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As a follow up to our last update about the Children of the Kingdom farm in Kenya, this update will be sure to encourage you on this summer day to see the bounty of watermelons in Lodwar. They have harvested over 1000 watermelons (yes, watermelons!) - sharing some with schools, selling some in the market, and giving some to families in need in the community.      "Honor God with everything you own;
give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over." Proverbs 3: 9-10
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The Covid-19 pandemic along with the looming drought in Kenya has left many people very vulnerable in the Turkana region. Children of the Kingdom students studying agriculture in colleges came together this spring and brainstormed ways they could apply their skills to make a difference in this crisis. Along with Veronica Lemuya’s help, they asked the government to give them a piece of land to plant some crops which then would be sold at low prices and shared with those in need. This property is located by the river, and they are using a solar-powered drip irrigation system. See below to see some of the fruits of their labor and the way they are giving back to the community. Seeing watermelons growing in the desert is guaranteed to bring you some hope for the days ahead.  The watermelon growing here will be ready in just two weeks.  Anderson, one of our students helping on the farm, inspecting the sorghum  Spinach growing strong  Pumpkin patch  The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:11 India's second wave of Covid-19 has been devastating, and Ratnakar Thota (our director in India) has shared the sad news that friends of theirs have died this past week from Covid. We were able to send funds over for some supplies to keep families healthy while we wait for the vaccine to become available for them, and Ratnakar gathered a small team that was able to distribute items to families last week. We are grateful for the generosity of Children of the Kingdom donors who made this possible. The Los Angeles Times reported today that "about 12% of Indians have received at least one dose. The number of shots administered daily has fallen steadily since a peak in April due to shortages. What’s available is going overwhelmingly to those who live in cities. The pandemic is laying bare the frailty of public health in rural India. It’s further exposing the inequality."      I share this reflection from Cameron Bellm and ask you to continue to pray for God's mercy and grace to abound for our Children of the Kingdom families in India.
"Where is God when terrible things happen? Right in the middle of it, holding us close. Walk straight into his comforting arms." Every year, students in Kenya are encouraged to write to their sponsors twice a year- once for Easter and once for Christmas. This spring, one of our students named Irine wrote a letter to her sponsors named the Gilberts in Seattle, WA.  Three days after I sent the letter to her sponsors, they sent me a letter back for Irine.   Along with these letters, I shared a picture I had of Peter Gilbert who was recently on the cover of USA TODAY as he has been the lead statistician for the US Covid-19 Prevention Network.  Then less than a week later, we received a letter back for the Gilberts along with pictures of Irine showing the newspaper to her head teacher at her school as she was so excited and proud about the connection.   This just goes to show that a short note goes a long way in building connections across the miles.   This reminds me of this beautiful song by Andrew Peterson: "Planting Trees" We chose the spot, we dug the hole We laid the maples in the ground to have and hold As Autumn falls to Winters sleep We pray that somehow in the Spring The roots grow deep And many years from now Long after we are gone These trees will spread their branches out And bless the dawn He took a plane to Africa He gathered up into his arms An orphan son So many years from now Long after we are gone This tree will spread its branches out And bless the dawn So sit down and write that letter Sign up and join the fight Sink in to all that matters Step out into the light Let go of all that's passing Lift up the least of these Lean into something lasting Planting trees She rises up as morning breaks She moves among these rooms alone Before we wake And her heart is so full, it overflows She waters us with love and the children grow So many years from now Long after we are gone These trees will spread their branches out And bless the dawn These trees will spread their branches out And bless someone  If you have not written to your sponsored child in a while, I encourage you to take inspiration from the Gilberts and sit down and write that letter. Thank you so much for your continued investment!  CNN reports that "India is on the brink of recording 20 million coronavirus cases as it continues to buckle under its worst outbreak yet. Authorities also reported more than 400,000 daily cases for the first time on Saturday and a record-high number of deaths yesterday." In light of this news, we are raising funds to get vaccines and other needed supplies for families in India. We have a donor willing to match up to $2000 for people who are considering giving a donation for this emergency relief. Please donate here and send an email to emilyhuff@childrenofthekingdom.net to confirm designation of your gift.  A Liturgy for a Time of Widespread Suffering
by Douglas McKelvey Christ Our King, Our world is overtaken by unexpected calamity, and by a host of attending fears, worries, and insecurities. We witness suffering, confusion, and hardship multiplied around us, and we find ourselves swept up in these same anxieties and troubles, dismayed by so many uncertainties. Now we turn to you, O God, in this season of our common distress. Be merciful, O Christ, to those who suffer, to those who worry, to those who grieve, to those who are threatened or harmed in any way by this upheaval. Let your holy compassions be active throughout the world even now-- tending the afflicted, comforting the brokenhearted, and bringing hope to many who are hopeless. Use even these hardships to woo our hearts nearer to you, O God. Indeed, O Father, may these days of disquiet become a catalyst for conviction and repentance, for the tendering of our affections, for the stirring of our sympathies, for the refining of our love. We are your people, who are called by you, We need not be troubled or alarmed. Indeed, O Lord, let us love now more fearlessly, remembering that you created us, and appointed us to live in these very places, in the midst of these unsettled times. It is no surprise to you that we are here now, sharing in this turmoil along with the rest of our society, for you have called your children to live as salt and light among the nations, praying and laboring for the flourishing of the communities where we dwell, acting as agents of your forgiveness, salvation, healing, reconciliation, and hope, in the very midst of an often-troubled world. And in these holy vocations you have not left us helpless, O Lord, because you have not left us at all. Your Spirit remains among us. Inhabit now your church, O Spirit of the Risen Christ. Unite and equip your people for the work before them. Father, empower your children to live as your children. In times of distress let us respond, not as those who would instinctively entrench for our own self-preservation, but rather as those who—in imitation of their Lord—would move in humble obedience toward the needs and hurts of their neighborhoods and communities. You were not ashamed to share in our sufferings, Jesus. Let us now be willing to share in yours, serving as your visible witnesses in this broken world. Hear now these words, you children of God, and be greatly encouraged: The Lord’s throne in heaven is yet occupied, his rule is eternal, and his good purposes on earth will be forever accomplished. So we need never be swayed by the brief and passing panics of this age. You are the King of the Ages, O Christ, and history is held in your Father’s hands. We, your people, know the good and glorious end of this story. Our heavenly hope is secure. In this time of widespread suffering then, let us rest afresh in the surpassing peace of that vision, that your whole church on earth might be liberated to love more generously and sacrificially. Now labor in and through us, O Lord, extending and multiplying the many expressions of your mercy. Amen.  In a recent interview with Melinda Gates about her book Moment to Lift, Brené Brown asked Melinda to tell her about the world we live in right now for women and girls globally and to describe the world she would love to see. In honor of International Women’s Day today, I decided to interview our partners Veronica Lemuya in Kenya and Saroja Thota in India to ask them these same questions. Veronica’s answers are below along with pictures from their International Women’s Day celebration today with women and girls in the village. Tell me about the world you see now for women and girls in your communities.
Describe the world you'd like to see.
What are your hopes and dreams?
   Saroja’s answers are below along with pictures of her with some of the women in the sewing program and some of the girls in our sponsorship program. Tell me about the world you see now for women and girls in your communities. Our society is a male-dominated society; moreover, women are not given priority in the home and are not treated as equals to men. In my experience of life, in my professional world and in my ministry in working with women, women are never able to share their opinions boldly or freely. They have to follow the instructions given by their parents or by their husband. Even today, women in our community do not have financial freedom, and in a marriage, everything depends on the views and opinion of the husband. Even though India is an independent country, women in our community still do not have independence. Describe the world you'd like to see.
What are your hopes and dreams? I want to help empower more women in India so that we can bring all these above points into reality by educating women as well as men in the proper way. Through the sewing program we have established for women, we are working on giving women skills and empowering them to have financial independence. See this site for photos of what the women have created. I feel fortunate to work with them and teach them important skills to overcome so many problems.     On behalf of all the girls in our program, thank you for your continued support! 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.    Children of the Kingdom Director, Veronica Lemuya, worked with the Director of Education in Turkana Central to plan on how to best provide information to children on hand-washing and other measures to protect themselves and their families, facilitate mental health support, and help to prevent stigma and discrimination by encouraging students to be kind to each other and avoid stereotypes when talking about the virus.    Pictured above is a teacher with her early childhood development class. Masks are not available for all children due to limited operations budgets in schools.  verse above that continues to inspire Veronica Lemuya in her work as director of Children of the Kingdom in Kenya  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:
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  Merry Christmas from Children of the Kingdom!  Ratnakar Thota, Director in India  Veronica Lemuya, Director in Kenya  Zakayo Ekuwam, Finance/ Admin Officer in Kenya  Martha Koech, Office Manager in Kenya  Emily Huff, Director in US  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.  '"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40 This passage applies to the sponsors, friends and loved ones who gave generously for the construction of new houses for three of our students, Patricia, Susan and Faith. These families had no proper shelter to protect them from any harm. For decades, they were rained on as the roofing they had either leaked or had collapsed, and they were exposed to the dangers of wild animals. Also, they had to worry about thieves who took their belongings over the years. When the Kenyan government announced lock down in the spring of 2020, it was difficult for these girls to stay in their homes because their houses were in such disrepair, and they had no way of social distancing.  Faith's old house in disrepair Veronica Lemuya, our Kenyan director, assessed the situation of these three girls in our program, put together a budget and a plan to build houses for them, and oversaw the projects. Now each of these girls has a new house thanks to her vision and servant leadership and thanks to the generosity of our sponsors who supported our Covid-19 relief efforts this year which allowed us to make this happen.  Faith's mother pictured with their new house above Faith will be taking her K-8 exams despite the disruption of school this past year. She is determined to do well in her examinations and join a national high school. She lives with her mother who is disabled and struggles to cater to her family’s needs.  Susan standing in front of her new house Susan lives with her two sisters, three brothers and other two cousins. Their parents died, and they are sticking together to support each other and survive. She is in 11th grade, her sister Juliet is in 6th grade, and her younger sister Mercy is in kindergarten. Her other brothers and cousins are not going to school and are doing what they can to make ends meet.  Patricia in front of her new house Patricia lost both of her parents, and she now lives with her three brothers and her grandmother. She is in 9th grade. She has sought out work as domestic help and as a nanny to help support the family.  |
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