Our internet connectivity is very poor  where we are...

We may not post much until Friday night when we are back in Nairobi at the Guest House.

Here is a post from Rick...

Yesterday, July 27^th, we spent the morning getting an orientation from the Pangani staff.  Raphael, Programs Manager, gave us the history of the Mission of Hope (MOHI) which was started by Mary Kamau in a 2-room house in Mathare Valley on Sept. 4, 2000.  They started with 30 children.

MOHI took a holistic approach of providing education and nutrition support while addressing spiritual health. Their program provided a peaceful environment that empowered the community to “own their own health”.  Mary created a Book of Hope to wait list children seeking to be part of their program.  Because of their success, a partnership was created in 2006 with Christian Missionary Fellowship (CMF) that was called Hope Partnership. 

In 2007, a recruitment process supported by child sponsorship enabled the school to grow to 2,000 children.  Today, MOHI is in 19 schools (two of which are boarding schools) with enrollment at 13,000.  Their three-fold strategy is to provide education, health outreach, and economic empowerment.

The education strategy includes a Christian education, food and child healthcare.  It also created teaching jobs that changed the community through their families and neighbors. 

Health outreach used the Community Health Evangelism (CHE) model to educate the community in sanitation and other health practices.  It has also been instrumental in providing sensitivity training in HIV/AIDS.

The combination of skills training and microfinance loans are the foundation to their economic empowerment strategy.  The use of accountability groups to encourage and enforce commitments has resulted in a 97% loan repayment success.  Sewing training, jewelry making and hair & beauty training, are available to women while new skills training (welding & carpentry) has recently become available to men.

The area we are visiting (Turkana) in NW Kenya was recently opened in 2014 to the MOHI program.  It currently serves 950 children. 

Following our morning orientation in Nairobi, we flew to Turkana to prepare for our week of Vacation Bible School and community outreach.  We ended the day with a staff meeting following our  dinner at hotel.