News
Kenya Summer Summary 2009
Open Arms Village Children: Our 26 Village children have had an interesting 3 months with visits from 5 teams and 2 TV crews. Highlights have included Children’s Ministry activities during the Village Medical Camp; racing some Kenyan runners, a day trip to a local children’s zoo and play park, and several campfire evenings singing songs and dancing!
All the children are doing well in school and several have qualified for advancement to the next grade. They can all speak some English as well as Kiswahili and details are being researched for setting up a school at the Village in 2010.
Open Arms Village Construction: There are currently five childrens homes and three Volunteer/Visitor Cottages under construction. The first three houses should be occupied by Christmas with the Visitor Cottages due for completion by Easter 2010.
Recent technical problems with our well are being resolved, so the Village should have water on tap again very soon. Delivery of electricity is still a matter of much prayer, and chasing up although we are told provision is imminent.
Sustainability:
Crops: we have harvested a generous crop of beans and maize, enough to feed our children for the next full year as well as helping supply our feeding programme, and having some to sell. Other crops include cabbages, carrots, lettuce, spinach, and kale thus supplying the children with added nutrients; and thanks to the Eldoret climate we can have multiple harvests providing a year round supply of vegetables. The banana trees are also doing quite well.
Livestock: we have 4 female cows of various ages that can / will be able to offer milk; 16 goat and sheep; over 30 rabbits (rabbit stew will soon be on the menu!) and sufficient chicken to lay eggs for all the children.
So, we are well on our way to becoming self sustaining with respect to food sources, and look forward to the continued growth of families that will enjoy our spoils!
Child Sponsorship – Community/Education:
The sponsored children who live in the community continue to do well. All are in school except the youngest, Michael Shadrack, who is too young to attend; one of the older girls, Everlyne Karimi sits her secondary school exams next month
Open Arms Baby Intakes: In August we welcomed two new babies into our home.
Esther Ruth, came to us on August 5th, only 24 hours old. Abandoned at birth, because she was considered “taboo” (a product of incest), the Maternity clinic where she was born was unable to care for her and so after 24 hours of feeding her only water, called Open Arms desperate for our help. She was premature, only 4.9 pounds, and hanging onto life. The first night was critical but she pulled through and is now still tiny, but thriving, and growing day by day.
Belinda Caroline came to us on August 18th, age one month, the daughter of a woman living on the streets who wasn’t able to care for her. The mother had been breastfeeding Belinda while taking drugs, drinking and sniffing glue, and so Baby Belle initially suffered terrible withdrawal symptoms as she detoxified but is now doing much better.
Feeding Programme - Kambi Teso
Feeding 100 plus children in the Eldoret slum of Kambi Teso every day is great, and all the teams that come to us assist in the programme in practical ways. In July, a generous donation enabled us to build a shelter to keep the children dry during lunches in the rainy season.
Feeding Programme – Street Children
Morris, a former street child, is employed by us to reach out to the street children and really make a difference in their lives. He feeds about 100 street children 4 nights a week, and also spends time with them at the local drop-in centre.
Outreaches
Open Arms Kenya has hosted five summer outreaches. Results include land clearance and help to start landscaping at the Village, building the shelter at Kambi Teso, and visiting hospitals, prisons and the street children of Eldoret.
Open Arms also conducted three medical clinics serving the Kambi Teso slum area and the community surrounding the Open Arms Village in rural area of Mlango, just outside of Eldoret. We had an international team of professionals, and served over 2500 local people.
We saw many healings, through medicine and prayer, and rejoice that several thousand people are now able to live life with one less worry, or pain, or symptom to deal with, thanks to the diagnosis and assistance they were able to receive at the Clinics.
View the current newsletters from Open Arms International.
Click on the attachments below to read:
*Autumn 2009 newsletter
*Summer 2009 newsletter
*Spring 2009 newsletter
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