Haven January Update

Update to message 1/16/17

Happy new year everyone! We pray and hope the year is progressing well. We have a few things that need to be addressed. Due to the performance of Frenzer who had potential to score more than she had on her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education Exams (KCPE) we decided to take all the children to another school for assessment. They have done three exams from three different schools and their performance has been alarming. According to the interviews and the schools the children do not qualify to go to the next grade level. They could be admitted in these school with conditions that they repeat. We have since then discovered that the school we were in has not been giving us the true position of their performance so that we do not transfer our children. We have proven that the grades they were being given are far fetched and inaccurate. We have presented these findings to our board and concluded that it will be in the best interest of the children to move them to a more reliable school.

We visited the education office in our county and advised us of schools that are best fit for the children…these schools were just to name a few Excel Academy, Victonel academy, st Francis of Assisi, Christ the King academy and lions academy.

Some of this schools are very hard to get an opening for a child. We considered the fees and settled on Victonell Academy which offers not only academics but also extra-curriculum activities.

Our children are still at home and they should report in school on Monday since it has been a week and half since school reopened. The school has offered us a deal…we will not pay admission fees to begin and the will provide their exercise books.

What we are looking for is funds to buy the uniforms and later pay school fees. The uniform prices were on my annual update and the school fees structure is as follows.

We also took Hannah and Mary to high school and their shopping and half their school fees were paid by the money we had received so far. Thank you. Frenzer will be reporting next week into her new school we will need funds to do some of her shopping (we bought a few things for her during Mary and Hannah shopping) and pay her fees.

All these need to be accomplished tpday. I am kindly requesting anyone who is in a position to give towards meeting this need. Spread the word about our needs to everyone, you never know what God will do.

A message from Joseph…

Happy New Year friends and family!! It is with much joy that I write to you about haven family. I greet you all in the name of our lord Jesus Christ. 2016 has come to an end and it is important to review what we have achieved and what will have to be achieved this coming year 2017. I will start by addressing all our goals for the year 2016 that have been successfully achieved. The year had its challenges but we thank God for enabling us to face all of them with boldness and giving us wisdom on how to handle whatever came our way. Every situation was an opportunity for us to grow.

2016 Accomplishments—Praise God!

• Early in the year Jona.Ev organization raised funds to settle our school fees debt. This had been our prayer for a long time and we thank God and all who gave to ensure we were debt free. The organization has continued to pay fees for our children and we are happy to say that all fees are fully settled to date.
• It is our prayer that HGI Team will always be able to come and visit Haven every year. 2016 we were blessed to have the number of the team increase. Among the team were a few of our children sponsors we really appreciate all of them for taking the time and money to travel all the way from the US to spend time with the children. We are praying that all of our sponsors get an opportunity to visit us. When they were here we celebrated Jan-July birthdays of our children, it was fun having the team with us.
• We also bought text books for our children through the donations from our sponsors. This gift was presented to our children by the HGI team that came. A big thank you to everyone who gave towards the gift.
• We also planted in the green house tomatoes. We have enjoyed the fruits and continue to though we have had challenges in disease and pest control but we thank God that through this challenges we have gained a lot of experience and believe the next planting will be much better. The market was not as good as we had hoped since many customers are looking for consistency in supply and since we only had one greenhouse we could not assure them of that but we hope to in the coming year.
• School uniform is a one time need in the beginning of every year. Last year we managed to buy them on time. The smiles couldn’t be hidden on the faces of the children it was such an awesome gift for the children. This was for the first time in haven family that the children went to school with nice uniform. We also participated in the HGI race earlier in the year and this was an event that brought all of us together for noble cause….we loved it and hope we get to have another race this year 2017.
• Ross and his friends bought cooking stoves and tables/chairs for the children. This was a need for us and through Ross God provided. The place looks beautiful and cooking is easier now.
• We thank all of you who gave funds towards home clothes for the children. We bought 3 bales of clothes for both boys and girls. We totally depend on donations on this need. Please continue giving to ensure we have enough clothes for the children

All this achievements were made possible because of you and I coming together to answer the call of God. We have accomplished a lot by giving the children hope and demonstrating God in our life. Christ came to do and preach the gospel and this is precisely what we’ve done. Late in the year 2016 our land lady came to Kenya and increased our rent from 35,000 to 80,000 shillings this amount is too much for us. She gave us an ultimatum that by March 1^st 2017 we should be out of the house or pay the rent of 80,000 shillings. We are looking for a house and we need a deposit for the new house and also to do some repairs to the house we are living in now. This is a great need for haven

2017 Goals

But we want to do more, go an extra mile in securing our children future. The following goals (in order of priorities) will go a long way in assuring their well being in future:

• To buy full school uniform for all our children before they go back to school.
• To pay school fees for our girls who are joining high school before 16^th of January.
• To Move to a new House before the end of January.
• To meet our monthly Home budget.
• To employ more staff to meet the governments requirement and also to reduce workload.
• To construct more greenhouses for sustainability purposes.
• To finish building book shelves,
• The children to improve in their grades in school.
• And finally our Goal for the year is to buy land.

Current Needs

Due to all of these needs, we have decided not to spend any funds on Christmas and cut out all spending that is not so necessary for us over the next 4 months. The children have agreed we must work together as a family to save as much as we can. Please I urge all of you to join us in prayers and in campaigning in raising finances so that we meet all this needs. As I said our God is The God of abundance and to us it may seem like a lot but to Him He is able to do exceedingly abundantly far above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

• School Uniforms, BEFORE JANUARY 30, 2017 $4422 ($110 per child)
• Moving Expenses, BEFORE MARCH 2017 $4422
• Hannah, Mary, and Frenzer’s tuition, BEFORE JANUARY 1, 2017 $4737

Child Sponsorship Changes

As our children grow, their financial needs grow as well. We will be raising our sponsorship costs in January 2017 to $75 monthly or seeking multiple sponsors for each child to meet the total need. If you are able, please login and make that change. If you are not, please contact Shelley, and she will begin the process of finding a 2nd sponsor for your child. Thank you!

We are inviting you to continue partnering with us in the realization of our vision and fulfillment of our goal. With you on our team and God in our team we have great success. A big thank you to all organizations that gave towards haven family needs (HGI and JONA e.V). I wish you all year 2017 full of God’s favor and may your territories expand to greater heights.

Wishing you Happy and prosperous New Year!!

Regards,

Joseph Mutiga