Partnership Overview

The African Powerhouse exists to support the most vulnerable women and children in the Mochengo Village in rural Kenya. The project started running a soap making business training vulnerable women in the skill of soap and hand sanitizer making. These are then sold in the marketplace, providing them with an income to support themselves and their families. They also have a women’s soccer team and a primary school for the vulnerable children in the area.

Once the men began seeing amazing changes in the livelihoods of the women, they too wanted to start their own soap making project and since 2023 the men have been making soap and selling this at the markets too. 

Bright Hope World financially supports the soap making project and the soccer team.  

Background

The rural towns and villages of Kenya are overrepresented in the numbers of vulnerable children. HIV/AIDS has hit them very hard, especially along the roads from the borders into the heart of the country because of the trucking routes. The village of Mochengo is quite typical. Dozens of children live on the streets or in the houses of anyone who will feed them. They are not adequately cared for nor are they able to go to school. As well, there are many women affected and infected by HIV who struggle to survive and become involved in drugs and prostitution. These are the people that Robert is seeking to assist. 

Robert has chosen to return to his family village to help with the vulnerable women and children in that community. He could be living elsewhere but has chosen to return at great cost to himself and family. 

The two most vulnerable groups of people in the community are those he has identified, the street children and the women forced onto the streets. He has real compassion for them. He wants to see them become followers of Jesus and also productive in their communities. For the young people the key is education and for the women it is to get them into some sort of legitimate earning.    

History of Partnership

BHW's Field Director first met Robert briefly some years ago in Mozambique. After a subsequent visit to Mozambique in 2013 an Australian man, who is married to a local woman and who attends Chrissy Lukanga's church (MOZ02c), talked to him about Robert and introduced him on social media and email. Regular communication ensued over the next three years and in late 2016 BHW's Field Director visited Robert in Kenya. 

Following this visit a decision was made by the BHW Executive Committee to commence this partnership with Robert.  

Beneficiaries

The street women who are part of the women's programme are those whose lives have been affected by HIV. They have little or no earning capacity and have to turn to illegal activities to survive.  

The men involved in the soap making project and their families they are now able to provide for. 

The street children in Mochengo who are not able to go to school.

What We Like About The Partnership

Robert is a very passionate guy; he is entrepreneurial and creative.

The children he is working with are very vulnerable and unless someone steps in to intervene they have no hope of education, little hope of survival and limited opportunity to hear the Good News. This project effectively addresses the issues these children face. 

The women are at the other end of the spectrum. They are what the children will become without intervention. They are poor and desperate and have no hope without this programme. 

This is a great little project. Robert has chosen to go there; these are his people, and he has mobilised a group of people to get active. The church is right behind him, and a group of older women are working with him to offer support and care.  

Key People

Leadership Profile

Robert Ngara Omundi grew up in the little village of Emesa. It is about 2 kms from Mochengo. His father died when he was in High School, and his mother struggled to help him and his siblings complete Form 4. (Photo shows him with his mother and sister)

He discovered that he had a talent for painting and art and on leaving Form 4 he left the village and went to Mombassa to earn money painting on the beach for tourists. This lasted for three years but the threat of terrorism killed the tourism market. He then shifted to Zanzibar and things went well for a couple more years, but a lot of other artists came and not being a local made life difficult for him. He then shifted further south to Pemba in Mozambique as it began to open up to tourism. There he became a Christian and was baptised. He then went to Bible School with Iris Ministries. 

After that he came back to his own village and married a local girl. They had grown up together and known each other from childhood. She was a teacher and got a job in Burundi. He went too and did business on the beach with his art. At the end of one year the teaching contract was not renewed so they had to leave. She got another contract in Rwanda, and they shifted there. By this time, they had two children.

After a couple of years, he wanted to do something about the issues with the young people back in his home town so he shifted back to his family home. 

Other People Involved

Robert is the main person. He has a group of women who help him with the younger women and who are members of The African Powerhouse organisation. 

Vision And Annual Strategy

Vision 

The vision is to see vulnerable men and women in the community empowered and become self-sustaining so particularly the women do not have to resort to street life to survive. Ultimately it is to see them become followers of Jesus and leaders in their homes and families.

Strategy

The strategy for the women is based around a football team. This gives the women a reason to get together regularly and practice and play. They also make soap, and they have tree nurseries. They grow Moringa and Eucalyptus trees and then go around villages giving them away and teaching the women how to use the trees to provide income. Robert would like to get both the men and women making larger quantities of soap and then have access to loans so they can grow into self-reliance. 

Personal Testimony

Real "Life Change" Stories

One of the women in the programme was a night runner before she became a believer. A night runner is a witch who would go around the town casting spells on people. Since she has become a believer, she has brought many people to faith. Two of them are recovering drug and alcohol addicts. Many of the women have or did have men who were drunkards. Alcohol is such a major issue in these communities. 

One of the women breaks rocks to make a living, a whole wheelbarrow full of stones is sold for US$1. It is half a day's work to fill it up. 

Another woman has seven children, her husband abandoned her. She married off two of her daughters at 14 years of age as she could not afford to keep them in her home. She has a house, and the eucalyptus tree nursery is at her place.