JANUARY 2021

We hope that this update finds you well and wish you a happy new year- I know it’s late but it is still January!

Christmas in Kenya was pretty different to what we’re used to but we really enjoyed it- Christmas in the sunshine is going to take getting used to! Without meaning to sound insensitive, knowing that we weren’t missing out on usual celebrations in the UK helped us to appreciate the things that we could do here. We did also manage to go on safari for a few days to celebrate Caleb turning 5 which was amazing!

After a few months settling in, January saw the pace pick up a bit. Sean is now down at Cornerstone each day. For those of you that don’t know, Cornerstone is an all through school run by the ministry Naomi’s Village. Naomi’s Village started as a children home 10 years ago and provides holistic care for nearly 100 orphans. The ministry also runs a bunch of different projects in the community for families who live on less than $2 a day. Cornerstone serves all the children from Naomi’s Village as well as about another 150 from the community. Having gradually met with staff over the past few months and reviewing policies and practice, Sean is now working with the senior leadership team of the school to prioritise actions moving forward.

Jonah started Grade 1 at Rift Valley Academy. RVA is around a 10 minute walk from where we live and is a Christian school that serves around 500 missionary children. It’s a great school and Jonah has settled in really quickly. Caleb doesn’t start Kindergarten at RVA until September so he’s been spending some time at LEAP, the Naomi’s Village Preschool and a preschool closer to where we live in Kijabe.

Rachel will be mostly working from home, offering administrative support and communicating with child sponsors in the US. Each child at Namoi’s Village and most pupils at Cornerstone are sponsored so a significant amount of the budget comes through sponsorship and it is area they are constantly trying to innovate and improve.

In other news we bought a puppy! He’s a German Shepard called Teddy and the boys absolutely adore him. He already feels very much part of the family.