MAY 2024

As you may be aware, just before heading back to Kenya, we had the devastating news about the landslides and flooding in Mai Mahiu, where Naomi’s Village is located. 61 people in the community lost their lives, including a preschooler from LEAP Preschool. Naomi’s Village was also flooded and all of the children were evacuated to Cornerstone. They remained there for a number of weeks due to continued flooding and inaccessible roads. As Cornerstone reopened for Term 2 of the school year, it made logistics interesting, with not only the Naomi’s Village kids sleeping there, but also visiting teams. Although the rains have somewhat slowed, there are still frequent downpours, which make clear up and reconstruction efforts difficult. It has been hard to comprehend what has happened here over the past few weeks and hear peoples stories. We have been struck by the one consistent theme in the community’s response; their unwavering faith in Jesus and trust in His plans, despite losing loved ones or material possessions. We can learn so much from this community when it comes to trusting Him in all circumstances. 

The boys are well into their final term of 2nd and 4th Grade and they continue to enjoy school. Anna has joined a toddler ballet class up at RVA and loves being with her friends. Rachel spends her days in Kijabe and is working on getting Hope Begins functioning as a child sponsorship charity. ‘Hope Begins’ has been approved by the Charity Commission as a registered charity in the UK and will provide a platform for people in the UK to sponsor children through Naomi’s Village and claim Gift Aid on their donations. Rachel is still working through the paperwork to get Hope Begins child sponsorship up and running, but the hope is that this will be ready by the time we visit the UK in the summer. Sean has had to hit the ground running on his return from the US and been involved in flood relief efforts. The rescue operations have now ceased and phase 2, the recovery process, is underway. Naomi's Village has got a lot of pull in the community from the years of work down there as well the resources to get things moving. We've been working with the local and national government, international aid agencies, local pastors and community leaders alongside the Kenyan military and the National Youth Service to get things moving. It's going to be a long road but it feels like things are starting to stabilise and gain momentum. There is a lot of collaborative and multi agency work happening to support those who need it most and work has begun on rebuilding some of the major roads and bridges.

At the beginning of July we leave for the UK where will be for just over 6 weeks and would love to see you while we are back. We know that none of this would be possible without your friendship and support. We thank God for you and for partnering with us as we say your Kingdom come, your will be done, in the Great Rift Valley, as in Heaven.