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History of Rehema for Kids
Learn more about where we started with Founders, Jeff and Carla Picicci and the beautiful children of Kenya!
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Each month, we send out our Jambo newsletter via email. This fun update is written by Mama Carla and gives updates about life at our In Step campus.
You will also receive other emails with the inside scoop on what's happening in the ministry.
Newsletters & Updates
Jambo everyone! Wow! Can you believe how fast 2023 flew by? It seems like each year passes more quickly than the year before! When I stop and realize that we have been in Kenya for more than twenty years, I can hardly believe it! And when it occurred to me that we came to Kenya when I was a bit younger than my daughter is now… where has time gone? I hope your holiday season was as wonderful as ours was! Christmas Day included all the normal In Step Children’s Home Christmas festivities: worship, feast, drama presentation, dance party, etc. The weather was perfect for grilling the chicken…
Good morning, all! We saw how much you enjoyed the New York team’s update from our children’s home. Here is another update from board member, Daniel Traina, who is visiting our campus with a team from the Pittsford, New York area. WOW. Another amazing day. The dental team has now completed 90 full cleanings, 20 procedures and 180 initial exams. We hope to do 90 more cleanings and all of the needed procedures of children and then see some of the staff. They will be going over to Stepping Stones (our center for special needs children) for a teeth cleaning…
We’re thrilled to bring you our very first blog post! Today’s blog is written by Rehema for Kids Board Member, Daniel Traina of Pittsford, New York. Daniel is currently at our children’s home in Kenya with a team from New York, including several dentists. Here’s what he reported today: The dental team had three chairs going today, so we were able to see all 42 children in grades 10-12 who will be departing for boarding school on Tuesday. This monumental effort took Dr. Cathy Harrison, Drs. Cindy & Gary Groves, their 3 dental assistants, Sue Wester, Laura & Noelle Woodruff,…
Jambo everyone! I hope this finds you healthy and happy and looking forward to a wonderful holiday season! Things are hopping here at In Step Children’s Home! All of the high school kids, except the four seniors who are taking finals, are home! In Step Academy and Junior High has closed for the year and we are waiting for the results of our eighth grade Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exams as well as the sixth grade Kenya National Examination Council exams. It can get a bit confusing as Kenya transitions into the new Competency-Based Education curriculum, but we are moving forward the best we…
“Each time I visit I sense a change in the atmosphere as you enter through the large doors at the entrance to the Home property – the atmosphere changes from desperation and vulnerability to hope, belonging and restoration.”
Does time fly on that side of the world like it does here? I can hardly believe another month has passed! The weather can’t decide what it wants to do! When it was supposed to be raining, it was only showering. Around here there are three classifications of rain; 1. Rain – what most people would call a downpour. 2. Shower – what most people would call rain. 3. Drizzle – think Seattle. Many farmers anticipated this and planted their maize early in hopes of harvesting before the predicted El Nino conditions hit. We have been here for 20 years, and I don’t…
Jambo everyone! I hope you are all doing well! I know many of you are winding up your summer break and preparing for your kids to start a new school year. While here, we are just starting the last term of our school year before our “summer” break! It has been a busy few weeks as the kids have all been home for end-term break, but now that everyone is back in school, things should settle down a bit! I am doing much better than I was when you last heard from me! Malaria has cleared and I’ve got my strength back – both…
Jambo everyone! Here I am, back in Kenya, enjoying the grind of real life and rainy season, after a wonderful time with my family, at home in Washington! I’ve been struggling to get caught up on everything left undone while I was gone, and I feel like I’m finally getting there! Okay, I’m never completely caught up, but I’m as close as I ever have been. LOL! Getting back in the groove was a bit of a struggle this time around. I’m not sure why, but I just couldn’t seem to get my mind back in Kenya! I was jet-lagged…
“We were blessed and changed by the time we spent at In Step Children’s Home. To use our skills and experience to serve the kids and staff there truly brought us joy. To see the way each child’s life was changed by having a home and a family brought to light the way that we are all changed when we are adopted by our Father into an eternal home and family! The names and faces of many of the beautiful children there will forever be in our memory!”
Jambo everyone! Surprise! It’s Jeff writing this month’s Jambo letter. Carla has been back in Washington state, taking a well-deserved respite, visiting with her folks, and enjoying our kids and grandkids. So, we (we being Carla, me and Estha, and Tori) thought we’d try something a little different this month, and that I’d give you the update on how I am holding down the fort without her – which I could not do without an awesome staff! While on school break earlier this month, Class 8 recently did a community service project. They visited the home of an 84-year-old woman…