Shepherd's Home Sanctuary and Academy

On Monday, June 30 I rode with Mac Kiiru to the girls' home in Sigona - about 1/2 hour west of Nairobi. After spending a delightful afternoon with some of the girls, I was picked up from the Home by Mac's wife Nelly and taken to their home just a few blocks away.

Mac and Nelly opened a home for boys and a home for girls in response to the growing number of children left as orphans by the spread of HIV/AIDS. They invited me to spend two weeks with them to learn more about who they are, what they do and the vision God gave them...

As we approached the Kiiru residence I snapped this shot so you can see what a nice home I was blessed to stay in!

This room used to be their master. They have recently added on to their home to accommodate guests from out of town and from across the world...so their new master is in the new wing. I so appreciated having such wonderful accomodations, including my own bathroom!
This is a shot of the building that houses the girls rooms down stairs and class rooms upstairs. That's Nelly in the doorway.
More of the building and a bit of the side yard with some of the students during break time. Most of the orphans attend this school (there are a few in Secondary School who attend boarding schools in other towns) as well as children from the community. In all there are about 100 kids in attendance...from Baby Class (3-5 year olds) to Class 8 (equivalent to 8th grade)
I spent some time in the baby class - enjoying the little ones as they learned about family. Here they are drawing a mom, a dad, a brother, a sister and a baby...I also visited the preschool class where they were learning Kiswahili - I got an education too! Did not have my camera so no pictures - sorry!
I had the privilege of working with the orphan girls one evening as they read and answered pen pal letters from kids in CA. It was fun to help the girls understand foreign concepts like "over the summer" and "hanging out"...below is a class teacher and the head teacher helping the youngest child (who happens to be a boy!) with his letter.
Afterwards some of the girls changed out of their uniforms and came up to visit and have fun!
What follows is a series of pictures taken on Saturday the 5th of July. Mac and I along with 3 others drove for two hours to attend a 'pre-wedding' celebration. Mac is the officiating pastor for the wedding. After sitting for two hours in a restaurant (and having two cups of tea) and then another 1/2 hour outside of another restaurant waiting for all the people to arrive, we drove for almost an hour over a bumpy dirt road.
This is a photo of Mac giving a blessing/prayer at the location where we thought the celebration was to take place! As it turns out the 10 cars and 3 matatus were simply caravaning to the groom's home to pick up his grandfather and 3 other family members! After several people spoke and Mac prayed, we all climbed back into our vehicles for another long drive over the bumpy dirt road to the real location.

Upon arrival we were greeted with singing and dancing which lasted until every guest had arrived.
We were then escorted through the gate where the 'bride price' was presented to the bride's parents...
The function was actually quite well organized (although the getting there wasn't!)...with plenty of chairs for all to sit and plenty of food for all to eat.
Above is the bride and below is the groom...many family members of both bride and groom were introduced as well as friends of the bride's parents (of which Mac and I were two). It was a fun but long and exhausting day!
On Monday, the 7th of July Nelly and I drove to the town of Gilgil, where the boys' home is located...below is a photo of the town...in the forground you see a very common form of transportation...these bicycles are actually taxis, carrying people to a from their destinations.
A shot of the beautiful valley on the way from town to the boys' home...
Here is the home and you can see one of the school rooms off to the right of the photo. Mac and Nelly bought this property several years ago and used it as a vacation home, until the Lord impressed upon them the need to help the orphans in this area...so they converted their vacation home into a sanctuary for children who have no homes.
Just a shot of my room...it is the room Nelly uses when she comes to stay here...as you can see, there is a need for a wardrobe in the room! But I was comfortable and had a great view.


These two shots are of the boys doing some of their chores...the one below was taken from my bedroom window.
Every evening a team of boys chops cabbage or other food for the next day's meals.

Nelly took me on a tour of the classrooms, above is Class 1 and below is Class 6. Very small class sizes...

Two shots of the classrooms from outside - above building used to be staff quarters and below used to be a garage!

Nelly is quite proud of this bridge. A few years ago a church in the states sent a couple to Shepherd's Home to find out what the greatest need was. At that time the greatest need was for a bridge...until then kids from across the river had to balance their way across a water pipe - you can see that the bridge was built around the pipe.
Here are four kids from the 'other side' running down to the bridge after school...

'Before' and 'after' shots of the sunroom on the back of the house. Nelly is having it enclosed to be able to house 10 to 12 more boys - this room will be used to board students and will generate much needed income for the ministry.
This is a field behind the home - Nelly has plans to add one more cow and many more sheep so that she no longer will need to buy milk or meat for either the girls' home or the boys' home. She also plans to grow maize and other food as well, to keep food costs down.
Below is a series of photos chronicling our 'sheep buying' day...I was fascinated with how they tie the four feet together to transport them!
They are carried like baggage to the back of the truck...in the foreground is Edwin - he is the grounds keeper for the home and actually carried one in each hand! Both Nelly and I were amazed!
Below is the process of Edwin 'offloading' the sheep and then untying them...

Watching the process is Edwin's little girl who is just two.
As he untied each, he attached them to his legs until all three were standing...
Then he herded them to their new home...we found out later that two of them escaped the next day, but were eventually found and brought back...
The next day we went out to buy trees! Nelly plans to plant them below the property to stop the soil erosion that is taking away much of the land in the area...

More pen pal letters! This is teacher Mary, who helped me both nights...first with the younger boys...

...then with the older boys...
One morning as I was sitting in the sun, the kids came to visit on a break from classes...

At the end of my stay Mac drove me into Nairobi to another school, Dayspring, that they founded with 6 other couples in the early 90's. They have over 600 students from Baby Class to Class 8.

Here is a future soccer field on site...
I very much enjoyed my stay with the Kiiru's and am especially impressed with all they have accomplished in a short time. They are truly touching the lives of many children, through the homes and in the schools. Both husband and wife have exciting visions for the future of the schools and have an amazing commitment to pour into the lives of the children the Lord has put into their charge.