Report from BHW Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

Key person: Rodgers Ade

Recent Events

Activities

Kevin and Helen Honore visited the programme with John Stanley from Chase Oaks Church, USA. The purpose was to interview several current and former students as it has been a long time since we were able to visit. We spent time over three days at the Nyakach site of the campus, a place we have not visited prior to this. This campus was opened in 2019 and then Covid came. We had previously visited for the graduation in July 2018. We also spent time over three days in Nairobi interviewing alumni to try to understand the long-term impact of the programme. 

The current course of 30 students began in January 2023. This is the largest course so far. Our visit was just two weeks before the graduation. The students were a delight to interview, and it is very obvious that they have been deeply impacted by the programme. 

It was a great experience out in the bush, sitting under the umbrella trees talking to some wonderful people. 

Personal Stories

There are three different roles in the Moriah programme apart from the staff whom we interviewed. There are the students, the mentors who live with the students and who are previous students who have been invited back to mentor the current students, and then there are the facilitators who are the ones who come in to lead the various study modules. These modules are usually for a week. 

Several students from the last few courses have been sent by a group called Heroes of the Nation. It was started by an American Christian couple and young people from tribal people are sponsored through education. But there was no Christian component to it so when they heard about Moriah and that their students could come after finishing Form 4, they were rapt. They have been to see the place and are very encouraged. 

Here are a few interviews from current students, alumni, some mentors and one facilitator:

Current students

Joshua is a Maasai young man from the Samburu area in central, north Kenya. It is very rare to find a Maasai Christian. He is one of the students sponsored by Heroes of the Nation. A teacher at his high school told him about Moriah and encouraged him to come. He learned about God and Jesus at secondary school. He wants to go back to his people to tell them about Jesus, they have no idea about the Christian faith. 

He is one of nine siblings, and he wants them to learn about Jesus and to come to Moriah as well. He has learned to play the keyboard and wants to be able to use that in church to worship God. Once he finishes Moriah he would like to go to college and study engineering. He is a really pleasant young man with leadership potential. 

Maurice lives with his grandmother. His family is from Nyakach, the area around the Moriah Campus but he lived in Homa Bay. He started going to an OCC church and heard about Moriah. His grandmother encouraged him to go, telling him that there were free computer lessons and several other things. When he got there, he realised that he had been tricked by his grandmother. Sure, there were computers, but it wasn’t just for that!

He had been a Christian since 13 but he learned more in his time at Moriah than all his previous Christian life. He was one of 11 children but 9 of them, all girls have died. There have been huge issues in his family related to the death of his sisters and the large land that his father had. An uncle has snatched the land and as the only son of his father he has lost his inheritance. He had a lot of anger and unforgiveness in his heart when he arrived, but he has been able to deal with that. The trauma counselling has been very helpful. During the break he went to visit his sister, but nothing was able to be resolved. There is so much dissent in the family. 

He loves cooking, prayer and intercession and would like to be a Christian minister and a businessman. He loves it so much at Moriah, it is his family.

Lucas in from Turkana in the north of the country where there are very few Christians. He is the fourth born of eight children. His parents are farmers with animals. They are not Christians and know nothing much about the faith. Only one of his siblings is educated. 

There is a Kenyan missionary working up in Turkana who has become his guardian and he told him about Moriah and encouraged him to come. He is just 18 years old but quite mature. He is keen to go back to his people and to tell his family and friends about Jesus. Many of his friends and family members have rejected him already but he understands why and still wants them to hear the Good News. Next year he wants to go to college and study human resource management. 

Alumni

These are students who have graduated from Moriah and have shifted to other places. Most of them are from Nairobi, several of them from within the Mathare Valley slum. We interviewed all these ones in Nairobi. 

Dorothy Okoth is one of five children, and they live with their father who is a night security guard at the MCO/OCC campus. She grew up in Mathare with her father and two aunties who are not much older than her after her grandmother died. Her mother died some time before that. She also has an older sister. After finishing high school, she and her sister went together to Moriah in 2020. It was the Covid year, so they had to go home for two months in the middle of it. 

She became a believer at Moriah and was baptised. Then her prayer life changed dramatically along with her Bible reading. She didn’t know how to read the Bible before the course. The Continuous Bible Reading teaching was very helpful. She loves singing and loved the praise and worship times at Moriah. There was no mission month that year because of Covid. 

At present she works in a cybercafé where they teach computing and provide services. She is paid for this and that is a big help. She hopes to do a 6-month bakery course soon and would love to set up her own kiosk to sell donuts. It is hard to keep up all aspects of life, family, work, church and ministry. Family relationships are not very easy as her father doesn’t want her to have a boyfriend, but she does and he’s not happy. The boy is from Mathare and her father thinks he would not be able to care for her and a family. She would love for family relationships to improve. 

Eismas is an orphan, his father died when he was in class 1 and he was brought up by a sister/cousin. He is from a village near Kisumu. He did not have a happy childhood. Before he went to live in the village, he lived with an elder sister who could not look after him, so he had to shift. His childhood left him with a lot of trauma. The sister/cousin he went to live with had five of her own children and life was tough. He was able to get to high school as they lived near to a day school. He was an average student and finished in 2021. In 2022 he went to Moriah. 

There the exposure to other cultures was great and a blessing. He became a Christian at Moriah. He learned many wonderful things, some of them were very hard. He loved the mission month in Migori county and learned how to tell others about Jesus and to teach in a mission context. He really loved it and was invited to return to Moriah in 2023 as a mentor for missions' month. There were 13 of them in the team. 

Recently he came to Nairobi. He doesn’t have the funds to go to college and would love to do social work. He loves building relationships with people and sharing the Good News. He especially loved doing school ministry while at Moriah. He is currently living in Mathare with some friends (see the interview with Bill Otieno) and has a burden for all the young people around him. It is a very hard place to live, especially when you have no source of income. There is so much immorality in the community. He is passionate about mission and is trying to work out how to go about it most effectively. He is part of the praise and worship team at Mathare OCC.

Jamal Goodisa went to Moriah in 2015. He and his five siblings were raised by a single mother after his father was killed in the 2007 post-election violence. He was in a van that was attacked, and all were killed. His parents are Ethiopian and they came to Kenya as refugees as his father was involved in politics in Ethiopia. As he grew up, he didn’t understand what was happening around him and it affected his schooling. He had to repeat grade 8 twice. He was in a government school on the first attempt but came to MCO secondary school for the second attempt and succeeded. A friend introduced them to MCO. Even though he has a Muslim name, his family are Christian. 

His pastor recommended that he attend Moriah, he was living and going to church at Kariobangi. When he got to Moriah he had no idea how to read the Bible, to pray or to live as a Christian. He got a scholarship through MCO (BHI) and studied electrical engineering, but he doesn’t have a godfather so has not been able to find employment. He has studied photography and videography but still cannot earn money easily. His mother is still a refugee and does not have Kenyan papers. He is a Kenyan citizen now. 

He attends Mathare OCC and is the chairman of the youth programme. He finds Kenyan young people are very hard to lead, they always have something else to do.

He has a disabled sister, Latu, who is 16 years old and is in an institution. Life is very difficult for his mother. His father worked in a butchery before he was killed and life was good for them, but not now. His mum has a small business where she sells clothes and perfumes. He would still like to be an electrical engineer. He is a very vibrant expressive young man. 

Mentors

Mentors are usually on the course full-time although some extras come in for specific purposes, especially during Missions month. 

Christopher is 20 years old and has come back to Moriah as a mentor for the boys. It is an important role, and you have to learn to listen to what the students are saying and be able to dig a little into why they are saying what they are saying. He was mentored well while he was at Moriah. They were encouraged to get involved in everything and this helped them settle into life at Moriah. 

Christopher was a Christian when he came to Moriah, being saved at the age of 13. After his conversion his mother noticed the change almost immediately. He is the eldest of his siblings and his family are consistent Christians and involved in church and faith together. They are from Homa Bay area. His parents are businesspeople. He has begun studying business administration and management online.

Dying to self was a great challenge, Matt 6:33 – seek first the Kingdom of God constantly challenges him. Since being at Moriah his Christian life is much more consistent. Back in his church he is involved with youth ministry and encourages the young people to come to Moriah. 

He is 28 years old and has grown a lot as a mentor. He is learning to share with people and serve them. This commitment is hard work, but he is learning. When he and Lynette came, they had to be leading, organising the students, leading worship and helping the young people settle in. This became a hard time as many of them struggle in the first weeks. Some are away from home for the first time and others that have been to boarding school have bad habits. Some don’t want to be there; they are with people they don’t know and some are homesick. 

Lynette became a Christian at Moriah as a student in 2021 and she was invited to come back as a mentor. She said yes to the invitation as she didn’t want to just be a consumer. The subjects that really impacted her are around the impact of being born again and intimacy with Christ. She is from a non-Christian home although her parents used to take her to lots of churches. They could never settle into one church. Her mum was a Catholic but not strong. The family lives in Nairobi but they originally come from Kisii. She is 19 years old. She is young for a mentor but is a mature young woman and has real presence. 

Her sister came to Moriah in 2020 and Lynette wasn’t impressed by the changes she saw in her sister, she was different and no fun anymore. But she came and her life was transformed. Now, she and her sister are the spiritual leaders in the family and family members often ask them to pray. They are praying that their whole family will become believers. Her friends give her a hard time now. 

Lynette is from an OCC church in Nairobi and would like to become a nurse. With seven kids in the family it is not likely this will happen because of finances. The most valuable things she has learned is to love people no matter how you are feeling, you are there to serve. She is learning what hospitality means as she serves the students. She also appreciates being in an environment where there is accountability. 

Bill “Clinton” Otieno is one of the emerging leaders of the future in MCO. He was brought up in Kariobangi from 2007–2012 and while there El Shebab Muslims tried to influence him away from Christianity. However, it was found out and he was saved from that. He is a leader. He currently lives in Mathare Valley with three younger guys from Mathare. He is their leader and mentor. He is the only one who has any income from a part-time job at an uncle’s cybercafé. 

He went to Moriah in 2016 and his life was transformed. It helped him understand who he is and how he is uniquely made. He developed a love for the Word of God, intercession, and found that he had abilities in praise and worship.  He was involved on the Sunday we were at church, leading the service. Two of his siblings have been to Moriah and he has been able to influence many others to go. 

After Moriah he was sponsored to go to university, but after one year the sponsorship stopped. He was studying English Literature as he wants to become good at communicating and teaching. He would love to complete his studies. He did a year teaching after he was not able to continue studying. He has been instrumental in pulling together a group to keep the alumni connected. From time to time those around Mathare get together and do a mission activity. He would hate to see the impact of Moriah stop. He recognises that there is a gap for young people after Moriah. Some cannot afford to go on to college or other training and many cannot get jobs or afford to start a small business. He is pushing the leaders to come up with some solutions. 

He has been involved several times in going back to Moriah to mentor, especially during the missions' month. As well, he is forming a group that is about to be launched with the Moriah alumni and others who want to join them. It is based on the story of Zacchaeus and called Fikiya Rafiki – reach out friend. They want to minister to vulnerable young people, old people and poor, and do some missions as well. They want to activate the Moriah alumni to stay involved so the impact doesn’t die. 

Life is very hard for him, and he faces many challenges, mainly around finishing his studies and his living situation. However, he is optimistic about the future and loves to serve.

Facilitators 

Rose – Rose originally comes from the Mathare Valley. She grew up there and is a product of the MCO ministry in the valley. They supported her grandmother and the family with food parcels and education. There was no food for the family at the weekends. She grew up hating men because of the way men were in the community and in her family. She was at the first discipleship course and has been invited to be a facilitator in the programme every year since then. 

Currently she works for a Christian NGO in Kisumu called Every Life. They visit villages and churches to speak to them about the Good News but also to come alongside the people and seek to empower them. 

She grew up with her grandmother and for many years had the faith of her grandmother. She discovered a personal faith at Moriah. She loves kids and teaching them. At Moriah she teaches about the Lordship of Christ. The discipleship programme has been hugely influential in her life. She talks to many people about the Moriah programme and encourages them to come. As she counsels and encourages people, she finds it hard that people will not listen and make sensible decisions. This comes from her training and her experience. 

Her mother died when she was 12 years old, and she went to live with her grandmother. Her brother and sister went too, and they still live in the Valley. She studied Social Work at College, but she got her first job with her certificate from the discipleship course. It is so cool to see this young woman being employed to help others who were just like her and to volunteer her time as well. 

Her father is still alive, and she wishes that the family would be able to come together. She is 32 years old. 

Partnership's Influence within the Community

This is becoming a significant programme and there is a growing demand to send young people to it. Church pastors want their kids to come. Organisations are sending their young people. It began for the purpose of sending young people from Mathare Valley and that is still happening. However, more are now coming from a wide range of places. 

Ideas for the Future

There are several new plans in development. To be fair, this programme is just completing its 11th year and the impact is being felt across the OCC/MCO organisations. Approximately 250 young people have been through the course and many of them are now in leadership in the OCC churches and in other churches and ministries. 

However, this is creating new opportunities. As the course has developed and matured they are attempting to respond to the issues. Here are the ones we discussed and at some stage in the future, we will have new project proposals. 

a) Equip – Herma is the daughter of Daniel and Magdalene. She and her husband are lawyers. They are establishing a practice in a town near to the Moriah Campus. Their vision, and that of the team, is to establish a second course for alumni of the discipleship programme. Others will be able to join the programme as well as long as they qualify. It will be a 3-month course using the same facility. They would take in a maximum of 20 students and run from September to November. They would like to commence it this year and a few days after leaving Herma has been in touch with a plan and a budget. This will be presented very soon.  

The thinking is that the discipleship course takes people from being non-Christian or new Christian to being a strong follower of Jesus. This phase is to shift them from follower to worker. They then want to establish Lead as well, that would not be a residential programme, at least at the moment. There is a plan for an internship to follow, the plans for this are still emerging. 

b) Expanding Moriah – they want to expand Moriah to cater four about 40 students. This would require some capital investment but could well be doable. The programme is becoming well known and they think they could cope with it. If Herma is more involved, it is possible I think. They do want to build a couple of extra buildings, housing for the manager and a storeroom. 

c) Business development – they run an intensive small business development course each year at Moriah. No more than 15 people attend for four days. At the end of it they are supposed to be able to get a loan or capital to start a business. They have trained many but very few have been able to access a loan as MCO doesn’t have the capital. I have asked them to send me a proposal for this. Most of those who got a loan of around US$150 are doing well with their small businesses. This would be a massive help to a lot of people. 

d) Lead – this is the third step in their development training. I do not think there will be any funds required, maybe a small amount. It is a network rather than an event. They are already running this alongside the discipleship programme. 

e) Chicken layers project – they took us to a nearby chicken layers project established by an AIC bishop. He has been encouraging Daniel to do this to support the Moriah programme. He has 450 currently laying and another 1,500 at point of lay. They want to do a project like this with 500 layers, but they see the daily turnover amount, not the establishment cost and the operational costs! I explained that we are not ready right now to do that after our previous experiences and without one of them on the ground to oversee it daily.

f) Scholarship fund – many of their young people who have been through the discipleship programme then want to go on to study at college or some tertiary institution. Several we interviewed had no hope of this as their parents or guardians couldn’t afford it.  

Bright Hope International in the USA used to fund up to 20 of their young people with tertiary level scholarships. They would only fund 80% and just for 2 years. But this stopped in 2020 when they said they had run out of money. I truly think there is an opportunity here. If you read the story of Bill Clinton Otieno you see a classic case of what could happen. For about US$1,000/year for two years he could complete his degree and become a teacher. He is a bright spark on the horizon for MCO and it would be a real shame if he couldn’t complete his training. He is a lovely young man, still living in the slum and carrying three other young men and mentoring them as they live together. 

I have told them to give me a proposal and indicated that if we agreed to do it, we would give them a maximum amount they could spend each year to get some of their young people unstuck. 

Current Issues and Challenges

Costs are increasing rapidly; this is especially in the areas of food and transport.

There is a need for more funds for infrastructure - a house for the manager and storeroom. 

The impact of several courses is now creating other pressures. The alumni are active and want more training. There is a proposal coming regarding that. 

Many students on finishing this course cannot afford to go to college or further training. There is a need for a scholarship programme, a proposal for which will be coming shortly. 

Prayer and Praise Points

1) The programme is achieving its aims of discipling young people and their lives are being transformed as you will read in the testimonies.
2) Large numbers of the students are becoming Christians in the programme and getting baptized. 3) The location is good, it is quiet and peaceful and helps the students find meaning and purpose.
4) They have good leaders on site.
5) There are good numbers signed up for next year already.
6) The graduation of the current group is on the 8th July, 2023

Comments

We were really impressed by the calibre of the students we interviewed, especially those who had been out a while.

There are a number of new opportunities evolving here which we will present to the BHW Executive when more details are available.