Jan '09 | Feb '09 | Mar '09 | Apr '09 | May '09 | June '09 | July '09 | Aug '09 | Sep '09 | Oct '09 | Nov '09 | Dec '09
Fr. Riwa, Meru’s very own Santa, is one person who is helping hundreds of children move from life on the streets
to his Hospitality Centre (his camp in the bush) where the mantra is “Simple Living, High Thinking”. Life there
is based on the four pillars of prayer, work, studies and sports – and after six months or so, these “Born Again”
kids go to St. Francis Boys' School or St. Clare Girls’ School, where they finish their primary school education
with grades at the top of the list for all schools in the Diocese of Meru. Please pray for Fr. Riwa and his
children – and help him to help them by donating at
www.friendsofkenyanorphans.org.
Praise God! Joyce and Lucy, who finished their two-year primary education programs at Rubati Teachers' College, both have jobs now. Lucy is at Nana Hills Academy in Karatina, and Joyce is with Fr. Riwa at his boys’ school.
We camped out one night in a banda in Meru National Park – and on our game drives, we saw reticulated giraffes,
elephants, zebras (common & Grevy), gazelles (Grant’s & Thompson’s), gerenuks, kudus, eland, impalas, buffalo,
bushbucks, waterbucks, dik-diks, warthogs, baboons, monkeys (Sykes & Vervet), hippos and rhinos. We also saw
about 20 of the 300 species of birds there, including egrets, storks, African fish eagles, kites, guinea fowl,
frankolines, harmacorts, ostrich, weaver birds, sunbirds, starlings and blue rollers. And much to our amazement,
we found Elsa’s grave - and then rejoiced by treating ourselves to lunch at Elsa’s Kopje, George Adamson’s
original campsite, high up on a rock overlooking the plains where Elsa was set free to find her new life out
in the wild.
We also went on safari for four days in Amboselli, Tsavo West and Tsavo East, where there is very little for the
animals to eat – and lots of them, zebra and wildebeest especially, have died. It was sad to see this devastation
– we had to keep reminding ourselves that this is nature’s (God’s) way of thinning out the herds - and that the
fittest will survive and their descendents will be stronger. We realize that it is impossible to bring feed into
the parks for all the animals, especially when there are also 10 million people in Kenya who are close to starvation.
To arrange your safari with John, our guide and driver, contact him at jkirimifamily@gmail.com
Isaiah 58:10 says “Feed the hungry! Help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness ---”.
Please pray for long, gentle rains to arrive soon – not the torrential El Nino rains that have been predicted -
so the people can grow maize and beans - and the animals will have something green to eat.
Just a few days before our departure from Kenya, we visited The Presbyterian University in Kikuyu and met Alice. She has just started her business studies there through a scholarship from Noroton Presbyterian Church in Darien, CT. We pray that she will do really well in all her courses.
We sing a new song to you, Lord.
You are light amid the darkness,
You are laughter amid the tears,
You are joy abundant and offered to us.
If we can but learn to live in You, our lives will be forever changed.
Help us to make time for laughter,
Time for love, time for you, Dear Lord.
~Maryknoll
Fr. Riwa and his Soon-To-Be Students
John and His New Friend Lucy
Leaping Lioness and Two of Her Cubs
Alice at The Presbyterian University