Based on reports by Selpher Wasike

In a little village in Kenya, the smoke from burning grass-thatched huts darken the skies. In Kenya, when a home-owner dies and the house is left unattended and abandoned, relatives gather immediately after the burial to destroy the dwelling and all the diseased person's property and belongings for fear of evil spirits inhabiting the abandoned house.
HIV and AIDS have left a wake of suffering and death, devastating countless families and decimating whole communities. Widows and orphans are left to fend for themselves. The story is the same in many villages across Kenya: a father contracts the deadly HIV, infects his wife. Soon, the virus claims their lives and the children are passed from relative to relative. Often the relatives are so poor they cannot conceivably take on more children to shelter and feed. Many orphans cower in makeshift huts of mud and grass, awaiting perhaps angels of mercy—or of death.
In early May 2006, after hearing Pastor Richard preach on Indira's mission to provide orphans and widows places of refuge, five families, amidst their own poverty and need, opened their hearts and homes to numerous hapless children. From the first five families, the adoption program has tripled. These families need all the love and support we can give.

WILSON AND GRACE WEKESA
Wilson and Grace Wekesa are our church elders. They barely scrape by, but because of their heart for orphans, they adopted three siblings: Elisha, Ruth and Edwin Odhiambo. On May 29, Wilson and Grace decided to adopt the Odhiambo orphans.
The parents of Elisha, Ruth and Edwin died back in 2002. The first parent to die was their mother Ann Narotso and they were left with their ailing father who could not support them and after six months he also died due to HIV. These children were left under the care of their widowed and crippled grandmother. After three years, their grandmother also died and they were left with no one to take care of them.
Elisha's grandmother's house was destroyed by the relatives and the children were left alone in a small hut built for them. There are however, five acres of land the orphans inherited from their grandmother. With the proper funds, Wilson could turn this idle land into profitable farmland.
To generate income for their brood (they have eight children of their own), Wilson grows sugarcane on a small scale and sells them to Mumias Sugar Company in Mumias. The transport cost eats up a lot of their funds. We are praying that they could get a tractor to transport the sugarcane from their farm to the sugar company. This will save them a lot of money in the long run.
They keep two Urshire cows for milk, three goats, five sheep and local hens which they never sell but are kept for their own use. Once a year they sell one animal as they do not have many. Due to the size of the family, there is barely enough for their upkeep. Wilson and Grace desire so much to add four more animals and the income from their farm has been low. The same is true for the other four families.

GREGORY AND ROSELYNNE MASINDE
The Masindes are church members. Gregory deals in brick making as well as farming sugarcane on his a half-acre land. They also keep animals and rear chicken for income. They adopted brothers Selevian and Dickson Khachina and John Wanjala. God has used Gregory to save these three children who were suffering without their parents since 1977.

ROSELYN NDAKALA
Roselyn Ndakala was was barren and childless. But after the death of her sisters (both married to the same man and all three died of HIV), she was left to take care of eight nephews and nieces.
God has blessed Roselyn so much for taking care of her late sisters' chidren. And now she has adopted three more children: Felix Malala, Harison Sumba, and Maxiwel Narotso..
She depends on vending at the market for their upkeep. Richard and I visit them twice a week, caring for their needs. She has been doing well in her late sisters' farm, tending gardens and selling the harvest at the market. Many dedicated people at the church assist her in her vegetable garden. Roselyn also sells cereals, sugar, soap and the like. She also grows bananas to sell.

JOSEPHAT AND ELIZABETH WANDERA
When Pastor Josephat Wandera heard the message on orphans he was challenged. He remembered a sister in church whose husband had died due to diabetes back in 2003. With my husband, he visited this sister and her eight chidren. She had been unable to take care of them all. She implored Pastor Josephat to adopt three of her children.
Pastor Josephat took on Thadeus, Rebbecca and Ruth Wesonga to add to his own brood of five. Pastor Josephat keeps animals with which he provides for his family. With his wife Elizabeth they share the burden of providing a home for eight children.

FLORA NALIAKA WECHULI
Grandmother Flora Wechuli has been a widow since 2000 when her husband Joel Wechuli passed away due to menengitis. Five of her 11 children have died leaving behind three or four children each. Taking care of her orphaned grandchildren has not been easy for this old widow. Needless to say, this has brought Flora a lot of stress. When my husband and I visited them bringing them clothes, shoes, books and food, they were overjoyed. They have begun attending church since then.

RICHARD AND SELPHER WASIKE
Richard and I take care of six orphans and our own two children Blessed Richard and Gifted Richard. Some of the orphans we adopted m are grown children. We are paying school fees for them in Junior High School.
Adams Malala is in Form 4 Kamusinga Boys Secondary School
Emily Nekesa is through with Form 4 and trusting God for her college fees
Linet Laura Nafula is in Form 1 in Makunda Secondary School
Harriet Wabuke is paying her way through primary teachers' college
Eunice Opagal is in Grade 7
Philis Opagal is in Grade 6

PASTOR EMMANUEL AND HELLEN JUMA
Pastor Emanuel and his wife Hellen are our friends and and when I visited their church, the Lord led me to begin talking about love to orphans, widows and street children. Pastor Emmanuel and his wife Hellen accepted to open their home to adopt four orphans. They adopted Anthony Khaemba, Naomi Juma, Kenneth Khaemba and Betty Owino in to their family and they are doing very well.

GLADYS OPAGAL
Richard's sister Gladys is a widow with four children: Linus, Chris, Eunice and Phylis. Since the death of her husband back in 1999 Gladys has really suffered a lot raising her four children on nothing but through difficult farming. On our visit only the girls Eunice and Phylis were present. Gladys keeps local breed cows.

JACKLYN BARASA
Jacklyne Barasa was left a widow when her husband died in 2002. This lady was left without any financial base on which to build upon. She decided to go to a nearby clinic to be employed as a cashual worker to raise support for her only daughter Eddlyqueen Bwali. When I visited them in Malaba City, she was totally despondent and had given up on life. We decided to put her also into this program by taking the photograph of her daughter Eddlyqueen, her only daughter.

EMILY MACHUKHU
Emily Machukhu is a widow of eight children. Her husband Livingston died in May 2004 in a road accident leaving her bereft and alone to raise their brood. She only depends on farming to support them. Her greatest concern is their education. Her eldest children have dropped out of school due to poverty. When I visited this family the Lord led us to take photos of the youngest four children: Timothy, Esther, Kennethy and Everlyne.

REBECCA OKOLONG
Rebbecca and her husband adopted George Keya after hearing the Gospel at their Church in Malaba during our visit there. George Keya's father and mother died in 2006 of HIV and the boy was left under the care of his impoverished grandmother. This moved Rebbecca and her husband to take action Fortunately, the grandmother released the boy to their care. We are happy to report that George is thriving in this newly home.

OLIVA WASILWA
Oliva is a widow in our church and God has really assisted her to raise her eight children since her husband died eight years ago. Oliva is one of our active church members and we decided to place her in the program after she came to us requesting for help. Her two youngest children were present the time we visited and these are Bridgit Weta and Amos Okumu. Bridgit was only one month in the womb when her father died.

CAROLYNE OLEWE
When Carolyne Olewe first heard about the adoption program from Indira, she took time to come to me to share to me about her budden to adopt the orphan Sheila Adhiambo. Carolyne is a widow and because of this she had worried about adding another child to her family but she had a great burden to do it. After some encouragement from us, she at last accepted. She had only been married two years when her husband died. On our visit we decided to put even her son Saviola Adams on this program. Carolyne now has two orphans in her care.

MAYANJA ORPHANS
Pastor Fredrick Makhanu is our good friend and he runs Meif International Ministry in Kenya. When he heard about this program, he invited me to his church and when I spoke to him about how to take care of widows, orphans and street children, over ten widows and their children came forth for our help. We were so touched and we decided to visit a few needy families to take some photos and put them in our program. Only three families were considered in the end.

PASTOR FREDRICK AND DORCAS MAKHANU
This is a good and dear family that loves the Lord. Pastor Fredrick opened his home to adopt three children in to his family. The following were adopted: Elizabeth Nasimiyu, Emmanuel and Marion Ekesa. We were very happy to begin with the pastor himself adopting three children before we had to move to his flock.

ROSE NEKESA
Rose Nekesa's husband Joseph Weke died in 1998 leaving Rose a very poor widow with seven children. They are so poor they have to sleep on the ground with no beddings. We could not take the photo of the entire family but we managed to pick three children David Wanjala, Samuel Barasa and Meshack Wangila. Much help is needed.

AGRIPINA NABANGALA
Agripina Nabangala's husband Boniface Nyongesa died in 2000 leaving her with eight children. When we visited the family, all the orphans were out fetching water and firewood. Only young Moses Mulongo was home with his mother.

EVERLYNE NEKESA
This is a family that left tears in our eyes. When we visited them, they had nothing to eat except uncooked cassava. It was sad watching the children eat their only meal for the day. Everlyne's husband Moses Barasa died in 2003 leaving her with ten children born one after the other. This family lives in a small grass-thatched house and they seemed beyond hope. We gave them1000 Ksh for their evening meal. This family needs our support badly. Among the ten children we managed to get only five of the children at home: Gentrix Nasimiyu, Caleb Wafula, Doris Wanjala, Milka Nafula and Deborah Machuma.

MATHAYO WAMUKOYA
Mathayo Wamukoya one day visited us after hearing of the program and requested us to teach him on how to adopt children. We taught him according to the Word of God as well as from Indira's guidelines. He was so touched that he straightaway went to his late neighbor's homes and adopted two children: Danson Juma and Jeniffer Ateya.

BEATRICE WANDAKO
Following the teachings received from us, Mathayo went and informed Beatrice Wandako about the program and when we visited Mathayo, Beatrice had already adopted three children: Roger, Irene and Wilkister Barasa. Beatrice opened her heart to receive the three children in to her home after Mathayo ministered to her about the love of God for orphans and widows.


URGENT NEEDS
COWS FOR MILK
Milk is a valued commodity in Kenya. With your help we can set these families up with their own businesses. The cost of one Urshire cow here is approximately Ksh 35,000 ($___) and it can produce 18 litres of milk in the morning and 15 litres in the evening daily. Building the animal unit for grazing here is Ksh 30,000 ($____). We are trusting God for the increase in number of these animals. This pays for the children's basic needs: food, clothing and medicine.

SCHOOLING
In our village, we don't have good schools for our children. We have government schools but these are overcrowded. Each class that can usually handle a maximum of 45 are jam-packed with 80 or 90 children. Obviously, this is too much for one teacher to handle. Private schools are available but are too expensive. In private schools the learning conditions are much better. We could send the children to private schools with donations from concerned Christians like you.