Sep '09 | Oct '09 | Nov '09 | Dec '09 | Jan '10 | Feb '10 | Mar '10 | Apr '10 | May '10 | June '10 | July '10 | Aug '10
We heard Chidi, the co-founder and director of Ripples Intl., speak out boldly on several occasions. Once at the
Scouts’ “No Drugs” event, where he urged several hundred secondary school students in Meru to be in control of their
own lives. And another time, to 40 staff members and interns of Ripples Intl., when he stressed “the rights (and empowerment)
of the child”. Ripples Intl. is committed to helping children in ways that will help them to speak up for, and care for,
themselves, as they are the future of Kenya.
We too, hope and pray, that the young people we are helping will help to change things in Kenya – that they will help to get rid of the corruption and bad governance that has kept so many people here living lives in extreme poverty.
Shelmith, who has just started her one-year internship as a dental technologist, spent a weekend with us. We went to the Agriculture
Fair, where we saw cows, goats and rabbits – and a Multi-Story Garden (a sack garden) that is being grown by inmates in the Meru
prison. The highlight of the fair though, for Shelmith at least, was a ride on the “electric swing”.
We visited six children in the Chemi Chemi program with Douglas of Ripples Intl. and learned how to prepare a sack garden. People who
are HIV+ are being encouraged to grow and eat more vegetables like spinach, sukuma wiki (kale), onions, capsicums and tomatoes to stay healthy.
We attended the graduation ceremony at Daystar University, where a thousand students received their degrees. Caroline, formerly of Tumaini Children’s Home in Nyeri, is the first Tumaini alum to receive a Bachelor’s degree. Congratulations Caroline! Your siblings, aunts, uncles, neighbors, and your friends from Tumaini, Daystar and Life Ministries are all very proud of you.
Faith requires we surrender our wills.
We live in an overcrowded house of false values.
A homeless, naked, dying man on the cross asks;
are you reasonably comfortable?
Calvary is less about the extreme suffering
endured by Christ on the cross
and more about the extreme love
that drew Him to the cross.
At the foot of the Cross words sink into silence
as we look up and ask,
for the love of God,
if we are ready to follow Christ.
~Maryknoll
Scouts Say “No’ to Drugs
“Which one is Shelmith?”
Preparing a Sack Garden
Congratulations Caroline!