News for End of January 2005

"You are very good because you attend a lot of funerals, but you are very bad because you have not married" an old man told me on 16.01.05. That may be summing up African culture in a nutshell and putting me in my place!

Siaya so far - - -.... Having been encouraged by the first meeting of our new Siaya class, I was then discouraged by the second! The first was lively and attended by a good group including mature men who had a lot of valuable insights to share. The second time a small group who all came late, and the non-attendance even of our Siaya co-ordinator, gave us a reality check! It is still early days, so pray for us to be encouraged as we continue to share God's word!

Amazement - - - I was intrigued by my colleagues' amazement at the task taken on by the West in feeding, keeping and educating ever rising numbers of African children. Indeed foreign funded orphan projects (although many children of course benefit who are not orphans) are increasing in my home area. I can count five within a 3 mile radius all started within the last 2 or 3 years - and there may well be others that I do not know about. Pray for much wisdom for the people initiating and running such projects, this especially as they usually 'run blind' - that is without expatriates on the ground.

Website - - - A recent report from my website manager tells me that there has been a 50% rise in hits to my website as against the last report 2 or 3 years ago. The site, www.jim-mission.org.uk (easily found by putting 'Jim Harries' into Google) is getting over 1600 hits per month.

Robbers? - - - Robbers have come and tried to break into my house at night in both February 2003 and again February 2004. They come as a large gang of 20+. So far they have always come when I have been away. This does make us a bit nervous as we approach February 2005. Prayer valued - that they not come back, or at least if they do they again fail to get in.

Board Meeting 5th February - - - Pray for this extra board meeting called by KIST for February 5th 2005, to consider a number of key stategic plans for KIST's future.

Jim