Report from BHW Kenya Partnership Facilitators

Key Person: Rodgers Ade

Recent Events

Activities

After a couple of challenging years due to the pandemic, the last year has been good for Moriah. All of the planned trainings; Lead, Small Business Development (SBD), and Discipleship were completed, and the improvements are now done. The only challenge they have had was more changes in the training schedule due to Covid.

The Discipleship class had a total of 28 students who were commissioned on the 28th of July. Out of the 28 students, 23 gave their lives to Christ and 24 were baptised. They did a 21-day mission field experience in the Migori and Home Bay counties. During this time, they were able to reach 5,069 people with the word of God. This resulted in 158 people giving their lives to Christ.

This year they introduced one new lesson, Trauma Healing, which Rodgers said had a positive effect on the students.

Next year they would like to run a vocational bible school targeting 200 children from the Mathare slum and 100 from Nyakach.

Personal Stories

Brian

Brain is 19 years old and is the second born in his family of three children. His mother is a solo mother, and he has never met his father. He grew up in the sprawling Kibera slums in Nairobi which is known as the biggest slum in east and central Africa. The slum is the home to many criminals, and he grew up watching people commit crimes. At the age of 14 his older brother got him involved in mugging people, mainly stealing phones. He started neglecting his education run by a faith-based organisation in the slums as his focus turned to a life of crime. On one attempted burglary they were caught, and his brother was stoned to death in front of him. Brian was very traumatised after this experience and was never offered the proper counselling he needed. He was sent to boarding school to escape the slum environment.

Through the discipleship training and the trauma healing programme he was able to share his story and give his life to Christ. He was baptised and is currently going through the healing process. He hopes to reach out to those in his community and other young people, encouraging them to step away from a life of criminal activity.

Irene

Irene came from a Catholic background. She believed that there is no salvation, and nothing can change that. She also had trauma in her life after watching her mother take her own life by drinking poison. Irene was very bitter and unable to forgive her mother. During the topic of trauma healing, she was able to share and begin her healing journey. Rodgers said they thank God she was able to forgive her mother, accept Jesus into her life and be baptised. He said her life has been transformed.

Faith

Faith’s father abandoned their family and started a family with another women who he currently lives with. Faith's mother struggled to provide for the children, and she was often turned away from school due to unpaid school fees. As a result, her education was affected, and she struggled with depression. A relative took advantage of her during this time and sexually abused her. She lost her faith in Christ and was unable to forgive those who had wronged her. During her time at Moriah, she was able to forgive her father for abandoning her, and the relative who abused her. She has also renewed her faith in Christ and has become very good at praise and worship.

Partnership's Influence within the Community

Changing the lives of the young people who come to the trainings. They then go back into their community healthier citizens who can contribute and inspire others.

More people are learning about the love of Christ through the counties' missions.

Current Issues and Challenges

The cost of running the programme has increased by roughly 75% due to increases in the price of commodities.

The students admitted are not necessarily born-again Christians and some come with drug addictions. This is challenging as they are not currently equipped to handle those suffering from drug withdrawal symptoms.

There are challenges with language barriers during the mission outreach experiences. Some students do not understand the native languages in the mission locations, and this causes them to lose confidence.

There is a lack of strong resources to offer follow up support to students who are new to the Christian faith and those that are struggling with trauma and other related issues.

Prayer and Praise Points

1) Praise for a good year, for all the students who were commissioned this year and for a successful year all round.
2) Praise God that through the new Trauma Healing programme lives are being transformed and healing is underway.
3) Pray for the recruitment of students for the next SBD trainings in October and for the 2023 discipleship training intake.
4) Pray for the recruitment of competent and reliable student mentors to support the students in the next training schedule.
5) Pray for the wellbeing of the staff and facilitators who handle the trainings.
6) Pray for the new Trauma Healing course, its facilitators and all those that attend. May the healing of God’s love fill that place.
7) Pray for funds to improve the school facilities and construction of a store and manager's house.

Comments

It is great to hear how things have been going over the last year especially after the struggle of Covid-19. Things are sounding positive for the team here. We will talk further to Rodgers about the vocational bible school in the slums and what this would look like. Otherwise, things seem to be ticking along nicely here.