NEWS FROM THE UK - Page 3

MORE NEWS ITEMS:

Short Note from Pat Spurin, May 2010 - Page 4
St.Peter's Burnley Harvest Festival (Fund Raising for FOS) - Page 2
Letter to Supporters May 2009 - Page 1

The Christmas Newsletter below is a slightly modified version of that sent to supporters by Mrs. Pat Spurin.

It's been an interesting year! As planned, I took over from Helen to chair the Friends of Sikinga committee at our AGM in June. The same little group works hard here in Burnley and we manage to scrape together the fees just in time to send out for the students. This year, Milton had to beg the Headteachers not to send the students away as our cheque arrived at the last minute and takes weeks to process in the bank there.
I had a fund-raising day in April, when I opened my house for the day, Helen and Anna did a Car Boot sale, but mostly we depend on a few friends. Zabde, our Kenyan 'son' who lives in Canada went to Sikinga, when visiting his project in Nambale.

Milton has set us a new challenge, which we would like to meet but don't quite know how! The issue he is trying to address is that although we have been able to see several children through secondary school, and that in itself has been a very good achievement, most of these children have not been able to pursue further training. Therefore, they sit at home with little to do. Here is his letter:

After thinking hard about this issue, I came up with an idea which I hope can assist some of them. My idea is to come up with a catering club comprising of all those children who have been sponsored by Friends of Sikinga. Right now most people prefer hiring an organized group to take care of their guests. I myself have participated in these activities (specifically known as outside catering) and have experience on how to go about it. It is an up coming venture in this part of the world and promises good fruits. This will keep our young boys and girls busy and make them not to feel desperate. Apart from being busy, they will earn some income out of it which they will be encouraged to save to help them further their education, get some training or become entrepreneurs in different business ventures.

To enable us pursue our plans, we seek some assistance to enable us to acquire the necessary equipments to set us moving. We only need the starting capital, thereafter the project will be self reliant. We have drafted an estimated budget for your assessment We pray that God will help us succeed.
God bless you all. MILTON

We cannot take funds away from the main account or the students we are supporting will suffer. ( The accounts for this and the budget are very well kept and sent to us). If anyone has any contact with anyone who would make a one-off gift to this catering project it would be wonderful. Milton sent a detailed list of equipment needed, all priced. We have sent £1000 from 2 gifts so they can start in a small way over Christmas. They need about £4000 The opportunities are there when there are funerals ( alas, so many from AIDS) and weddings, when people who have salaries and live in the towns provide funds for feeding the guests and Milton is confident they can tap into this new market.
A Happy Christmas! Yours, Pat Spurin.