Appleseed Updates

Bikeke Update by Video

Click on the PLAY button at the bottom after clicking the link!

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Progress on School/Orphanage Construction (Photos)

Back view of two classrooms under construction:

Front view of two classrooms under construction:

A guardian of six orphans helping with construction:

The land that was purchased (pictured prior to the start of construction):

The children excited about their new school:

Report from John Wanyonyi, school director: 

 

We have have faced many challenges and may not finish everything as we had planned immediately but at least the two classrooms will be up and ready for some kind of use when school starts in January.  We are also attempting to complete four toilets which will also be in an unfinished state when school opens.  Please pray for God's favor!  Again thanks for your prayers, support, and concerns.  More updates soon.
 

School's Progress: Children's Lives Changing & Land Found

The school director, John, a Kenyan, asked me if we could stop by a villager’s home before returning to our hotel.  The home belonged to six children whom the school has been sponsoring.  John seemed to know that things may not be going well.  Sure enough, the absent step-father who was an alcoholic was, indeed, absent.  Further, the mother had become ill so the oldest daughter had taken her to the grandmother’s home and was nursing the mom there.  This left six children abandoned at home for days with the oldest boy only 10 years old.  It was easy to see how desperate the situation was just by looking at the palid, thin face of the youngest child: a two-year-old. “How have you been eating?”  John asked the older boy.  “I go to my neighbors and beg for a little flour and then make a porridge with it for my brothers and sisters,” he replied.  John went into action to make sure that the neighbors were given a little money to buy and prepare a real meal and look after these children for the next few days. These are the types of children that the school in Bikeke is not only looking after but providing a quality education for! To continue serving these needs, the school must have five acres of permanent land. We are currently looking at possible sites!

Posted via email from Roger Thoman's Posterous

Last Year's Miracle: an Orphaned Healed

An eight-year-old orphan in the village of Bikeke, Kenya needed a miracle.  Open sores had broken out on her body and were not healing.  Besides the pain from the disease, no local school would allow her to attend.  A neighbor offered to sponsor her to attend a private school, still she was shunned and refused  admittance.

Finally, she was brought to the school we partner with in this rural village.  They took her in, allowed her to attend classes, and daily the teachers and principal gathered to pray over this beautiful girl.  Within weeks the sores began to heal.  Within months her skin was nearly restored to normal.  Further, she has proven to be one of the top students of her class academically and is an example in her study habits to other students.  Her healing and progress has touched so many in that area.

God is good!

School / Orphanage Still in Our Prayers

We continue to pray about building the school/orphanage in the village of Bikeke, Kenya.  We are drawn to this project for some key reasons:

• The local church leaders and villagers have already started this project with no outside funding whatsoever. This demonstrates their commitment to this school/orphanage.
• They have a holistic vision to see their village and community transformed by the kingdom.
• We have developed real trust in the leaders involved.

When we came to visit the school/orphanage again in October, the students were prepared for our arrival with the songs they are singing in the following video!

ALSO: They shared with us a stunning testimony of an eight-year-old girl who was sent away from the public schools because her body was covered with open sores.  No one was able to diagnose the source of this problem that was so serious that no other school would allow her to attend.  They brought her to this school/orphanage where the teachers prayed over her every day.  Not only has her sores almost completely healed up, but she has proven to be the top student in her class!  

Liberty School in Kenya--Pray With Us

“An orphan, who has lost both parents to AIDS or post-election violence, is able to be cared for and receive a quality education that will lead to college.” 

This is the vision of Liberty School in Bekeke, a small, poor village in Northern Kenya. Because this school was started by church planters whom we have developed a relationship with, we are praying about helping this school’s vision become a reality.  Your prayers are needed as we take the initial steps of researching, setting up communication/accountability strategies, and discerning God’s purposes.

Here is a picture of the one-room school with some of its students:

How Can an Orphanage Be Self-Sustaining?

When a private school can provide an excellent education, then paying students can provide enough income to support the school including the cost of educating and caring for orphans.  This requires a decent facility, well-trained staff, good curriculum, and an effective administrator.  Once these elements are in place, the school/orphanage can be viable.  In addition, the support of the orphans can be augmented by a well-chosen piece of land that can produce regular crops.

Why We Are Excited About This Particular School in This Location?

We were very encouraged by the development of our leadership team in Kenya.  We want to see leaders who are demonstrating both character and ministry fruitfulness before working with them in these types of need-meeting projects.  We were not disappointed.  We spent quite a lot of time with one particular church-planter who is struggling to begin a school in Bekeke (a small village outside of Kitale).  We became very excited about this project for a number of reasons:

1. They started it with almost no resources—just their own heart, faith, and guts.
2. The school (and associated church) cares for and educates orphans (over 1/3 of the student body).
3. We have confidence in the leadership team
4. We believe that with a well-thought-out investment, the school can become both exceptional and self-sustaining.

This is the type of project and leadership team that we look for, thus our excitement.