New leadership – Finally, and to our great joy and relief, a good and reliable leadership is in place in Loki. Our local team LEDO has been strengthened with three well educated and spiritually minded people: Deborah HR, John Epuu PA, and Collins CEO. We met and worked with Collins during our time in Loki, Oct-Nov last year, and we have big trust in him. CMS (Children’s Mission Sweden) take economic responsibility for these three employees, which is fantastic. The goal is of course to strengthen the local team in order for them to grow in responsibility and leadership, both with regards to finances and administration. 

Pictures: To the left – Collins with wife and daughter, to the right – Collins together with John, the finance manager LEDO, Deborah and John Epuu together with Areman and Joseph who are the core people in LEDO, John and Deborah.

The Chicken Project – has been revived with 261 new chickens. The project provides jobs, eggs and meat. John Epuu has been one of the driving forces and we pray and hope it will be successful. We know that Georg, who was out building the chicken house with KeA in the scorching heat, is especially pleased.

The school is in full swing – and our headmaster Hellen tells us that at present they have about 400 students. The number was bigger before, but when the school become stricter about the small school fee to be paid, some parents and caretakers decided to take their children out of school. Unfortunately, they don’t value education well enough to pay that small fee. Very sad, one might think. Some parents move their children to Government schools because in a private school, like ours, the students don’t get access to general funds supporting secondary studies. We cannot provide support for all the students, and we also have had to set a minimum grade one must reach in order to be accepted in the MSS program. However, this results in fewer students and smaller classes, which promotes more qualitative teaching and hopefully higher grades. Higher grades will help students to enter the best secondary schools in Kenya. Pictures: To the left – Hellen with some students, to the right – IT-teacher Carlystus teaching computer lesson.

Green Houses – Hellen also tells us that the two greenhouses mean a lot – providing extra vitamins through all the greens growing there and not the least, giving the students a chance to learn about farming and cultivation.

Pictures: To the left – Students learning about farming. Upper right – The new shade net funded by a Swedish farmer. Lower right – cabbage growing in the shade net

Developing the school yard – The school has received money from Denmark through Charlotte and Thorkild, the Danish couple, who worked in Loki for a while, to develop the school yard with various playground equipment. This is something we have had in mind for a long time and now it will be realised. We are all very thankful to our Danish friends. 

Food Packages – are being handed out to 100 vulnerable children every week. Thanks to all faithful donors!

Mapendo Student Support Program – MSS – is supporting Secondary and College/University students and this year we have about 70 students benefitting from it. I think it is hard for many to understand what it means to these young students to be able to continue their education. We have followed several of them and seen what it means.
Some days ago, we got a letter of thanks from Triza, one of these students, who has now completed her studies and become an accredited lawyer. What a change of destiny for a girl, who would otherwise have been married off as a young teenager, had she not gotten admitted into the MSS program. She is now working with the Department of Refugee Services  at the Kakuma Refugee Camp as a Refugee Status Determination Officer. Thanks to all supporting the MSS Program and a special thanks to Jacob’s Foundation, who is increasing with four new students, supporting 30 as from next year.

Weekly village meetings – are continuing, guided by our evangelists Bernard, Francis, and Aron. People gather in different homes to fellowship, pray, sing and dance, getting more knowledge from the Bible, guidance in how to live in peace and reconciliation, taking care of one another and God’s creation – and at the end of the meeting sharing a cup of tea and a small piece of bread. These moments are a big help and joy for many. They often send me pictures and I really miss these moments. 

Partnership – between Hannaskolan in Örebro and its sister school Hannah Emuriakin is continuing, to our great joy. Among other things the school in Sweden is sponsoring a cinnamon roll party at the end of the school year and this year they are also funding a new water tank. Here are some pictures from the cinnamon roll party.

Jacob’s Foundation – is supporting in many different ways. Among other things, the people in Narot, a small village outside Loki, have received mosquito nets, preventing the feared disease Malaria.

Appointed by Children’s Mission Sweden – Rune Cedersjö has been appointed by CMS as Desk Officer for the projects in Loki. He visited Loki in November and got to see how things function on the ground. Here he is together with some of the ANA women and people from LEDO.

ANA Women’s Group – is also continuing with both the bakery and the jewelry making. Unfortunately, the jewellery doesn’t give much profit any more. It is hard to find the markets. I am trying to sell in Sweden but some of the models are out of date. Fashion change all the time. But they have made key-rings for CMS and I have ordered some bracelets that I will try to sell and some of the profit will also go to Ukraine through CMS. It’s a bracelet made of blue and yellow glass beads. If you want to order, they cost about 5 dollars.

The ANA women got help from our church’s (Mellringekyrkan) Christmas Bazaar 2021 to open a duka = shop at the main street to help them get some income. The profit is not that much yet but it seems as if ends are being met. We pray and hope that the business will take on during the coming year. The Bazaar also supports children’s and youth’s education via CMS. Pictures: to the left – the shop, to the right – Catherine, who is managing the shop. Bottom: Some pictures from this year’s Christmas Bazaar where KeA is selling sausages and hamburgers together with Mia.

Ikimat – Patricia has taken Ikimat back to Loki for Christmas as she use to and Ikimat offers her sweet smiles as always. She stays at the Maranatha Mission’s (Trosgnistan) home for children with disabilities in Komotobo in the south of Kenya where she gets good help and she has made fantastic progress. Now she speaks both English and Kiswahili well and she has also been taught practical skills. But I am sure she is happy to be back with her siblings and friends for a while.

Losike – continues staying at OVI, a children’s hospital in Migori, in southern Kenya. We hope he gets the care he needs. Patricia and his mother visit him once a year. He has gone through several operations in order to deal with the infectious sores he has on his bottom. He is often in my thoughts and prayers.

The Twins – have finally got a permanent home with a mother and father and lots of siblings among others a couple of twin sisters their own age. We pray and hope things will work out well for them! Patrica also visits them once a year.

There are of course much more to tell about both givers and recipients but one has to stop somewhere. We are extremely happy for Children’s Mission and all sponsors who give, making it possible for the projects and programs to continue. We really hope to be able to visit in October next year and take some of our sponsors with us.

And we end by wishing all of you a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR! / Birgitta & KeA

through Birgitta