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How New Hope
Life
Development
Center began:
We want to share with you the story of how this ministry has become deeply
involved in the plight of HIV-AIDS orphans.
Several years ago, Mama Berna Mutere, a member of our parent church
in Nairobi, retired from her employment and
returned to her ancestral home in Budalangi.
Upon her arrival, she found many hungry, desperate children who were
searching for food. They had no
parents, home, or relatives who could take care of them.
Out of her very small pension she began trying to feed the children
herself, but it was impossible for her to give all of them even one meal a
day.
In 2000, she traveled all the way back to
Nairobi
to meet with Pastor Wade Porter to share the critical situation in Budalangi.
We agreed that we would begin helping her feed the children one meal
a day. The next year in 2001,
Pastor Wade and a team of members from the Nairobi church went on a missions safari into several areas
of Kenya.
One of the stops on their safari was at Budalangi so that Pastor Wade
could see the children for himself and assess the situation.
The team arrived at Mama Berna’s home in a part of
Kenya
that is quite difficult to access.
After taking chai (tea with milk) together, Pastor Wade asked where
the children were. Mama Berna
replied that they were just outside the door.
He hadn’t seen any children when they arrived, so he asked Mama Berna
to please call them.
Mama Berna stepped outside onto her small porch and called to the children
in Kiswahili, “Watoto, kuja hoppa
taffadali. Haraka
sana!”
Translation:
“Children, come here please, very
quickly!”
To Pastor Wade’s astonishment, in an area of Mama Berna’s front yard that
had looked to him like nothing more than dry and dusty, plowed ground - many
children who were laying down in the dry and dusty soil began to rise up.
It hadn’t rained in that area for a number of years, so the children
were the same color as the soil.
Dirt covered their entire body.
When the children began to stand up, Pastor Wade saw the children in
such a terrible condition it caused an overwhelming surge of compassion to
flood his emotions. These
children entered Pastor Wade’s heart at that time.
We didn’t realize it at the time, but neither we nor the ministry
would ever be the same. This
experience has set a new course for
Living Faith International to reach out to the most vulnerable victims
of the HIV/AIDS pandemic – the orphans and vulnerable children who have
“NO HOME & NO HOPE” unless someone
intervenes to help them.
Mama Berna explained that the children ran around that area like wild
animals, searching for food in order to survive.
We had committed to feeding them one meal a day, but when Pastor Wade
saw the extent of the problem with his own eyes, he knew we had to believe
God to do more. None of this was
in our operational budget, but we began to believe God to help us help these
children.
Each year we’ve extended ourselves to do more to help the children.
Now they receive three cooked meals a day, plus snacks.
We have started a rural constructed primary school that the
curriculum is certified by the government.
The children are provided with new school uniforms, including new
socks and shoes annually. All
medical care and medicines are provided for them inclusive of vitamins and
food supplements.
In 2002, Mama Berna donated 9.1 acres to LFI for the development of New Hope
Life
Development
Center.
This development is vitally important because the children are
growing and so are their needs.
When we first began working with the children, they ranged in age from
toddlers to 12 years-old. Five
years later, they have grown so much!
Some of them are now taller than we are, so they require much more
food, clothing, and care givers to assist us in raising them.
We want them to have a sound education, acquire Bible knowledge, gain
experience, and be prepared to serve God as productive leaders in the nation
of Kenya.
If
you would like to contribute toward this “New Hope Project”
CLICK HERE
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