Kibera Clinic

One of the great new events for 2015 is the opening of our New Hope Initiative Clinic in the Nairobi, Kenya neighborhood of Kibera. We have had for many years a makeshift nursing station at our Kibera School, however, we recently were privileged to open our first dedicated clinic building to meet the medical needs of the people of Kibera. Without question one of the greatest needs in this slum is medical treatment for the massive number of people who live in that community. We are so pleased to be taking the first step towards meeting this need as our clinic becomes fully operational. The clinic is currently being staffed by a very competent nurse named Olive and we have a dream of this facility one day being the finest full service medical facility in Kibera. We have room for expansion and believe by faith that God will raise up a great facility in this place.

It Is Always Worth It

Saturday was one of the toughest days our family has ever experienced. My wife Karen and our children Kyle and Kelsey arrived in Nairobi from Sierra Leone after having gone to make application to adopt a precious little orphan by the name of Brian. The week in Sierra Leone had been a challenge, but was seemingly successful and the adoption process is moving steadily ahead with hopefully about 6 months to go. They arrived at the Nairobi airport to be reunited with me and Beckett our grandson, who I had traveled ahead with (I know I am a brave grandpa), and to continue our work in Kenya and Tanzania.

However, after arrival in Nairobi they were turned away at the airport due to unfounded Ebola concerns. They were then locked in a small room for 16 hours. It was a very frustrating, confusing, and challenging day as we fought to keep them there. We fought to have them sent back home to Texas instead of back to Sierra Leone as the authorities desired. And we fought to allow them to take Beckett with them which at first was denied. Sadly this strange story did not have a happy ending. They were deported later that night, although they were allowed to take Beckett with them and they were allowed to return home. This was a crushing defeat for our family and emotionally and physically very exhausting (they were traveling or detained for 70 straight hours).

As I was dejectedly leaving the airport after the 15 hour ordeal I heard a strange noise. Tollowing a disorientated moment, I realized my phone was playing a song from my iTunes list. I want to preface this story by explaining that although I am a person of faith I also am a very pragmatic person by nature and I often scoff (to myself) at people's so called "miracle" moments. But as I walked in the rain through the Nairobi airport parking lot, inexplicably, without even removing it from my pocket my phone began to play a song and as I strained to hear the word I soon recognized it as a song called "Orphans of God" by Avalon. I did not even know the song was on my iTunes, it must have been left over from a presentation we did 7-8 years ago. I have never even one time played that song on my phone. But in my moment of discouragement I heard these words:

So often abandoned by life's circumstances Come you unwanted and find affection If grace exists, then grace was made for lives like this There are no strangers, there are no outcasts, there are no orphans of God

- Orphans of God, by Avalon

I was powerfully reminded in that moment that doing good can sometimes be challenging and difficult. I was powerfully reminded in that moment that rescuing the hurting, the hopeless, the orphaned, and the outcast can at times be painful, but IT IS ALWAYS WORTH IT. For the little Brians of Sierra Leone as well as for the children of East Africa, India, and Nicaragua where we work, we cannot allow discouragement to defeat us. God was faithful in my very dark moment to wonderfully and perhaps miraculously remind me of why we do what we do and why we can never quit. If you are discouraged today, in some good work you are engaged in, I hope my story will lift your spirits. Don't quit!

Sandy Baird - New Hope Initiative Director

Penda Project Grows

Our incredibly successful scholarship program takes young people from our Kibera Primary School and helps them to further their education into secondary school, college, and university. Here is the record of 5 years of amazing growth.

• From 14 to 121 high school students
• From 14 to 41 students yearly that pass their entrance exam
• From 1 to 15 college students
• From no sponsors to 89 sponsors from 17 different states.
• From a staff of 2 to a staff of 7
• From a yearly budget of $4,200 to a yearly budget of $70,000

This incredible record of growth in such a short period of time presents incredible challenges as well. We now have 41 brand new high school freshman who are in need of a scholarship in order to attend secondary school in 2015. We have allowed these young people to enter school in a bold step of faith and we are searching for new sponsors who will commit to $30 or $50 dollars per month to cover the cost of either day school or boarding school for one of these wonderful young people. This is one of the very best investments you could ever make, literally giving these young people a chance for a future.

If you are interested in sponsoring a specific student please visit www.kiberapendaproject.com or email Kelsey Baird at kelsey@kiberapendaproject.com

The Penda College Experience

We are very excited that the number of college and university students in our Kibera Penda Project has risen to 12. These are the very first classes to matriculate to this level and the number of Penda college students will continue to rise rapidly in the years ahead as the program matures. Although the Project pays for the tuition of the students so they can attend school, it is the responsibility of the student to find money to cover the amount of their living expenses. This is not only a financial necessity for the project but is also a healthy balance for the students so they can grow and mature in every area of life during their college years.

Some of our students are very fortunate and can live and eat at home during these challenging years. Other Penda project students must work enough hours to be able to fund their own living expenses. Several of our young men are taking college classes at night and are working construction during the day on other New Hope Initiative building projects. We have a group of students who are being trained and prepared to apply for jobs in the hospitality industry that will not only pay their living expenses but also provide them internships in their chosen field of study. You can imagine that working all day and going to classes all evening is a very challenging schedule. It will take great commitment and time management for these students to be successful at both.

We want to thank those of you who sponsor these wonderful students. You are making a profound impact in their lives. We also ask you to pray for them that they will be able to manage effectively the challenges of their rigorous schedule.

Slum School No More

One of our stated goals for 2014 was to move our New Hope Kibera Academy in Nairobi, Kenya from an adequate school working in the midst of a slum to a school which develops academic and spiritual excellence as an example to the entire community. We began in January with a reorganization of our entire school, lowering class sizes and demanding academic effort from all of our students, staff, and parents. We promoted this overall effort by enhancing the physical facilities, reducing class size, providing enhanced academic supplies, and focusing on growth and development for our professional staff. We are so excited to report that our efforts have produced even greater results than we had even hoped for.

As we near the completion of the calendar and school year in Kenya we are seeing the tests scores of our children reach levels that we have never witnessed before. Not only are our top students performing off the charts, we are also seeing the median progress of each class far outpace the other schools of the area.  We've also see great improvements in attendance, discipline enhancement, and behavioral progress. We are going to continue to challenge the students and staff of New Hope Kibera to not only be a great school in the middle of the Kibera slum but to be a model school for all of Kenya.