Our Growing Family

IAA NOVEMBER UPDATE

Pray for our Safety

Due to the recent robbery, my latest visit to Kenya was both busy and emotional.  Everyone was on edge, and the smallest noises in the night seemed to stretch our nerves to the breaking point.  After meeting with the staff for more than four hours and hearing each of their accounts, I realized that the ordeal was much more traumatic than I could ever have imagined. 

 

Subsequent investigation leads us to believe that our night guard, an employee for the past year, had some involvement in the robbery.  The seven intruders knew far too much about the daily operation of our facility not to have had some help from an insider.  The losses were also greater than we first believed; we lost all computers, staff mobile phones, and funds for payroll and accounts payable.  However, we remain grateful to God for sparing our children the traumatic events of that evening.  It was as if He caused them to fall into a deep sleep during which time they were surrounded by His angels.  God was also gracious in protecting Donna and the rest of our staff from any harm other than the emotional trauma they suffered. 

 

The community surrounding IAA has been very supportive and protective, but we still feel it wise to remain cautious about the enemy’s ability sneak in again. We believe that God has used the robbery to impress upon us an urgency to complete the wall and install a more sophisticated alarm system to protect our children and staff.  The new alarm system can be operated by remote control and immediately triggered by staff members who witness anything suspicious at the site.  Additionally, we have made a number of procedural changes that we hope will make our facility less of a target in the future including changes to our payroll and bill payment routines which have eliminated the need to keep large amounts of cash on site.  

We are now focused on finishing the wall as quickly as possible.  This includes doubling the amount of laborers needed to expedite completion of the wall.  When I was there, the wall along the back of the property had been completed, and workers were beginning the foundation for the wall behind the big dorm. As an added measure of security, we will place electrical and looped razor wire along the top of the wall along the entire perimeter of the site. 

 

If God leads you to give, we have the following needs as we attempt to complete and implement our new security system: 

Estimated cost to complete the wall: $20,000.00

Electrical system on top of the wall: $3,000.00

Alarm system installation: $450.00

Monthly salary for two night guards: $200.00

We are excited to announce ten more children will be joining the IAA family! We ask you to please join us in prayer regarding finding sponsors for these precious children.

Five of these children, from three local families, are currently living with grandparents. We invited them to come and spend a weekend with us at IAA, and it was a fun time for everyone. We expect them to permanently join our family by the end of November.

John age 4, Mary age 6 to 7, Susan age 8, Samuel age 9, and Branton age 8

Branton with his grandmother in front of their home

John, Mary, and Samuel

Mama Jane, Debbie (volunteer), Salome, and Susan in front of her home

The other five children that will be joining our family are coming from the emergency rescue center in Naivasha. The baby boy pictured in pink overalls will not be joining us because he lives with his mother at the center.

Carl age 4, Juliet age 6, Esther age 6 to 7, Paul age 9 and Christine holding Kelly and Frederick age 2

Pray for our Boarders

We ask you to please join us in prayer for our children at boarding school. Maggie and Sheilah have their national exams in early December, and their scores will determine what high school they are eligible to attend. We are very proud of Josephat - he has become the star soccer player in the area!

Front row: Lydia, Maggie, Moses, and George
Back row: Theresia, Sheilah, and Josephat

Pray for our Neighbors

Josephine has become a dear friend of IAA. She lives in the IDP camp and has epilepsy. She fell into a fire during an accident, and this caused severe damage to her body, especially her hand. Tarin (IAA's Administrative/Missions Liaison) raised the support to pay for Josephine's hand surgery and hospital stay. We were recently able to visit her, and we are happy to report she is healing and doing very well. We are also thankful for her sponsor, Natalie, for the ongoing support she and her family provide for Josephine and her two children.

Thank You to our Volunteers

Lisa Tobias:

An interesting thing happens along the path of life, it twists and turns in ways one never dreams of. Foreign mission was never something I had asked for, surely God had enough here at home to keep me busy.  But God had other plans, and in October I found myself two continents away, in an extraordinarily beautiful country, but far from everything that was familiar to me.

I knew God wanted to show me something and for me to give away something.  Those “somethings” were one in the same, my heart.  It was the most eye opening, thought provoking and heart stretching experience of my life.  I saw joy, where I thought impossible. I saw a need, not the obvious physical ones, but the emotional ones, the need to show love without reserve. The bright, vulnerable, sometimes stubborn, but always lovable faces that make up the children of IAA are deeply etched on my heart. John, Lucy, Carina, Faith, Newton, Richard, Martha, Milka, Peter John, King Solomon, Ruth, Martha, Michael, Sharon, Joy, Hope and Jacob, you are ALL there. The dedication and love of the staff is more than admirable, it is amazing. I thank them for every kind word, smile, laugh and conversation.

Each child is unique and comes with his or her own story that has colored their past and has had an impact on how they respond to the world around them. Fortunately for these children, their world is now full of love, laughter, song and praise.  I am humbled and overwhelmed by love of God.

Debbie Barry:

This was Debbie Barry's second trip to IAA.  Her first visit to IAA was in 2007.  She has remained a dear friend of IAA as well as being Faith's sponsor.  Debbie brought many pictures of the children to show them how much they had grown and changed since she last saw them.  It was very special for her to be able to spend time with Faith and meet her in person for the first time.  Debbie was also a huge blessing to Jane by working by her side with all of the business errands and meetings. The Spider Man growing in water for 10 days was the biggest hit ever.  Even with the adults!!  

We would also like to thank:

Woodsedge for the beautifully painted rooms and the new tile in the boys bathroom,

Kent for helping with painting the kitchen,

Regent University for their training sessions they led earlier this summer, 

and our amazing staff at IAA.

Donna, Debbie, Christine, and Mama Jane