Tag Archives: Lord’s Servants Home

New Kids at the Home

We welcome 12 new kids to the family at The Lord’s Servants Home.  Most of them are starting off in the new Nursery class of our new Lord’s Servants Academy.  They come from a number of different communities through churches we are familiar with and have a variety of sad stories and pain in their past. 

These are the first 12 of 20 new kids we will welcome before the end of December to fill our home to 60 children, an expansion made possible with the completed construction of the new dorm building and latrines.  A few have sponsors already but most do not.  If you feel called to sponsor one of these and join us in our service to them, please contact us for more information.

Welcome guys!!!

Jasper, Ruth, Noah, Martha, and Joshua

Stella, Hillary, Faith, Nicole, Debra, Betty, and Dominic

Lord’s Servants Academy, est. 2012

This is very exciting new addition to God’s work at The Lord’s Servants Home.  The Lord’s Servants Academy (LSA) was opened in September with its initial class, a 25 student Nursery Class for students pre-1st grade (Kindergarten and earlier).  There was not a quality ECD (Early Childhood Development) school in the community and children typically head off to 1st grade poorly prepared and get a slow start.  The LSA will provide a Christian based education and importantly, a lunch every day.  For many of these kids, it may be the best meal they have.  The classes are held in the LSH dining hall which is clean, well-lit, has electricity, chalk board, a kitchen, latrines, water, and resources of the LSH and Liyavo Bible Church.  Special tables and benches have been prepared for the schools use for the little people.

The class size is 25 students which is very good in Kenya.  Of the 25, 8 students are our own LSH children and the rest is from the community.  We do ask a fee which is standard for a private school but unlike most private schools, plan for roughly 50% of the community student to come from families that can not pay all or even a portion of the fee.  We will maintain this proportion, serving the poorest children, as a blessing to the community.  The LSH will even assist the poorer families with uniforms by making them as an outreach from the older kids at the orphanage.

Angela Matanyi has joined the LSA staff as Nursery Class teacher.  She is highly qualified and has nearly 10 years of teaching experience with nursery aged children, is certified in ECD, and is from the area.

The school year cycle in Kenya begins in January.  We see the need and therefore is our goal to expand the LSA to include and additional 25 Nursery students and also begin a 1st grade class.  Currently a second ECD teacher and a 1st grade teacher is being sought.   We will partition the dining hall with moveable curtains or walls to allow for separate classes.  We pray that this effort will provide a blessing to the community by serving the youngest of school age children with a great start to their education.

Trip planned for January 2013

Our plans are beginning to take shape for our next trip to The Lord’s Servants Home.  At this point, Greg Perkins and I will leave the US on 23 January, spend two weeks at the orphanage in Kitale, Kenya then travel to a town north of Jinja, Uganda to visit a relatively new ministry and orphanage that is serving in that area.  Others may join us at The Lord’s Servants Home. 

The timing of this trip is such to allow us to A) catch the kids on their school break and get to know the 20 new ones that will have joined the home by then, B)  Complete the fresh water well project during the dry season, and C) travel by land to Uganda during the dry season.

Our trip outline in rough terms is as follows….

  1. Projects.
    1. The new well.  Our goal will be to prepare for this, decide what course of action, and complete installation of the well, pump, storage tank, piping, and chlorinator before we leave.
    2. Many small projects associated with the goods on the container.
    3. Implement some mentorship projects.
    4. Review of all projects implemented previously and act as needed. 
  2. Business discussions.
    1. Budget review for 2012, new budget for 2013.
    2. Current and long term issue review.
    3. Lord’s Servants Academy (new nursery school) vision, short term plan, and long term plan.
    4. Farm future plan and use of the land.
    5. Cooperation between The Lord’s Ministries, The Liyavo Bible Church, and The Lord’s Servants Home.
    6. Plan outline for the next visit.  How many, what kind of activities, how long, when?
  3. Visit the Stream of Hope for the African Child ministry and orphanage in Uganda.
    1. Get to know Pastor Isabirye and the ministry goals and needs.
    2. Deliver some medicine, goods, gifts, and relief.

Please keep us in your prayers as we finalize our plans and work towards gathering provisions to complete our purpose to serve and love the people in Africa and honor God with this.

2012 Mission Trip Review

Praise God for a safe and mind boggling trip.  As I review what was done, I get more amazed.  I hope this brief summary and photo gallery gives you a good feeling for what happened.  All the glory is God’s!

Our Goals were to…. 

•Make a spiritual impact on the orphanage, community, and supporting ministries
•See major projects completed
•Implement Home improvement projects
•Make a connection with the kids in a way to benefit them long-term
•Discuss future objectives and set direction
 

 Here is a brief summary of the things that God worked out on our trip….(click on a photo to start a gallery showing)

Statistics….
 
•12 People including 6 newbies
•Over 5 week span on the ground
•3 Churches given messages
•3 Schools visited
•Over 1000 pounds of stuff brought and left.
•6 Major projects finished
•Many small projects and improvements finished.
 
 What we brought with us….. 
 
•Custom Dresses and shorts
•T-shirts
•Soccer jerseys and shorts
•Underwear and socks
•Soccer balls
•Swings and tetherballs
•Washboards and wringer equipment
•8 computers and peripherals
•Digital projection equipment
•Digital audio players for Bible groups
•Digital media with Jesus films and Bible
Translated in Swahili and other dialects
•Custom dolls
•Bracelets
•Bookmarks
•Letters
•Books
•CDs and DVDs for kids
•Puzzles
•Tools and repair parts
•Candy, treats, toys
•Beekeeping equipment
•Sewing supplies and patterns
•Art and craft supplies
•Mural paints
•Clothes, shoes, towels
•Swahili Bibles
 
The people doing the hard work are the Pastors (Moses, George, Protus, and Ken), Caretakers (Rose, Bonn,  Caroline, and Eunice), and Social Worker (Dorothy), plus the church members at Liyavo Bible Church, Sarura Bible Church, and Kwanza Bible Church.  We are very grateful for them and pray for their continued energy and dedication.

New Dorm Building Finished

The ground breaking for this project was in mid-February and in less than 6 months we will have completed the move in.  That’s excellent progress anywhere.  This project also includes rainwater collection, extensive rainwater runoff grading and culverts, electrification, security lighting, new beds and furnishings, a walk-under to the dining hall, and concrete aprons completely around both dorms.  The existing dorm building is also being painted and repaired.  This project has improved the proffesional looks to the orphanage immensly.  It was a real blessing to have the funds, timing, and people to make this possible.  Pastor Moses and his team delivered ahead of schedule and to budget.  All of this for $50,000.  Praise God!

This new building already served as an impromptu hostel for about 100 out-of-town guests to Mama Pauline Mudenyo’s funeral a few weeks ago and will now allow the separate quarters for the boys and girls and additional room for 20 more children.  The boys will occupy this building as well as the resident caretakers, and several guest and sick rooms.  All the moves are planned for this coming week.

 Check out more photos here.