Dear friends,
As you might have heard in the news, on Sunday morning around 11am a bomb was thrown into the Roman Catholic church they were dedicating that day, about 800m from where Miriam and Per lives. There were many prominent guests like a representative from the pope in Rome.
About 86 people were injured especially many children and 3 have been reported dead. The wounded were brought to 3 different hospitals in the area and many are still in a critical condition.
The military quickly came to the scene as they were afraid more bombs were hidden, fortunately they did not find any.
We have been told they have caught 3 Tanzanian and 3 (some say 4) Arabs (who flew in that week from Saudi Arabia). No organization has taken responsibility for the action, the locals are sure it is the muslims especially in the light of what has happened on Zanzibar and Mwanza. (Churches were burnt and priests were decapitated).
The situation is tense. Yesterday a minister was there to talk to the church/people in Olasiti and asked them to pray for the situation and not take revenge. This minister is one of the few we have in our parliament as many muslims have been elected. We would like you to pray for the situation that it will not escalate to become a holy war between Christians and muslims.
Lastly I would like to ask you to pray for us and remember us in your prayers for safety and guardian angels. We do not feel afraid as we know God has put us here.
With love Tabitha and Mirjam
The father disappeared and they have had no contact with him for several years. Ruth is a bright girl in school. Her school decided to sponsor her schooling because they are really poor. For various reasons the school recently shut down and Ruth had to find another school.
The mother cannot afford to send Ruth to another school. Ruth’s grandfather is a Maasai and he wants to have her back in Maasai land. He does not want a girl to get eductaed, but instead follow the Maasai traditions for girls: to be married. Maasais think that only boys should get educated.
Ruth’s mother told me that Ruth’s grandfather had received an offer from an elderly, wealthy Maasai who wanted to pay a very large dowry in the form of many cows in order to marry Ruth. Ruth had been desperate because she wanted to stay in school, get her education and choose her husband when the time was ripe. For this reason the mother and Ruth came to our office asking for help.
We trusted God and sent Ruth to a good, Christian school where she is thriving.
We received a sponsor who will support her until Form 4 is completed. But Ruth wishes to continue for another two years and graduate from High School. If any of you would like to support Ruth for a few more years please write us or send a gift to our missions account. Please earmark it “Ruth”.
