December 1, 2009 — Suvia Children’s Home and Kali Market, Kenya

Praise the Lord, the rain has returned! After almost two years with little rain, the drought conditions that brought months of famine to Kali Market are beginning to change. Although the rains haven’t been plentiful, everyone continues to pray for steady rain over the next several months. In order to capture the precious resource of rain, gutters have been installed at Suvia Children’s Home along the roofs of the dormitory, kitchen and dining room. Water will be collected in rain barrels and used for showers and irrigation.

The community has begun planting new crops and they are looking forward to the first good harvest in a long time. The girls at Suvia have also planted their own small garden and are now growing kale, cabbages and onions! These vegetables will help reduce pressure on Suvia’s budget and dependence on increase the ability for the home to be self-sustaining.

On behalf of Pastor Kisua, Ben Kikuvi, Suvia Children’s Home and the people of Kali Market, World Servants thanks everyone for their support of the Famine Relief program. Over $40,000 was raised during a nine-month period enabling maize distributions to take place every few weeks. This means about 1,000 families in need received food when nothing was growing in the normally fertile land. There is still need for supplemental food as it will take time for crops to grow and bring them to harvest. World Servants will continue to serve this community by collecting funds to purchase maize for future distributions, and your help will be great appreciated. $70 will help feed a family of eight for a couple of months. If you’d like to contribute you can give online by clicking www.worldservants.org

The following are photos of a distribution, funded by Journey of Faith Church in Manhattan Beach, California.

Maize - the staple of the Kenyan diet.
Crowds gather for the distribution.
Each bag weights 50 kilos.
Pastor Kisua serving his community

With the chicken coop finished, Henrietta the Hen is not longer the soul resident. There are now a total of 100 chickens occupying these roomy digs. Ben reports they were purchased as chicks and therefore have not started to lay eggs quite yet. It won’t be long though before the first eggs will be headed to market to add a new flow of income for Suvia Children’s Home. The girls will also have added protein to their diets, which means they will continue to thrive, growing bigger and healthier every day!

   

Since October, Suvia has been blessed by the presence of intern Sarah Sprow. She has been helping with day-to-day activities such as cooking, cleaning and the other vital chores required to keep Suvia running.

Of course, she also makes sure she spends lots of time with all the girls living at Suvia, playing with them, teaching and, no doubt, learning how to speak Kikamba! She has fallen in love with the girls and is enjoying herself living at Suvia. She says she has discovered that she was meant to do this servant work.

 

 

 

 

 

Reverend Kisua and his wife Rhoda just purchased a neighboring plot of land, which will be used for future projects that will benefit Suvia Children’s Home, include zero grassing milk cows and goats. Milk from these animals will be sold at market, bringing in income for the orphanage.

 

 

Ben also reports that 200 trees have been planted on-site bordering the area where the new security fence will be installed in 2010. The fence will provide the security needed for the girls currently living there and the other children who will be arriving in the future.

There have been many changes that have come to Suvia Children’s Home and to the Kali community over the last year. Many more projects are in the planning stages to for 2010. One of the most exciting is the exploration of drilling a well that will bring clean water to a convenient location to be used by the entire community.

A spring in the mountains of Kali.
Transporting water for sale.

 

No one can say it better than the girls’ themselves — THANK YOU for your continued support of these wonderful children. Their lives have changed for the better and the blessings will continue for a lifetime because of the love and support of people on the other side of the globe. Once again, they have hope and a joy for life that will leave you breathless.

We have started a Suvia Christmas Collection to purchase a gift for each one of the girls to open on Jesus’ birthday. Shoes are at the top of the list of necessities right now, so if you’d like to contribute you can give at this page, or call 800-881-2170 or send a check to World Servants, 7130 Portland Avenue, Richfield, MN 55311.

For more information about Suvia Children’s Home, child sponsorship, World Servants mission experiences to Kenya or how to support the Famine Relief Program, please feel call Diane Solmonson, Community Specialist for Kenya, at the World Servants office at 800-881-2170 or contact her by email here: Diane Solmonson.