Huruma News Update January 2009 Vol. 2

In This Edition:

Church

Visitors

Garden

Water harvesting

Biogas Plant

Working with HIV Positive Ngong Women

Construction of the dormitories starts again

Fun day with Huruma Children’ s home.

Because life gets so hectic, and Caroline our administrator who used to write our newsletter has left for her masters in USA, we decided to create this newsletter to help us remember what happened over the past month. We hope our friends and partners would appreciate the news update, so here is the Huruma Newsletter.

Enjoy!
Love,
Huruma Family.

Background of Huruma Church

Our Church started way back in 1996. It was a time people never understood our Mum’s vision. We became a very big bother to the church where we were members until Mum and Dad decided to begin a church in the home’s grounds and called it Huruma Chapel which mainly was populated by little children. We were very worried of our Dad for he had never been a Sunday school teacher, but always an elder and later an Assistant Pastor in the church where we used to worship. God was very faithful because he spoke to Mum through the words of Jesus Christ himself that say “where two or three are gathered together in his name He is there.” True to his words. Dad took the hem of the church with a lot of boldness and l am proud to say that today he has raised giants of faith among their children. Mum was always in the background and she supported Dad with raising praise and worshippers in the church. Today l am proud to say that one of his sons by the name Joseph Kanyiri has been appointed by Mum to take over as the Pastor of Huruma Chapel. He is also representing our church in Olkeri Pastors Fellowship which Dad had started a few months ago before his demise. George, Samuel and Kwaka are helping in the technical part of the church, Margaret is our treasurer, (Celina Changavo popularly known as Mama Tom has taken over the Junior Youth which was Dad’s class. And we have members like Catherine and David in charge of the ushers and Moses is in charge of praise and worship. And am happy to tell you that for the first time since Dad went to be with the Lord we had our first Holy Communion in our church.

From Pastor Joseph Kanyiri’s Mouth

It all begun on 30th October 2008 after the Pastor of Huruma Chapel suddenly passed away in the afternoon. This was after spending a very memorable and intimate time with the kids and some visitors who had visited the home that day. The church congregation consists of children from the home, staff as well as some people from the community. After being under the pastor’s teachings in the church as well as under mum’s teachings both at home and in the church, the issue touched my heart and God started calling me to serve Him on behalf of our Pastor. On 8th January 2009 I was appointed as the Pastor of the church, which is a very big blessing to me. Being under the teachings of the late Papa Isaac and Mama Zipporah for 13 years, I have a reason to be the Pastor of our Huruma Church and God is good, for that is what I am. As the pastor of the church and on behalf of the church council, am hoping for a very big change in our spiritual growth within the church. Also am hoping for a bigger congregation as time goes, in our new upcoming church building which will be able to hold a capacity of 300 people. To Gob be the glory. Yours in Fellowship.

Harvesting Water: Standard Chartered Bank

This is an idea which was introduced by Michael a forester from Canada who has since then left Kenya. He came to know about us through Donna Mansfield in Canada and he was a very big blessing to Huruma for he invited us all to Nakuru, where he was teaching about trees and had a beautiful Tree Nursery. He introduced the importance of harvesting rain water from the roof-tops of our houses, harvesting water from the road sides then draining it into our land where we then dig deep trenches to hold water for long periods of time this resulting to our trees growing strong.
When Standard Chartered Bank in Kenya asked about the project they can support Mum told them about the need of collecting water from our school which was a very expensive project. They bought a plastic tank 14m of water and also fixed gutters all over the school to collect rain water. The problem now was where to drain the water because it’s a lot of water and we saw there was a danger of mixing the collected rain water with the borehole water in our main tanks. So now we are digging a water collection point which is 13 feet dip and we hope it will be finished by mid March so that we can be able to save the water we are harvesting. Still we shall dig another water point for the church after it is finished as it has a big roof. Thanks Standard Chartered for starting this amazing project for us. We are very proud of you and May God bless you so much.

Garden and Animals

We just harvested a lot of maize which we had planted as a school project which is Mum’s class that involves all the children from grade 4 when Dad was alive. He helped in watering the maize seedlings for we planted when there were no rains. As we ate the maize we missed our Dad for he should have been a part of it because for him he wanted fodder for the cows as he was responsible for the cows too. Beside the maize we grow vegetables too. We do not have a big garden because the building has taken over most of the land, but it’s our prayer that we shall be able to buy a big farm where we shall be able to grow most of the food we eat instead of buying which is very expensive nowadays.

The Biogas Project

Mum is very funny because when she not caring for the children, she is coming up with projects. Now that firewood is very expensive and also the smoke is not healthy Mama thought about the Biogas project some years back. She even visited Nairobi show so that she could know what it is. Since then she has been working and talking about it and she said she desired to use biogas in our new dinning hall and kitchen instead of firewood. She has just finished installing four big burners which will be cooking with gas which will be generated from the cows (biogas). Last year in January she dug a very big deep hole and through Huruma friends she got Consultants from Pioneer Technologies who have donated their time and knowledge to see that the biogas project will work. It’s a very expensive project which by the time it gets finished it will have cost a lot of money and time, and we thank everyone who is helping to see that we do not have a health hazard in our home. We thank all who have supported this Idea and contributed financially and morally and if it works, it will be of great help to the home.

Visitors and Volunteers

In January we received very few friends and also we saw volunteers coming to the end of their staying term in Huruma. Shauna from Cornerstone Church finished her term of 6 months in Huruma and we felt a gap when she had to leave. All the time she was here she was teaching grade two and often went shopping and to movies with the children. We shall miss her greatly.
Also we had Keren from Israel who has since left Kenya and went back to her country. She helped with the babies and mostly you could find her in baby class helping teacher Zipporah. She stayed in the home for three months. Both of them were of great help when our Dad died and also when Mama left for the USA they were left with us which was a big help to us in Huruma.

Caroline leaves for the USA

Our parents always encourage us on education. Even though they do not have a lot of it, they believe in good education and they always us that “education is the key which you can open successful doors in your life”. In their lives they pledged that they will give the best of education to their three children. So they took them to private schools since they were young. This made them very intelligent and Caroline got very high marks which took her to a National High School here in Kenya and from there she joined USIU (United States International University), where she passed with Cum-laude in Journalism and Public Relations. Now she has left for the USA with help of Pastor Linn and Lisa Winters of Cornerstone Church in Chandeler Arizona, where she will be for the next two years pursuing her Masters Degree in N.G. O. Management so that she can be able to come back and help Mama. She has been working for mum since she did her first degree and she has all her blessings, although it was very hard for her to leave us but Mama says one has to pursue his or her dreams. I am now working for Mum after working for one and a half years for Africa Expeditions Ltd as a Manager in one of their Camps in Northern Kenya. My expertise is Hospitality Management which I feel l can give to my brothers and sisters in the home. I still would like to pursue my masters in Strategic Management but that will be later when Mama is stable.

Working with HIV/AIDS Positive mothers

As l told you earlier when Mum is not working she is dreaming of projects. She is a visionary and a very talented woman. Now she has a dream of that even though she is helping children with HIV, she also wants to help mothers infected by the same. This will enable them help themselves and if she is able to help the mothers they will be able to feed their children and she will help eradicate the dependency syndrome which is very common in women who are infected by the HIV virus. Currently she is helping about 15 women who are HIV positive and among them three Maasai women who are all talented in bead making. She started the beautiful beads project which now the women have joined, and she pays them for production of bead materials. They live in the slums of Ngong town and they are picked up in the morning with all their children who attend the Huruma School. They have produced a lot of beads which we sell to friends of the home. With time we shall recruit more women. We have also another woman whom we rescued when she was almost dying due to lack of food and she is on anti-viral medication. The woman now is working in Ngong where she bakes cakes and sells them to people. We pay for her children’s education and the eldest wants to be a neuro-surgeon and he is in a boarding high school where he is doing very well and twice he has won the first prize which entails been paid for school fees for a whole school term. Am so thankful that you have been involved in giving light to a child who had lost hope in life.

Plan Of Our New Dormitories

Below is the plan of our New Dormitories. It will be able to host about 400 children among them children from normal families. We stay in the same house as Mama promised her heart that she will not build for herself until her children have a better place to sleep. For the last 4 years she has been walking for her children. And now Dad is gone she still has to continue struggling to build for her many children.

We feel so humbled for helping Mama to feed, clothe, and educate us even though some of you have never come to Kenya. I pray that God will remember your giving and commitment to the needy children in Huruma. Thanks for believing in Mama’s ministry and reaching in a big way to support her work. On 4th of April’ 2009 we are inviting you to come and join us in thanking God for his goodness and also have fun together.

For those who would like to be a part of the this big dream of Mama to building for her children, we would like you to know that we have opened a separate account for the construction of the dormitories and if you want to be a part you can send your donations to:

Standard Chartered Bank of Kenya,
Karen branch: P.O. Box 884470,
Nairobi, Kenya.

A/C Name: Huruma Trust Fund,
A/C No: 9702018291000
Swift Code: SCBLKEN XXXX .

May God bless you.
Catherine Sialo.

For any donation in USA Make checks out to:

“Cornerstone Church” and annotate on the bottom left in capital letters “HURUMA FUND”. Send to: Cornerstone Church Attn: Finance Jennifer Larkin, Director of Finance Cornerstone Church Office.

Phone: 480-726-8000 FaxND451 N. Dean Ave.Chandler, Arizona 85226

In Kenya you can send your Donations to:
Huruma Trust Fund
A/c 1621704
Barclays Bank of Kenya - Karen Branch or

Contact Mama Zipporah [ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ]
+254 (0)20 2018989
+254 (0)733 678285 or
+254 (0)724 724181

Last Updated on Monday, 28 September 2009 11:39