The Old and the Young.....

This last couple of weeks you can really see that the rains have stopped and the dry season is upon us...everything turns brown and the dust starts to blow and covers everything in your house....it reached 93C this week and for me that is too hot...

Well as a result it is harvest season with many people mainly women gathering crops in from the fields. I arrived one day this week to see our very own KaKa (well in her 70's) threshing what to me looked like grass...on closer inspection it was found to be Accha something which is used like porridge...you beat the grass and it lets go of its seeds which you then spread out in the sun to dry...it is just like it talks about in the Old Testament its amazing to see it enacted...

The Old .....and the New.....

We have another new arrival amongst our girls...making 19 in total...this one however is unusual in that she is tiny...she is somewhere between three and four years and arrived with her brother who is about 9 to live with us this week.

Her name is Favor and she is so small Mama Sati can carry her on her back...God has rescued her big time....Her mother was a single parent and a prostitute and lived on her own with no contact to any family.. she used to go to work at night and tie Favor to the bed post with string so she would not wander and ill treated both of the children. Needless to say they are very attatched to each other having survived together... Then at Christmas time their mother suddenly died and never left any provision for them....

A lady from the local church who tried to befriend the mother took them in but as she has already six children of her own, her husband gave her the ultimatum either them or me....so...amongst much sadness she brought them to us.

She clung to me for the first two hours after the lady left, I carried her around everywhere i went...she is adorable, so small and yet a little character....it is so sad to see how small someone can be and how much they can have suffered already...truly humbling and reminds me of how thankful I am that i had a good safe and loving childhood...the right of every child.

New Girls "skipping along" nicely.....

Our four new girls have been with us for three weeks now and are definitely blossoming...They all have their jobs to do...sweeping, washing clothes etc.. and have quickly settled into a routine. They are so keen to learn English to speak and to read it...and they can all copy what we are saying...Sandra (aged5) still tries to talk to me in her own tribal language and of course i can't understand a word but that doesn't stop her...she chatters away.

They have all learnt to skip since joining us only Happy had previously seen a skipping rope and the others didn't know what to do with one...but now they are all excited to show you how many skips they can do...

They are so needy of physical affection and as soon as they hear your voice they come running and throw themselves at you !!! this week they nearly knocked down our visitor of 75 years ...she had all four hanging off her...so excited were they to think a Grandma from America had come to visit :)

So although they are exhausting...it is so lovely to see how they are thriving and how just a few weeks of love and care can make such a big difference in their lives. God really saved them from their past and has given them a chance of a new start.

Look at this delightful picture .... Sandra was so happy when we recieved a donation of fish last week, she savoured every last drop and ate it bones and all....her smile says it all...Thank You

"Big" School Girls.....

Look at these three "Big" secondary school girls ... all ready in their new school uniforms to go to school. They are so excited to be in Secondary school and have no problem with the fact that they have to walk an hour to get there and an hour back again at the end of the day. Its great for Ruth the eldest on the right to have Elizabeth and Alheri join her this year as they all trek together up the road...

Each one of these girls has many stories to tell of how badly they were treated by their families before they came to live with us . They carry the physical and emotional scars on their bodies, as a result of ignorance and superstision, but inwardly they are being renewed each day by their Heavenly Father. They now feel safe and loved and cared for and are thriving...each keen to learn...each with their own struggles...each precious princessess of the King.

Praise God that through our ministry they have a chance to a new life....please keep praying for them they are really precious girls.

new girls....

Let me introduce you to our new girls......Four arrived on Friday making a total of 18 now living with us....

Two sisters called Happy and Sandra aged 9 and 6 years . They are from a split polygamous home left with their father who is unemployed their aunty took them in but having a lot of children of her own already could not provide for them any longer. They are delightful but soooo needy of affection and care. Happy tells me she is as her name says always happy !!! we will see

The other two are 10 years old on the left Patience and on the right Rose. They both have only one parent alive and have been neglected. Rose has also had a lot of occultic involvement and was at risk from her community















They were shown their room and were so excited to see that they could get to sleep on a bunk bed , the joy in their faces was well worth the effort we took last week with the painting. These girls will stay together for about three months as we train them and disciple them before integrating them with the old girls. It is exhausting keeping up with their enthusiasm and demanding behaviour as they adapt to living with us...please pray for Mama Praise as she lives with them and also has a new baby herself...



To be able to offer these precious girls a chance of a happy, loving , stable life is a real privilege...

At times like these I am reminded why our ministry exists...as we follow our Lord's example to love the little children he cares about so much.

Thank You for helping to make it possible to give a chance of a new life to such as these.

Camping...

This weekend was another first for me...Camping.....in Nigeria and actually in a tent....
A group of ten of us drove about an hour outside Jos to a place called Kurra falls, a truly beautiful little spot around three lakes. It was quite amusing to see how much stuff we loaded in the van for just one night....but we camped in style , courtesy of a couple who have been missionaries here for 26 years and had been to this spot many times...we even had a table cloth on our table.....

It was great to be able to relax in peace and quiet with no tooting horns and constant noise, all we could hear were the sounds of nature around us. We were able to hike up the hills and scramble over rocks , sit in our deck chairs and admire the scenery and cook on an open fire!

Jamie and I slpt in a small childs tent...so small we slept sideways which caused much hilarity as we touched both sides and we are only small!!! just as we were trying to go to sleep we were assaulted by creatures, it took us a while to work out what it was in the dark, a bit unnerving but we figured it was bats in the end as they were dropping from the trees and scurrying in the leaves etc around us !!! but all a bit scary in the dark...

But it was a true little oasis and was very refreshing to our souls....a place to be visited again before too long. A place where it was possible again to appreciate our Creator God and have a real sense of peace....Hallelujah.

Look at my crazy assistant !!! needless to say we had a great time playing in the trees ...I will surely miss her loads when she leaves in December...

Training the Leaders of Tomorrow

The last couple of days have been holidays here due to the Muslim sallah celebrations and so it was a great opportunity for our children to have some training in some of the practical things of life....

We are having 6 new girls join us this week, all orphaned and all needing to come now now....so I decided that the senior girls and i would paint the building where they will stay as it was in a desperate need...

These girls have never done anything like it in their lives but it was great training for them, something which will be useful to them in the their future homes !! and to help them to take responsibility for these new sisters

The next morning around six thirty i awoke and heard a lot of activity outside and i saw all of our boys and uncles outside cutting grasses and clearing the banks along the road near our compounds....it was great to see the uncles leading by example and showing the boys how to use the hoe and sythe and to take pride in the appearance of their surroundings. The girls too were included and all did their section....

I was reminded of the holistic nature of our ministry, to provide training practically and spiritually for our children so that they can have an impact on their society when they are older. In doing such tasks as these hopefully we are empowering them to be able to help themselves and others.

It was a priviledge to work alongside our girls, covered in paint and exhausted i might have been but a real sense of achievement was felt all round and a lot of fun into the bargain.