Report from BHW Kenya Partnership Facilitator Following Visit 

Daniel and Rodgers flew from Nairobi to Kisumu early in the morning arriving in Kisumu at 7am. We picked them up from the airport and after breakfast were back in the car heading west towards Kendu Bay. About an hour later we were at the new location of Moriah which is next to Daniel’s rural home in Ragen. Moriah is about 2 kms down a dirt track off the main road. 

They have more land on the other side of the main road where they have water from a bore, a few fish ponds and agricultural land. They employ a man named Jarred who lives onsite to manage this land.

Recent Events

Temporary Buildings

They have done a good job at building the corrugated iron buildings which they completed in just two months. There are girls dormitories, boys dormitories, a meeting area, office and a kitchen area although no kitchen is installed yet. The new centre was officially opened on 22nd February 2019. 

Training

The 2019 training commenced on 4th February with a total of 18 students comprising ten females and eight males. The students were taken through 13 topics using the internal discipleship curriculum, undertook a six week mission experience, and learnt skills in basic computer studies and farm work. They graduated on 4th July. 

During the training 12 students gave their lives to Christ, other students were already Christians. 17 students were baptized which was done in the new baptism pool built in the center.

Each student was given a small space of land which they prepared and planted local vegetables. The same was eaten by the students during their stay.

Mission Field

The students were taken for a six week mission experience in reaching less reached communities with the gospel. They were divided into two groups of nine each and supported by a mentor. The mission grounds were Kijawa in Homabay country and Kigutimu in Kuria east, where they were hosted by local missionaries. They did door to door outreaches from one village to the other and visited both primary and secondary schools. 

Together they reached 1,802 people with the word of God with 84 giving their lives to Christ and five being baptized. One of the people who gave his life to Christ was a 50 year old former hard core criminal. He was engaged in making deadly homemade guns, cattle rustling and hijacking mainly motor bikes and selling the same to Tanzania. 

Changed Lives

The students attend Moriah at a significant time of their lives. They are making decisions which will change the course of their lives and Moriah is an incredible opportunity to influence these students for good. The students experience community, make friends, are challenged to commit their lives to Christ and learn practical skills such as farming and computers.

The students were not around when we visited so unfortunately I was not able to interview them to understand more about the impact Moriah has had on them. 

Progress Towards Self-sustainability

In terms of income generation, they have tried chickens and dairy cows at Maseno and fish ponds at Ragen and none have been successful. 

Daniel spoke to me about a new idea he has to bottle water. This would involve a building and machine which purifies the water. They would bottle the water by hand (at least initially). I was upfront with Daniel about my concerns of embarking on another business venture given the failures with chickens, dairy and the fish ponds and because the investment required would be higher.

The other idea they have is to pull down some of the buildings on their land at the MCO base (the school in Mathare Valley and/or Kariobangi) and construct 4-storey apartment style buildings which can be used for their purposes but also accommodate their teachers and others. This would generate some income but requires a large investment.

The lack of progress toward becoming self-sustaining is a concern however this partnership differs from most of our other partnerships in Kenya because it is largely based in the city and requires a large investment each year to keep going without any real prospects of generating income.

Personal Stories

Clinton Okoth

My name is Clinton Okoth. I am 19 years old. I was one of the students who joined Moriah School of Discipleship this year, 2019, for the six month discipleship training. This was the best thing to have happened to my life and I have no regrets.

I joined the discipleship program with a lot of baggage. I was born in a very poor family. My parents were not only illiterate but poor too and many times we slept on an empty stomach. They were only peasant farmers on one acre of land. My mother would attend church and that was just it. 

I managed to finish high school through support from Mathare Community Outreach (MCO).  During my high school days I picked a bad group. We smoked cigarettes and did hard drugs, mainly bang. I would also visit a relative in Kisumu town during the school holidays where I also joined a group of bad boys. We would engage in mugging and stealing people’s phones. We moved like a gang. At one point a member knifed a man who fell down and we left him half dead. This incident would later come back to haunt me at night. On a number of occasions I escaped police dragnets. In school my performance started dwindling. At one point I almost got expelled in school. 

After I finished my form four last year I stayed at home and did now have much to do. The MCO staff started looking for me since they knew I had finished my form four. They found me and I was asked if I wanted to join the discipleship program. Reluctantly I accepted. 

At Moriah things were very friendly. Most facilitators were good and encouraged us a lot. My heart was still very heavy. I could not smoke here and life was tough. At night I still got haunted about the man one of our gang members knifed. It was an ugly scene. The withdrawal symptoms from smoking were unbearable. In one of training classes I opened myself up to the facilitator. I was prayed for and gave my life to Christ. Since then I have never looked back.

I thank God for this particular program. I have experienced a lot of transformation in my life. I am growing well in the Lord and I can now perform so many things in service to Christ. I have learnt forgiveness, the smoking challenge is no longer an issue and through prayers I never get haunted again. I have been talking to my peers and my old friends to change their behaviors. I had an opportunity to do door to door outreach and prayed with a number of young people. Three of them gave their lives to Christ.

I know with God nothing is impossible. Moriah School is a place of transformation and I have no regret having joined it. I feel fully set free and give glory to God for his doings.

Current Issues and Challenges

- Language barriers experienced by the students especially during the mission field experience
- Cost of foodstuff going high against expectations
- The new center lacks a proper kitchen 
- The new center is located in a fairly hot area with temperatures mostly around 32 degrees. This limits afternoon lessons. There is a need to equip the center with air conditioners.
- Lack of a printer and internet to be used during the computer training and office work
- Lack of public utilities like a rest room that needs to be built in the training centre

Comments

Rodgers provided me with a budget for 2020 which I discussed with him and Daniel. I am concerned that this discipleship programme is very expensive to run, particularly given that there is currently little prospect of the programme becoming self-sustaining. 

Comments from Program Director (Rodgers Ade)

"The discipleship program has brought a lot of transformation among the young Christians who form the majority of the future church. It is our prayer that the center will be turned into a full discipleship and leadership training center that can be hired out for use by other churches as a way of generating income. We give special thanks to Bright Hope World, for without your support we may not have reached this far. Thanks to all our facilitators and any other person who in one way or the other contributed to the success of this program."