## **Trustees Annual Report for Life-line Ministries (Ireland) 2023-2024, NIC 101524, dated 26/11/2024** ## **Purposes** The purposes of the charity are to raise funds in Northern Ireland and use all profits to benefit needy people in poor rural areas of Western Kenya through : (1) provision of education in our nursery and primary schools and financial help to support others in secondary and further education. (2) relief of poverty by regular financial support to individuals identified at particular risk, such as orphans, widows, the elderly and the chronically sick. (3) advancement of religion by supporting pastors and leaders in our churches to reach out in to their local communities with the message of the Gospel through evangelism, and to encourage believers with regular church services and fellowships. (4) outreach to street children in Kitale town through a feeding and ministry programme (5) ongoing care and education of the nine children in our small children’s home in a Christian environment. The trustees remain Wesley Kerr, Margaret Crawford and Audrey Johnston ## **Activities during the year 1 April 2023 – 31 March 2024** The charity continues to rely on two main sources of income, namely charity shop sales and monthly sponsorship of particular children by individuals, as well as occasional donations. We have continued to work with street children in Kitale town, providing them with a cooked meal twice a week and also sharing the gospel with them. In addition we started a feeding programme on Saturdays for children in Kipsongo slum to try to reduce the likelihood of these children going to the streets to beg for food. The small children’s home opened in February 2022 is doing well in every way and we see the children making progress physically, mentally and spiritually. The running cost of the home is about £600 per month and the street children feeding programme costs about £350 per month. During this financial year a total of £75,350 was sent to our pastors in Kenya. Most is used for regular support as above, to pay teachers in our schools and school fees for those in higher education and to support very poor families, particularly widows or grandparents raising orphaned children. Other specific projects between April 2023 and March 2024 included : - April 2023 – Kona £75 for firewood to burn bricks - £90 for fertilizer for maize crop - May – Nzoia £200 for fertilizer for maize crop Kona school permit £75 Buoye school permit £75 Buoye church £390 for church extension Koru - £50 for fertilizer for maize crop - June – Kona £300 to floor a classroom - July – Kona £90 for top-dressing maize - Nzoia £100 for firewood for burning bricks - Dec – Maili-saba £70 for additional chairs for church - Jan 2024 – Maili-saba £70 for more chairs for church - Nyamasaria £390 for rental of land for church - March – Nyamasaria £90 to build a toilet at the church - Children’s home £50 to build a wall Kona school £75 for permit Maili-saba church £70 for ten extra chairs Kona school £40 for ten benches ## **Benefits of the aforementioned activities.** We trust that the benefits of all our activities are obvious. Through providing education at nursery and primary level and paying school or college fees for those academically able to progress beyond the most basic level of education, we are attempting to enable children from very deprived social backgrounds to become employable and thereby able to contribute to the material needs of their families. Education is the only route out of poverty in Kenya and most children are aware of it and keen to learn. We have many sponsored children and adults who receive monthly support used to buy food or to pay rent for their homes, thereby helping to relieve poverty. Pastors also receive monthly support but most have to generate some income for themselves as well. We enable the congregations at Kona, Nzoia and Maili-saba to grow a maize crop which is used to help the poor and needy in the community. Our churches are making good progress with all congregations growing in number. Sunday services, midweek fellowships and prayer meetings are well attended, an indication that people are aware of the spiritual benefit gained through their Christian faith. We are confident that all our activities comply with the public benefit requirements as determined by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. We keep in mind our purposes at all times and ensure that all activities contribute fully towards them. We are satisfied that there is no risk of harm to anyone as a result of our work and no private benefit to any person volunteering within the charity, except the personal satisfaction of being involved with such worthwhile work. We are particularly pleased that we remain able to run our charity with an increasing income each year without the need for any paid staff. Our charity shop is also a benefit to the less well-off in our own local community who can purchase good second-hand items from us at economical prices. Signed : Wesley Kerr (chairman) Audrey Johnston (secretary)