Street Boys-update and other ramblings (Libby)

It's so exciting, I have had more than enough offers to support the three new street boys. On average we have taken on 1 child per month in the last four months, and that's without even looking for them. I am very excited about the future. I just wrote in an e-mail to someone, that we can't change the world but we can change the world for one child. It sounds like a cliche but it's true. It's lovely to see the delight in the children's eyes when they realise the opportunity they are being given. Their lives are still hard, their living conditions leave a lot to be desired and their food is very basic, but they have the hope that their future can be better. In addition they have the opportunity to have a bit of a childhood and don't have to spend the days wandering the streets begging. For now at least the burden of caring for this family is being shared.

We (well not personally) have started to build an extra room onto Sarah's house to make room for her ever increasing family. The 3 new boys don't sleep there but are spending more and more time there, including the afternoons when a teacher comes from the school to give them extra tuition to help them catch up.

I went to visit them last week and was able to give everyone new clothes thanks to a very generous friend. They all dressed up in their new outfits for photos.

In a parallel universe, Joshua has a wobbly tooth which he is very excited about, the weather is hotting up (sorry for all of you who now have cooler weather), Caleb cut his head on the coffee table and Bethany is planning her fifth birthday party.

We had the MAF staff conference last weekend. Daniel rediscovered his piano playing. He enjoyed the fact that a)we now have a piano we got off a German family that was leaving and b)that we have a car big enough to put the piano in the back. We took the piano and brought it back each day, because security wasn't very good at the hall.

Other news is that we had the big trees from outside our house cut down. The big heavy leaves were dangerous for little people when they fell down. Caleb had a near miss the other day, which made me decide that they needed to be cut down.

I don't write much about the work of MAF, but please pray for the Masai people in the north of the country. There is a volcano erupting, Oldonyio lengai and all the men have left with their cattle leaving the women and children behind starving. The women do not want to leave because they are afraid to lose their land. However, they don't have enough food and they are suffering from the effects of the smoke. MAF is trying to fly in food for the women and take a doctor to treat the children.

Enough ramblings for now... Sorry the photos aren't next to the relevant text, but I always have trouble loading them and they come out in a different order than I planned. By then I am too fed up to rearrange them, but I'm sure you can work it out!!!