FEED MY LAMBS CHILDREN'S MINISTRY Feed my Lambs Children's Ministry (Registered Charity NIC 1059891 is a Christian based organisation which works mainly in Kenya and Uganda. Our main purpose is to bringthe Gospel to boys, girls and young people and to encourage. support and equip those who have a burden to reach out to those in their localÉty. We are governed by a Constitution which sets out the charitys purposes. Our base in Northern Ireland is at Dorchester Drive. Portadown and we have a small office in Nairobi and Malaba. The organisation currently has three Trustees: William and Pamela Aiken based in Northern Ireland and Joyce Afviande who lives in Uganda but is a native of Kenya. The Trustees are in voluntary posrtions: receiving only incidental expenses or gifts designated to them bythe donor to help them personally as they minister. Treasure Seekers Bible Le550n5 The Treasure Seeker Bible Lessons are designed for children of primary school age. However, very often we encounterteenagers who have a desire to learn from the Bible, have very Itttle teaching and also have limf(ed literacy skills. so the lessons have also been a great help to them. Introduced firstly in Kenya, they are now also being distributed in Uganda. The course consists of 30 lessons in total which consist of a Bible story, memory verse, activity such as a crossword, word puzzle or colouring and also questions regarding the story. The first 15 lessons include the answers and all of the information needed to complete the lessons. Upon completion of 15 lessons a free Kiv Bible is awarded to the child who can then use this to further complete the remaining 15 lessons. It is necessaryto use the Bible to find the answers for the latter lessons. This ensures that the child gets an opportunity to use the Bible they have been given and becomes familiar with it. Upon completion of the course a certificate is awarded. The lessons have proven to be very beneficial in both countries with favourable reports coming from both Churches and Schools. Sunday School teachers have struggled with materials and knowingwhat to teach and arethankful for some consistency. They also appreciate the fatt that children can receive their own Bible, which can of course then be used in Church services and as they grow older. Many Schools in Kenya and Uganda have little in the way of resources to Use for Religious Education and teachers have enjoyed having our lessons which have covered some aspects of the curriculum. It has also been noted that our lessons and indeed the Bibles are in English and we have again received positive feedback as the teachers especially feel that this really helps to
improve the ability of the child in learningthe language. Our lessons are therefore very beneficial from a general educational point of view and not just a spiritual point of view. We have been encouraged over the year with the number of new centre5 which have enrolled on our programme. In Kenya, most of these have been in Nairobi and in the outskirts. However, renewed contatt was also made with centres in Western Kenya who had previously used the lessons and for various reasons had discontinued. In Uganda, we have seen a good increase in the number of centres using the lessons. A lot of this has been as a result of the hard work of our Trustee, Joyce. She has spent much time in making sure that children can benefit from the materials. We are also thankful to others in both countries who give of their voluntarily to help distribute and mark the lessons for the children. On occasions these volunteers will mark for many centres, while others mark solely for their own Church or School. This has also provided a good opportunityto involve local people in the ministry and has helped to furtherthe advancement of citizenship and community development by involvingthem in voluntary opportunities. We are thankful to the Every Home Crusade/Revival Movement in Northern Ireland for printing and shipping our lessons to Kenya. Due to demand and continual request5: we have made the first 15 lessons available on our website. These can be downloaded and printed byth05e who wish to Use them in countries other than Kenya and Uganda. To date, children's workers in South Sudan and India have done this. A150, we have had people from South Africa and Brazil register forthe downloads although we have had no feedback as to whetherthey have actually used them. The lessons are also being translated into Swahili for use in Tanzania and we have received a request for translation to French for use in Democratic Republic of Con80. The lessons have been of benefrt to children in all of the countries mentioned and helped to further the advancement of their education and religion. Bibles In May 2017 a container arrived in Nairobi, Kenya from Northern Ireland containing a consignmerFt of Treasure Seeker Lessons. Also included were Bibles which we had been able to purchase from Every Home Crusade thanks to the generosity of donors here in Northern Ireland. Many of these Bibles were distributed in Kenya with 72 boxes being transported to Uganda for distribution later in the year. At the time of writin& just under 300 Bibles are again en-route to Kenya with another 5000 being printed and prepared in the USA. Thè advancement of religion has been demonstrated through the distribution of Bibles and the teaching which has gone alongside this. Tralning Over the past year we have not held any training on the 8round, howevertrainin8 seminars are planned for 2018.
Online training has continued however. At the moment this is limited to training in Child Protection. Ourtraining consist5 of 10 Assignments which can be downloaded, completed and submitted online to the student's own private page. The course is completed at a pace suitable to each student and the assignments are marked byour Trustee in Northern Ireland; Pamela Aiken. Over the past year, studentstakingthe course have not only been from Kenya and Uganda but also from South Sudan. Our Child Protection course ha5 helped with the advancement of health and savin8 lives as we believe it will help to protect many children as those working with them become more aware of the signs and symptoms of abuse. We have a safeguarding policy in place and we encourage long term volunteers to complete our child protection training. This has helped to deal with any harm which may arise. Library Our lending library operates in Nairobi. The aim of this ministry was to make teaching visuals more accessible to local people. A deposit is paid whereby the materials can be borrowed and this depostt is then refunded when the teaching packs are retumed. Progress with the library was slow when it was first established. Over the past year we have seen a good increase in those who have registered. One Church in particular have used quite a number of the resources available and have reported that the visuals have reallv helped to improve the attention of the children listening. They also reported that a number of children had trusted the Lord as their Saviour and they felt that the visuals had helped in the teaching of the message. Distribution of Knitted Items This part of our ministry is only small scale, but it has involved distributing knitted and crotchet items to families, Sunday Schools. Schools etc. mainly in Kenya over the past year. These items have been knit by supporters in Northern Ireland and we have appreciated their support. Local children are helped in this small way and this helps to fijrther the prevention and relief of poverty by supplying such items and leaving one less item to be purchased by the family. Support of local business In Kenya we have been able to give some small sUPPOrtto a local lady in Kenya who makes rugs/mats. Our contribution was small but she appreciated the purchase of three rug5 from her. Another single mother has also received some income from Trustees as they purchased items from her small market stall. Printing of Treasure Seeker Application Forms etc. also provided some business for a local man who runs an internet café and printing service. These areas are not ministries as such. but are simply an effort to support local business when purchases are needed. Again. this helps to alleviate poverty amongst local people.
Christmas Gifts We were able to give financial gifts to a number of families in Kenya at Christmas 2017 which was very much appreciated bythem. Mission Trip William and Pamela Aiken (Trustees) were able to spend one month in Kenya in July 2017. During this time they were able to viewthe newly rented office in Nairobi and to visit Churches and Schools who are using our materials. Theywere also able to present Bibles in a School in a slum area of Nairobi. It was encouraging for them to see first hand the ministry which is taking place on the ground. They have plans to travel back to Kenya and also to Uganda in 2018 to see the progress in the ministry and meet with volunteers. Home Ministry The home ministry in Northern Ireland is carried out by William and Pamela Aiken. They are responsible for speaking at meeting5 to raise awareness of the work of Feed my Lambs. Most opportunitie5 are in Churches and consist of general mixed meetings and ladies, meetings. They have also had opportunity to speak to children about life in Africa. This was helpful in educating the children in Northern Ireland about life in Kenya and Uganda and what it is like to be a child growin8 UP there. It has been encouraging to have new openings in this past year with a number of new venues booked to share at over the course ofthe incoming year. There have also been opportunttie5 to share at weekend/ week long missionary conventions and literature etc. was distributed at such events. Pamela Aiken is also responsible for wrrting and producing new materials for use by Sunday School Teachers and Children's Workers in the areas of ministry among many othertasks. Prayer Meeting A prayer meeting specifically for the work of Feed my Lambs has been established. It runs every other month and is based in Portadown. Attendance has been small but Steadily increasing as people become more aware of the new venture. We believe that prayer is the key to all aspects of the work and outreach. We believe that"God's work. done in God's way, will never lack God's supplrf, and we look to Him to provide what is needed. Thi5 Past year has shown a bi8 increase in donations and we give thanks to God for that. Overheads and running costs do take up a large part of the funds currently received and we continue to pray that more will be available for actual ministry.
Income We have 4 main sources of income. Church Donation5- Gifts given from Churches when William and Pamela have spoken and represented the work. These continue to be steady and of a great help in the ministry Individuol Donotions- We are thankful for the donations received from individuals. Over the past few years these had dropped considerably. but we thank God for an increase in recent month5. We are particularly encouraged by new people who have signed up to give donations monthly by Direct Debit. Little and often makes planning for ministry much easier. Clothes Collection- We continue to accept donations of good condition clothes and items such as bedding and curtains for re-wear and re-use. Feed my Lambs receives funds for these items which can then be used in the ministry. The organisation who pay us for the items, then ship them out to countries to help provide business and affordable Ftems for local people. We have seen first hand how items such as these are distributed and used abroad. In the financial year 2017- 2018 we received £215.50. This was dramatically lower than previous years but we are delighted that this amount has already been exceeded in the first 3 months of financial year ending 2019. GiftAid- Gift Aid continues to bring in addttional income. It is challengingto see new people sign up to Gift Aid but we are thankful forthose who have shown an interest in this way of giving. In the financial year ending April 2018the amount received from HMRC for Gift Aid Contributions amounted to £799.51. ChildSponsorship- This is something we have purposed to start on just a small scale as we become aware of particular needs. At thetime of writing 3 children are being sponsored by people in Northern Ireland who donate a set amount each month by Direct Debit. We are very thankful and this has been a great encouragement to the parents of the children. Expenditure Fund5 this past financial year have been used mainly in the purchasing of Bibles,- the rent and securirig of a new base in Nairobi; travelling expenses etc. for volunteers in Africa and some expenses towards the mission trip for the Trustees. Other essential expenditure such as Insurance and permits etc. have also featured. We are thankful for new openings to share of the ministry in Northem Ireland. Numerous meetings are booked for 201812019 and the Trustees will also participate in a missionary convention. A Mission Trip is organised for the latter part of the year and plans are being made for ministry in Africa in 2019. Ministry to boys and girls through S Day Clubs in
Northern Ireland is also planned for 2018 and it is hoped to develop our children's ministry here to particularly raise awareness and educate about Africa. The Trustees would like to place on record their thank5 and appreciation to those who have volunteered; booked us to speak at meetings; used our lessons; availed of our training,. donated clothes; gave a donation or allowed us to claim gift aid. Special mention is made of those who have prayed faithfullyfor the Trustees and the entire ministry of Feed my Lambs. Most of all, our thanks to our Lord and Saviourwithout whom there would be no message to share. In our ministries for the year, the Trustees have at all times given careful consideration to the guidance on public benefft issued by The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland and have ensured that all activities have helped to achieve the purposes of the organisation and provide benefit to the beneficiaries. Prepared by (Pamela Aiken) On behalf of the organisation and Trustees. namely vfilliam Aiken and Joyce Afwande. Date: 4July 2018