Speaker 1: Adventist Radio London inspiration for the.
Speaker 2: Song good evening, Good evening, Good evening, and welcome to
Speaker 2: Talking Point. It's another Sabbath evening, and hopefully you've had
Speaker 2: a really good sabbath. Whatever you've been doing in your churches,
Speaker 2: out and about hope. Maybe you've taking some walks, maybe
Speaker 2: you've been enjoying the weather, and we always talk about
Speaker 2: the weather, and it's a little bit changing all these days,
Speaker 2: but hopefully you've been having a blessed day whatever you've
Speaker 2: been doing. So thank you very much for joining us
Speaker 2: this evening. My name is Angela and I'm joined as
Speaker 2: usual by my co hosts Zenya and Pedro.
Speaker 3: How are you both, Good evening, Welcome to Talking Point.
Speaker 3: It feels like it's been a while, but yeah, it's
Speaker 3: good to be back and I'm good.
Speaker 4: I'm good.
Speaker 3: Enjoying the weather. As you've said, Angie, always the starting
Speaker 3: point the weather, isn't it, And I'm hoping that we're
Speaker 3: on the cusp of summer. There I say it.
Speaker 2: Yes, I think it's teasing a little bit, you know.
Speaker 4: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I think God has a sense, a real sense
Speaker 2: of humor.
Speaker 3: That's it, that's it.
Speaker 2: He knows, and it's not been so nice because there's
Speaker 2: been a bit of a ray. It's been a bit
Speaker 2: of a mixture.
Speaker 3: He has from one day to the other. Really, but yes,
Speaker 3: let's let's go some things and outs that we are
Speaker 3: heading for uh stretch of good weather, shall we?
Speaker 2: And you've got a good week.
Speaker 3: I certainly have. I mean it's it's been up and down,
Speaker 3: but you know, that is life. That is life. I
Speaker 3: am not going to complain. That's my new motto. I
Speaker 3: shall not complain because once his life there's hope. So
Speaker 3: trying to keep it positive. I like that and keep
Speaker 3: it moving.
Speaker 2: Cool.
Speaker 5: I'm good, good after that, good evening everybody, and welcome
Speaker 5: to Talking Point. Yeah, I'm good. And it has seemed
Speaker 5: like a while, hasn't it that we've been on together
Speaker 5: talking So yeah, it's been it's good to be back
Speaker 5: talking to you guys and to the folks on Radio
Speaker 5: Aventures Radio London. Thank you for joining us this evening.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Sorry you a busy week as usual?
Speaker 5: Uh yeah, actually I have. Yeah. My well actually for
Speaker 5: real quick, my job has expanded, so I do a
Speaker 5: lot of north now from Halifax, so I've been to
Speaker 5: like Newcastle and Darlington and Sutherland each day. So yeah,
Speaker 5: I think last week I did thirteen hundred miles of driving.
Speaker 5: So yeah, I'm a little busted, but it is what
Speaker 5: it is. But yeah, besides that, you know, everything else
Speaker 5: is good family as well, and we're all hanging in there.
Speaker 5: Oh but the weather thing, you guys kill me with that.
Speaker 5: I like the way. I don't like it to be too.
Speaker 3: Hot, but that's just me, that's true.
Speaker 5: I've said that before. I don't like it to be
Speaker 5: hot because, like getting it's more for me in the car.
Speaker 5: If I'm in and out of the car. You know,
Speaker 5: you get back to the car, the cars hot and
Speaker 5: then it takes like five ten minutes for the car
Speaker 5: to cool down. So and it don't take long for
Speaker 5: it to get hot. So like I go in a
Speaker 5: person's house, I'm in there for thirty minutes, I come
Speaker 5: out the car steaming hot. Again. Now I got to
Speaker 5: try to cool it down before I go down the road.
Speaker 5: So it could be a little taxing for me, but I.
Speaker 3: Think right here where we atod it's good for me.
Speaker 3: I like, if I can set the stat right here,
Speaker 3: right now, is what it will be all year. Honestly, Yeah, I.
Speaker 5: Like it when it's sunny, but not like just straight
Speaker 5: up heat, like little breeze, you know, a little coolness.
Speaker 3: I like that.
Speaker 5: We personally, yeah, yeah, the folks saying Brittain, when the
Speaker 5: sun comes out, everybody go crazy. But that's a whole
Speaker 5: other We could do a whole We can do a.
Speaker 2: Whole really, but we're thankful, thank you so so yeah.
Speaker 2: So for anybody chuning in for the first time, we
Speaker 2: are talking points, this is this is talking point I
Speaker 2: should say, this is a show about Wow, we're talking
Speaker 2: about different We're having conversations and talking about different topics,
Speaker 2: themes and ideas that maybe sometimes aren't always discussed. And
Speaker 2: what we're gonna be talking about today is I'm liking
Speaker 2: I'm going to kind of coin this kind of part
Speaker 2: of my change Maker series in the sense of.
Speaker 1: The King.
Speaker 2: At people who are making a difference in there, whether
Speaker 2: it's their local community or maybe their global community, and
Speaker 2: hopefully that will inspire you to try and make a difference,
Speaker 2: make a change within your own circles. Sometimes we think
Speaker 2: it has to be a big, major thing to make
Speaker 2: a difference, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. So
Speaker 2: we want to kind of really highlight some really cool
Speaker 2: stories and so really cool people who have been doing
Speaker 2: exactly that. But before we get into that, let's start
Speaker 2: off our show with a word of prayer. So anyway
Speaker 2: you mind praying.
Speaker 3: For us a definitely, Father, thank you for another opportunity
Speaker 3: to lead and to discuss the topics that are relevant
Speaker 3: and law. As we have this conversation today and the
Speaker 3: interview ahead, may persons listening be blessed, and may there
Speaker 3: may it be a call for action in Jesus' name. Amen.
Speaker 2: Amen. So yes, we're going to be highlighting two ladies today,
Speaker 2: actually friends of sen years or Zenia knows, who have definitely,
Speaker 2: you know, been making a big difference in a really
Speaker 2: really big way. And it's kind of one of those
Speaker 2: areas that the idea of making a difference is probably
Speaker 2: something that as Christians we are kind of cool to do.
Speaker 2: We're all to kind of you know, love our neighbors,
Speaker 2: love other people. We're supposed to be spreading the Gospels
Speaker 2: with the word, et cetera. And there's lots of opportunities
Speaker 2: potentially to do that during the months, several months throughout
Speaker 2: the year, especially like June. There's like Volunteers Week, Volunteers Month.
Speaker 2: There's also the Big Help Out which is over a
Speaker 2: weekend in June as well, but really is the opportunity
Speaker 2: for doing something to make a difference, really highlighting the
Speaker 2: idea of volunteering and giving in your time. Many of
Speaker 2: us work really hard, but there is something about maybe
Speaker 2: whether it's highlighting you way passions or getting involved in
Speaker 2: something that you feel really strongly about so really want
Speaker 2: to help out in different ways, you can definitely do
Speaker 2: that through volunteering. It's definitely an interesting and really good
Speaker 2: thing for your well being as well. So that has
Speaker 2: a whole other thing as well. But what I found
Speaker 2: really interesting as well, there was a recent poll this
Speaker 2: was to do with a Big Help Out that nearly
Speaker 2: one in two young people and they were saying eighteen
Speaker 2: to twenty twenty four year olds want to volunteer, but
Speaker 2: sometimes they we unable to find ways to get involved.
Speaker 2: Now again, there are some different ways you can get
Speaker 2: involved in stuff, and hopefully with campaigns like these, different
Speaker 2: organizations will start to open things out and open opportunities.
Speaker 2: But there are still things that you can do young
Speaker 2: old in between. So we're going to be looking at
Speaker 2: that today. So my first question I think is just
Speaker 2: thinking about this. What's your thoughts on volunteering generally? Because
Speaker 2: I guess the idea of doing something, I say, volunteering
Speaker 2: for nothing, and sometimes as a volunteer you're not getting
Speaker 2: paid for this. What's your thoughts on that? I know
Speaker 2: I've done many voluntary roles over the years, and sometimes
Speaker 2: you put it in a lot of hard work and
Speaker 2: time and effort. Sometimes it feels like it's worth it,
Speaker 2: and many times it doesn't. So do we think it's
Speaker 2: an important thing to volunteer try and do something within
Speaker 2: your local community?
Speaker 5: Well you want us to one of us, okay, well,
Speaker 5: but me volunteering is unnecessary thing that is good if
Speaker 5: you have the time. Now, everybody has the time to volunteer.
Speaker 5: I think that you know, if I could volunteer for something,
Speaker 5: I would, It's just the time frame doesn't always work
Speaker 5: out for me to do. So. I think volunteering makes
Speaker 5: give your sense of accomplishment. Some people a sense of
Speaker 5: accomplishment of like helping somebody else that needs help, or
Speaker 5: helping a cause that needs help. And so volunteering for
Speaker 5: me would be like I get a good feeling just
Speaker 5: knowing that I can help somebody because you know, so
Speaker 5: many less fortunate people than us out there that are
Speaker 5: struggling and going through things, and even people that are okay,
Speaker 5: sometimes they need help. I think we always need help
Speaker 5: and we have to get away from the fact of
Speaker 5: we always have to get paid for what we do,
Speaker 5: because I don't think, you know, we should be paid
Speaker 5: for everything that we do. We do a lot of
Speaker 5: things for free that we would just not think, not
Speaker 5: think twice about doing. But because then when they said,
Speaker 5: well can you do this, You're like, well, can you
Speaker 5: pay me? We're like and you're like, well, you do it.
Speaker 5: You do it for free anyway, so why can't you
Speaker 5: you know, why can't you do it? I mean, you
Speaker 5: do it for free when you when it benefits you,
Speaker 5: so why can't you do it when it benefits somebody else?
Speaker 5: So you know, for me, volunteering it's a necessary component
Speaker 5: for organizations to thrive and to help other people to
Speaker 5: achieve what they need to achieve.
Speaker 3: Ahead, No, well, I'm conscious that I'll be talking for
Speaker 3: another hour, but yeah, and Petu, you talk about time,
Speaker 3: and I want to highlight that what we're doing now
Speaker 3: as part of Adventists Radio London is a voluntary initiative,
Speaker 3: and so I think that generally people can find the
Speaker 3: time work it into your schedule. And also organizations do
Speaker 3: offer volunteer days. If they don't, then then speak to
Speaker 3: the persons in charge and see if they can put
Speaker 3: that onto their agenda and make that a possibility that
Speaker 3: you can have a day to volunteer at your local
Speaker 3: or at a charity that is near and dear to you.
Speaker 3: There is about fourteen points to at last count in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty two volunteers in this country, fourteen point two million.
Speaker 3: And so volunteering informs the backbone of any or any society,
Speaker 3: the backbone of organizations, because if they don't get people
Speaker 3: who are willing, then a lot of the work doesn't
Speaker 3: get done, particularly organizations who don't get a lot of
Speaker 3: financial help financial support. And then I'll end by saying,
Speaker 3: if you can't, if perchance you don't have the time
Speaker 3: to then give tangibly. Yeah, yeah, that is an excellent
Speaker 3: way to contribute. If you can't be the hand and
Speaker 3: the you know, the hands and the feet, then send
Speaker 3: someone by providing the finances for others to do what
Speaker 3: they're doing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was gonna I was listening about I was
Speaker 2: gonna say the same thing about that, because sometimes again
Speaker 2: there are so many different ways you can you can serve,
Speaker 2: and you can give and you can give back, you know,
Speaker 2: and like you said, it doesn't have to be a
Speaker 2: really physically with your time and in the person you know, philanthrop.
Speaker 4: That word.
Speaker 5: Bad.
Speaker 2: That's definitely a big way of doing that, and I
Speaker 2: think that's really I think that in itself was a
Speaker 2: really good with really good skill could you call it that?
Speaker 2: Or trait to teach your children as well when we
Speaker 2: think about the idea we sometimes you know, you're teaching
Speaker 2: young children about sharing and you know, giving each other
Speaker 2: and playing and you know, all those kind of things.
Speaker 2: You know, that's definitely something that you could kind of
Speaker 2: highlight on that and I think as when we think
Speaker 2: about it as Christians, I mean, if we do you've
Speaker 2: mentioned obviously about how what we're doing on the radio,
Speaker 2: most of us were doing our work at church. If
Speaker 2: you're involved in church, that's a voluntary you're doing that
Speaker 2: voluntarily anyway, you know, and you know you always in
Speaker 2: to be part of team, as part of departments, and
Speaker 2: you know, your contribution to whether it's the service or
Speaker 2: the programs that are put on or the activities or
Speaker 2: the initiatives, they're definitely things that you can do as well.
Speaker 2: There are so many different ways to be able to
Speaker 2: do that.
Speaker 5: You just made me think of something when you said
Speaker 5: children growing up, we always like my parents always taught
Speaker 5: me to help people, and that's volunteering when you think
Speaker 5: about it, like you know, like if I saw a
Speaker 5: lady needed help, they get help bags or groceries to
Speaker 5: her house, and I help or take our groceries to
Speaker 5: our house, that's actually consider volunteering, isn't that? Or is that? Yeah?
Speaker 5: So you know, just trying to I guess they teaching
Speaker 5: our children to be self aware of just helping others.
Speaker 5: I think as they get older then it just carries
Speaker 5: over where they would then help other people off our
Speaker 5: thinking about it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean when you look at the Pendiction definition
Speaker 2: would definitely say, you know, volunteering somebody who freely offers
Speaker 2: to take part in something or works for an organization
Speaker 2: without being paid, or freely offers to do something.
Speaker 5: So yeah, you'd rather do it freely than have to
Speaker 5: have a quite appointed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 5: I'd rather do community service because I wanted to do it,
Speaker 5: not because the court taught me to mm hmm, well, well,
Speaker 5: you know.
Speaker 2: What sometimes, but I also, I mean, this could be
Speaker 2: a whole other discussion. I'm sure that's all idea of
Speaker 2: actually giving back. It's if you you know, sometimes it's
Speaker 2: given if people have done something wrong. So in some
Speaker 2: ways you're taking, you may be taken from the community
Speaker 2: in the wrong way. So now let's give back in
Speaker 2: the right way or a contribution. So I'm not averse
Speaker 2: to that necessarily, but I guess.
Speaker 3: It shouldn't be the only reason you think what we're
Speaker 3: saying here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, definitely. And you know, when we think about
Speaker 2: this as well, it's the many it's almost like a
Speaker 2: biblical mandate as well. You know, serving God is obviously
Speaker 2: one of the key principles of our faith, and we're
Speaker 2: expected to kind of help our church help others, you know,
Speaker 2: be commanded to love one another, care for one another,
Speaker 2: pray for one another, encouraged help counsel of those things
Speaker 2: and the many verses that will tell you about the
Speaker 2: sort of things that you could be doing. But said, yeah,
Speaker 2: because we're going to go into talking you know, your
Speaker 2: conversation with our guests and tell us a little bit
Speaker 2: about and you know, just introduce, you know, what we do,
Speaker 2: what we've done today with our guests today, who they
Speaker 2: are and how you know them, and yeah, where we're
Speaker 2: at with that.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So the person that I'm interviewing today is Elizabeth Romeo
Speaker 3: found out of GOHA and GOHA is Good Health Africa.
Speaker 3: It's a faith based child centered organization or charitable organization
Speaker 3: that caters to the children and the community in Western Kenya.
Speaker 3: So the children and their families and how okay cool, yes,
Speaker 3: in Western Kenya. And so the foundation is based primarily
Speaker 3: on the pillar of education. So the school, Donald Romeo
Speaker 3: Community School is named after Elizabeth's husband and my late husband.
Speaker 3: But it's so much bigger than that, grown so much
Speaker 3: bigger than that. It now offers food and clean water
Speaker 3: and pall trees and clothing and medical supplies and especially
Speaker 3: spiritual support to the community. And that's all through mainly
Speaker 3: child charitable or through people supporting the ministry. So it's
Speaker 3: very much pinned on that. And at the end of
Speaker 3: the conversation, I'd just like to make an appeal on
Speaker 3: their behalf. Sitting with Elizabeth is her daughter Sharon, Ronio
Speaker 3: Fidel Demurray and they're going to be talking about Good
Speaker 3: Health Africa. How it was buff I think I ended
Speaker 3: up having an hour long conversation or more, and we
Speaker 3: just got into it talking very comfortably because she's a
Speaker 3: family friend and we've known each other three years. But
Speaker 3: I just am in all all of what she has done,
Speaker 3: and I maybe have to raise some funds on my
Speaker 3: own to get there, but one day I would love
Speaker 3: to go and see this ministry, to be there, to
Speaker 3: volunteer there, because what she's done is nothing short of amazing. Now,
Speaker 3: can I first start by asking you both to give
Speaker 3: a brief introduction. I mentioned that monstrat was where we
Speaker 3: first heard about Good Health Africa, and that speaks about
Speaker 3: heritage there. You both man fashions, and tell me a
Speaker 3: little bit more about where you're from and a little
Speaker 3: bit about yourself. Let's start with sister Omia Well.
Speaker 4: I was born in Salem, Montserrat. I attended Salem Primary
Speaker 4: School and I also started as a teacher at the
Speaker 4: age of fifteen, Wow, teaching at Salem School. And after
Speaker 4: that I went to Teacher's College and to this day
Speaker 4: still an educator, I should say. And after the volcanic
Speaker 4: crisis came to England and because I have a disease,
Speaker 4: and that disease is that I'm addicted to education. Started
Speaker 4: teaching here, then heard of what was going on in
Speaker 4: Kenya and decided that and go ahead with the children.
Speaker 4: And yeah, I'm still continuing.
Speaker 3: Yes, and looking so youthful, my adam. I mean, our
Speaker 3: listeners will not be able to see you, but I
Speaker 3: know that God is blessing you. We can tell, we
Speaker 3: can tell, bless you, bless you and Sharon you you
Speaker 3: are part of the project. This is your mom Missus Romeo,
Speaker 3: and I know that you're invested as well. Tell us
Speaker 3: a little bit about you and you're sort of you're
Speaker 3: making your way into the project as you became more involved.
Speaker 6: Oh okay, Well, when mommy came to England after everybody
Speaker 6: had to leave Montrage in the towards the end of
Speaker 6: the nineteenth centuris age, she came in thatteen ninety six,
Speaker 6: and of course we stayed in contact and bit by
Speaker 6: bit as she started exploring the idea of doing this
Speaker 6: project in Kenya, she know she talked to us and
Speaker 6: so on. I knew that at the very beginning when
Speaker 6: it came to making the first expenditures, on the building
Speaker 6: and so on that we all agreed among her children
Speaker 6: to contribute a certain amount of money. We had received some.
Speaker 7: Money from losses that we'd had through the volcano, and
Speaker 7: we decided to give a certain percentage of it with
Speaker 7: her concretely worth with her project.
Speaker 6: And then in two thousand and four, my daughter, who
Speaker 6: was just then turning thirteen at the time, my sister Valerie,
Speaker 6: and I went along with money because that was the
Speaker 6: summer after the school had been dedicated. It was dedicated
Speaker 6: on the third of August two thousand and three, which
Speaker 6: happened to be the birthday of my dad, for whom
Speaker 6: the school was named. So the following year, since I
Speaker 6: was a teacher at the time, in the summer holidays,
Speaker 6: we went there and that really brought it a life
Speaker 6: for me. I think had I not gone, there are
Speaker 6: lots of things that I wouldn't have grasped in a way.
Speaker 6: So we spent roughly a month there getting to know
Speaker 6: the people, the place, getting a feel for the culture
Speaker 6: and so on. And then after that it's been support,
Speaker 6: practical support, some financial support, and I have been for
Speaker 6: the past I forget how many years now, trustee, along
Speaker 6: with the sister film the Gauge, who has been absolutely
Speaker 6: wonderful in world. She brings a kind of sharp mind
Speaker 6: and I along with the great compassion to what she does.
Speaker 6: We also have been fortunate to have John Elder Dublin,
Speaker 6: Christian friend, former student of my mother's, who is the
Speaker 6: person handling administration and finance for the project, without whom
Speaker 6: we could not manage. Another superb person helping. So and
Speaker 6: then there's Mummy who was the director.
Speaker 3: Yes, so I've just picked a little bit of what
Speaker 3: you've said that you are an educator as well and
Speaker 3: you started is that your career to your teacher or
Speaker 3: it's a sort of fallen in Mummy's footsteps, because I
Speaker 3: feel a little bit like that.
Speaker 6: I resist, But at the end of the day, yeah,
Speaker 6: I think my career has been interesting in the sense
Speaker 6: I started off with Spanish Spanish as my first live
Speaker 6: Spanish literature and that's what I did my PhD. And
Speaker 6: I did it in Cuban nineteenth Central Cuban literature. Now
Speaker 6: and started off teaching at University of London and thought
Speaker 6: I would just continue as a university teacher lecturer.
Speaker 4: But then in ninety three.
Speaker 6: I went, well, my family went to Montserrat to spend
Speaker 6: initially a year. The idea was to help a bit
Speaker 6: of the family business, which it needed a bit of
Speaker 6: backup at the time, and for my daughter, who was
Speaker 6: then too to get to know that site of her
Speaker 6: culture was perhaps I need to say. I met my
Speaker 6: husband who's friend when we were both students at University
Speaker 6: of London, and our daughter was born at the Royal
Speaker 6: Free in London, and so her experience of life to
Speaker 6: that point was London and English, so we thought it
Speaker 6: was good for her to get to know that the
Speaker 6: Monstert side too, And while we were there, we decided
Speaker 6: to extend for an extra year or two, and the
Speaker 6: volcano erupted in ninety five, which is two years after
Speaker 6: we arrived, and that kind of upset the Apple card
Speaker 6: as far as plans are concerned, and so we eventually
Speaker 6: had to come back. My family anyway, my husband and
Speaker 6: my daughter and I relocated suit to be back to
Speaker 6: Europe and decided that we would settle in France rather
Speaker 6: than England. And so when I went to France, I
Speaker 6: applied to universities there, just thinking I would continue as
Speaker 6: I had done before university, teaching Spanish.
Speaker 4: But the Lord blocked those and how you've put that
Speaker 4: a series of.
Speaker 6: So called coincidences and to go into it ended up
Speaker 6: with me being asked to teaching English at the Adventist
Speaker 6: High School there on the university campus in College over
Speaker 6: the Swiss border. And it was only after I signed
Speaker 6: on the dotted with them that I heard back from
Speaker 6: the university. Look at that it was great, clear to
Speaker 6: me where God's plan to go. And I worked there
Speaker 6: for twenty three years, I think, until I retired three
Speaker 6: years ago.
Speaker 3: So teaching, educating, it's in your blood and part of
Speaker 3: the process. And you've mentioned that Good Health Africa has
Speaker 3: an element and I know it's much more than a school,
Speaker 3: but it has an element of education, and that's I
Speaker 3: think where Good Health Africa was birthed. You mentioned two
Speaker 3: thousand and three as our date.
Speaker 6: That's when THEO was dedicated.
Speaker 3: Right now, Sister Romeo let me because we've touched on
Speaker 3: it offline and I want to bring that to our listeners.
Speaker 3: How did Good Health Africa come about? You are an
Speaker 3: educator in the Caribbean. Now, if I'm sure, if someone
Speaker 3: asked you when you started at age fifteen, whether you'd
Speaker 3: have a school in Kenya. I'm certain you would not
Speaker 3: have said yes, you know, that may not have been
Speaker 3: on your radar at all. Tell me how then, was
Speaker 3: good health Africa birthed, and perhaps Sharon, you want to
Speaker 3: call or come on up after and explain to me
Speaker 3: and the listeners what good health Africa actually encompasses.
Speaker 4: Right well, I must say to you that I graduated
Speaker 4: and still attended ahs.
Speaker 3: IHS. That's the Institute of the Holy Spirit and I'm
Speaker 3: writing that down.
Speaker 4: Yes, that's my college.
Speaker 3: An email.
Speaker 4: The institute took me at fifteen and through right now
Speaker 4: up until now, I'm still a student at the Institute.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 4: No, no, you know everything results are on the volcano.
Speaker 4: And after I came here, as I said, I'm addicted
Speaker 4: to teaching. I went into education here in classrooms here
Speaker 4: in England and at church when we had Education Day,
Speaker 4: somebody from the Kenyan Embassy spoke and said that at
Speaker 4: one point yet he went to school naked. He didn't
Speaker 4: have He was the only child in school naked because
Speaker 4: his father could not afford to send him to school.
Speaker 4: And so the dad has the choose education or close
Speaker 4: and he chose education. Why he went to school naked
Speaker 4: as I sat in church and listened. I said, well,
Speaker 4: I wonder how many children in Kenya need an education
Speaker 4: so badly that they'd be reduced to what this brother
Speaker 4: is talking about. And so that that was the start.
Speaker 4: I sat in my seat and said, I'll try to
Speaker 4: do something. My children grown and what a view and
Speaker 4: if I can help somebody else's child I read. That
Speaker 4: is all the thought came, and I started the Holy Spirit,
Speaker 4: the pread the institute is it the principal of the college,
Speaker 4: the Institute of the Holy Suit me the Institute of
Speaker 4: the Holy suit Our president kept me informed and put
Speaker 4: me in places where I had to be and put
Speaker 4: everything in place. So in the schools here in After
Speaker 4: I got my salary, I decided that God go to
Speaker 4: Kenya and see what's going on there. And I went
Speaker 4: to Kenya, saw what was going on there, came back
Speaker 4: and decided, well, you know what, I used my salary
Speaker 4: as a teacher told the school wow, and that is
Speaker 4: I decided, well, this school we will follow the principles
Speaker 4: of Seventh Day Adventage education. Whatever you start in a
Speaker 4: Seventh Day Adventage school, that would be what our guidance. Ie,
Speaker 4: I'm I'm.
Speaker 3: Answering, oh, yes, you are very much so.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm so much involved in it in my spirits,
Speaker 4: you know that.
Speaker 3: I'm sure you've told the story how many times as well.
Speaker 3: So the.
Speaker 4: President of our college, the IHS, sent two people from Kenya.
Speaker 4: They had the Sabbath, we had lunch together and I said, well,
Speaker 4: if I found land, that I build a school in Kenya.
Speaker 4: And I thought it was joking. Now we were just
Speaker 4: chip chatting. In two weeks he sent me back and
Speaker 4: said he has found land. Come to view it, and
Speaker 4: everything was under the ahs. And I went saw the land.
Speaker 4: He had a lot of water on it and electricity
Speaker 4: poles running through it. Everybody wondered, how come that this
Speaker 4: woman come from so far away and guard But the
Speaker 4: lord had it prepared for his workmen. So that is
Speaker 4: how we started, and through all kinds of ups and
Speaker 4: downs and in them out. In two thousand and three
Speaker 4: we decided to dedicate the building and what to call
Speaker 4: it was a problem what to name the school? And
Speaker 4: I said, well, my husband was a very generous person.
Speaker 4: As well as he worked as a teacher, he also
Speaker 4: was a teacher, and I think I'll give him give
Speaker 4: the honor of saying down on the room and community
Speaker 4: to bring together everybody, all the children, I said, I
Speaker 4: hope I have so then I that's how I got
Speaker 4: there in Kenya.
Speaker 3: Wonderful.
Speaker 4: I've left out a lot of the stories.
Speaker 3: But you know, and we will touch a little bit
Speaker 3: on it as we go along. I'm two thousand and
Speaker 3: three till now. There is a lot to tell and
Speaker 3: we won't be able to tell it even in the day.
Speaker 3: So we'll pull what we can and we'll share what
Speaker 3: we can. And I am just already so amazed that
Speaker 3: God and how he works and how you were willing,
Speaker 3: and he just decided he would put things in place,
Speaker 3: as you said, the Institute of the Holy Spirit, and
Speaker 3: letting him. You know, when he gives I said that
Speaker 3: all the time, when he gives vision, there is provision,
Speaker 3: all right, And we trust him and we only have
Speaker 3: to make ourselves available. And when I listen to you, sister,
Speaker 3: I know you've left out a lot of the story,
Speaker 3: and a lot of it I'm sure would have been
Speaker 3: trials and tribulations and working through and and we'll touch
Speaker 3: a little bit about on that. But it started with
Speaker 3: a willingness, a willingness to give of yourself. You had
Speaker 3: a little bit of background. You heard someone say there
Speaker 3: was a need, and you said, Lord, send me. And
Speaker 3: I just want our listeners to take that away as well,
Speaker 3: because that's all it takes initially, is that willingness, that
Speaker 3: willingness to be a part of something, to solve a
Speaker 3: problem and to be someone that will help in a
Speaker 3: time of need. And let God do the rest.
Speaker 4: Since I want to tell you that teaching for me
Speaker 4: is a delight.
Speaker 2: Right, it's not a burden.
Speaker 4: Just tell me, get me in in school and give
Speaker 4: me all of their need and get on a minute,
Speaker 4: and you know, needs and whatever it is comes from
Speaker 4: the headquarters, from the Paulic spirit Ahs, and I get
Speaker 4: on with it and a lot open the understanding of
Speaker 4: the children. And I'm delighted and thank God that I'm
Speaker 4: able to help.
Speaker 3: And still are you? Still are amen? Amen, Sharon? If
Speaker 3: I can pull you back in now and just give
Speaker 3: us a little bit of the essence of good health Africa.
Speaker 3: I know the Donald Romeo Academy is an element, perhaps
Speaker 3: the basis of the foundation for the project, but I
Speaker 3: know it also goes beyond the school. And you spoke
Speaker 3: offline about the need for free education which came online
Speaker 3: when the school broke ground. But there are also other
Speaker 3: needs that you help to supply in terms of the
Speaker 3: community and the children who attend the school.
Speaker 6: Okay say Good Health Africa is a British charity, an
Speaker 6: official charity which.
Speaker 4: Has as its main aim.
Speaker 6: To support d r CS the school, to raise funds
Speaker 6: to to support the school, and but also to provide
Speaker 6: leadership for my mother's vision of education, which I would summarize,
Speaker 6: summarize in in short, preparing children to love God, love
Speaker 6: and serve God, and love and serve others, kay, which
Speaker 6: means that it's not just about getting good diplomas and
Speaker 6: sending up you know, heads that are filled and hearts
Speaker 6: that are empty. It's it's supposed to be education holistic. Absolutely.
Speaker 3: So it started off. It started off with Sister Romeo
Speaker 3: hearing what turns out to be an appeal a young
Speaker 3: man who's saying that there are people in Kenya, children
Speaker 3: in Kenya who are having to make a decision whether
Speaker 3: they go to school or eat go to school or
Speaker 3: they're clothed. And you responded to that appeal, responded to
Speaker 3: that need and broke ground. In two thousand and three
Speaker 3: school opened in January twenty two thousand and three. Well,
Speaker 3: the actually you broke ground before the building I.
Speaker 6: Think started in two thousand and two and had to
Speaker 6: get some precise dates, but I think right it was
Speaker 6: dedicated in two thousand and three. Oh, my dad's birthday,
Speaker 6: third of August. And since the Kenyan school year starts
Speaker 6: in January, not in September like us, it was the
Speaker 6: following January that school started open two thousand and four.
Speaker 3: Right, And we're talking about resistance, and you told me
Speaker 3: an interesting story that I want you to share with
Speaker 3: our listeners as well, because here comes this lady from Montserrat,
Speaker 3: and small island that very few people know about, more
Speaker 3: so now I think since the volcano. But it's a
Speaker 3: small island, and I'm sure many Kenyans would not have
Speaker 3: known where Monstrat was. You know, who is this lady
Speaker 3: who's come from wherever she's come from, deciding that she
Speaker 3: wants to do something good for our community, and it
Speaker 3: was met with resistance some skepticism. Tell us a little
Speaker 3: bit about how that that sort of unfolded.
Speaker 6: Well, I mean, forget about montad A lot of them
Speaker 6: didn't even know where the West Indies was there you go.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 6: So here comes this woman and it's interesting. Do they
Speaker 6: call your massongo money? Yes, Mozongo is the name for
Speaker 6: white people, right, but Mauzongo has come to me just
Speaker 6: foreign ers is honorary white.
Speaker 3: Yeah, not Kenyan.
Speaker 6: Here comes this Musu foreign woman who says she wants
Speaker 6: to help and is prepared to spend her money because
Speaker 6: I think a lot of people may not realize. Initially,
Speaker 6: when mommy came to England and she had the itch
Speaker 6: for education, she ended up teaching in some difficult inner
Speaker 6: city schools and the money that she earned from that
Speaker 6: is what she used to start off the project. For
Speaker 6: the first years, there was very little contribution from other
Speaker 6: an her using her salary as an inner school part
Speaker 6: time school assistant and whatever else to get things going.
Speaker 6: Even comes this woman spending her money for in a
Speaker 6: country that's not her country, and in a country that's
Speaker 6: a culture that's quite tribal and its view of the world.
Speaker 6: Somebody from another tribe, another country. It seemed a little
Speaker 6: suspicious about to some of them. So the rule went
Speaker 6: around that my mum was probably some sort of witch
Speaker 6: with Nefari's design.
Speaker 3: Ulterior motives, and yes.
Speaker 6: In the first six months, only one hundred children. One
Speaker 6: hundred three parents of one hundred children sent their children
Speaker 6: to the school to kind of test the waters. Eventually
Speaker 6: more came along, and now I think the role is
Speaker 6: the four hundred and thirty something. That's a big change.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yes, I like that story because it just shows
Speaker 3: how God works. It shows how God works and how
Speaker 3: he will call us to foreign lands perhaps, and the
Speaker 3: Bible of four stories like that. And I'm just amazed
Speaker 3: that Missus Romeo persisted because if yes, sometimes when you
Speaker 3: meet resistance, it's easy to just turn back or say,
Speaker 3: you know what, I'm trying to do something for you,
Speaker 3: and this is what you this is what you're saying,
Speaker 3: this is what you're doing, this is how you're undermining
Speaker 3: what were come here to try to do. And it's
Speaker 3: just amazing that you have kept at it. Two thousand
Speaker 3: and three is a long long time ago. Perhaps it
Speaker 3: feels longer to use the steromeo, but to have kept
Speaker 3: the vision going up until now.
Speaker 6: And I think, I mean, we sometimes laugh about it now,
Speaker 6: but I sometimes say to Mommy, had you known at
Speaker 6: the beginning that the huge culture gap and different assumptions
Speaker 6: and the problems of not to put too fine a
Speaker 6: pointed corruption and so on she would encounter she perhaps
Speaker 6: wouldn't have started. And it's as if the law just
Speaker 6: let her see and understand things bit by bit, and
Speaker 6: by the time she grasped something, she was already you know.
Speaker 3: Fully invested. No turning back, no turning back about praise
Speaker 3: God while speaking about speaking of resistance and and so forth,
Speaker 3: Sister Romeo, what are some of the highlights for you?
Speaker 3: Because we know that there must be, must have been challenges,
Speaker 3: But what are some of the highlights for you? Why?
Speaker 3: Why have you stuck with it despite those challenges? What
Speaker 3: is your passion? And no teaching?
Speaker 2: Is it?
Speaker 3: And you you've spoken to to being able to teach,
Speaker 3: and that's really all there needs to be for you.
Speaker 3: But what are the rewards that keep you going in
Speaker 3: this project?
Speaker 4: M hm, my dear sister. I love to teach. I
Speaker 4: give me a chal and say oh they can read,
Speaker 4: or whatever you want it just it's a love I
Speaker 4: have in my heart of sharing information. And I believe
Speaker 4: that the IHS would help me to have that the
Speaker 4: child or whoever I'm teaching, and so that God's Kingdom
Speaker 4: gets the glory.
Speaker 3: Amen.
Speaker 4: And first, have to take you back to naming. You
Speaker 4: about naming. My name is not beth Romeo anymore. My
Speaker 4: name is hassi Ela, hassi Ella. That's what the people
Speaker 4: WN call me, okay.
Speaker 3: And what is there? Is there a meaning behind it
Speaker 3: or story behind it?
Speaker 4: Is a kind of a dogesst darkness in the Bible. Right,
Speaker 4: it's amen as hassi Ella. I just whatever I do
Speaker 4: in Kenny is whatever did in Montserrat. I have changed
Speaker 4: my style of teaching and relating to people the same thing.
Speaker 4: I haven't done anything different. God put me there to
Speaker 4: help those who are destitute, those in need, and what
Speaker 4: have you. And so going to Kenya my eyes, I
Speaker 4: went to a park. First, I would say, one of
Speaker 4: the outstanding things. I went to a park, and every
Speaker 4: time I went, I study old man under the tree.
Speaker 4: And well, I said, well, suppose he' not getting anything
Speaker 4: to eat. So I used to take some of my
Speaker 4: breakfast over to the park to give to this old man.
Speaker 4: Then I decided, you know what, I think he needs
Speaker 4: to change his clothes, and so I hired some people
Speaker 4: to take him to a river. You know how, all
Speaker 4: the things we got clothes ready, and one of you
Speaker 4: to give him a bath, and what a view and
Speaker 4: whatter you? And one day I saw him eating banana
Speaker 4: skins out of a bin, and I said, Lord, have mercy.
Speaker 4: So that's why I started off to tear the food
Speaker 4: for him. And so they took him, and they came
Speaker 4: back to me and said, he will not open his hand.
Speaker 4: They can his hand to wash some of his hand,
Speaker 4: and he won't open his hands. And so they called
Speaker 4: me and one of you. And what they found out,
Speaker 4: I'm leaving out a lot of the story. What they
Speaker 4: found out is that in the palm of his hand
Speaker 4: there was a large soap with saying monster and there
Speaker 4: and what had happened. But but oh well, they bade
Speaker 4: him a lot when he came. They brought him to me.
Speaker 4: He was not an honor. He just came from another
Speaker 4: tribe next water view and in a strange place in
Speaker 4: parts of Kenya at the time, I don't know if
Speaker 4: any changes. If you have mental problems and the police
Speaker 4: get fed up with you on the street, they take
Speaker 4: you out in the woods someplace and let you out
Speaker 4: what happens. They don't care what happened to you or
Speaker 4: what of you. So he was brought from some far place.
Speaker 8: He was.
Speaker 4: Let go into town not knowing anybody or anything, and
Speaker 4: render bought so because that he had on when I
Speaker 4: saw him dirty were things he took up the side
Speaker 4: of the road, etcetera, etcetera. Anyway, so he came to me,
Speaker 4: bathe and washed and chained, got somebody to cut his hair,
Speaker 4: and what of you? And then I want to find
Speaker 4: out what gave him this show in his hand. He
Speaker 4: was born, they say, with his hand in a fist.
Speaker 4: Born with a hand in a fist. And you know
Speaker 4: people they believe in which craft almost and so they
Speaker 4: send him to a witch doctor to see the which
Speaker 4: doctor could get him to open his hand. And the
Speaker 4: witch doctor they put on through some boiling water on
Speaker 4: the hand between the fingers, hoping that when the guy
Speaker 4: feels the pain and his fingers opened. And Bill, that
Speaker 4: was the beginning story. I had to get him housed
Speaker 4: and etcetera. The I lost connection with him, but I
Speaker 4: want to thank God that I was able to deal
Speaker 4: with someone. I didn't start any teaching yet, I didn't
Speaker 4: put my eyes around to look to see those people
Speaker 4: who while were they able to help. And eventually got
Speaker 4: him into a school and he was doing very well.
Speaker 3: Amen and I wanted to. I mean this highlights and
Speaker 3: Sharon you can you can back me up on this
Speaker 3: this high like how much more than a school this
Speaker 3: project is. And when we last spoke, Sister Romeo, you're
Speaker 3: saying that there is a a is it a garden
Speaker 3: or a farm? You know, you do part of feeding,
Speaker 3: there's a hospital element. There is much more to good
Speaker 3: health Africa than justice school. And what you're saying there
Speaker 3: is for me a testament of that that you you
Speaker 3: bring children in and you help them, you clean them up,
Speaker 3: you you know, you take care of them and you
Speaker 3: educate them and it's a holistic approach that you take.
Speaker 6: Yes, I think one of the things that's important to
Speaker 6: know is that, for instance, the children get two meals
Speaker 6: at school.
Speaker 3: Right in the morning.
Speaker 6: They get a sort of porridge type thing with milk
Speaker 6: from the cow. School cows, one of them was given
Speaker 6: by a lady and her husband in Monschat Clover and
Speaker 6: David Lee faithful supporters over the year, so that Clover
Speaker 6: and the milkmans to make porridge for the children. They
Speaker 6: have a solid vegetarian meal at lunch time and for
Speaker 6: many of those children, particularly in the hard time of
Speaker 6: the year, were they not getting two meals at school,
Speaker 6: they might just get one at home.
Speaker 3: Sorry none.
Speaker 4: I think things are a bit better.
Speaker 6: Than they were when the school started, but it's still
Speaker 6: pretty tough for a lot of the children. And see,
Speaker 6: one of the things that the school has done is
Speaker 6: to create a school garden farm or chambas they call it,
Speaker 6: where they grow I think they grow three quarters of
Speaker 6: the maize that they consume. Maize is like the basis
Speaker 6: of their diet, and they make ugali, which is like
Speaker 6: a kind of pungy food type starch dish, and they
Speaker 6: would have beans and so on with it. So the
Speaker 6: school grows most of the maze and a lot of
Speaker 6: the beans that they on said three quarters self sufficient
Speaker 6: in food now. But what's particular about it is and
Speaker 6: I see that as a part of the cultural impact
Speaker 6: of the school. This is a culture in which if
Speaker 6: you are someone of a diploma, like a teacher, get
Speaker 6: your hands dirty. So I remember when we went in
Speaker 6: two thousand and four, My sister.
Speaker 8: And I started off a small, small, very small school
Speaker 8: garden and sort of happily digging and making beds and
Speaker 8: so on, and the teachers and others are kind of
Speaker 8: looking at us like we were weird because.
Speaker 6: We remember Whisipers with the rich foreigners, we're in there
Speaker 6: getting all muddy and depth. That was just unthinkable for them.
Speaker 6: But now we have a school in which teachers and
Speaker 6: students go into the field to help with producing, hunting
Speaker 6: and so on and reaping the course, which is just
Speaker 6: just totally unthinkable normally still is in the culture. I
Speaker 6: think another impact of the school is the fact that
Speaker 6: we try very hard and we're still making efforts to
Speaker 6: make it better and better to have a good accounting system,
Speaker 6: with transparent accounting, with receipts for everything. It might sound
Speaker 6: just ordinary to people here, well what else do you
Speaker 6: do accounting? But there it's there's such a culture of
Speaker 6: you know, help yourself when you can. For a lot
Speaker 6: of people is not even seen as stealing. It's just
Speaker 6: you know what they do, you know how you get on.
Speaker 6: And so the fact that the school does not play
Speaker 6: paid ribes right, because there have been times, for instance,
Speaker 6: I think you waited for a long time for electricity
Speaker 6: because people were expecting what is called something small, so
Speaker 6: small is a euphemism for you know.
Speaker 3: Something under the table, right exactly.
Speaker 6: And there have been times and things have been held
Speaker 6: up because the school would not pay something small. But
Speaker 6: the very fact of doing that and functioning that way,
Speaker 6: I think mommy has had the faith to believe that
Speaker 6: it will have in the long term impact on both
Speaker 6: on the children, the people who worked there, and the
Speaker 6: wider community.
Speaker 3: Yes, wonderful. I've just been looking online and doing a
Speaker 3: little bit of reset. And I mean the the accolades.
Speaker 3: You know, you have taught and people who have graduated.
Speaker 3: Students that have graduated from your school have turned out
Speaker 3: doctors and lawyers and physiotherapists and nurses, et cetera. So
Speaker 3: there is yes, So there is so much to be
Speaker 3: said about the education that is the foundation of this project.
Speaker 3: But when you speak, you're also speaking about the long
Speaker 3: the rippling effects within the community and the impact that
Speaker 3: you're having within the community that goes beyond the education.
Speaker 3: And you're talking about setting principles and and showing the
Speaker 3: love of God. And you know that is long lasting. Yes,
Speaker 3: it's long lasting.
Speaker 6: Lots of everyday ways in watch the school makes a difference.
Speaker 6: I remember one of the things that struck me most
Speaker 6: when we went in two thousand and four was how
Speaker 6: dirty the children were. Yeah, and I realized that well,
Speaker 6: they just like water. Yes, you have to go long
Speaker 6: distance to getting water, you're not going to waste it
Speaker 6: on washing your school blouse or so. The school has
Speaker 6: a spring which local people now have free access to,
Speaker 6: so you know, they have as much water as they
Speaker 6: want free. This is a place where many people have
Speaker 6: to buy water. Right they're getting free water is very important.
Speaker 3: And isn't that God that you have a land? I mean,
Speaker 3: Sister Romeo, you spoke about that in the very beginning,
Speaker 3: that this couple brought to you a land that was
Speaker 3: able to sustain this project in a way that you
Speaker 3: maybe didn't even envision when it first started. That you
Speaker 3: have water, you know, and you have you have the
Speaker 3: facilities to farm. And I mean, sorry to interrupt, but
Speaker 3: that excites me because that sees that shows that God
Speaker 3: had the end in mind even at the very beginning
Speaker 3: and had a vision maybe beyond what you saw then
Speaker 3: what he had been introducing and putting and putting in
Speaker 3: place as you go along.
Speaker 4: I've got you know, I'm going to try to answer
Speaker 4: something that I should have said before. And the our
Speaker 4: main textbook in the IHS is the Bible, and the
Speaker 4: Bible tells me as a teacher, the entrance of thy
Speaker 4: word gives light, as one of the sums I don't
Speaker 4: some hundred and eighteen a ward but forgotten now. He said,
Speaker 4: any time you use a word of God in your teaching,
Speaker 4: something happens that human beings cannot understanding. And because we
Speaker 4: spend a lot of time teaching the children to repeat
Speaker 4: by from heart as we say the word of God,
Speaker 4: the children do very well on the government exams. And
Speaker 4: we also write exams with our Seventh Adventists partners there.
Speaker 4: And would you believe that we will be number one?
Speaker 4: I would believe in this Seventh Adventary School, and we
Speaker 4: write exams with them. And when we write with the government,
Speaker 4: we be placed between one and five, sometimes number one
Speaker 4: sometimes and I understand and always say the entrance of
Speaker 4: Thy word gives light. And so we do a lot
Speaker 4: of trial. Best to do a lot with using the
Speaker 4: word of God a lot of problems. Sometimes teachers don't
Speaker 4: perhaps see the whole valuability is. And to try to
Speaker 4: convince the teachers and make make sure make sure that
Speaker 4: the world is spoken. We make sure that they know
Speaker 4: the Ten Commandments. We make sure that they know certain
Speaker 4: signs and what they can repeat from memory, those sons,
Speaker 4: and I don't think sure, and mentioned it that the
Speaker 4: old ladies around and the older people around the school,
Speaker 4: we give them lunch, Yeah, you know, because the cooks
Speaker 4: and whatever the at the school have extra and the
Speaker 4: old ladies around only eat, perhaps eat at night when
Speaker 4: they gather up the few leaves of this and the
Speaker 4: beans from this, and they eat at night. So when
Speaker 4: we give them lunch at midday, it does a lot
Speaker 4: for them, coming you know, from from the school. So
Speaker 4: God has been good and kept his word and.
Speaker 3: Get his promise. Yes, well, let's let's talk as we
Speaker 3: wrap up this. I know I have kept you quite
Speaker 3: long as it is. Let us talk then about what
Speaker 3: you've hinted at it. And you've mentioned there are several
Speaker 3: people who you've named as we've gone along, who have
Speaker 3: given and contributed to the project over these years. How
Speaker 3: can people get involved, How can people get involved? And
Speaker 3: what is the importance of contributing to a project like this,
Speaker 3: Because in all that you've said, you've only mentioned that
Speaker 3: the very unset that you used to give some of
Speaker 3: your your salary to the project.
Speaker 4: I want to say, to use all of my salary,
Speaker 4: Why the head teacher of at school, the school that
Speaker 4: I attended, would say to me, would you stay back
Speaker 4: in the afternoon and give extra lessons to a said
Speaker 4: of children? And she paid me different for that. So
Speaker 4: that is what I took to go to the supermarket
Speaker 4: and all of you the extra money yes, and said,
Speaker 4: look how the lad works. And then this salary and
Speaker 4: the Lord sends in money to the side extra extra.
Speaker 4: I want to buy anything for myself, and at least
Speaker 4: I love going to the charity shops. And I go
Speaker 4: to the charity shops and a lord provis I go
Speaker 4: in in those days. I don't know what happens now,
Speaker 4: but I still go to the charity shop. And now
Speaker 4: the principal of the college has my uniform in the already.
Speaker 4: I go in and the person with the charity in
Speaker 4: the charity shop, who said, oh I look at this, madam,
Speaker 4: what I'm doing? Something brand new? And I in those days,
Speaker 4: I will get it for two pounds or what of you?
Speaker 4: And you know, I give God and Pa he backs
Speaker 4: me up.
Speaker 3: There is value in that. And you can say it
Speaker 3: again the charity shops there is I mean, I don't
Speaker 3: know how it is now as compared to them. But
Speaker 3: there is some value in shopping there for sure.
Speaker 4: For sure.
Speaker 3: Some really good bargains a lot.
Speaker 4: Yeah, something new there from me, ran New.
Speaker 3: I have a pastor friend who always speaks about that
Speaker 3: that you know, he gets his suits, really good suits.
Speaker 3: He will get them at the charity shop and none
Speaker 3: the wiser. You will see him on the pulpit and
Speaker 3: you would not know the difference. But I mean, you're
Speaker 3: speaking of giving of your salary to this project, and
Speaker 3: I know even then it must have taken more than
Speaker 3: that to get the project to the place that you've
Speaker 3: wanted it to be. And we are we are here,
Speaker 3: and I'm wanting to speak to our listeners about how
Speaker 3: they could get involved, how could they contribute and what
Speaker 3: what are you looking for your funds to work towards
Speaker 3: at this point? But where would you like to see
Speaker 3: the project go in the future. So tell me a
Speaker 3: little bit about that. And when we spoke initially, you know,
Speaker 3: when we were talking about an interview and presenting this
Speaker 3: to our listeners, you spoke of gifted as well as
Speaker 3: an element that persons can use to give to good
Speaker 3: health Africa. So tell me a little bit about that.
Speaker 3: How do you let your supporters know or persons know
Speaker 3: how they can support the project.
Speaker 6: Mummy, whenever she gets a chance in local churches, she will,
Speaker 6: you know, talk about the project. Unfortunately she doesn't often
Speaker 6: have a chance to do it. But there have been
Speaker 6: a few Pentecostal and other churches been very faithful.
Speaker 4: Maybe you could name the ones that have been helping you.
Speaker 4: You know a few. There are individuals within church do
Speaker 4: give help and the result for presently we are have
Speaker 4: we are a church, the school is a church official
Speaker 4: so on five days a week we are.
Speaker 3: School mm hmm.
Speaker 4: And on six days a week, over five days, six
Speaker 4: days a week, on the seventh day Sabbath, we have church.
Speaker 4: We have a chaplain, we have what the children shan
Speaker 4: help me there. I think five days a week it's
Speaker 4: it's normal school. On Sabbath there's church and there's an
Speaker 4: official church there. Now don't really community school and.
Speaker 3: The community then gets to support.
Speaker 6: Yes, and the as pathfinders on Sunday. But I think
Speaker 6: for me the question was more about where do you
Speaker 6: get financial support for gook Sister Ruthn's church.
Speaker 4: I mean you can name those ur just they don't
Speaker 4: under car named.
Speaker 3: You don't want to you don't want to leave anyone out.
Speaker 6: You know, and I know you're going to edit this out.
Speaker 6: So I think as I'm seeing it now, Mammy has
Speaker 6: had very little support from Adventist church is, but she
Speaker 6: has had some a few particular places with monstrat like
Speaker 6: a Pentecostal church in London. I don't think there's any
Speaker 6: harm and you're not going to say such and such
Speaker 6: church hasn't helped. There have been some groups like them
Speaker 6: who for years have given us every month. I think
Speaker 6: they should be recognized to mention the ones who haven't.
Speaker 4: Sister and we have whether Roger Wee in h Acton
Speaker 4: Church s the church to give help the other church is.
Speaker 3: Individuals right and how can how can they or how
Speaker 3: can we? How can we give towards the cars? So
Speaker 3: if someone's listening now and they want to give towards Goha,
Speaker 3: how can they do that?
Speaker 6: Well, there's there's a site, well, Good Health Africa site
Speaker 6: where you could there's a website that you do too,
Speaker 6: and there's a bit for how you can donate. Okay,
Speaker 6: I don't know whether leaving account details would help, you know,
Speaker 6: for people to pay directly into barcles, I'm not sure
Speaker 6: how wise or whether that that would be.
Speaker 3: So what what I think we can do there then
Speaker 3: is if any one wants to give towards the project,
Speaker 3: they can contact the station. I will provide details, and
Speaker 3: we usually do at the end of the program. So
Speaker 3: I'll provide details for persons to contact the station and
Speaker 3: request that information, and we can provide bank details for
Speaker 3: anyone who wants to give directly into a bank account,
Speaker 3: and then talk to me a little bit about the
Speaker 3: good the gift aid aspects.
Speaker 6: So if okay, So gift aid is something that we're
Speaker 6: working on at the moment so that people who you
Speaker 6: know the way it functions that they you know, they
Speaker 6: get recognition it from the from the tax man. If
Speaker 6: you give, they give to go have. But that's not
Speaker 6: yet completed down within the next few days, I think,
Speaker 6: all right, And I think a lot of One of
Speaker 6: the things that I've noticed is that a lot of
Speaker 6: people tend to assume that you have to give large amounts. Oh,
Speaker 6: I can only give five pounds, so you know, it's
Speaker 6: not a lot. I'm the one faithful person who has
Speaker 6: set up a standing order to give five pounds a month.
Speaker 3: Yes, and those are the and those are the contributions
Speaker 3: that you can depend on, isn't it so you can
Speaker 3: budget around, isn't it? Those are regular contributions. Beat five pounds,
Speaker 3: beat ten pounds, whatever it is. It helps you to
Speaker 3: budget because you know those are going to be coming in. Basically,
Speaker 3: as you've said.
Speaker 6: I mean, five pounds a month doesn't sound like a lot,
Speaker 6: but at the end of the year that sixty pounds.
Speaker 3: And everybody does that. If one hundred people give five
Speaker 3: pounds a month for instance.
Speaker 6: Exactly, and afore teachers are paid around seventy seventy five
Speaker 6: pounds a month, right, So imagine if a group of
Speaker 6: friends put together, or you know, just ten individuals giving
Speaker 6: the five pounds, you know what I mean, they could
Speaker 6: be paying a teacher's salary.
Speaker 3: Gallery.
Speaker 6: One huge need at the moment is for a school bus.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there was.
Speaker 6: A school bus that was bought a couple of years
Speaker 6: because some of the children come from quite far away
Speaker 6: and without the bus they wouldn't be able to make
Speaker 6: it to school. However, we were forced to buy a
Speaker 6: second hand bus, which has ended up being like a
Speaker 6: huge drain. It keeps breaking down and this so we're
Speaker 6: looking into the possibility of getting a new bus, which
Speaker 6: would cost about thirty pounds, which doesn't sound like a
Speaker 6: lot here, but there is five million Kenyan chillings okay, so.
Speaker 3: I would disagree. I think that sounds like a lot.
Speaker 6: It sounds like a lot pounds. I mean a few
Speaker 6: people who gave a couple of hundred each. It would
Speaker 6: quickly mount up to at least the deposit for the bus.
Speaker 6: If we could at least get like half of it,
Speaker 6: like fifteen to deposit with a company that sells buses,
Speaker 6: then afterwards we could work out the monthly payment and
Speaker 6: so on.
Speaker 4: But we need to have.
Speaker 6: At least half of the initial cost. Bear in mind
Speaker 6: that the bus goes for transporting children in the week
Speaker 6: but at the weekends it's used for outreach. So we
Speaker 6: know that there's there's a church already established at the school,
Speaker 6: but there's another company that was started by an employee
Speaker 6: of the school, which is quite lively and going. There's
Speaker 6: also a prison ministry and the soap ministry, which sounds
Speaker 6: a bit odd, but it goes like this that the prison,
Speaker 6: the conditions are pretty awful and a lot of people
Speaker 6: that don't have soap to wash. So the school, there's
Speaker 6: a pastor who goes in on behalf of the school
Speaker 6: with a little team and they distribute soup to the prisoners,
Speaker 6: including female prisoners with children and babies.
Speaker 3: So this is all done on the back of contributions mainly.
Speaker 6: To absolutely absolutely it's through the school. Now, one project
Speaker 6: I personally have in mind and trying to see I
Speaker 6: started off and then COVID came in a whole sort
Speaker 6: of different things got in the.
Speaker 4: Way is to have a kind of bag bag that
Speaker 4: would be.
Speaker 6: Would contain soup, basic toilet trees, and a couple of
Speaker 6: T shirts for the prisoners. Because when my sister went
Speaker 6: there last year with mummy, she was quite shot shocked
Speaker 6: by the state of the clothes of a lot of
Speaker 6: the prisoners. It's very tattered and so on. Imagine that
Speaker 6: you could give her a couple of T shirts and
Speaker 6: a couple of shorts to each each prisoner. Now, let
Speaker 6: me just be very clear about this. A lot of
Speaker 6: people when they hear that, think, oh, I can buy
Speaker 6: a lot of T shirts and send them there. But first,
Speaker 6: the cost of a T shirt here will probably buy
Speaker 6: three or four there at the very least.
Speaker 3: And that was my next question actually, so yes, there's.
Speaker 4: The cost of sending it. Three, there's negotiating when it
Speaker 4: arrives in customs at the other end, and there's all
Speaker 4: kinds of well unmentionable things that will not where it
Speaker 4: can things disappear and you have to you know, you
Speaker 4: have to pay this and that the other so. And
Speaker 4: then there's the last.
Speaker 6: Thing, which I think is very important, that if you
Speaker 6: buy things locally, you're helping the local economy. And so
Speaker 6: the idea will be to buy fabric locally, have the
Speaker 6: bags made locally, and get everything local to put in
Speaker 6: those bags for each prisoner to have. I do it
Speaker 6: every few months what they need.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm tempted to ask you to repeat that
Speaker 3: because that's so crucial, but yes, I am. I agree.
Speaker 3: It's it's much better I thing, and people do think, Okay,
Speaker 3: I've got stuff that I'm giving away or whatever the
Speaker 3: case might be, or throwing away, et cetera. And I
Speaker 3: remember mentioning that to Sister Romeo, and she said, you know,
Speaker 3: it's better to get the funds.
Speaker 6: Concise manner.
Speaker 4: Do you want me to.
Speaker 6: Go with that more?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 3: No, no, I won't ask you to because this is
Speaker 3: going to be recorded and people can re listen but
Speaker 3: I think that's such a crucial point because people may
Speaker 3: think it's easier for me to maybe I've got a
Speaker 3: shirt lying about that you know I'm not using and
Speaker 3: I want to give it to the project. But I
Speaker 3: remember mentioning that to Sister Romeo before and she said,
Speaker 3: you know what, people think like that, but it doesn't
Speaker 3: necessarily work out like that. And you've highlighted the reasons
Speaker 3: why giving funds usual works out better because one, you
Speaker 3: can invest into the community there, and there's other unmentionables
Speaker 3: concerning sending things across. So yes, it's better to give
Speaker 3: funds into your hands so that you can navigate more wisely.
Speaker 4: And I said earlier.
Speaker 6: As I said earlier, we really make an enormous effort
Speaker 6: to make sure that funds are handled properly, that they
Speaker 6: will received for everything and so on, so that everything
Speaker 6: is transparent. Because we consider that people try and trust
Speaker 6: their money right to OPA and that we're accountable to them.
Speaker 6: That will be done properly.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I like that wrapping up, as I said, you've
Speaker 3: mentioned how persons can get involved, and there's a reminder
Speaker 3: if you want to give to Good Health Africa, I
Speaker 3: will be sharing the details at the end of the
Speaker 3: program of how you can get in touch with the
Speaker 3: station and get the details that you need to give
Speaker 3: that way. Also, I can give information regarding websites so
Speaker 3: that you can and go directly to the website and
Speaker 3: contribute in that fashion. Projects that are on the horizon.
Speaker 3: You're looking for a bus and we're hoping to raise
Speaker 3: the funds to be able to purchase one that is
Speaker 3: fairly new as opposed to one that is secondhand and
Speaker 3: may have longer term implications of that in terms of
Speaker 3: breaking down, etc. So something fairly new or new, and
Speaker 3: that of course comes at a cost, So we're hoping
Speaker 3: that persons will respond to that appeal. Is there anything
Speaker 3: else looking ahead, sister romeiare looking ahead, Sharon, that you
Speaker 3: in a vision for the project, that you're looking for
Speaker 3: contribution towards beyond sustaining the project, And maybe another day
Speaker 3: we can talk about what sustaining the project sounds like
Speaker 3: and costs, because you're talking about teachers being paid, say
Speaker 3: sixty seventy pounds a month, and how many teachers then
Speaker 3: do you pay and the cost of running and up
Speaker 3: care keeping the building, and I'm sure that that must
Speaker 3: spiral in a month to month basis, and so therefore
Speaker 3: for us to sustain the project, it needs the contributions
Speaker 3: of people who see the project as being useful, contribution
Speaker 3: from the community there in Kenya and the community here
Speaker 3: and across the globe that see the project and the
Speaker 3: value that the project brings to its community. And so
Speaker 3: we are asking people to be very prayerful. You've spoken
Speaker 3: about the Institute of the Holy Spirit. There are lots
Speaker 3: of projects that persons can can give to. There are
Speaker 3: lots of good causes. But I think we've got to
Speaker 3: be spiritually guided as to what we give to. And
Speaker 3: I know that God will give us a blessing for
Speaker 3: our contributions and our giving to projects like this. Is
Speaker 3: there anything that's on the horizon for Good Health Africa
Speaker 3: that you don't want to share with our listeners, thing
Speaker 3: that you'd like to accomplish, or is it just a
Speaker 3: matter of keeping the project going?
Speaker 4: So I knew my mean.
Speaker 6: The name Good Health Africa says something because part of
Speaker 6: her original vision. I mean, what did you originally envision
Speaker 6: for the.
Speaker 4: School that we would use education as a springboard for evangelism?
Speaker 4: Do you want people to learn of Jesus Christ? I
Speaker 4: mean Easter has gone and everybody's talking about everywhere is
Speaker 4: the Cross and Jesus. We want them to help the
Speaker 4: children and the community to know about Jesus Christ. That
Speaker 4: is what the project is all about, helping, worshiping our
Speaker 4: creator and helping others. And according to the spirit of
Speaker 4: Prophecy that one of the things that helps any new
Speaker 4: project is dealing in help. We need need a clinic. Indeed,
Speaker 4: the first time we had a clinic there, we had
Speaker 4: ninety seven people from the community coming in to the doctor.
Speaker 4: Before that pay was exhausted at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: and what happened we had to pay x amount every
Speaker 4: time he came at least for his gas and things.
Speaker 4: That eventually money ran shots, so we couldn't continue with
Speaker 4: the project. But health is y very very important, and
Speaker 4: we also tried out with the van to get the
Speaker 4: projects extended into the community. To look at jiggers. A
Speaker 4: lot of people don't realize how detrimental hell that jiggers. Jiggers,
Speaker 4: that's something I have on my hat. Jiggers.
Speaker 6: It's a parasite and lays its eggs in people's wherever
Speaker 6: it touches the ground, for instance, and so It's very
Speaker 6: common in people's feet because if you're walking without shoes.
Speaker 6: But some people they may get it on their eyes
Speaker 6: or their faces. They lie on the ground, they don't
Speaker 6: have a proper mattress and their face touches the ground
Speaker 6: and it really it kind of literally explodes in your skin.
Speaker 6: And I cannot bear to watch the images. And it
Speaker 6: was strong enough to watch the images. You look it
Speaker 6: up on Google. You look at jigger is just absolutely horrendous,
Speaker 6: and so people end up limping what they can't walk properly.
Speaker 6: Their eye they might lose their sight. It's just disgusting.
Speaker 3: Quite from what you're saying. It's it's and I won't
Speaker 3: I don't want to use the word easy guess that's
Speaker 3: the right term. But it's an easy enough fix.
Speaker 6: If relatively, if you have the means and the clinic
Speaker 6: and right to help people.
Speaker 4: So use we use the van to start off with that,
Speaker 4: but as money is run out and whatever, you we
Speaker 4: aren't able to continue. But this jiggers visits is worse
Speaker 4: than malaria. People are malaria, but jiggers girls lose and
Speaker 4: nippolo on their breasts because most of them don't have
Speaker 4: beds to lie onigers in the ground. I mean to say,
Speaker 4: young men have their pin is damaged and all that.
Speaker 4: It's terrible. So if we can get help with our
Speaker 4: health program, and you know, the van goes out and help.
Speaker 3: We have to pay the doctors, et cetera.
Speaker 4: Yes, we have, and we have children at our school
Speaker 4: have lost doors because you guys like to go between
Speaker 4: the doors. That's all than a lot of it. So
Speaker 4: we really need.
Speaker 3: You want to establish the health element of the of
Speaker 3: the school.
Speaker 4: Oh yes, and dentistry we.
Speaker 3: Need to you know, well that's a crisis here as well,
Speaker 3: isn't it.
Speaker 4: Yes, So so that's that's more long term.
Speaker 6: In the more immediate future, we really need to have
Speaker 6: a more hygienic kitchen. They're doing wonders cooking in the
Speaker 6: present conditions for four hundred and thirty seven children. But
Speaker 6: you imagine that you need a good, big and industrial
Speaker 6: give the state of the art, you know, just just
Speaker 6: hygienic with you know, proper child flows and that kind
Speaker 6: of thing. And so that's one thing that we're that
Speaker 6: people will contribute towards.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and another thing we have to look consider is
Speaker 4: the women in prison with their children, you committing events
Speaker 4: you're sent to jail five year three or whatever it is,
Speaker 4: the children are sent to jail with you with and
Speaker 4: the conditions in the prison and not any of the
Speaker 4: best for mother and for children and whatever. You can
Speaker 4: imagine a problems that with that.
Speaker 6: There's also another thing that I'm just kind of mentioning
Speaker 6: things that we've talked about and have been trying to research,
Speaker 6: and that is having kind of menstrual support for young girls,
Speaker 6: the older of the children in the elementary school because
Speaker 6: for a lot of girls, they don't have proper menstrual
Speaker 6: protection right, and some of them miss school because of that.
Speaker 6: That's thing that if we were able to we need
Speaker 6: to do some more research into the how and what,
Speaker 6: because you have to be very careful when you interview
Speaker 6: intervene in another culture, how you do it with something sensitively.
Speaker 6: It's right to do it right and to intervene in
Speaker 6: a way that will be most helpful. So we're looking
Speaker 6: into that. But perhaps if there's a listener who has
Speaker 6: some expertise in that area, who has suggestions and new funding,
Speaker 6: what would help towards that.
Speaker 3: And I just ask you to share with our listeners
Speaker 3: and we can reiterate this or repeat this at the
Speaker 3: end of our program once this goes live to share
Speaker 3: with our listeners, buts an email address or a website,
Speaker 3: the exact website that they can go to to be
Speaker 3: able to contact you or to contact the project and
Speaker 3: either leverage their support in whatever way that they can,
Speaker 3: because we've been talking about tangible or sort of financial support.
Speaker 3: But I appreciate that there are other ways that people
Speaker 3: can get involved. So if anyone is willing, how can
Speaker 3: they get in touch with you? So get that information
Speaker 3: for me. I can certainly share it at the end
Speaker 3: of the program how people can get in touch with
Speaker 3: you or get in touch with Good Health Africa if
Speaker 3: they want to be more involved, or there are, as
Speaker 3: you said, areas of expertise that they were willing to
Speaker 3: to share with you in any of these matters that
Speaker 3: you've just raised. I'm always in awe when I speak
Speaker 3: to you, Sister Romeo, I'm always in awe. I think
Speaker 3: you're a mighty woman of God. I think that your
Speaker 3: heart is huge, huge, I don't even know. I don't
Speaker 3: even know how to say thank you on behalf of
Speaker 3: all who you have touched and all who you have inspired.
Speaker 3: And you know the work that you're doing and continuing
Speaker 3: to do is amazing. And you've got the support of
Speaker 3: your wonderful children. You must be so so proud as
Speaker 3: a mom, you know, and the children that you have
Speaker 3: birth and the children that you have raised all across Kenya.
Speaker 3: I can only imagine not and only at the end
Speaker 3: of time, you know, will you actually understand the depth
Speaker 3: and the ripples of your impact here. Only eternity will tell.
Speaker 4: Well, I as I say, I depend on my tutor
Speaker 4: of Ahs. Whatever I do, I learned from the Ahs.
Speaker 4: So I dive the ihs, praise and glory, Peace, Oh God.
Speaker 4: Jesus said when he went back that you sent back
Speaker 4: in spirit, and it is really said teach, So I
Speaker 4: know I'm in the right college. Yeah. He teaches me
Speaker 4: how to teach and what to do and who hold
Speaker 4: one of you. There's so much, there's so much to say,
Speaker 4: and there is so much need that I hope people
Speaker 4: would understand that I said in the beginning, we are
Speaker 4: there to introduce people, children and adults, one of you
Speaker 4: to Jesus Christ. That is the bottom line. A lot
Speaker 4: of teachers have been baptized. Teachers at the school have
Speaker 4: been baptized, nor more parents have been baptized. There's a college,
Speaker 4: there's a university. Mayors and the seventh year Adventist students
Speaker 4: usually come over on a Sabbath and then enjoy the
Speaker 4: sabbath with us, and we have a very strong path
Speaker 4: find a club when they go to come, you know,
Speaker 4: they always make an impact there. So we are current
Speaker 4: for the gospel and we are holding up the principles
Speaker 4: of Seventh Day Adventage education. God Firse and his son
Speaker 4: Jesus Christ, reading the Bible and obeying and following God's
Speaker 4: ten commandments. No child is to lead that school and
Speaker 4: not know the ten commanders. It has to be taught
Speaker 4: in the class and all the children are able to
Speaker 4: repeat the ten commandments. So we have the Bible as
Speaker 4: our guide for Seventh Day Adventage education. Health is important
Speaker 4: and we have tried moving with that. Agriculture is important,
Speaker 4: and I read sometimes that I had the machinery to
Speaker 4: the technical things. Look at all the children out in
Speaker 4: the fields when they're starting to plant, they maze. I
Speaker 4: feel of three hundred children plus the teachers are on
Speaker 4: the illers and really lapsed with maze in it and
Speaker 4: everybody planting.
Speaker 3: But that is what time of year is that? What
Speaker 3: time of year do you plant it's a pic time
Speaker 3: or do.
Speaker 6: You remember the seasons? You'll have to look into.
Speaker 3: The I would love to be present.
Speaker 6: I'm just tying to what time of year it is
Speaker 6: that that rep is that. That's just one of those
Speaker 6: areas where you really see that there's still a little
Speaker 6: bit of friction in that. There are some parents who say,
Speaker 6: because now some of the parents pay, okay, the children
Speaker 6: to come, why shouldn't we paying for our children to
Speaker 6: go in the field and get dirty. They still have
Speaker 6: this idea that privilege means that you don't have to
Speaker 6: do it. And so that's an ongoing mission for the
Speaker 6: school for children to stop associating agriculture with the authority.
Speaker 6: So that's a cultural challenge.
Speaker 3: Which yes, and there's of course nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 3: That's that's an element to to to it, isn't it?
Speaker 3: So why not? Why not?
Speaker 4: So I'm going on with someday a philosophy of same
Speaker 4: day advant education. Knowing the language well in which of
Speaker 4: a country are so we have to put emphasis on
Speaker 4: teaching English because that is answer really gods that the
Speaker 4: two languages, English is number one. They learn the language well,
Speaker 4: for evangelism, you have to tell people what Jesus Christ.
Speaker 4: It depends on what. If you're talking to the premier
Speaker 4: or somebody like that, you are to be able to
Speaker 4: speak sense and your grandma to be right if you
Speaker 4: have to be talking to such and such a personal
Speaker 4: So we put emphasis and the English language then accounting.
Speaker 4: You can work for five hundred shillings and spend six
Speaker 4: hundred there.
Speaker 3: Music will struggle with that.
Speaker 4: The music ministry. The ministry that thing when we sing
Speaker 4: the Sounds of Zion and the children Learne gave me
Speaker 4: the Bible. Everybody sings that at some point.
Speaker 6: But the important part of the music ministry, find me
Speaker 6: just add is that when there are local funerals or
Speaker 6: other events, the school choir is expected and is going
Speaker 6: to participate. That's another way in which they're integrated in
Speaker 6: the local community community.
Speaker 3: Yes, amazing, amazing.
Speaker 4: So we're going forward and Jesus Word of Blood is
Speaker 4: going forward. We have prisoners who have accepted Jesus Christ
Speaker 4: as their lord and master. They come up to prison
Speaker 4: and they come up to the school and we tried
Speaker 4: to give them a job with their day job. Two
Speaker 4: days or what a deal.
Speaker 3: And so do you have a lot of volunteers on
Speaker 3: the project. You have people who come and just give back,
Speaker 3: students who have graduated and since moved on come back.
Speaker 3: You get a lot of fun volunteers.
Speaker 4: Well, we don't have many volunteers. Most people. Kenny has
Speaker 4: more teachers than they would handle. And you have to
Speaker 4: have a teacher certificate to teach, and you cannot. You
Speaker 4: don't get a job until you're out of college for
Speaker 4: about three years or whole years. As soon as you
Speaker 4: come out of college, if you're lucky, you get a
Speaker 4: job right away. But there are some people come out
Speaker 4: of college and for three years waiting I mean getting
Speaker 4: an interview so that they could get a job. But
Speaker 4: I think also the question of volunteering.
Speaker 6: Is not such a part of the culture, partly because
Speaker 6: largely I think because a lot of people are just surviving.
Speaker 6: You have to spend your time, you know, just just
Speaker 6: just surviving and and and so you have to be
Speaker 6: pretty well off.
Speaker 3: To be able to give you give your time free.
Speaker 6: So at the go end we work as volunteers. But
Speaker 6: at that end, for the moment, it doesn't seem to
Speaker 6: be the case. I think for some of those who
Speaker 6: become doctors and whatever else who are former students. That
Speaker 6: is something that we need to cultivate a kind of alumni.
Speaker 3: Come back.
Speaker 6: Yes, it's not there yet.
Speaker 4: I have to add that one young man who joined
Speaker 4: the school in two thousand and three, one of the
Speaker 4: first judents. He is now the deputy head of.
Speaker 6: The school amen, and he joined the school unable to read.
Speaker 6: He was, oh, yes.
Speaker 3: What's this young man's name? Read? Mind if we say.
Speaker 6: It, it's Joseph.
Speaker 3: To his name, Joseph.
Speaker 6: Do you imagine somebody who comes to the school at
Speaker 6: age twelve and cannot read, but is so enthusiastic that
Speaker 6: he accepts to go into the baby class as they
Speaker 6: call it, with the five class and work his way
Speaker 6: forward and by the time, within the number of months,
Speaker 6: he was reading. And can imagine that now twenty years
Speaker 6: later he's a deputy.
Speaker 3: And that's the beauty of the school, isn't it that
Speaker 3: you've brought people. You bring children who may not have
Speaker 3: the resources, but they're able, more than able, more than capable,
Speaker 3: but just need the opportunity.
Speaker 6: But I think there's more than ability and capability. One
Speaker 6: of the things that struck me and added to my
Speaker 6: frustration as a teacher in a rich country is enthusiasm
Speaker 6: for the children, children or study. So at the end
Speaker 6: of the day, waiting for the school boss, what do
Speaker 6: you see them doing sitting around on the on the
Speaker 6: grass on the lawn, quizzing each other for their lessons
Speaker 6: and you know, and they want to learn, whereas if
Speaker 6: they thought that they were doing me a favor. Sorry,
Speaker 6: I must take this call. It's regarding the bus the company.
Speaker 3: Sorry problem.
Speaker 4: The meal has gone so I'm.
Speaker 3: Yes, she had. I don't know how long she'll be.
Speaker 3: But let's let's wrap up, if we don't mind going
Speaker 3: to wrap up with a prayer and how to reach
Speaker 3: program has been doing very well.
Speaker 4: Very ever we go, Lord bless us. We always are
Speaker 4: standard out front you God has blessed, Yes we are. Oh.
Speaker 4: One set of people that I didn't think the retired
Speaker 4: nuns at the hospital there in Hiaga. They accommodate me
Speaker 4: when I go a place to stay in their places.
Speaker 4: They have places reserved for doctors from Sweden and all about.
Speaker 4: And I have an apartment. They give me one of
Speaker 4: the apartments and treat me very nice. They couldn't do
Speaker 4: well as well enough, those nuns, weren't they? They do everything.
Speaker 4: Everything had to help me to get the program going.
Speaker 4: And so I had to. If I mentioned help, I
Speaker 4: must mention those those nouns. They do everything that is
Speaker 4: possible to make sure that the problem runs so much
Speaker 4: about God and physically et cetera. And so God, God
Speaker 4: is blessed and brought in people from different areas to.
Speaker 3: Help and to sustain the project, because you couldn't do
Speaker 3: it alone, Romeo, you couldn't.
Speaker 4: Used to give God the praise. We had everything in place, yes,
Speaker 4: you know, if we have about fifteen acres of land
Speaker 4: that is where we have banana orchards and things that
Speaker 4: are Sometimes you have bunches of bananas that the children
Speaker 4: who get everybody gets one banana. Yeah, have to fill
Speaker 4: them up for the day.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Oh, praise God.
Speaker 5: People.
Speaker 4: The water we are bounded by two rivers. One river
Speaker 4: is comes from a little hill where they pushed a
Speaker 4: three inch pipe into the hill. Yeah. Yeah, they push
Speaker 4: a three inch pipe into the hill and water just
Speaker 4: start to go glow. And people come there to wash,
Speaker 4: to bath and all.
Speaker 3: Other free of charge.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Oh yes. And the water there is better than
Speaker 4: the water from the other river that is on the
Speaker 4: other side of the of the of our property. Why
Speaker 4: that river has people living along the edge, so people
Speaker 4: don't like to drink that water. The other water and
Speaker 4: all the co from the range pipe up in the hill.
Speaker 4: You know, everybody comes, they'll get water to keep, especially
Speaker 4: for drinking. And then the roof of our school is
Speaker 4: so large. We lose millions of gallons of water from
Speaker 4: the roof, which we could very well use in all
Speaker 4: gardens in India. But we don't have enough money to
Speaker 4: get the garden going.
Speaker 3: The structure, the structure to store.
Speaker 4: The reservoir to store the water from the roof. We tried,
Speaker 4: but we don't have the money to keep up. But
Speaker 4: the president of the college has his eyes on what
Speaker 4: his students.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 3: I saw that, I'm going to use that. I tell you,
Speaker 3: I love it. And Romie, I look forward to seeing you.
Speaker 3: We will come my mom. I mean, I know she
Speaker 3: would love to see you, and I need to see
Speaker 3: her both educated, passionate about teaching and educating, and I
Speaker 3: know she would love to see you. And I'm looking
Speaker 3: forward to actually seeing you in person. But let us pray.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure how long Sharon will be, so let
Speaker 3: us pray close out the conversation and then we will
Speaker 3: talk offline and about maybe our meeting up. Okay, okay,
Speaker 3: Dear heavenly Father, we thank you, We honor you, we
Speaker 3: praise you, for you alone are worthy. We thank you
Speaker 3: for life, We thank you for health, we thank you
Speaker 3: for strength, and we thank you for safe travels. Both
Speaker 3: sister Romeo and Sharon have traveled recently and you've brought
Speaker 3: them safely to their destination, and we thank you and
Speaker 3: they perhaps we'll be traveling again soon, and we thank
Speaker 3: you for traveling mercies that you've extended to them over
Speaker 3: the years. We thank you for the technology that has
Speaker 3: made it possible for us to meet virtually and for
Speaker 3: her to have this conversation about good health Africa. I
Speaker 3: ask Lord that you will bless those who have given
Speaker 3: and those who will give to this amazing project. Bless
Speaker 3: those who have been involved in whatever way. We've heard names.
Speaker 3: We have heard several names of people who have contributed
Speaker 3: over the years, people who have given up their time
Speaker 3: and their resources, and I asked you to bless them abundantly.
Speaker 3: We also want to bless the children for whom this
Speaker 3: is all about, Lord, those who have benefited from the
Speaker 3: project's Lord, bless them those who are still in the
Speaker 3: midst of the project, those who have been who have
Speaker 3: graduated and moved on as doctors and lawyers, Lord, as teachers. Lord,
Speaker 3: you are in the midst, and I can see that
Speaker 3: you are blessing this project abundantly. And Father, finally, I
Speaker 3: just asked you to be with the Romeos. What a sacrifice,
Speaker 3: What a sacrifice they have made, What a vision have
Speaker 3: given them, particularly sister Roma, who has led the charge.
Speaker 3: She was willing many many many years ago to go
Speaker 3: and you have been with her every step of the way.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for what you're doing, and you
Speaker 3: continue to do. Great is and great will be their
Speaker 3: reward in Jesus' name. Amen.
Speaker 2: And Okay, wow, that was an amazing Oh I love that, Sonya.
Speaker 2: That was a great interview. And yeah, really inspiring story.
Speaker 2: And yeah, she's doing something like she's doing a great work.
Speaker 2: I have to really commend her for, you know, the
Speaker 2: work that she has done. And I think you know,
Speaker 2: it's you know, for her perseverance as well, because it
Speaker 2: sounds like there was in a bit of initial skepticism
Speaker 2: about what she was doing and what the intentions of
Speaker 2: the school was. But she's definitely with her work, you know,
Speaker 2: being really part of you know, change, making a big
Speaker 2: change in community, changing the sections about the work that
Speaker 2: she's trying to do, especially of agriculture, my new labor
Speaker 2: and I love how then she's just got the school
Speaker 2: involved in local activities and events to really integrating within
Speaker 2: the community and providing for a need. So yeah, that
Speaker 2: was a fantastic, fantastic cause and wonderful work that she's doing.
Speaker 2: Any thoughts from your pedro.
Speaker 5: And in the same thought process, I was just thinking,
Speaker 5: I commend her for starting off of her own money
Speaker 5: and progressing to where she is now and then just
Speaker 5: being transparent like she said, because I know one thing
Speaker 5: a lot of people always with charities now, especially in
Speaker 5: today's well, so many scams out there, being transparent about
Speaker 5: where the money's going because when people don't know where
Speaker 5: the money's going, to have business and not to give.
Speaker 5: So I'm hoping that somebody that listened to this interview
Speaker 5: will be willing to give something to help them so
Speaker 5: they can better benefit the children and the families in
Speaker 5: West Africa. Wes Kenya. Sorry, yeah, yeah, that's pretty Yeah,
Speaker 5: that's for me.
Speaker 4: That's it.
Speaker 5: I just come in there for that, because I think
Speaker 5: it's not an easy thing to do, to start off
Speaker 5: like that, and you know, to help others and to
Speaker 5: do a lot with nothing sometimes, so I just come
Speaker 5: in there for that.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. Yeah. That that leads me nicely, Pedro into I
Speaker 3: think what I want to conclude with. Like I said,
Speaker 3: she's an amazing woman. And as we said at the top,
Speaker 3: a lot of times we don't see the sacrifice and
Speaker 3: we don't see what it's taken in the background to
Speaker 3: build what's now sort of an empire or I mean
Speaker 3: now she serves. It started off with one one hundred
Speaker 3: children or less, and now she serves three hundreds really
Speaker 3: four hundred children per term or per year. And I
Speaker 3: mean she started that, as you said, Pedro, from her
Speaker 3: own pocket, and now it's built up into something that is,
Speaker 3: I mean, I think, so much greater than she even
Speaker 3: thought it would be. But it just depends on who
Speaker 3: is willing to commit and to give and to support.
Speaker 3: And I'm just encouraging our listeners if you are able
Speaker 3: to then support this great ministry. She's provided me with
Speaker 3: bank details which I'll share with you now it's back
Speaker 3: plays bag. The salt code is twenty twenty six forty
Speaker 3: six and the account number is two zero nine eight
Speaker 3: three four. For those of you who are just grabbing
Speaker 3: a pen or your phone, I'll say it again, it's
Speaker 3: back plays bag Salt code twenty twenty six forty six,
Speaker 3: account number two zero one nine nine eight three four.
Speaker 3: And of course if you've missed that, just contact us
Speaker 3: at the station. I'll be able to provide you with
Speaker 3: the details again. And also if you want to give internationally,
Speaker 3: I can provide you with that as well. And certainly
Speaker 3: they are a Christian.
Speaker 5: I'm sorry what comes when you put that in?
Speaker 3: It should be I'm not sure myself, but I think
Speaker 3: it is good health Africa should come up. But if
Speaker 3: you want to be sure, then just check back in
Speaker 3: with us or there are contact details on the website.
Speaker 3: Look for that and make contact to be sure that
Speaker 3: you're giving to the right organization. As you said, Peder,
Speaker 3: it's so important to make sure that you're giving into
Speaker 3: good ground, and you're giving into a good cause and
Speaker 3: people are not abusing your funds and so forth and
Speaker 3: so on. So if you really want to understand what
Speaker 3: they're doing before you do it, then you can get
Speaker 3: in touch with them. Their contact details are on their website,
Speaker 3: or I can provide you or we can provide you
Speaker 3: with that if you contact the station for more details.
Speaker 3: There are so many great causes out there, including Adventists
Speaker 3: radio alone, and I couldn't leave without plugging the station
Speaker 3: as well. We depend on your support as well, So
Speaker 3: you know what if you are willing, you know if
Speaker 3: you want to give, God promises to give back so
Speaker 3: much more to you if you give to him, and
Speaker 3: I count it as giving to him. I count it
Speaker 3: as seed that you're planting, and you will reap the rewards.
Speaker 3: If not this side, certainly, our inheritance is sure. So definitely,
Speaker 3: definitely give whatever you can. If you can't be there physically,
Speaker 3: my answer is to give tangibly. Also, just want to
Speaker 3: say once more thank you to all those who volunteer
Speaker 3: on a daily basis, who give of their time and
Speaker 3: their energies without real financial reward. My God bless you you.
Speaker 3: I think Matthew five sixteen. Let your light shine before
Speaker 3: others that they may see your good deeds and glorify
Speaker 3: your Father in Heaven. Ultimately, that's what it's about, glorifying God.
Speaker 3: And just continue to let your light.
Speaker 2: Shine, fantastic, fantastic and as Snya said, you know, if
Speaker 2: you do want to get in contact with us at
Speaker 2: the station, you can whatsappers on zero seven four five
Speaker 2: nine six four to eight time eight, or you can
Speaker 2: email us at on the studio at Adventist Radio dot London,
Speaker 2: or you can send us a text message to eight
Speaker 2: triple to eight write Hope Leader space and then your message.
Speaker 2: It's been a fantastic time and time as the flown
Speaker 2: as always and you know, hopefully this story has been
Speaker 2: inspiring to you and you know, insviding you to make
Speaker 2: a start and make a difference. And as we're going
Speaker 2: on throughout the rest of the year, we'll be bringing
Speaker 2: other change makers and people who are making a difference
Speaker 2: and highlighting their stories. So we want to thank you
Speaker 2: for tuning for Advantage Radio London. Do join us again
Speaker 2: next week and yeah, hope you have a story, get
Speaker 2: in contact with us, keep having those conversations, so we
Speaker 2: hope to see you. Help you tune in with us against.
Speaker 1: Adventist Radio London. Inspiration for the song