In the last two bulletins, I have been informing you about our current transition period to make the Resource Centre a self-supporting project. We now have our two Title Deeds naming Peacemakers Community based Organisation as the absolute owners of the land and its assets. All of our facilities on-site are now up and running to develop our commercial projects.

May I take this opportunity to invite you to come to Kenya, maybe en route to a safari, or otherwise, to stay in our beautiful Resource Centre and experience the real Kenyan way of life. Our centre is deliberately built in a poor rural area, endeavouring to create a better standard of life to the local communities. We will, of course, continue to work in the mission field of teaching and training while, at the same time, bringing employment and casual labour to the local people, as they serve you through the commercial side.

Take a look at “Peacemakers’ Homestead”, or this Air B&B link, for our accommodation ‘on-site’ in Embu County, Kenya. You will see Isaac and Christine who are the co-hosts and now husband and wife, ready to welcome you! Christine is Peacemakers’ Director on-site and Isaac, the Projects’ Development Manager. We currently have five bedrooms but we are looking to increase that capacity. We will be ready on October 1st to take your bookings for an overnight stay or longer. Isaac can also help you organise your visit and walks on Mt. Kenya and is even available to escort you, if you wish. We can also offer to meet you at the airport in Nairobi to guide you on your way to visit us.

If you have the desire to work voluntarily within the local community, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me about the range of activities you may be interested in. It will be a very rewarding experience as so many of our volunteers over the years have found; email: Brenda Marshall

We were so blessed by the donation from the Richard Taylor family in Swansea, for the purchase of a solar panel to power a water pump which would irrigate the shamba and tree nursery and for the cleaning of the animal sheds. The solar pump continues to improve our sustainability and save us so much money on electricity bills. They also kindly donated money for 11 Bibles and 5 water filters!

We are truly thrilled and blessed. They also sponsored one room to be painted ready for drugs counselling sessions.

At last, the chicken-shed, named after our Australian visitor, is in full swing and people are coming to buy the chicks at 1 month or older; the price goes up according to length of stay at the Cameron chickhouse. This is a great project. It is so profitable and Cameron has helped us enormously to focus on sustainable activities.

We were happy to have a visit from the Embassy of Ireland again this month, to monitor our progress and use of the piggery, greenhouse and incubator. They were so happy! We are praying they will allow us to apply for funding to put soil bags into the greenhouse so that we can overcome the challenge of the wilt!

The solar lights in the house are working well and have reduced our bill dramatically, although we are still waiting for Kenya Power to install a tokens meter for sockets use. Isaac Munene continues to manage our development and to acquire the best quality and deals for all our needs. His heart remains fixed on our total success.

I was so blessed at my grandson Nathan’s marriage to Debbie this summer, by the interest shown in our Charity Peacemakers by some of the guests. Nathan and Debbie decided to get married in May at the most beautiful venue named ‘Abbazia di San Galgano’ in Northern Italy. After the actual marriage in the ruins of the Abbey, we had the reception in the adjacent buildings.

During the groom’s speech, his guests rallied round and had a wager as to how long his speech would be (2 minutes?… maybe a little longer with thanking everybody for coming). No, Nathan excelled himself by having something special to say about most of the guests present, including a mention about the work of Peacemakers in Kenya. One of his friends, Tom Mills and his wife (who were the professional photographers at the wedding), actually won the wager by being the nearest in guessing 26 minutes. I don’t know whether he had some inside Information or not but was duly presented with the winnings of £125.00.

During the evening celebrations Tom and Sarah came to me and donated the £125 to Peacemakers, to meet whatever need I chose in Kenya. Also, another couple,Sheridan and his wife Georgiana who are lawyers, wish to visit our Resource Centre some time next year while holidaying. They love Kenya and wish to photograph the wild life and serve the community with their skills. Lastly, another Uni friend of Nathan’s, Sherri, wants to find out more information about us, to pass on to friends who are already working in Kenya. Maybe there will be some ‘networking’ with them in the future.

I have already transferred the £125.00 across to Kenya and bought a Battery for our solar panels, so thank you Tom and Sarah, your generosity has already made a great difference to the sustained running of Peacemakers Kenya.

——————–

I just want you all to know, that this work and development has only happened because of your faithfulness and support over the many years. Please continue to pray for us and the ongoing work of the Lord at Peacemakers in Kenya.
With Love and Appreciation,
Brenda.