KamZamNews

New Year, New Direction for the Kamau Family

2012-01-03T18:15:00.000+02:00

The Mandate

1 The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those who are bound;

2 to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified. 4 They shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations

Isaiah 61:1-4 (World English Bible)

Greetings to you dear ones,

The Lord has commanded us to go and proclaim the good news throughout the world. In obedience to this call, our church released us to go to Zambia five years ago to be involved in orphan rescue.

There was not much when we first arrived, but right now at All Kids Can Learn, Villages of Hope in Zambia, 42 boys and girls are receiving loving care through godly care-givers, hearing the message of God’s love and salvation regularly, discipleship, a school, productive farm and businesses (takeaway, bookstore, and boutique) have been established to help generate income for financial sustainability of the orphanage. In May 2009, a church was planted which is even now growing (approximately 75 children and adults). The membership is drawn from the children, caregivers, including people in the surrounding villages who attend the church.

New Direction 2012 -- Transition to Nairobi, Kenya / Ministering in Mukuru Kayaba Slum

Kimberly is pointing to the shack where Kamau and his family once lived for ten years.

Why is this necessary?

When our church sent us out as missionaries five years ago at the invitation of All Kids Can Learn International, in part, it was in answer to the question that our mission’s committee had asked. “How does a small church go into another country and begin children’s home for orphaned children?” This time at the Villages of Hope has been an invaluable time of learning about establishing a home for children from the ground up and seeing God at work in amazing ways. This has given us the courage to step out and trust Him in a new venture.

Since the work in Zambia is now established and growing, our hearts are burdened to reach out and rescue more children. These are the children who live in the hovels and the shacks of mukuru Kayaba slums in Nairobi, Kenya. My wife and I have been seeking the Lord through prayer and counsel from our church leadership regarding the way forward. They have also given us their approval to proceed with the transition to Kenya.

We discussed at length what the transition to Kenya would entail and how this may impact the children at AKCLI. Our church leadership was encouraged to learn that the Zambian and International Board including the Executive Director of All Kids Can Learn International and his family will continue to provide leadership during this time of transition and our subsequent departure.

Children looking for food to eat or something they can sell to get food.

The Need

“He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted…” There are thousands of children who live in the hovels and the shacks of Mukuru slums. This is the place where I lived for 10 years as a teenager. These children live in hopelessness, spiritual darkness as well as physical deprivation due to hunger and neglect.

Very often families in slums eat just one meal a day, a supper, and maybe have something small for breakfast. Sometimes they go without food. The average income is about 150Ksh or $1.50cts a day if a mother is able to wash clothes for her clients; however this is not always reliable. The coping strategies are to skip meals or have a late breakfast instead of breakfast/lunch etc.

Inside one of the shacks in the slums

What is our plan to address these needs?

“To proclaim liberty to the captives…”; This will entail proclaiming the truth of word of God, with the goal being to bring light into the darkness so as to address the spiritual, mental and emotional hopelessness and despair.

The first stage will involve creating a safe haven for children to come for Bible clubs, study, tutoring, and recreational activities. Towards this end, a building will be identified in the Mukuru slum, the plans are to renovate or rebuild it for this purpose. As the Lord provides, a meal will be provided on a regular basis to the children in need. The name of the ministry in the slum will be Hope Anew Children’s Center.

Mukuru Kayaba in Nairobi. One of the many, many alleyways to manuever within the slum.

The second stage will involve acquiring 20 acres of land on the outskirts of Nairobi. The purpose for the land will be to build Hope Anew Children’s Home and also grow farm produce to sustain the children and provide food security. The children home will cater for the very needy such as double orphans including abandoned and neglected children who will need to be removed from the slum.

What will be the result?

The Scripture below describes the ministry focus that we believe God has given to us:

“For he issued his laws to Jacob; he gave his instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the next generation might know them---- even the children not yet born and they in turn will teach their own children. So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands. Then they will not be like their ancestors—stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God.

( Psalm 78:5-8 New Living Translation)

Our prayer is to reach children such as these with the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Our prayer and hope is that as the children are exposed to the truth of the word of God, they will know that He loves them and wants them to come to him, that though they live in abject and grinding poverty, that Jesus cares for them and has a divine purpose for their lives.

This is what happened to me when someone cared enough to point me to Jesus in my moment of despair when I lived in the same slum, knowing that God created me and purposed for me to be here, knowing he understood my sorrow and inner pain and that he was able do something about it, liberated me. Jesus lifted me from the dunghill of quiet desperation and hopelessness; He made me clean on the inside and gave me an abiding hope for living. My wife and I believe that He has now sent us out to this area of the world to proclaim this message of hope; that He has come to set the oppressed free and to break every yoke, spiritual and otherwise; to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke.

We believe as the children are instructed in the truth of the word of God, they will come to know Jesus in a personal way and this in turn will transform their lives to grow up to become the men and women God created them to be.

When will this move take place?

At this time we do not have an exact date when will be relocating to Kenya but we will continue to keep you updated on new developments. Meanwhile, we are continuing our work at the Villages of Hope while Kamau travels back and forth between Zambia and Kenya to make arrangements for work permits, housing, transport of our household items, etc.

Where should I send my donation to your ministry?

Many of you have currently been sending in your financial support for our family to Partners Worldwide through a partnership with All Kids Can Learn International that had been in effect for several years. This partnership ended in June of 2011; however, they graciously permitted donations for our family to continue to be handled by their office until we could locate another sending agency. We have accomplished this undertaking and so it is no longer necessary to send your gifts to Partners Worldwide.

As of November of 2011, we are now missionaries with Go Ye Fellowship, which is an interdenominational, international, evangelical mission sending agency formed in 1932, whose offices are located in Pasadena, California. We are delighted to join this special group of people in fulfilling Christ’s command to make disciples in other nations.

There are several ways that you can make a donation. Whichever method you choose please indicate that your donation is for “Francis & Kimberly Kamau – acct# 190001 if it is for our personal family support. If you would like to make a donation to Hope Anew Ministry specifically as a special project please indicate “Hope Anew Ministry” with your donation.

1. By Mail

To begin supporting us you may make your check payable to “Go Ye Fellowship” and send it to:

Go Ye Fellowship

PO Box 40039

Pasadena, CA 01114-7039

2. Online—by credit card or electronic check

Go to the Go Ye Fellowship website – www.goyefellowship.org

Click on “Support GYF.” Under “Secure Donations,” Click on “click here” and follow instructions. You will find our name listed under “missionaries”

3. Direct Deposit Program

This is a means whereby your authorize Go Ye Fellowship to process debit entries to your bank account once a month, on or around the 10^th of each month. Contact the office for a form if you would like to make an automatic donation once a month.

4. Online through your bank’s website. Once you have signed in to your account on your bank’s website you can make your contribution through Bill Pay.

5. By calling the Go Ye Fellowship office (626)398-2305

They can accept either credit card or electronic check donations over the phone.

We are very appreciative of your support and encouragement over the years and we are extending our hands in welcome for you to continue to partner with us in what the Lord has invited us to do: “…caring for orphans and widows in their distress.” James 1:27

May God’s grace & peace rest upon you,

Francis, Kimberly, Kimani & Malaika Kamau

The Chicken At Our Window and Other Discoveries

2011-09-14T16:41:00.000+02:00

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10


Even though we've become friends, I still can't get my hand too close because she may bite me	!

The curious sight of a chicken nestled on the ledge of our bedroom window laying an egg, will certainly cause one to take a few moments to be still and contemplate the fact that God is most assuredly;

“Beautiful beyond description, too marvelous for words, too wonderful for comprehension; like nothing ever seen or heard. Who can grasp his infinite wisdom who can fathom the depths of his love?” Truly, it causes my soul to be in awe of Him. Isn’t amazing how God can use a plain ordinary chicken to stir our hearts to worship?

The chicken arrived at The Villages of Hope last month as a gift for me by the grandmother of one of the children that live at the village. As it was presented to me, I saw that it was tied up neatly in a basket quietly awaiting its fate. We untied it and let it walk around as we considered whether we should eat it that day or wait a few days. While I was certainly appreciative of the sacrificial gift, I really wasn’t feeling up to the task of beheading, defeathering, disemboweling, and dismembering the creature. So, we let the chicken walk around and become familiar with its surroundings. I tried to resist the temptation to give her a name because then we may become attached and it would be difficult to make a meal out of her, but I gave in and named her Maizy. After some days, I noticed that Maizy had developed a very regular routine of rising at 5:50am, foraging for food until around 10a, climbing onto our bedroom window to rest for about an hour and lay an egg, forage for food until 6pm and then climb into the tree outside of our window to sleep.

Whenever Maisy appeared at the window to rest, it was inevitably during the time that I was having my Bible study time at my desk. I was able to look at her very closely and marvel at God's handiwork. I even discovered that when a chicken blinks, its eyelid goes up and covers the eye instead of coming down like mine does. Wow God!

See what kind of discoveries can be made when time is taken to be still? Here are some other delightful discoveries that I made while taking a moment to sit and talk with some of the children from the village as they were preparing to visit relatives over the school holiday. The conversation began in this way:

Sharpie: ""Auntie Kimberly do you know how to kill a hyena in the bush?

Me: No Sharpie, I can't say that I do.....do you?

Sharpie: Yes, I do! You have to make a gun out of branches and shoot it with monkey oranges!

Me: Oh my! Really! Where should I try to aim for, its head?

Sharpie: Anywhere, just shoot the monkey oranges and if it hits the hyena it will really hurt it!

And so began a very intriguing discussion on various hunting methods of creatures found in the African bush. I learned from several of the children the following helpful information:

Baboons are very, very bad. They can snatch the slingshot out of your hand and use it on you! They also throw rocks. The best way to deal with them is to trap them in a tree and then set fire to the tree so that they can't get away.
When hunting for mice to eat, I will need a bucket, maize and some water and string (I think). Anyway, I was advised that I could catch a lot of mice using this method as long as I set it up correctly. Also, I have to be aware of a certain type of mouse that makes it difficult to catch a lot of mice because this mouse won't let the other ones inside of the bucket trap, because it wants to eat the maize for itself.
There is a type of squirrel that I need to watch out for. It is a chicken eating squirrel that can eat quite a few chickens over a period of a few days. I will need to catch it quickly otherwise it can completely steal all of my chickens and I won't have any left. (This is important for me to know I realize, because I wouldn't want Maizy to be in danger. I feel grateful for this tip.). When the squirrel is caught, it can be eaten. It tastes a lot like chicken.

Well, I feel a little more confident about my survival skills should I find myself stranded in some of the remote areas surrounding our village!

On a different note, We are looking forward to the visit of my sister and brother-in-law in two days. They will stay for two weeks and we will be returning with them on the 29th of this month. It has been three years since our last visit to the US and we are excited about seeing many of you, especially in the Delaware, Maryland, and Washington D.C. area. We will be visiting for the months of October and November, so please keep a look out for us if you are able!

We would like to invite you to pray with us about the following:

Safe travel to and from the US
Many opportunities for fellowship and sharing what God has been doing in your lives and ours.
That God would provide a vehicle for our temporary use.
Pray for Dick Mumba as he will be assuming many of Kamau's responsibilities while we are away.
Pray for Ben & Kathleen as this will be a busy time for them as well.
Praise God for touching the hearts of His people in providing the funds necessary to replace more than double the amount of chickens that were lost in the fire!

Thank You, thank you!!

May God's peace and grace rest on you as you take time to be still and let Him delight you heart with fresh new discoveries!

The Kamaus

The Good,The Burned, and The Roasted!!!

2011-08-29T17:07:00.000+02:00

Dear Ones,

August started beautifully! The cold season making way for the warm, but windy and dusty season! At the Village of Hope, the children have been out for the school break! We were also hosting visitors from a church in Wisconsin.

For some time now, the missionary families have been praying about reaching out to the neighboring villages and also introducing our children on how to share the message of Christ to others. We decided August was a good time to begin this effort. Our outreach focus was going to be the neighboring Aralussa Farm village, with plenty of time on our hands, we all decided to prepare and rehearse for the outreach!

Rehearsing for the outreach

These involved skits, games, choreographed praise and worship dance music, setting up and tearing down of the various activity stations for the big day!!! It was such fun and we were all excited because this was the first time that we were taking our children to another village for outreach.

David and Sharpie came to watch the rehearsals, but they were deeply involved in their knitting!

Finally the big day arrived! We loaded up the tractor with all of us wearing bright yellow shirts and made the short drive to the Aralussa Farm! It was such a delight to watch our kids witness as they shared the message of the sower and the seed through the skit and narrative! There were about 80 children who attended from two villages. Many had never seen anything like this and especially done by their fellow kids! They were very orderly and heartily participated in the various activities.

Annette and Tereshina enjoying themselves!

Please pray that God’s word which was sowed in their hearts will take root and awaken a desire to know him more! We would also like to follow up and disciple the children on a regular basis and we hope as the invitation is extended, that this will become a reality. This is was the good part!

Dick Mumba leading a praise and worship time

Shadrach Paul and Nelson with balloons!

Children attending the event playing one of the games

Now for the challenging part!

Wednesday August 24^th began just like any other beautiful Zambian day! Little did we know that before the day was over, we would be stretched and confounded in more ways than one! A little after 1:00 pm; someone noticed smoke rising from the neighboring farm close to the highway, before we had sufficient time to organize ourselves, a gust of August wind kicked in and the little flame very quickly became a gigantic inferno that furiously ate up everything in its path and spread into our farm. It reached the chicken coop where we have our layers and those of us who were at the village fighting the fire did not know until after the fire what had really happened.

The fire then headed towards the school; we quickly drove there and to our relief found that although the fire was very close, the little fire guard in place would protect it. Because of the tall elephant grass, the fire was several feet high and propelled by the wind, it very quickly got into the village! We fought it using branches as no water was readily available! We prayed and asked the Lord to please bring the fire down and cause the wind to cease! After a while the fire burned itself out and we now could pause and assess the carnage!

Mr. Bwanga removing chickens from the scorching debris

We soon found out that of the 265 layers, 247 had completely burned up! The 18 which had survived were scattered near other buildings. We salvaged what we could and were appalled by our loss but grateful that no people were hurt and that apart from the chicken coop, no other buildings had been damaged. I realize for those of you who have never been to Zambia, you may perhaps be wondering, why did you not call the fire brigade? I wish it were that easy! But we live in a rural setting and for many of us a fire truck is something of a novelty.

We were all standing around stunned by swiftness of the fire and the damage it caused.

Some of the surviving chickens, no doubt traumatized by their harrowing experience!

We decided to give away the burnt chickens to the staff and sell the rest to a neighboring village.


Where there are chickens there are rats!!! They were weak and disoriented from the smoke and fire, which made them easy to exterminate!

It goes without saying that roasted chicken was on the menu for all of the Villages of Hope and the neighboring Nyrienda Village. Actually, we believe that those who had acquired the chickens that we sold were so busy eating them that we didn't even hear blaring music from the taverns that night! Hey! that is a good thing!

Grateful to our Lord,

The Kamaus

2011-07-23T15:16:00.000+02:00

(Nelson & Paul)

Greetings to Everyone!

As we approach the end of this month the weather is still cold, but our hearts were certainly warmed by the visit of a team of four from Colorado. It was a small group but they certainly provided a great deal of much needed assistance in various areas, for which we are very grateful.

One of the goals that we have at the Village of Hope is to raise children who will be able to boldly share their faith in Jesus Christ with their generation. Recently, Kimberly began to hold a training class for Nelson and Paul to instruct them in how to share the Gospel, teach Bible lessons, and participate in other teaching activities within Hope Club. Her background with Child Evangelism Fellowship has once again proved to be very useful in helping to prepare young people to become involved in missions.

All of us were delighted with the colorful teaching of Mark, one of the team members. He used balloon sculpture and Gospel illusion to captivate the attention of children and adults alike!

In these pictures, Mark is giving us instruction in how to make balloon sculptures and teaching ideas as we prepare for ministry in surrounding villages.
We were also able to have sewing instruction for some of the girls and caregivers at the Village of Hope and also the Chimwemwe Ladies Club. Verla showed them how to operate the machines and to make bags, shorts, and skirts. All of the students were very enthusiastic and it was truly a joy to see!

(Verla with Malaika, Namakau and Mary S.)

(Malaika making a bag)

(Matilda working on a sewing project)

Towards the beginning of the year, guitar instruction began at the village with three students! Here is Brighton hard at work on a musical piece he is learning.
The chicken pox and mumps are still making their rounds at the village. Here are some of the sufferers of chicken pox, Maggie and Joyce with anti-itch calamine lotion decorating their faces, arms and legs.
Using what we learned from attending the Foundations For Farming conference in farming God's way, we have been busy collecting natural materials just laying around the property so that we could make our own compost. In these pictures the children are engaged in picking up cow manure. As you can see, it was an unpleasant task but they willingly went about it without complaining!

(Standing by the pile of manure for our compost)

When all the materials were gathered, we began to make our compost. We made repeated layers of grasses and leaves that had been cut when they were green, sticks, dry grasses and leaves, and manure and then added water to the cube of materials. It will take about eight weeks for it to be ready. We are really excited about the idea of using this compost to enrich our soil for maize and other vegetables. This will teach our children that it is not necessary to depend on the store-bought, high cost chemical fertilizers, (which damage the soil over time) and hybrid seed to grow crops.

(Working together to make the compost pile)

Here is the completed pile! We will turn it about once a week so that it can decompose properly.

So, as you can see, these few weeks have been a delightful time of teaching others new skills and learning many helpful and fun things!

May the grace of God and His peace rest on you!

The Kamaus

2011-06-22T17:44:00.000+02:00

(Esther and John at at a special Hope Club party)

(The excitement of tasting ice cream for the first time for most of the children, thanks to our visitors Kayla and Sarah who treated us to the cold confection at Hope Club)

(On June 16th we were viewing a lunar eclipse with the children.)

Of Witches, Mumps and Pox, Oh my!

...From Kamau

Greetings friends! I trust this finds you all doing well! From what we’ve heard, you have been experiencing a sizzling hot summer season especially in the East Coast! Here in Zambia, the months of June and July are usually our winter season and yes it has been getting cold late in the evening and especially early mornings’ but it has none the less been a rather warm winter which is unusual.

You in the Northern Hemisphere may find it hard to believe, but it really does get cold in Zambia to a point where I have been forced to wear several layers of clothes to stay warm. The house we live in has a tin roof and no ceiling such that when its get cold, the only solution is to dress up and go to bed early. Now during the hot months, the opposite is true! The same tin roof gets so hot you feel like you are broiling slowly.

Now about those pesky witches! This is one of those things which as an African I really find aggravating! Especially when I witness the strong spiritual, emotional and mental bondage many are subjected to including some believers! It especially get me riled up when I see the adamant rejection of the care of a medical doctor because the person or the family of the patient believes that the illness has nothing to do with normal sickness which any person born of flesh may suffer, but a belief that someone has cast a spell or that out of jealously, the patient has been bewitched and therefore medical science has nothing to offer.

This was our experience recently when one of our workers became seriously ill and we decided to take him to hospital. He was admitted into the local district hospital but a few days later, his wife and his brother came to see me and told me that the patient was being transferred to the national hospital for more specialized care and they therefore need money to help facilitate this transfer. They were given the funds but several days later, they came back and said they needed yet more money! I was confused and thought perhaps we were having a communication barrier, because as far as I knew the transfer to the national hospital and already been effected! I don’t speak their particular language and so I asked one of the staff to translate. It finally came out that they needed the funds to pay a witch doctor who I was told was treating the patient! I got so angry and told and them there was no way we were going to take money God’s people have provided to pay for the services of a witchdoctor!

The whole story eventually surfaced and I found out that lies had been told; the district hospital had not really transferred the patient but the family had decided to remove the patient from the district hospital and taken him to a witchdoctor in the village because they had decided that what he was suffering from was not a “normal illness” but that he had been bewitched and therefore the only way he could be cured was through “traditional means.” They were heard to say that they had seen a witchdoctor and that the witch had actually shown them on a “screen” the persons who had bewitched their loved one. According to the family the people responsible for the “bewitchment” were the patient’s two co-workers who out of jealousy had done this terrible deed.

Now, being accused of practicing witchcraft is a very serious charge in Zambia! People accused of bewitching others have been killed and sometimes burned alive in their grass huts! Killings of people suspected of witchcraft occurred recently in a place called Mansa. You can therefore appreciate the deep hurt and pain our two workers were experiencing not to mention the danger inherent at such an accusation. The two threatened to report this matter to the police in order to be accorded protection and help guard their reputation. When we as management found out that the family had removed the patient from the hospital, we decided to step in and do whatever was necessary to help him access medical care. We paid a visit to the home of the worker’s parents in the village to plead with them to allow us to take him to a good hospital. We found the worker lying on a mattress on the ground very weak and emaciated; he could barely see or talk. We were informed he had not eaten for days nor used the bathroom. After some discussion, the family agreed to let us take him to the hospital, we took him to a private hospital where we were sure he would get proper care and attention. The doctors at the well equipped Egyptian Orthodox Hospital very quickly diagnosed him with TB which is a treatable disease. He was there for almost a week and was beginning to eat and get stronger when he suddenly took a turn for the worse and died. He was only 27 yrs. He left behind his wife and two children, one a very young baby. The cause of death was listed as respiratory failure and TB. NOT witchcraft! But a treatable illness! I can’t help but wonder if he would be alive today had he been able to access thorough medical attention much earlier instead of a dalliance with primitive and hollow remedies.

Here at the children’s home, we have faced our own challenges with chicken pox among some of the children and an outbreak of mumps. Four of our children in the same house tested positive for mumps and just last week, two other children from a different house also tested positive! We hope it doesn’t get out of control; we are trying not to panic! (Did I hear witchcraft!!!) Just joking! I am reliably informed that this illness is particularly bad for boys and especially older men! Boy, am I glad I have 44 children!

May God's peace and grace rest upon you!

The Kamaus

2011-04-22T15:53:00.000+02:00

Bwanji! Dear Ones,

In case you are wondering why everyone in this picture is dressed in fancy wear, it is because we all attended a wedding this past Sunday! One of the teachers at our School of Hope, Bruce Malowa wed his bride Alice and we were invited guests!

All of the children were so excited to be able to attend and get dressed up for the day.

Nelson, Shaibu and Isaac were feeling very debonair!

Kimani and Malaika

Here is a picture of the happy couple, although the picture does not reflect their joy! In Zambia, especially in rural settings, the wedding couple is expected to be very serious and somber even. This was really a culture shock for us because we are used to beaming smiles and laughter and if there are tears, they are clearly tears of joy!

Teacher Bruce's grade seven class was permitted to attend the reception. In this picture the children are watching the wedding party dance their way to the bridal table.
It was a very long day as we waited for the the bride and groom to arrive, watch various processionals, listen to the Pastor preach, witness the saying of the marriage vows, and prayers for the couple. Docklin took a moment to walk around and take a peek out of the window to see what else might have been happening outside!

Do you remember the maize that we planted using Farming God's Way? Well here are some of the children harvesting our crop! We are now learning how to make organic compost so that we can enrich our soil in preparation for the next planting season.

New arrivals at the Villages of Hope!! No, not children this time, but dairy cows! Shaibu and Joe are learning how to milk them in this picture.
When the milk has been collected, the children deliver them to the houses scheduled to receive milk for that day.

In March of this year, our nephew, Kamale, ( 3rd from left) from Kenya, came to live with us and attend school in Zambia. Also in this picture are our friends from Kenya, Anne and Lawrence and their two children who were visiting with us for two weeks.

Anne and Lawrence played some very interesting games with the children that helped to develop their thinking and communication skills. Actually we all enjoyed playing them!

All in all, the month of April, which is one of the months that children are out of school, was pretty quiet for us. Several of the children went away to visit relatives during this holiday time.
We are grateful that everyone returned safely and settled back into their regular routine. School begins today!
Please remember the newlyweds in your prayers for the Villages of Hope!

God's Grace & Peace rest on you,

The Kamaus

Kamau Family Update

2011-02-17T17:58:00.000+02:00

Hello Everyone!

Recently, we received an end of the year update from one of our friends and it was such a pleasure to read how their sons were growing and developing their own interests. It kept them on our minds for days!

We thought that you might want to find out what the four us have been doing or thinking about individually over the past year. (This does not include the cats, although they have certainly been up to quite a bit of mischief and who can tell what kind of dark thoughts are swirling around in their minds! But we are sure you are not interested in hearing about their shenanigans!)

To start with however, we thought you might be interested in a wildlife update. Do some of you remember back in the seventies and eighties when the news reports were full of warnings about killer bees from Africa making their way to the United States? There were even some made for television movies about savage swarms of bees terrorizing unsuspecting people!

Well, we don't know if the fiendish buzzing insects ever made it to the US, but they have certainly been making themselves at home right here at the Villages of Hope. Their latest sojurn being a tree next to our house. We took a picture of the teeming mass because we thought you might enjoy looking at them. :-)

(We all agreed, except for Kamau of course, that this disturbing image can certainly cause many nights of unwelcome nightmares!)

After about two days they left and were spotted fighting with some other bees. This is what we were told by some of the children in the village, who seem to be quite knowledgeable about all the goings on in our little village!

(Here is Rafiki, the newest member of our family, who is very friendly as his Swahili name indicates, but at times exhibits some sociopathic tendencies. We like him though.)

From Kimberly:

Lately, it has been my joy to take time in personally developing as one of the worship leaders in our church. We have four teams which are led by Kathleen, Dick, Rose C. and myself. I had always been very nervous about playing my guitar in front of groups of people, (maybe this stemmed from a time years ago when I was playing and the guitar slid off of my lap.) I really hated the struggle because I felt like it was not honoring the Lord to be so concerned of my potential embarrassment and what people might be thinking. After all, He doesn't mind if my voice cracks or if I play a wrong chord or if the guitar winds up on the floor during praise and worship. He is concerned about the attitude of my heart before him. So I have been learning how to freely come before the Lord in worship and focus on what makes him wonderful and helping others to enter into worship as well. Whenever I have free time it is usually spent practicing worship songs and classical music styles on the guitar or reading.

I really love teaching, whether it is Kimani and Malaika in our homeschool and taking great delight in finding activities that will help them learn in fun ways or in Hope Club teaching God's Word to our children. Earlier this month, I began teaching guitar to Mary B., Brighton, and Joe. I am excited at the thought of how the Lord will use everything that they are learning for His glory!

This year I am hoping to also begin teaching several children at the Villages of Hope how to share their faith in Jesus Christ with others and also to train them how to teach Bible lessons to other children. Please pray that God will show me which children to begin with and that I will be faithful and consistent in instructing them.

Feeling Joyful,

Kimberly

From Kamau:

As I recall the years that the mission committee met in our home in Delaware and prayed for Southern Sudan, I am very excited and grateful to God. I am so encouraged to witness how God has so graciously answered those prayers. Just this month, the referendum for the independence of Southern Sudan was held and it passed with an whelming majority. The South will officially become the newest independent country in world in July of this year! After more than 20 years of war and oppression, finally a breakthrough has sprung forth! God is indeed faithful and he does answer prayer!

As my church in Delaware continues to pursue a piece of land where we can build a home church, I can vividly remember how for years we have prayed and petitioned the Lord for this vision to became a reality in our time. There are times we despaired and did not see how this could possibly happen, but just like Elijah after a three year drought in Israel, I can see a little cloud on the horizon and I ask myself, Lord, is this it? Is this the time that our long wait and prayers will finally be realized? Will this land we are now pursuing be the answer to our years of prayer? I can only hope and continue to pray and remind myself, that our God is gracious and indeed faithful! He has done it for the people of Southern Sudan in answer to the prayers of God's people, perhaps at GEFC, now is our time!

Now, many of you who know me are aware that I have not been one to take a great interest in farming. Actually, I have found this occupation to appear rather dreary apart from when I am eating farm produce! Of late however, I have suddenly become very curious about this noble profession after observing Mark Wenham, our farmer friend from Zimbabwe, teach about farming God's way and witnessing the results of the demonstration patch that we began last November.

I find my self looking forward to a trip we are taking to Zimbabwe in March to attend a Foundations in Farming conference and field demonstration that will present principles from the Word of God and apply them to farming. I do not know why, in my late forties, there is now this interest, but who knows, maybe with all of the children who have entered our lives, God may want me to learn how to grow and provide food security for them now and in the future!

Ready to learn new things,

Kamau

(At first, learning the guitar seemed so hard, but now I feel good that I can play some nice pieces of music!)

From Malaika:

Dear Friends,

I'm ten years old and I'm in the 4th grade. I like soccer but the boys in the village barely even pass the ball to me. I really, really like school, but sometimes I don't like school. I play guitar and sometimes the recorder. We have two cats and one of them is named Rafiki, which means "friend" Kiswahili. This is the language that Kenyans in Africa speak. I am learning that language and I'm learning how to type. It's fun. I am also learning about American History and I like it. I am sometimes homesick for the United States, although I have my brother and my parents and cats to cheer me up. We went to Kenya in 2010. It was fun. I got to visit my cousins there and we stayed with some friends for awhile. While I was in Kenya we went to a restaurant called "Carnivore," and I ate different types of meat. The new things that I ate were ostrich meat and crocodile meat. It was tasty.

Bye for now!

Malaika

(I am so excited about learning chess. I had been waiting a long time for my mom to teach me! Now I am waiting to learn some strategies so that I will be able to beat my brother and play my grandfather one day!)

(Malaika, Kamau & Kimani visiting friends in Kenya last year.)

(Here I am at one of my favorite places!)

From Kimani:

Habari Zenu!

That is how you say "hello" to more than one person in the language of Kiswahili. How are you? I miss you all so much.

I am twelve years old now and I am in the sixth grade. Here is an update on what I have been doing and some things I like to do. I still love reading, and I love playing the guitar and hanging out with our two cats Orlando and Rafiki. I also really like math and I am enjoying learning about physics. Computers really interest me! We have a drawing and computer programming program which my sister and I use to draw cartoons and animate them. It is really fun!

We're learning how to speak Kiswahili because, I mean, we are part Kenyan and we thought it would be a good idea to learn it.

Well, goodbye! Or in Kiswahili, "Kwaheri!"

Sincerely,

Kimani

( And here I am doing one of my favorite things!)

Well, we hope you have enjoyed our personal update!

With much gratitude for you all,

The Kamau Family

2010-12-24T20:42:00.000+02:00

A Very Merry Christmas to All of You!

The rainy season is upon us and farming activity is well under way. The monkeys are also quite active in their thievery as they regularly raid maize fields!

Our children at the Village of Hope are taking some baby steps in farming as they experiment with planting their own little patch of maize. We have received some instruction from Mark Wenham who is an excellent farmer. He taught us principles from the Word of God that we can apply as a foundation to our farming technique. Here are some of them:

1. Be faithful with what you have been given
2. Give and you will receive
3. Whatever you do, do it with all of your heart as unto the Lord. Make sure our standards are excellent.
4. Do not be wasteful
5. Do it with joy

Mark had a captive audience as we learned how to prepare the ground (first through prayer), dig the holes neatly and evenly spaced, apply fertilizer and the seed, and mulching.

He then performed two experiments; one demonstrating what happens to the soil when fields are continually plowed which cause loss of important nutrients as opposed to the soil in which the field has been cultivated using conservation farming methods. The other experiment demonstrated the importance of having “God’s blanket” or mulch applied over the cultivated area once the seed and fertilizer has been applied and how much moisture and soil were retained in the area with the mulch.

The children and caregivers have been taking turns weekly in caring for our maize patch and we have been very encouraged by the growth and health of the plants!

(The Mumba Family, Back Row from right: Dick, Jesse, Anita, Abraham, Front row from right: Rachel, Michelle, Esther)

We would also like to introduce to you our new missionary family who joined us in November this year; their names are Dick and Anita Mumba. They have five children, Jesse 17yrs, Abraham 16yrs, Michelle 11yrs and two 8yrs old twins’ girls Rachel and Esther. They are from Zambia and have been serving in the mission field with a ministry called Youth With A Mission in the Eastern part of Zambia for the last five years. They completed their five year commitment with YWAM and felt lead to Join All Kids Can Learn to help minister to the orphaned and vulnerable children.

Life sometimes has an interesting way of catching up with you; Kamau and Dick first met twenty one years ago when Dick, then a single man, left Zambia and came to Kenya to attend a Discipleship Training School where Kamau was a student. After graduation, both went their separate ways, married, had children and continued serving in the mission field in different locations, little did Kamau know that one day, he would come to Zambia as a missionary and not only renew his ties with Dick, but actually end up serving alongside each other in the mission field. Dick has attended a bible school and served as a pastor in several churches in Zambia. His wife Anita is a trained pre-school teacher and has worked in the role of teaching for the last past five years. Anita is from a small island in the South Pacific, she and Dick met in Kenya where they both worked at Youth With A Mission.

Kamau is particularly happy to have Dick on board as he will be another father figure to our 42 children and yet another 16 children to be admitted sometime next year; It was becoming rather challenging for Kamau to spend quality time with all of the children! Dick will also assist in our local church at VOH among many other responsibilities. Please be praying for the Mumba family as they begin this journey with us.

On the 22^nd we had our Christmas dinner celebration. The event was catered by the restaurant and we invited Pastor Zulu and his family to join us. We put out some tables, chairs and benches and arranged them on our front lawn. It was a very nice intimate atmosphere, just like an outdoor restaurant! After eating, the children sang songs and then the mothers and the aunties sang. Dick led us in singing after that and we had a really nice time.

(Anita Mumba with some of her children and Kimani)

Kimberly shared a Christmas message about an African American pastor in the early 1900s named Charles Tindley who pastured churches in Delaware and in Philadelphia. After witnessing gifts being passed out to children on Christmas day and one child being left out, he was heartbroken and asked God when would there be a time when the Spirit of Christ would so fill the hearts of people throughout the world that such things did not happen. The Lord responded by reminding him of Rev. 22:1-1,2 where it speaks of the tree of life and that Jesus is this tree! From that time he began to preach on "Heaven's Christmas Gifts" at Christmas time and many people were saved. They are, Hope for the Helpless, Forgiveness for the Guilty, Help for the Weak, A Friend for the Friendless, Peace for the Troubled Soul and a Home for the Homeless.

We then sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and also to Kamau because he was celebrating his birthday that day. We enjoyed some cake before we ended a very good day!

May the grace and peace of God rest on you moment by moment!

Many many thanks for your continued partnership with

us in this ministry.

The Kamaus

(Mama Anna with her children on Christmas Day!)

Mysterious Morning Conversations & Delightful Visitors

2010-08-26T19:58:00.001+02:00

(Paul and Dockline at Hope Club)

Recently, I was fully awakened to the sound of voices coming through the window. It was Kamau and six year-old Dockline engaged in an out of the ordinary discussion. It went something like this:

Kamau: “So what have you decided, are you going to let him go?”

Dockline: “ No, I want to eat him.”

Kamau: “ But why? Mama Rose is fixing you a nice breakfast.”

Dockline: “Because it is good.”

Kamau: “Well how do you eat it?”

Dockline: “ I take off its head and then its legs because it has a spiky thing on it. The belly part has rice in it and it is good! Then I put it on charcoal and cook it and eat it.”

Kamau: “ Oh, I see. Now what if a giant came along and said that he was not going to let Dockline go because he wanted to eat her. Would you like that?”

Dockline: (Giggling) “No I don’t want to be eaten. I’ll let it go.”

Kamau: “ Okay, but now why are you pulling off its legs? What if someone said that they would let Dockline go but they would have to break her legs first, would that be good?”

Dockline: (More giggles) “No!”

What in the world!!!?? As you can imagine, I was intrigued by the exchange and when Kamau came into the house I began to ask questions. It turns out that the unfortunate subject of the conversation was a grasshopper! Dockline spends a fair amount of time hunting them, playing with them, dismembering them, and apparently enjoying them as a delicacy! (I don’t want to think too closely about what the “rice” inside the grasshopper might be!)

Greetings Dear Ones!,

Well, it has been a delightful season of visiting teams from the U.S. We have enjoyed the return visits of our church family and friends from Delaware, meeting old and new brothers and sisters from Wisconsin, Colorado, Philadelphia, Maryland, Texas, and Michigan.

Children at the Village of Hope and in the surrounding villages were treated to special activities at the Hope Bible Clubs, craft projects, learning new games, Vacation Bible School, etc. Our visitors spent time reading each evening to our children at VOH and listening to the children read to them, playing board games (which is not done much in Africa) , teaching knitting and crocheting, wood working, making balloon animals for them, and many other goings-on! At the School of Hope, various classes were learning how to prepare skits and musical programs which they were eager to perform for visiting teams.

The following pictures provide a panorama of what the visitor season has looked like for 2010:

The Delaware teams participated in the Hope Clubs and spent time a lot of time just hanging with the children and loving them! In this picture Rose Chipoya is translating for Stacie and Jim.

This event was an end 0f the quarter program. The team from Wisconsin and youth from Maryland were on hand to witness the festivities.

Roman was enjoying his new balloon hat after Mark from Colorado delighted the children with various balloon sculptures!

During the month of June, South Africa hosted the World Cup and the children were excited to take part in their own opening ceremonies celebrating the sporting event. They made their own hats and flags representing various countries. The teachers used this event to do a unit study for the quarter answering the question, "What makes a good soccer player?"

This was a teacher's appreciation lunch which was arranged by Maureen from Michigan and Bonnie and Lindsay from Delaware. The ladies prepared a beautiful table and provided a relaxing atmosphere with soft music and candles. What a well deserved treat!!

In this picture Joshua is looking up at Jaime who came to visit with his wife and three daughters. The picture says it all. This is why we are here.

We are very grateful to Steve from Delaware and Mark from Michigan for spending a lot of time
getting this huge generator up and running. When we have power shortages, which are frequent, this will help the business at the road front to continue to serve our customers, especially at the restaurant.
There were many moments like these, we just happened to catch this one on camera!

There are happy children and caregivers comfortably sitting on their new furniture thanks to the sewing talents of Wendy from Wisconsin. We had been having trouble finding someone to make the slipcovers for many months, but Wendy very quickly made slip covers for the cushions and Voila!

The girls are enjoying sometime together playing and practicing new found knitting and crocheting skills taught to them by a few of the ladies that visited this summer!

Thank you so much for all who came to spend time with us sharing your talents, gifts, laughter, encouragement and love with us! And we have not forgotten those of you who made it possible for them to come, thank you!

God's Grace & Peace to you all,

The Kamaus

Chickens & More Chickens, What Are We To Do?

2010-06-30T12:39:00.000+02:00

Chickens, slaughter house and bookstore!

Greetings Everyone!

Yes! We are now into chicken rearing, slaughtering, and marketing! This is one of the many emerging enterprises in our various business ventures. We have about 288 chicken layers which until recently were producing 210 or 7 trays of eggs a day but the number is slowly but steadily going down which means we will need to restock with a new bunch. I am told by those who know chickens that they began to produce less as they age, so I guess these are headed for the chopping block!

Our slaughter house or the Abbiator, the proper British term our Zambia friends like using (bathrooms are also called ablution blocks I guess it’s less intrusive as to what really happens there) is also under construction. Once completed, all the defeathering and dressing will take place here. We have also converted a forty foot container and the plan is to install walk in freezers to chill the chickens after dressing before transporting to our customers.

An interesting dilemma has presented itself before us as Christians in business. In order to cater to the Islamic community, many of the restaurants in the city of Lusaka require that the chickens are slaughtered using the halaal method which is an Islamic practice. A special technique which involves a muslim coming to our location to recite certain Islamic prayers during the process. This has caused us to wrestle with spiritual, moral and ethical issues. We looked at the passages in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10 which speak about food offerings to idols and the principle of the Christian's freedom in Christ. We came to the conclusion that we would not want to be a stumbling block in any way to fellow Christians and the community around us that we desire to reach for Christ.

Presently, as we seek out other vendors to market our chickens, we are trusting God to open doors which will not require us to compromise our belief in principles set forth in God's Word. We are asking that you pray with us as wait on the Lord for guidance and direction on this matter.

Our bookstore has generated a steady stream of revenue and thanks to all our friends most of the books are donated. This means we make 100% profit from the books. Usually we select the books we need for our school and then decide which ones we can sell.

These joyfully dancing ladies are from the local Ladies Guild who came to spend time with our children at the village. They taught them some songs and donated sweet potatoes!

Other Prayer Requests

This the time of year when we welcome many new visitors who quickly become members of our extended Village of Hope family and many returning aunties and uncles from previous visits. Please be praying for safe travel, a time of refreshment from the Lord and strengthened relationships among the visitors, missionaries, children and staff.

Happy Independence Day!!!

The Kamaus

April Happenings

2010-05-10T15:32:00.000+02:00

"Auntie Kimberly, when you go to the boutique, look at the clothes that I folded! Uncle Litya said that I did a very good job!" --Roman

"Auntie Kimberly, I like working at the restaurant! I like cooking there! You should see how they cut the potatoes with that thing!" --Mary Banda

"Me, I like agriculture --Sharon Jaula

"Me too, I like digging!" --Gift Situmbeko

"I like selling at the market!"--Terence

Greetings Everyone!

These are some of the enthusiastic comments that we have heard over the past month from various children in our Child Job Skills Training Program. Now that we have some businesses up and running in order to generate income for the Villages of Hope, part of our goal was to see that our children begin to learn valuable lessons in business, work ethics, and acquiring a variety of skills in the workplace by helping in out in the family businesses.

Children at the village who are nine years and up are scheduled to work two days a week for two hours after school; either at the market, restaurant, agriculture, construction, or clothing boutique. When the children are on break from school they work for three hours. This program has been well received by the children, caregivers, and the staff at the various locations.

Other Happenings

School reopened on Monday of this week after a one month break and some of the children were able to visit with their relatives in the villages. It was neat to see them as they returned some loaded with fresh produce which their relatives had given them to share with their other brothers and sisters at the Village of Hope. As they came through the gate, other children who had remained came running with squeals of delight and excitement as they welcomed their friend home.

Prayer Requests

Please be praying for Caroline who is a teacher at the school and for Nellie who is one of the aunties. Both ladies had been hospitalized with illnesses.

Please continue to pray that we will be able to successfully provide all of the children at the Village of Hope with instruction in the areas of spiritual development, academics, and life skills.

We are experiencing some discipline challenges with some of the newer children that came toward the end of last year. We need an abundance of wisdom to know how to deal with some of the issues that come up. Please be praying for the Word of God to work in their hearts to bring about change.

(Selita serving Benedict a tasty samosa at the restaurant)

(Teleshina at the market)

(Gift Situmbeko at the Minimart)