Anica Pederson June 2021

Looking back over the past four months I am amazed at what I have seen God accomplish. We saw our last group of six seniors graduating. They are all now in or waiting for school to start later in the fall, going into programs like social work, finance, and jewelry design. At the end of the school term, I organized a fun day for all of the residents and graduates. Relay races and water games galore! From our third graders to our oldest graduate, everyone had a great time. It is nice to see our graduates still know how to act like kids.

After a seven week break, during which most of our resident children left the Village to spend time with biological family around the country, we are now back in school. Clubs are back up and running. Writing club has been testing out new ideas by writing the obituary of someone in the Bible, and then testing out their own. Both primary and secondary drama are working hard on plays to present at the end of the term. The secondary drama club is doing great with improvising, and making the play their own. I have been able to use notes from when I was in plays myself to help make the plays better. Thank you to everyone who worked with me in musicals—your seeds have been well sown!

I have been able to go out and meet with widow’s groups around Nairobi to see their processes of making the products sold in the Rafiki Exchange. All of the widows have been such an encouragement and inspiration. Most had not been meeting because of COVID, but they have now found ways to meet safely again. One lady told us that with the money she earned through the Widows Program, she was able to buy her house in full from the man she was renting from; what a testimony to God’s faithfulness!

This past week the Scouts needed to cook something for their cooking badge. We had eleven scouts in our kitchen baking cookies, cake, and cupcakes! Can you imagine the joyous noise they made and the wonderful smells?

Our farm continues to grow with three new baby goats. From our original two rabbits we now have 36! We also are collecting 40-50 eggs from our chickens each day which makes the kitchen happy! We are working on selling rabbits to parents at a cheaper price than they would get at the market. In the following picture is me and Aaron, an eleventh grader, who has been a paramount worker with our animals. I have introduced naming animals to the resident kids. The mama goat featured is Mpole which means “gentle” in Swahili.

Thank you to everyone who supports me in any way; I am truly blessed by you!

Praises:

• Growth in my relationships in the community

• Healthy animals

• A great term of clubs

• A great relationship with our widows, and great product being made by them

Prayer:

• For full funding

• Our children at the Village and outside would continue striving to live a life for Christ

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