JANUARY 2024

We hope you have had a wonderful start to the New Year. January has been incredibly busy here. At home, Caleb had his 8th birthday right as he and Jonah returned to school for the second term. Meanwhile Anna continues to do really well and is enjoying playing with her friends on Thursday mornings when Rachel hosts the community playgroup. Rachel is also working on helping to establish Naomi's Village as a charity in the UK as well as helping administratively with the child sponsorship team.

At Cornerstone Preparatory Academy, the school year reflects the calendar year, so there has been lots going on as the new year gets underway. There are some new members of the leadership team and multiple new teachers, which has resulted in lots of inductions, training and meetings. The national exam results for the KCSE (Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education) were also recently published so there has been lots of analysis and planning for the year ahead. The exam scores for Cornerstone Preparatory Academy were extremely positive and not only an improvement on last year but were also the best ever set of Secondary School results for the school. The exam results place the school in the top 10 (7th) in our district, out of over 50+ schools and the results are significantly above national averages. When working in schools and with children we are playing the long game and throughout the year we can subjectively feel like things are going well, but with national exams results we have a solid, concrete, objective yardstick to measure performance. It is so satisfying to see that Cornerstone is having an impact and that we are starting to see the fruits of those battles and labour and hard work. Those exam results are going to open doors to these kids that will literally change their lives and break generational chains of poverty.

Whilst the recent exam results paint a positive picture, we are still regularly reminded of the many challenges that our students face along the way. It was brought to our attention that one of the boys in Year 1 was facing some significant and dangerous safeguarding challenges at home. Following the loss of the family's land (which the father says was a result of land grabbing) the family relocated. The father managed to pick up work as a security guard which he held as a stable job for seven years. However, when the manager that hired him was fired and new management brought in, the father lost his job. The family was then taken in by an elderly lady in the community who owns a large plot of land. The father was employed to care for the land. This did not last long as the family began to receive several threats and were even attacked. In 2020 these attacks resulted in the father being beaten and kidnapped. Unfortunately, this was just the beginning. In 2022 the family awoke in the night to find that someone had set their house on fire. By the grace of God, the family was able to get out and no one was hurt but the property was severely damaged. What exists now is an unstable roof made of old iron sheets with plastic and paper being used as a ceiling. Rain water leaks into the house and the parents lack funds to construct a better roof. The father told us that they continue to be harassed and that the attacks have started again. More recently leaflets were dropped in the compound, telling him and his family to leave as he was “not a son of the soil”. He said that this event was followed later by his house being smeared with faecal material.

It’s almost unbelievable and unimaginable to think that one family has had to go through so much. Their youngest child is now in Year 1 at Cornerstone Preparatory Academy. Maendeleo, the community outreach initiative that is part of Naomi’s Village, is currently working with the family to draw up plans to build a new house, one that is secure and safe. Thank you for standing with us as we play our part at Naomi's Village in His plans of 'making all things new' in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya. We know we cannot do it without your continued prayers and support.