Moving people towards life

Many people in the community live in severely dilapidated homes put together with scrap pieces of tin, plywood and bamboo. When the heavy rains come each year, homes are often severely damaged, and the roofs leak. The typhoon in 2019 devastated hundreds of homes and left many more people in desperate living conditions.

Strong Roots Ministry began addressing the housing and poor living conditions within their community by assessing the needs, and as funding permits, coming alongside families to assist in repairing and rebuilding their homes.

Because of the lack of tourism during the pandemic, many people in the community are suffering financially. Many have lost their water and electricity connections due to unpaid bills. Strong Roots will continue their effort to provide meals to their community. In addition, they also provide a feeding program to children who are identified by their teachers as most at risk for malnourishment.

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The Siaya Children's Home, with funding from John and Sandra Haynes and under the umbrella of the Gospel Power World Harvest Ministries, has been meeting the needs of a group of children since 2005. The dream of creating a community with more homes was not realized, but the funds have been well used across the years to meet the ongoing needs of this group of children as they passed from primary to secondary school and then on to college and university. They have grown into young adults and are beginning to find their way in their world with the dream of being able to pay it forward to others in their community.

In October of 2014 the Voice of Hope group (VOH) made their first visit to Kakamega. During their time in Kenya they met some beautiful women who, because they are widows, are trying to make a life for themselves and their children without the protection or income that a husband provides. Since that first visit, the team has invested in capital projects (improving homes and living conditions), and in food hampers, tuition, agriculture training and access to business training and microfinance loans for a very grateful group of families.

The Arise and Shine Early Childhood Development (ECD) program was started by a compassionate woman named Beatrice who, like many of our partners, saw a need and wanted to do something to address it. After retiring from her position as a school teacher, she noticed that children in her community were not attending any ECD programs to prepare them for school, so she started a program in her home for less fortunate children.  

Shortly after that, Beatrice and her husband, Alex, decided to sell Beatrice's pension and use the funds to build a classroom for the children. They took in 45 children between the ages of 2-6! Many of these children do not have parents but are cared for by a guardian/family member.  

Thanks to donations from Voice of Hope the school has expanded to four classes, a kitchen/dining hall, a sturdy playground, clean latrines and wash houses, a fresh water well, stipends for teachers and up-to-date curriculum.  

Strong Roots' desire is to build a community centre/church building on a nearby plot of land that was purchased. However, due to government regulations they have not yet been able to begin construction on the land.

The spiritual care of the community is a continual priority for Strong Roots, so they currently hold regular church services, Bible studies, and Sunday school programs for the children on the rooftop of the Oasis hotel.

By assisting in operational expenses, ATEK carries out their mandate to serve God and their fellow man. ATEK seeks to contribute to the holistic and self-sustaining development of Quechua communities by providing training and developing tools that will aid in evangelization and in strengthening Quechua families, churches and communities.

A large part of ATEK's ministry involves training church leaders. Many times the pastor of a local church has very little Biblical education. ATEK offers regular training at its headquarters in Cusco. The objectives are to provide practical training in leadership of the Quechua church, train leaders in an integral way, and build sustainable churches with trained pastors and leaders. Pastors and leaders of 36 churches have received training.

The third level of the ATEK building has been completed. This required finishing the remaining 3 rooms, 4 bathrooms, 1 dining room, and 1 kitchen. This includes plumbing, electrical, floors, painting, windows, and doors. With an average of 60 people coming from various surrounding villages there is currently not enough space to accommodate them. Completing the third level provided ATEK the ability to properly host the large number of people coming to be trained.

The fourth and final level of the ATEK building is now being built! It will be used as an independent apartment for missionary couples who come to serve and assist the ministry.