From the Radkovics
Prayer Points – Joe and Sue Radkovic
Kenya – 5 February 10
A new year and a new decade! The Radkovics coped with the change with barely a scratch. Ben is doing well in Australia. He is about to move out of our house in Wollongong and flat with a friend. That means when we return in June he won’t be living with us – but hopefully not too far away. He had the opportunity to change uni courses to Sydney Uni doing International and Global Studies, but has decided to stay in the Gong with a longer term view to going to Moore College sometime down the track. He is much more mature than I was at that age, for which I am so thankful to God. (I think Sue is thankful for that too, having known both of us at similar ages!)
Anna is finishing up school in May and is tossing up options for what to do at uni in 2011, and what to do until uni. She would like to do some volunteer work somewhere in the world, maybe Nepal or Tanzania for 6 months. The things you do to your children! They don’t turn out normal when you change their world like we have. For much of that we are grateful, but we still worry. It would be so nice if they just stayed with their parents until we can cope with their leaving and being independent! But they think they have their own brains. No idea where they get such ideas. Anna would like to do some nature something. Her favourite idea is studying at a place called ‘George’ in South Africa. (Not Port George, or Georgeville, just ‘George’!) It is 5 hours from Capetown, and 3 from Port Elizabeth. The course is 4 years Wildlife Management. The other options are environmental Science at ANU or Melbourne Uni. We would like her to spend Uni in Aus to give her a home base, just in case life gets rough at some point in the future, so she has somewhere that is comfortable to go to.
Kate has stopped growing (we think.) 5’10” tall, mousey blond, and delightful as ever, with occasional teenage tendencies, which we try and ignore or squash out of her.
God obviously figured we couldn’t cope with much with our kids, so he went easy on us (so far), for which we are so thankful to him.
Sue is continuing to be a rock at WNS. The admin is inexperienced in many ways, and Sue has helped giving sound advice and suggestions. A teacher at the school has just died of an accidental overdose and the Admin was in a flap as to what they should do. It is a terrible time there at present, as such an event is worked through by colleagues and students and the school as a whole. Sue says that either returning to Kenya or staying in Aus after August is OK with her, but I think she would prefer returning here..
So we have decided to return to Kenya in August after deputation this year. I tried to put pressure on the clinic management last November and December to see how they might cope without me. It didn’t go that well, and the process stressed me a lot. Jedidah and Sam both thought during those months that me going to Aus for good was a great idea! I guess I stressed them quite a bit too. I was offered a job at the Church Army’s Carlile Bible college here which I will take up part time, and continue with the clinics part time, gradually easing myself out of the clinics over the next 2 years. I would do some teaching and some admin. The principal is keen for me to help integrate evangelism with community service – exactly what I do now. He would like me to teach the students, and help with developing strategies for the college and Church Army at a higher level, to have a holistic view of outreach; Gospel plus temporary caring like medical, education, etc. I am disappointed I will not be doing the job I wanted in Aus, which was pretty similar in many ways, but it is hard to complain with either option. I wanted a time back in Aus where everything is available and easier than here, but that was not to be, (yet). I am trying to develop the attitude of Paul in Philippians 4 where he says he can cope with plenty and with little. (I hope I am more successful than my attempts to develop patience!)
The clinics are going well. The maternity was quiet leading up to Christmas and the New Year, as Mums-to-be travelled ‘up-country’ and had their babies there. But they have returned and business is back to normal, if not a little busier on the baby front. Outpatients (General Practice type patients) at both the Kibera Clinic and the one at Korogocho hardly slowed down at all. January is normally the quietest month of the year for outpatients so this may portend a very busy year at both clinics. Kibera is seeing 150+ patients a week, and Korogocho 450+.
We are hoping to be assessed and accepted into the Birth Voucher Scheme here. Basically it means a donor group would pay the Mums’ bills for them. That would be easy on them, and put our cash flow into the black for at least while the scheme is running. Long term we need a further $115,000 in our endowment to build more rental rooms. The rental rooms we are currently building will be finished in March (best guess) and the income will reduce our monthly losses by half.
We return to Aus in June and will stay until August. Sue and Kate will return early August, and I will return late August so I can start the new academic year at Carlile Bible College. That will only give us the chance to visit half our link churches. The other half we will visit in 2012. Not sure how CMS will divide things up.
Thank you for joining us again this year in partnership as we try and offer God’s invitation to people here in Kenya of a life forever with him as his adopted children that he will love and shower blessings on day after day for eternity. We love the opportunity we have here, thanks to your support. Our decision to return means we will need your help in prayers and funds for a while yet. It is amazing how the Holy Spirit takes us sinful creatures and changes us so we want to be generous and help others. What a God we have!
Thank you for bringing our issues before our Father who loves to hear them and is able to answer them.
Yours in Christ,
Joe, Sue, (Ben,) Anna & Kate
