​Students returned to school in January in Kenya, and new school guidelines were put in place to ensure student safety including required temperature checks, hand-washing stations, face masks, and social distancing measures.

Our team in Kenya started the year off by bringing hope and support to over 8000 students in the area as they helped to provide some of these new requirements for 16 schools in need of supplies to help control the spread of Covid-19 and to keep the children healthy. At the beginning of January, the Children of the Kingdom team distributed 250 face masks, 70 water containers and stands for the hand-washing stations, 1000 liters of liquid soap, and 100 hand pump bottles for classrooms. 

​If you would like to support this effort to provide more sanitizing stations to more schools, click below. 

The holiday season is full of lots of emotions. Yes, there is joy as we celebrate the birth of Christ as our broken world so desperately needs God's love to break through. And yet, there is also so much to grieve from this last year that has been lost.
 
“The 'hopes and fears of all the years' meet in Jesus; and a 'weary world rejoices' at his coming. Hope doesn't replace fear; it invades it. Rejoicing doesn't replace weariness; it inhabits it."  - Scotty Smith

Despite the odds in 2020, Veronica (our Kenyan director) and Ratnakar (our Indian director) loved our children well this year, and Children of the Kingdom did not miss a beat in supporting kids and families.  Though schools were shut down for many months this year, we were still able to meet our mission in sharing the love of Christ with children in need, and I am filled with gratitude and joy to share the following things that we accomplished in Kenya and India: 

• Over a month’s supply of food was distributed to over 1000 families.
• 1700 masks were given to families and to the community.
• Fresh drinking water was distributed to three villages.
• Detergent, soap and hand sanitizer for families and schools were delivered to keep them healthy.
• Houses were built for four families who needed shelter.
• 14 laptops were purchased to support students with online learning.
• Medical treatment was provided to children and families who were sick.

 
We are so grateful for your support and the work we do together in this ministry. Thank you for your generosity which has made such a difference in this unprecedented year.
 
May the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven, shine on those living in darkness and guide our feet into the path of peace. (see Luke 1:77-78)
 
Happy New Year, 
Emily Huff 
USA Director 

On this Christmas day, we are giving thanks for the tender mercies of our God in this past year for the children and families in Children of the Kingdom.  May He continue to give light to the darkness and guide us in the way of peace into 2021. 

This is a summary of the report written by Veronica Lemuya about how students are coping with school closures and online learning. (Be sure to watch the video below to get a window into what it is like for students to keep up with their studies in Kenya.) 

When the pandemic emerged in March, many learning institutions in Kenya decided to close schools, colleges and universities under the direction from the Ministry of Education, the Education Task Force and the Kenya National Union for Teachers.  Policymakers are facing the same issues in Kenya as other countries around the world as they weigh the options between closing schools (reducing contact and saving lives) and keeping them open (allowing workers to work and maintaining the economy).  Students have been out of school since March, and this disruption has taken its toll on so many students and families in Kenya. Beginning in October, the Kenyan government opted to introduce online schooling for the second term for 4th year students (12th grade) and students in their last year of college.

Online schooling has been a significant shock to parents’ productivity and to children's social life and learning.

Students and their families are facing many challenges through online learning:   

• There is a lack of electricity and power in homes as not all students live in permanent houses with proper power supplies.
• Some students don’t have smartphones/laptops/tablets to access online classes.
• There are regular connectivity problems, and there is limited access to reliable networks.
• One of our students cited a scenario where she was given an assignment to print. She came to the Children of the Kingdom office to print the assignment, and then she had to complete it and send it to the lecturer through the mail.  Systems such as this are inefficient and time-consuming. 
• There is a lack of space for learning at home.
• Student assessments are also moving online which involve much trial and error and generate uncertainty for everyone. Many assessments have simply been cancelled. 

Importantly, these interruptions in learning will not just be a short-term issue, but they will also have long-term consequences for the affected cohorts and are likely to increase inequality. Furthermore, plans for the re-opening of schools are still not in place because many schools have not yet complied with COVID–19 health and safety regulations.

This past week, our dear partners in ministry in India were able to distribute food and basic medication to over 100 families along with 200 masks thanks to the generous support of our sponsors.   30 of these families have children sponsored in Children of the Kingdom, 20 of them have women who are a part of a sewing ministry we have partnered with over the years, and 50 families have children affected by HIV/AIDS who are in need of support.  

As we mark the anniversary today of 9/11 and as we continue to grapple with the effect of COVID-19 worldwide, the ongoing exposure and cost of racism, and now with massive fires burning in the western US, it is clear that 2020 has put us in a state of emergency again and again. 

I offer you this prayer below as you hold all these things and look to God to be our unshakable hope in this time of great need. 

A Liturgy for Moments of Emergency: 
O God our Rock, hold us in this chaos. 
O Christ our King, calm us in this season. 
O Holy Spirit, intercede for us. 
Be merciful, most merciful God! 
O God our Rock, hold us in the chaos of this hard hour. 
O Christ our King, calm us in the storm of our distress. 
O Holy Spirit, intervene and intercede. 
We need you now, most merciful God. 
-Douglas McKelvey, Every Moment Holy 

This is a summary of the report written by Veronica Lemuya about our second food distribution in Kenya.
​
As locusts destroyed the vegetation in Turkana and other parts of Kenya in June and July with the worst locust outbreak in decades, the rich are no longer rich, and the poor are poorer than before. This became a crisis within a crisis dealing with the locusts on top of the country’s fight against the spread of COVID-19.  Not only this, but this spring, there was a flood that took out the water supply for some families in Lodwar for a time, and there was even an earthquake that unsettled many families. The resulting economic devastation has left many children and families suffering from the loss of employment and income and not enough food and water. 

Children of the Kingdom has stepped in during July to support 564 Turkana families (160 sponsored and 406 non-sponsored families).  The first distribution of emergency relief was shared with 300 families in May, the first water distribution took place in June reaching three villages, and this second food distribution was just completed in mid-July.  Since schools were not in session for the second term, we utilized those funds that would have been used for school fees to support children and families in this time of great need. 

​Our mission is “to share God’s love with children in need through the gift of education to equip them to be servants in the kingdom,” and our ministry was able to provide critical support to families with some of our current and former students leading the group of volunteers to make the distributions happen.    
​

In this second food distribution, the food was delivered house to house in line with regulations laid out by the Kenya Ministry of Health. The following food items were delivered to each household: 10 kg maize, 10 kg maize flour, 10 kg beans, 3 kgs sugar, 500 g of fresh and dried fruit, 1 cabbage, 500 g onion, 1 kg tomatoes, 1 kg potatoes, 500 g salt, 250 g tea leaves, 500 g washing detergent, and 2 bars of soap. 
​

Veronica Lemuya, our new director, has hit the ground running and has already done more in a month than most people are able to pull off in an entire year.  After just one week in the office, she had already made rounds to visit several families and students in the program to survey the needs of the community.  She found that the majority of families whom she visited were struggling to put food on the table, and they also needed more information on COVID-19 and on precautions to take to prevent the spread of the disease.   She reported that adolescent girls needed sanitary pads as these are normally distributed at boarding schools, and many of them cannot afford them now. Her visits were also important to let families know they had somewhere to turn if they were in need of resources and support.  Being on lockdown means that people must stay at home, but homes might not always be safe as some students might be at higher risk for sexual/domestic abuse during this time of COVID-19.      

​From her initial report, we worked on a budget to pay for some of the most pressing needs that families shared with her including food and other supplies as outlined in the caption above.  We were able to draw $15,000 from our 2019 Rafiki Run contributions and from other generous donations for this emergency fund.  Over the last two weeks, she recruited former Children of the Kingdom graduates and others in the community to help with the distribution. Veronica shared that some of the volunteers expressed how meaningful it was to be a part of the distribution as they were able to see the needs of the community for themselves, and it was a way for them to give back to the program which had supported them.  

She reported that this verse below was the theme verse of the distribution:   

​Veronica shared, “I could see the joy in the eyes of the children and their mothers. Many were breaking down in tears. I could hear them saying "Ejok noi" (Turkana for “Thank you”) and "Asante Sana" (Kiswahili for “Thank you”), and they wanted me to convey that message from the Turkana children to the Children of the Kingdom family in the US….The entire exercise was an eye opener to me. It’s a call to pray, to reach out to the children, and to give them a shoulder to lean on sharing with them their challenges and walking with them step by step.”   

The stories around the world of health care workers who are sacrificing so much in order to save others is incredibly inspiring. We are so grateful to share that a few of our very own Children of the Kingdom graduates are making a difference in this time of global crisis as health care providers.  

​Devera Bapanamma Bhargavi joined the sponsorship program in 2015, and this gave her the opportunity to pursue nursing school.  After she graduated, she got a job at GSL General Hospital in Rajahmundry, India, where she works in the pediatric ward. The hospital converted many of the wards to support COVID-19 patients, and she has been given a charge for one of the wards.  We are so grateful that she is a light in that hospital providing hope in this time of great need. 

​Lorna Lokuwam Lojock was first sponsored in 2005. She had always dreamed of being a doctor when she was little, and her dream came to fruition in 2017 when she received her degree in Clinical Medicine from Kenya Methodist University.    Lorna shared the following statement: “I thought I wouldn’t make it at times. But with the help of our Almighty Father, I opted for the Clinical Medicine course which equipped me with so much knowledge and so many skills to help my people with different health conditions in the village. I graduated and got registered with the Clinical Officers Council. Having my people's interest at heart and seeing this as the best way of giving back to the community, I have had the opportunity to create a difference in my society and especially in this period when the whole world is fighting COVID-19.  It takes some time in the evening to walk around my village to create awareness and educate our villagers on how to protect themselves and practice good hygiene.  I have been able to help those who have become sick at night and expectant mothers who have not been able to reach the hospital, and I have been able to treat snake, spider and scorpion bites so that they are no longer a threat to people like they have been in the past. The support has been immense, and I really thank God for Children of the Kingdom.” 

​John Kospir joined Children of the Kingdom in 2008 after a difficult childhood losing both parents when he was young and living in poverty.  In 2016, he joined KMTC-Embu Campus to pursue his studies in community health nursing.   
He shares the moment when our former director in 2008 told him that someone had stepped up to be his sponsor.  “At that moment after I heard that, tears started rolling down my cheeks because I realized that God has answered my prayers as He makes a way where there seems to be no way thus bringing back my hope in life making me realize my potential in life.  I thank my sponsors for taking the initiative to help me get the opportunity for a promising life. Thank you for choosing me as your own child and taking that initiative of paying my school fees.  May God bless you abundantly.”
He chose to enter nursing because he wants to come alongside people when they are in pain and in need of consolation and support just as he has been supported through this program. 

​Thank you for your support that is training up and equipping students to become servants in this time of great need.