END-OF-THE-TERM TREE PLANTING CELEBRATION

29th of July 2009 @ YASHA Guest House

We planted 49 trees (7 trees in 7 rows) as a fund raising project. In about 4-7 years we can start "harvesting" the trees and make quite a bit of money for the school.

Working, working, working ...

Great preperations were taking place as each child received a merit bag after the day. Here Anne Cheptoo, the manager of YASHA Guest House is at work the morning of the big day.

At lunch time we treated the kids on hot dogs and sodas. The Nursery School had their own fun time at the YAHSA school premises as we just thought they are too small to control at the guesthouse the whole day. Here Anne and Lydia are posing with the long buns and sausages that are suppose to be sent to school.

On the photo below is Samuel Ouma with our friend from the soda depot as they are busy counting the sodas for us.

The BIG day ...

Students gathering under the tree as they arrived.

Each class had a few trees to plant and we made sure that every student participated.

Lydia planting the 1st tree ... unfortunately the batteries of our camera gave trouble, so we couldn't take more photos. We had a lovely day of fun and games after the ceremony and the students as well as the staff enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

STUDENTS - 2nd Term

GRADE 0 - Tiny Tiger Learning Centre
(Pre-School with Ace and Christi)

Back f.l.t.r. : Tr. Margaret Mwangi (Monitor); Minashe Mwangi; Gabriel, Gabriel; Omondi;
Front f.l.t.r. : Bilhah Wangari; Jonathan Sifa; Daisy ; Tiko and Charity.

GRADE 1 - Petey Peacock Learning Centre
(ABC's with Ace & Christi)
Back f.l.t.r. : Tr. Agnes Mwelu (Supervisor); Victor Mabwa, Nicole Njeri; Faith Nekesa; Pauline; Samson Ndiba; Andrew Otieno; Brian Wanjama and Mr Dixon Kipkemboi (Acting Monitor).
Front f.l.t.r. : Erick Gachoka; Brian Mogaka; Glen Nguyo; Ephraim Igambo; Timothy Venter; Simon Ngige; Stephen Wainaina and Caroline.

GRADE 2 : Ellie Elephant Learning Centre
Back f.l.t.r. : David Ochola; Venter Mwaura; Evans Gachoki; Jeremiah Joe; Steven Aranda; Naomi Kimunto; Ishmael and Mr Peter (Monitor)
Front f.l.t.r. : Ian Macharia; Kelvin; Esther Ikabi; Jeremiah Okwiri; Jasmyn; Duncan Kipchirchir and Valentine.

Grade 3 : Ricky Rabbit Learning Centre
Back f.l.t.r. : John Nyagaka; Sarah Wanjala; Lea Wangari; Melvin Wachira;
Front f.l.t.r. : Beverley Wanja; Keith Kamau; Tr. Minnie Wanjiru (Supervisor); Samuel Njoroge and Cathrine.

GRADE 4 : Zippy Zebra Learning Centre
Back f.l.t.r. : Keith Baraka; Amos Gitau; Shadrack Methuselah and Titus Kipyegon
Front f.l.t.r. : Tr. Carol Chanzu (Supervisor); Maureen Chepchumba; Peter Ndirangu; Paul Thiongo; Anne Nyambura and Mr Joseph Wasonga (Monitor)

GRADE 5-6 : Abbie Antelope Learning Centre
Back : Tr. Esther (Supervisor)
Front f.l.t.r. : Joy Venter; Marvel Mothoni; Jedidah Njeri and Stefanus Venter

STUDENTS - 2nd Term

Baby Care Centre
Mickey Mouse & Teddy Bear Classes

Nursery Department
Tom & Jerry Class (3-4 years)

Barney Class (4-5 years)

Visit to YASHA Learning Centre, Lulukwet - Teret Forest

Thursday, 16 July 2009

Talking of growing from glory to glory ... In less than 7 months we have seen these kids develop like crazy ... We can't wait to see what will happen to them in the next few months.

Mr Dickson, Lena and Gladys in front of the Nursery School class in Lulukwet.
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Reciting one of their scripture verses ...
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Here I am with the rest of the school. (Look at all the lovely art at the back :-)
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We took Richard Kabiru (far left) with us ... He is from Nairobi and is helping us out at YASHA Mission Academy with our Admin. He also is a member of CONGRESS WBN which makes him double family.

In Teret we've also started with a class for the very young ones. They are still in the process of smearing mud on the walls, but by next term everything should be ready. Please pray with us as we're still trusting God for a teacher to help with these little ones.
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Richard standing at the sign board of the school.
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I took them all for a nice cup of tea and mandazi at one of the local hotels in Teret. Wonderful!!!
Here Richard is with Past Richard and Bernard.



Thanks for your prayers and support. Right now there are quite a number of children in Teret without shoes and warm clothes. We have just entered the coldest time of the year and would very much like to provide for those little ones the necessary. Contact us if you would like to get involved in that (yashaministry@yahoo.com).



Shalom ...

The Ward Family from Scotland

8-15 May 2009

Allan, Janette and Mathew (8) arrived in Njoro on the Friday evening after meeting with Enock Mohol, the coordinator of ACE in East Africa, during the morning. Allan spent the weekend with us, but had to go back to Nairobi on Sunday, as he had to work up to Wednesday.

Allan was specifically interested in helping YASHA looking at different options concerning water. He actually wanted Wilco to start digging the well at the Guest House as to look for water, but because of the heavy rains that couldn't realize as it would have been too dangerous for the guys digging. We believe that if we can go 30-40 feet deeper, we might find plenty of water.

This photo of the Ward family was taken after the Sunday morning service at Kingpriest Centre, Nakuru. It was such a privilege having them with us.
We had a Graduation Service as our Sunday School children just finished the Discovery Series. Here Allan and Matthew are taken with Past Erastus and Pauline - Past Maina also got a certificate as to validate our church's relationship with Christian Union.

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Tuesday morning's chapel @ YASHA

Janet brought a powerful message to the staff and students about God's love. She never knew that our song of the month came from 1 John 4:7,8 talking all about LOVE :-)

Janette also gave the school some valuable advice on various issues during the course of the week and the Staff especially were encouraged so much. As a school we had to re-align ourselves with certain ACE concepts that were misunderstood and we truly are grateful for her input in this regard.

Matthew thoroughly enjoyed "school life" as such as he is a home schooler. He blended in real well and made pretty good friends that week.

Tree Planting Celebration - 7 April 2009

YASHA Learning Centre,
Lulukwet - TERET

When the new Satellite School in the forest closed for the 1st term, we decided to thank the Lord God for His mercies in a practical manner ... We decided to plant 2 trees as to celebrate the 2 classes that was birthed this year.

Because the current statistics in the forest show that only 10% of the children will ever proceed to Secondary Level, we felt the Lord pressed on our hearts to start a 2-year program where the kids can learn to speak, read and write English as that is the major obsticle. ACE has proven itself as a worthy tool in the Hand of God, so we've decided to use the ACE Pre-School as well as the ABC-program (Gr 1) and then send the kids back to the local primary school ... giving them such a fantastic head-start and love towards education.

At the beginning of the year these kids could not even speak Kiswahili, as their mother tonge is Kalenjin. Now - a mere 4 months along the line - the kids can understand the Bible and animal stories though they might still answer in Kalenjin, they can say all the pledges in English, they know the letter songs, they can recite Psalms 100 as well as a few other scripture verses. They also know all their colors in English as well as all the shapes ... What a privilege to witness such growth.

We normally take some YASHA Mission Academy Staff members with so that they can also feel part of this great project. This time we also decided to take our prefects with - they couldn't believe how these kids are just flourishing. All glory to our God!!

The kids had a small program ready to "show-off" their great progress.
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o

A few of the projects that the children have been doing this term.
They normally work in groups of 5.
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^
Here the kids are saying the pledge to the Christian Flag.
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"

On the left we have Veronica (the overseer) and Miss Emily (our secretary from YASHA Mission Academy) and on the right we have Teacher Esther (Supervisor of the Snr Learning Centre) and myself together with all our prefects.
^^
()

Here Br Wilson is making one of the holes.

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Singing and praising the Living Saviour ...
:-)

The Team of Teret planting the one tree ...
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... and the Njoro Team planting the other tree.
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After the occasion we gave the children of Teret some merits ... juice, sweets and biscuits.
What a pleasure to serve them with God's love!!

ILI Training - 9-11 April 2009

The 3-day training was held in the church of one of our former students from the time we were still lecturing at the Njoro Bible College - Past Steven and his wife, Milka, are 2 lovely people and the Lord is really blessing their ministry.

Past Paul Waweru was one of the lecturers during the training and I must say, we've enjoyed him quite a bit.

Quite a good number attended the training seminar.

We thank the Lord for provision for us to sponsor 5 of our brothers from the forest to attend this very powerful and strategic training seminar. We are also grateful for our friends in Nakuru who welcomed them in their homes during this time.
Back f.l.t.r. : Ps Sammy (Sugutek) and Ps Richard (Teret)
Front f.l.t.r. : Br Bernard (Teret), Ps Towett (Chemamul); Lydia Venter and Ps David (Kapsenda - he is also the General Overseer of the 10 churches in the forest)

The entire group.