Report from BHW Kenya Partnership Facilitator Following Visit 

Key Person: Rodgers

In the morning, we attended the church of Bishop Daniel at Mathare. We then had lunch with them, followed by a walk through the slum to see the school. After this we went to Kariobangi to visit the children’s home to see the new building that is being built and meet the team. I was able to meet Grace, Rodgers' wife who is the home’s mumma.

Recent Events

Context

The 2025 Kenyan protests were a series of youth-led demonstrations that began in June 2025, primarily in Nairobi, sparked by the death of blogger and teacher Albert Omondi Ojwang in police custody and fuelled by public discontent over rising living costs, government corruption, and police brutality. Around 31 people were killed in the protests causing disruption and unrest to partners.

In April last year parts of Kenya were very badly flooded which caused damage to Kariobangi which sits right next to a river. The government ordered all building within 30 metres of the river be demolished.

The Mathare slum was also badly flooded, and the government took down many of the shacks that were close to the river. 

Project Update

The last year has been challenging due to the floods that hit Kenya causing damage to the home. The government required all buildings within 30 meters from the river to be demolished. Kariobangi had to demolish their kitchen, the boy's dormitory, part of the girl's dormitory and outside washrooms. The perimeter fence was also washed away in the flood. The boys had to stay in the church hall, sleeping on the floor until a temporary dormitory was put up for them. This whole experience was traumatising for the children who lost some of their possessions and felt vulnerable with no fence.

An international group had visited after the floods and seeing that they were in need of support, have funded a new building for the children to live in. As Kariobangi can no longer build on about half of their land they have chosen to build a 3-storey home with separate levels for the boys and the girls. When we visited the building was nearly finished and everyone is very excited to move in.

Another group was able to provide funding for a new kitchen as their previous one was demolished. 

Children

They have had five of their children finish secondary school and join Moriah Discipleship School (KEN06a) for the six-month discipleship programme. They are now more rooted in the word of God. Once they finished their programme they have gone on to study film, social work and cooking/hospitality.

We were able to meet the young people who had finished Equip and some that had just done the first discipleship programme. They all spoke highly of it and one girl said that it had helped shaped them into who they now were.

Partnership's Influence within the Community

From what we were able to observe the staff that work at Mathare and Kariobangi are very well respected within the slum area and Kariobangi.

The churches provide a base for the community to come to fellowship together. The lives of the children are also greatly enhanced and supported.

Ideas for the Future

As they now have a new 3-storey building being built which can house the children and more they are preparing for this. They will need to employ two house mentors, one for the girls and one for the boys. They will live in each area and support the children.

They also have plans to rebuild the school and the church which are both onsite. They need to find funding to achieve this.

Current Issues and Challenges

Safety/insecurity due to the loss of the fence. They are still needing provision for a new fence.

They are needing to finish the new building so the children can have a permanent place to sleep. Currently the boys are all in the downstairs bit of the unfinished building. They are also cooking out of a makeshift kitchen until everything is done.

The government has introduced a new school curriculum known as competency-based education (CBE) which is expensive. They now need to raise additional funds to ensure the children have all the required resources.

Prayer and Praise Points

They would like to give praise for the partners and supporters who have helped rebuild the home after the flood damage. They are still praying for funds to build the fence.

They would like to praise God for the children’s safety after the floods.

They would love ongoing prayer for provision as food and living costs continue to rise. They would love wisdom to know a suitable income generating business to be able to financially support their projects.

They need prayer to employ the right people for the 2x live-in mentor roles.

Comments

Rodgers said that the BHW funding that they are getting is just meeting the bare minimum to run the home. As before, they struggle to think of opportunities to become more self-sustaining with their projects. Even simple things like growing a garden and teaching the kids to be involved could cut down their living costs.

The new home will be really good for the children, and you can see that the work that they are doing is really making an impact on the children’s lives.