JANUARY 2025

This year is significant for us as it marks 5 years in Kenya. This milestone has caused us to reflect on our time here and think and pray about our next steps. We are particularly proud of the growth and progress at Cornerstone Preparatory Academy, the school that is a part of Naomi's Village. CPA serves children who have been orphaned and are part of Naomi's Village children's home as well as hundreds of children from the wider community; those who are trapped by generational poverty and otherwise would not be in school. To see the progress these children have made and the opportunities and futures that await them causes us to be both extremely proud of the impact we've had and extremely humbled as we marvel at God at work.

We recently received the results of the KCSE (Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education) and as you can imagine it was a highly anticipated day. This is the third year that CPA has had students sit for the KCSE and it is a notoriously difficult exam. According to the data released by KNEC (Kenya National Examinations Council) the average grade for the last few years has been a D- (minus) and those that have scored an "A Grade" has been between 0.13% and 0.18% nationally. We were delighted to discover that for the 3rd successive year, CPA has not only performed significantly above national average, but we have continued to improve on our results year on year. Each year, we have performed higher than the previous year and have increased the gap above national averages. This is remarkable progress, especially against a backdrop and context where some statistics claim that only 47% of Kenyans graduate from Secondary/ High school. At the other end of the school, LEAP preschool has welcomed its first set of new children for 2025. They start their schooling journey wide eyed and full of awe. There are still a number of children who are in need of sponsorship as they wait to join LEAP. If you would like to sponsor a child, then please do reach out or visit https://hopebegins.org.uk/sponsor-a-child from the UK or https://naomisvillage.org/sponsor-a-child/ from the USA.

Although it is the beginning of a new calendar year and school year in Kenya, for the boys it is the start of the second term. They continue to do really well and love school. A recent highlight for them was the primary school "water day", something that certainly does not happen in the UK in January! Anna is growing daily and enjoys looking out for monkeys on daily walks. Rachel continues to balance everything at home with offering administrative support for the Kenyan and US Child Sponsorship teams as well as managing and developing Hope Begins, the UK arm of Naomi's Village.

In Matthew 25 Jesus says "whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me". To see the "least of these" children from broken families, orphaned, abandoned, without access to drinking water or electricity to go on and not only graduate from Secondary/ High school, but to do so with good grades and their heads held high, is an amazing privilege. To see the chains of generational poverty being broken before our eyes is a beautiful picture of God's Kingdom breaking out and the "renewal of all things". There is no way we could be a part of this beautiful redemption without you. We are so grateful for your partnership, whether that is prayerful, relational or financial.

Thank you for partnering with us as we pray, "in the Great Rift Valley, as in Heaven."