the project and to
allow for some wage rises to keep up with the rapidly rising
prices she found everything in good order and the work going
ahead as we would like. For this we are always grateful for the
the leadership of Josephine and her husband Cyrus on the ground,
which has allowed the work to go on in the face of innumerable
challenges.
School Children
I was there during the children's half term; however most of
our school children were attending school for that week for extra
tuition which we pay for in order that they will be able to do
their best in the all important national exams in November. I
managed to meet up with 4 of them and find out how they were
doing at school. It was especially great to see these four as
I had knew them when I was living in Kenya. Some more of our
children were also among the Saturday morning group which meets
at the church centre, you may also spot Catherine who we sponsored
for many years through her education following her mother's death,
she is back in Nakuru visiting family for a while as she continues
to try to find an opening in nurse training.
Seconday School
You may recall Pepsi who after a troubled time eventually took
up a place in a local secondary day school in which we assist
his family. He has grown into a tall young man who has an ambition
to become a journalist. Photo 939 The three older boys at boarding
school just outside Nakuru are getting on well with their studies
in the calm and safe environment so different from Hilton. It
was so good to see them looking healthy and eager to do the best
they can at school. Richard and Anthony take their secondary
certificates at the end of this year. Joseph is in the year behind.
Margaret
Margaret met me with her big smile and I was embraced with a
big hug – African style!. It was so good to see how this
young vulnerable child has grown into a beautiful lady. She has
been very well cared for by the Headmistress of her school for
children with learning difficulties and has flourished in her
care. She attends classes where she has learnt dress making skills
and how to make flies for fishing. She is now 17 and we are in
discussions as to what her next steps may be as the Head says
she cannot keep her beyond the age of 18. We have known this
for a while, but as yet we have not been able to come up with
a safe and appropriate place for her to move to.
Saturday
Morning Children – Club
Bags full of bananas and bread are still being given to over
a 100 children on Saturday morning. I was greeted with cries
of ‘Philippa, Philippa’ and before I knew it was surrounded
by lots and lots of smiling faces!!. It was fantastic to be surrounded
by such happy children who come to the Saturday morning clubs
to play hockey, meet up with friends and have a snack. Amongst
these children are those that we send to school so it was a great
opportunity to meet up with them as well.
Grannies
It was wonderful to see these older women again and to see them
still gathering together. They are often the back bone to a family
unit and have many stories to tell. They enjoyed receiving the
greetings from everyone in the UK and they also return them and
thank all those that give to the project. The grannies are now
knitting long strips of clean plastic together to make bags which
is a popular project!
Pastors
As a representative of the charity it was a great opportunity
to meet with the leaders our of our three churches around Nakuru
who remain as part of the work and to hear all their news. They
are all doing well and their families are also well. They continue
to ask that you keep them, their families and churches in your
prayers. From left to right: Pastors Sammy, Josephine and Cyrus
and John
I am happy
to say that Pippa kept in good health and had a hectic but enjoyable
time, seeing old friends and beautiful places as well as visiting
everything that needed to be monitored. A big "Well done"
to her.
And so we carry on, encouraged by the smooth running of things
on the ground and the steady flow of giving. As long as this
continues we shall endeavour to carry on the work, as always
leaving everything in the Lord's hands.
With our love
Peter and Linda.
Rags to Riches - News
March 2012
Hi to all of you who follow the work of Rags to Riches and to
our faithful sponsors and prayers! We trust this finds you well
and able to enjoy this lovely time of year. Linda and I are still
here in Central Portugal although there are plans for us to put
our place here on the market late this year. We are both in good
health and enjoying a warm and very dry spell of weather. We
hope you still find these newsletters useful, we certainly enjoy
keeping everyone up to date with the encouraging things that
are going on in Hilton.
This is the eleventh year of our involvement in this part of
Nakaru and each time we hear from Josephine its clear that through
this charity we not only been able to assist many children, grannies
and others in special need, but we have also helped to open up
the area to many other charities, some considerably wealthier
than ours , which are now involved in many similar health, education
and development projects in that area. This has been an enormous
help to us as a charity as it has meant that others have been
able to step in and assist us when our projects or resources
come to an end.
We have seen that this school year, a recently opened charity
school offered places to all our three Primary School leavers.
They'd all done fairly well in their final exams but had failed
by some way to reach the mark necessary to be eligible for free
secondary education. Since they were all still quite young it
was a source of concern to us as to exactly how they would get
the additional training needed in order to get a job, so it was
good news that this new charity was able to assist. This has
left us with 14 children at primary school , five of whom take
their leavers exam this year and Margaret Chiri in special school
for this her final year.
Three secondary aged pupils finished school at Christmas; Pepsi
from a state day secondary school and Anthony and Richard who
were sponsored at a private secondary school. They all received
C grades which whilst quite reasonable, were not adequate for
University admission. Pepsi and Richard are happy to leave school
and look for work, Anthony is looking for sponsorship to re-sit
his exams. In the meantime all three of them are hoping that
we can find the £80 each required for an IT course. This
leaves us with one boy, Joseph, at secondary boarding. He is
in his final year, he's serious boy and we hope for good results
from him.
We were able to give all the children and grannies a great day
out and lunch together at Christmas time and then to send all
the children back to school with their fees paid, school equipment,
new shoes and daily hot meals. Unfortunately as yet we've not
had the funds to purchase the new school uniforms for the primary
age children, they're patient waiters and we hope very soon to
see them smart and happy in their new outfits. Our Saturday club
for the local kids also flourishes with our few adults coping
manfully and womanfully with 150 assorted scruffs.
The grannies continue to meet weekly for chat, knitting and lunch.
Recently they've added some new members and they all seem to
get on very positively. Following the outbreak of animal diseases
in the area last year the grannies have agreed to concentrate
on the knitting at the moment and leave livestock to another
time. They also have greatly benefited from the influx of new
charities and their lives are so much safer and more comfortable
than all those years ago when Linda first went up there.
Josephine and her husband Cyrus continue to do a great job for
us with the children and grannies, in the community and the church.
It's far from easy for her, wrestling with the many demands that
there are and the often limited budget she has to work with.
Recent food and fuel price rises has meant that we have had to
raise our salaries and all our other costs have gone up as well.
However, the diminishing number of children at school has meant
that we've been able to continue with all our projects. I've
attached a recent photo of Josephine and her family below. Maybe
you'd like to keep it as a reminder for prayer.
As always we want to thank you for your continued interest and
support in everything that's going on in Nakuru. It's perhaps
unnecessary to say how grateful people on the ground are. I'm
sad that I'm not able to get to Kenya anymore or to take visitors,
but I know that if I did we'd be greeted by a hundred smiling
faces!
With love from us both,
Linda and Peter
Donations can be made out to Rags to Riches
and posted to :
Mark Hatch
Rags to Riches
St Johns Ambulance Building
Station Rd
Totnes. Devon. TQ9 5HW
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