Emmanuel Nyongesa buried

Emmanuel Nyongesa died of sickle cell anemia. Together with the local assistant chief Martin was able to trace his grandfather--so at least whatever members of his family there are know about his death.
In better news, the vegetables are doing very well, the maize has germinated, the chicken structure is nearly finished, and Martin is planning the goat structure. Kisima is becoming a real farm with the capability of feeding the children a varied and healthy diet.

Good news and bad news

Very sad news. Martin wrote today that Emmanuel Nyongesa, the little boy who was abandoned at Kisima in the middle of the night, has died. I'm grateful that he was well taken care of and happy for the last few months of his short life.
In very good news, two friends of Barb's donated a goat each. They will be named Cindy and Jeannette after their donors. Wonderful friends!

Two weeks to go!

We're making final preparations and getting very excited about our trip. Just a little over two weeks to go! We're looking forward to being able to assess Kisima's needs and work with Martin to make plans for the future. We will be taking lots and lots of photos including one of each child with the aim of getting sponsors.
Great news--Kisima will have two more cows and money toward food and land thanks to Shiloh United Methodist's Endowment Fund. Many, many thanks to them. Likewise many, many thanks to Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church for their donation. Kisima has indeed been blessed.

Rotary grant

The Rotary Club of Vienna, Virginia, gave Kisima a $1000 grant for building supplies or farming equipment. Many, many thanks to them. On the left is Dr. Joe Pace, who submitted the application, and on the right is Jim Marshall, President of the club.

39 new children

In walking around the village Martin encountered a number of very small children in desperate need of care. Nine of them are orphans living with distant relatives who have little interest in them. Thirteen are children of unemployed single mothers who get up very early to look for daily work on farms. The children were left alone all day with nothing to eat until evening. The other 17 were from desperately poor families. All were ragged, hungry, and downcast. Martin has such a compassionate heart for these unfortunate children that he felt compelled to talk to their guardians and parents about having them coming to Kisima during the day. Now they are being cared for and fed. They are all in the preschool class which is being held in one of the old mud classrooms.

Alexis the cow, new mattresses, etc.

The new classroom and storeroom were finished with donated bricks.

Children are overjoyed to get mattresses.

Alexis the cow joins Barb the cow--and soon there will be a third. The children are very excited at the prospect of a calf. Martin will buy the chickens as soon as he has built some pens. The children and staff are all grateful for the alternative gifts of food, school supplies, teacher support, and bricks in addition to the chickens and cow. Thank you to everyone who contributed!

Christmas at Kisima

Here is Martin's report of Christmas at Kisima:

"Our Christmas was very nice as we had a humble time with the children; we took the morning breakfast of different taste that is millet porridge with milk and some sugar added in it. We had the several plays, showing the birth of Jesus Christ. The sermon was given by Teacher Margaret. We had a pleasure to visit our fish ponds, whereby the children were so excited to see the fish feeding and hiding when they see any movement of a human body. After some time we went back to our school, where we had lunch that is ugali served with a piece of meat and kales (sukuma wiki). After lunch we had enough moment for story telling up to 4pm when the children went to the field to play. They had to take shower then after they took their super Rice and cabbages."

Normally wire transfers go to Kisima in March, July, and November. However, Kisima was blessed with enough money from the Alternative Gift campaign and several significant donations to warrant an additional transfer. Martin will be able to finish the much-needed fourth classroom as well as buy another cow, chickens, more mattresses, food, school supplies... What a difference all this will make to the lives of the children!