I READ with interest Doug Gillon's article on the work of Kip Keino ("The legacy of Glasgow's Games will reach from Dalmarnock to the heart of Africa", Herald Sport, July 29) with special interest, as I lived and worked in Eldoret, Kenya, for two years in the late 1970s.
I was seconded by Tear Fund, a Christian funding and serving agency based in London.
My primary role was to set up a trade training centre for the benefit of Kenyan young men from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds. The majority of my students had had no secondary education and were dependent on support from the wider family. No fees were required from those who were worst off.
The course was the brainchild of John Green, an Englishman who had arrived in Kenya with a view to assisting Christian missionaries in their work. It did not take him long to note the distress and living conditions of many Kenyan children as he watched them search the local rubbish dump for items that might be sold for a few Kenyan shillings. His conscience was pricked and he felt that he had to do something to help these children, so he opened his small house and took a few of them in for shelter and food, later writing a book called A Cry From The Streets. He married a Kenyan lady and both of them committed their lives to helping poor children enjoy an education and a roof over their heads. Their orphanage in Eldoret is called Testimony Faith Homes, and the five-acre compound located just outside the town now houses a school taking in children from nursery age right up to secondary level. In recent years the numbers have increased considerably, and three new houses have been added to the site, with married couples acting as house parents.
My wife and I, along with our son, visited Testimony Faith Homes in 2011. I saw many changes and many additions to the place I left more than 30 years ago. However, the care shown to the children remained unchanged in spite of heavy demands on their budget. I should add that the work is supported entirely by Christian friends and supporters; I think I am correct in saying the Kenyan authorities offer no financial help. Incidentally, in another part of Eldoret there is an off-shoot to this work called Neema Children's Home. This is a smaller work, helping children with Aids and HIV.
The young men that I taught were well aware of Kip Keino's achievements on the track and were proud of him. Is there ever likely to be a day when some of our wealthy, sporting elite could emulate his concern for the poor and disadvantaged?
Harry Speedie,
8 Whiteloans,
Bothwell.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article