In February this year, Christine Gibbard, Kim Lambden and myself, visited Kenya to negotiate the purchasing of the land and to plan further training courses and to inspect the progress of the work on site.  Hardly any progress had been made from the last visit, which was disappointing and it was obvious that we needed somebody from the Peacemakers’ UK team to be permanently on site to organise, supervise and hire contractors to do the work and also to hire labourers locally on a daily basis.

 You may have seen from our website that Christine retired from her position as Headteacher at Ardeley JMI School at the end of the summer term and on July 9th flew out to Kenya to be that person from the UK team.  She is doing a wonderful job and is finding it very exciting and challenging, moving sometimes into uncharted territories.

Kim Lambden (Healthy Schools Consultant for Barnet & Hackney) visited schools and hospitals while she was there and saw the great need in abandoned and orphaned babies and children.  This is an area we need to bring in more training during the year 2010.

During this visit I met Mugo Karuguti who is the Education Secretary Diocese of Embu and arranged with him for Kim Henderson ( PE Sports Strategy Manager ) to hold a Sports Training Week for Secondary Teachers and pupils, in July.  This took place at two venues during July/August and sports equipment was donated to each school involved from your donations. As always Kim was fantastic and we are planning for a Cultural Festival on site next year.

With Christine being in Kenya indefinitely, it’s now possible for us to have young people in their gap year  and others from the age of 18 upwards, volunteering themselves to work for longer periods in their chosen fields.  Since she has been out there, we have had a trail of young people passing through.  At the end of July Hannah and Charlie stopped over from their world tour and helped plant a vegetable garden, so that we will be able to supply food for the restaurant in the future (yet to be built), thus becoming self sufficient.  In August Rob and Katherine, students on vacation from University, visited Kenya to interview local dignitaries  to get  first hand information about life there, for their dissertations. Now we have 4 gap year students, Fergus, Tom, Sophie and Rachel, who joined Christine on 11th November and will be there for 6 months.  This longer length of stay will enable them to integrate into the community and truly experience life there.  They have already visited schools and orphanages, and laboured on site.  I’m hoping that they will form a drama group with the Kenyan youth and perform a nativity play in the Prayer House at Christmas, inviting the community as the audience.  Dave & Jackie (parents of Sophie) are visiting at Christmas and we hope will be part of the audience.

Before the 4 students left for Kenya, Kim Clark (Social Worker) gave them a basic training on how to handle and stimulate babies and toddlers, who are deprived.  Also how important it is to become a member of a team etc.,

I do think this is a wonderful opportunity for young people to serve and give of themselves in this way, to see what life is like in another community.  It makes them appreciate what they have at home, but more importantly, it’s character forming and life changing.

The Peacemakers’ team will always be changing in personnel as the needs of time are met and new challenges arise. Kim Clark and Kim Lambden have joined the team this year, as Len Little moves on to support the ‘War Heros’ Charity.  Len was responsible and successful in heading up ‘Drugs Awareness’ seminars and DACA rehab groups. Raising funds in giving talks to various groups in the UK.  Many projects were formed amongst the youth of Kenya to provide income for them and also successfully formed a football league.  A few Kenyans are now trained and equipped to extend the training to others in surroundings areas, with the Resource Centre being the Headquarters.

This Christmas, in the newly completed Prayer House, we are giving children orphaned through Aids or Malaria, a party.  If you would like to donate money or a gift suitable for a girl or boy between the ages of 5 - 19, Dave & Jackie will take them across to Kenya when they travel on the 19th December. Thank you.

Despite the difficult financial times we are in, you have overwhelmed us by your love and kindness and your sacrificial giving. On behalf of all those who have been touched by your generosity, may I say A BIG THANK YOU.  You surely will be rewarded by God for your ‘LOVE’, and for going the extra mile in sharing what you have with those who have not.
 

GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY THIS CHRISTMAS AND 

MAY YOU HAVE A PROSPEROUS 2010

Brenda

Christine Gibbard has been the Head teacher at Ardeley St Lawrence School for the last 18 years. On the 30th June she will be resigning from this position and making herself available to oversee the building of the Resource Centre in the district of Embu and all the many projects that Peacemakers have initiated in the surrounding area, over  the past 20 years.  You will see from our web page, that the Prayer House  and the Abandoned Baby Refuge Centre structure is now completed and we need Christine's expertise and managerial skills to furnish and get the first stage of the Centre operational.

Christine has been an active and committed member of the work that this Charity has been involved with, both at home and abroad, from the beginning and knows the Kenyan people and the area very well.  She is also greatly loved and respected by the Peacemakers Kenya Team, who are looking forward to her joining them.  She will be flying to Nairobi 9th July 2009.

Christine has desired for a long time to spend more time in Africa and earlier this year spent  11 weeks in Rwanda, with other Head Teachers  going into schools and assisting the Heads and passing on their experiences.  She also wants to spend more time in Rwanda and follow up this work and friendships that were made then.

Peacemakers UK have also been invited to bring God's vision to Tanzania, which has been postponed until we have the Resource Centre up and running.  Incidentally, this Centre is going to be named ‘The Dennis Marshall Foundation’ Dennis Marshall was the founder of this work. So this is something for the future for Christine, while she is in Africa.

Christine will be non salaried while she is there for whatever length of time, so if you would like to be one of her sponsors during this period, please get in touch with me and I will arrange for donations to be transferred to her in Kenya.

Brenda Marshall
Director of Peacemakers International
Email: brenda@peacemakers-international.com

Members of the Peacemakers UK Team visited Kenya in February & March this year to oversee the work and progress of the Centre. You will see from the photograph below, that the Prayer House was near completion.


Peacemakers International - Runyenjes Prayer House.

Pastor Selesio Njiriru, one of the Peacemakers’ Team in Kenya, is in the foreground.  He is soon to retire from his secular job in Nairobi and will be able to serve the community full time.  Also our long standing friend Patrick Nyaga Kavunguru.  We are all anxious to see this project and vision completed and fully functional and for the local community to be responsible, serving with their gifts, meeting the local needs and for the people locally to benefit.


One of the side rooms for the abandoned baby unit.

I'm now able to inform you that 3 months on, the Prayer House has been finished, the ground around is being leveled, concreted and grassed, followed by the planting of flowers and shrubs.

The furnishings will be purchased within the next 2 months and the Prayer House ready to be used as a retreat and a place for the youth in the area to gather.  The Prayer House will be a multi purpose building and the youth will be able to turn it into a Theatre and perform plays from time to time. It will also be hired out for weddings, conferences etc., as a means of raising money and making it self supportive.

There are 3 adjacent rooms around the rear of the Prayer House, one of them will be turned into an ‘Abandoned Baby’ Refuge/Counseling room, the second a temporary office/side room to stage and the third, which opens into the interior of the Prayer House, a store room/stage.


The land for phase 2 and 3 - a bit of a challenge to say the least!

Draft plans have been drawn up for the second phase and transferred to Kenya for a local Architect to draw and submit for planning permission.

Brenda Marshall

This year has been difficult for most people , if not all, with the credit crunch and people losing their jobs and homes, but despite all this, friends of Peacemakers have continued supporting financially and sponsoring a whole variety of projects.

 
For the full story - please click on the link below.

Raffle (Pink Ticket)  A Professional Cake!        Winning Ticket 17  (Mazzy)

You are invited to:
The Peacemakers' Tea Party

Len will be posting a review of his trip in the near future.

Until then, to see what his itinerary was and the purpose of his visit,
please click on Full Story" below.