Maisha International's Blog

Widow's Bible Study

After the death of her husband, Mikal Odida lost hope. She knew she would not be able to take care of her three children.  “I felt like committing suicide and dying like my late husband.  But God came to me before I could take away my life,” she recalls.  Mikal says her predicament ended after she joined the widow’s bible study at the Maisha Center.   “After I joined the program, I became strong in heart and now I am taking care of my children well,” she says.

In December 2010, Dr. Nancy Shuman-Miller initiated the widow’s bible study when she came from Oklahoma to Maisha on Christmas missions.  She wanted to plant the Word of God in the hearts of these women, show them they are loved and restore hope and life to them.  The widow’s responded in an overwhelming way, and showed up in large numbers from all the surrounding villages.  It was such a success; the women continued meeting at the Maisha Center for bible study even after Dr. Shuman-Miller departed.

Then, in March 2011 Helen Monday joined our spring break mission to Maisha and continued by teaching the bible study, further planting and tending the Word of God in the hearts of the widows.  The women have continued to meet to this day.  Dr. Nancy Shuman-Miller returned in December 2011 and Helen Monday in March of 2012.

Stories like Mikal’s are most often what you find in this area.  Widows who were left by their late husband’s in poverty to take care of the orphans.  Theirs is a very hard life that can easily seem overwhelming and hopeless.  “We found it was necessary to have this bible study so the widows are fed spiritually,” says Helen.

Some of the widows who have joined the bible study report they’ve stopped being inherited by in-laws, as the Luo culture dictates.  They believe this is a result of prayers that their future would be bright.  “Since my husband died six years ago, I have not been inherited and this bible study has really changed my life to positive living.  Every verse I read gives me strength and I am now comfortably taking care of my six children,” says Jane Onyango Oketch.

Currently, there are over 100 widows attending the meetings every Monday for about one hour.  Grace Ochieng, who coordinates the studies, says that the widows who have small businesses attend the bible study first before proceeding to nearby trading centers to attend to their activities.  “Even those who are HIV positive come here and are given hope. You can see their lives have changed, they believe they have a life to live,” she says.

Helen says the number in attendance is increasing and the widows are strongly glorifying God and showing greater love to one another.  “They are learning about leadership and respect for God and people.  Many widows are led to dedicate their lives’ to Jesus by mission participants throughout the year.  Missioners also visit the sick in their homes with the Maisha HBC Department and minister to them there”, she says.  The bible study helps us disciple them even when we aren’t here.  The widows are busy studying the book of Jeremiah currently.  As a result of the bible study, they have grown spiritually and through the discussions they have been able to go deeper in their relationship with Jesus.

Maisha mission participants have also distributed many Bibles, both in English and Dholuo, the local language.  “We have given them Bibles each so they can even read while at home and during the discussions. They are very grateful for this,” adds Helen.  After visiting Maisha this past March and seeing such a need for bibles, Sherry Swicegood officially began championing Bibles for Maisha.  Now, you can personally gift a bible to this ever growing community of believers; for more info see http://www.facebook.com/BiblesForMaisha.

Widow Upliftment

Happy Kids Having Lunch at Maisha

We have been called in Matthew 25:35-36 “To care for the needy, to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry and to welcome the strangers.”

It is this very verse that allowed Collins Oluoch to benefit from the feeding program at the Maisha Center.  After his father died in 2004, his mother found it rough to take care of the four children at home.  Feeding them became increasingly difficult and many times they would go to school on an empty stomach.  Sometimes school was forgotten in necessity for the children to go search for food.  “When we heard of this program, we became happy after we were enlisted as the beneficiaries. Now I go to school daily and my performance has increased,” he recalls.

Many children in villages around here are facing a similar situation.  Maisha’s feeding program has seen an increase from 20 children in 2006 to over 400 children and 10 widows benefiting today.  Ms. Anastasia Akoth Ndege, who is in charge of the program, says over 400 children come from nearby schools and take their lunch at the Maisha Center every day.  Feeding continues even during holidays. “We just have to feed them. We are now feeding both orphans and vulnerable children from the villages around,” she says.  The difference in orphan or vulnerable is whether or not they have one or two living parents.  We’ve found their level of need is the same, no matter their classification.  There are also about 23 children who are total orphans and have no one. “These we house and take all meals including supper here,” she adds.

One of the boys who live at Maisha is Ronney Okoth.  Life was very difficult for him after both his parents passed away – he had nowhere to turn but the streets.  He found his way to Maisha, who took him in and gave him a home.  Now he is in high school and his future looks bright.  “He has a heart of gold, is a natural leader and always goes out of his way to be helpful in every way he can.  I can’t and don’t want to imagine what his life would have been like had he not found his way here,” says Jennifer Whitener, Maisha Co-Director.  He is one of the 23 children who have come to know Maisha as their home.

“They are a happy lot because here they get three meals a day which is nutritious and well balanced.  This is a timely help to them because they are in their prime age and in need of good food to stay healthy even as they grow into adulthood,” says Joshua Ouko, the Program Manager.

John Omollo Mudho, a local from Chiga village says the program has really helped many children who had lost hope in life. “This is the program we cherish in this area. Hope has been brought back to the lives of children who had lost their parents,” he says.

“We are grateful to the donors who generously provide the meals to the children. They have supported this noble mission to bring back hope in the faces of the children,” adds Joshua.

Lunch in the Maisha Dinning Hall

Giftone in School Uniform

Giftone Ochieng dreams of being an engineer one day.  After scoring high on his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination in 2009, Giftone Ochieng received admission letters to attend Kisumu Boys’ High School and Kisumu Day High School, two of the top schools in Kisumu.  Since Giftone’s father was unable to pay school fees, his uncle came in to lend a hand so he could proceed with his education.  His uncle could only pay for him to attend a local school, so Giftone began attending St Aloys’ Mixed Secondary School where he has worked hard and was one of their best students.  However, his dream to become an engineer could not be achieved while in the local secondary school and he prayed one day he would have the opportunity to move to a better institution.

First born in a family of two, Giftone and his sister Beatrice Ayoo, lost their beloved mother while they were little children and had to face the tough side of life as partial orphans.  Recently, their father passed away.  It was then that Maisha International stepped in to support Giftone.

Through a sponsor in Maisha’s Legacy of Hope program, he now has full sponsorship to Otieno Oyoo High School where he started March 28.  Maisha Project Manager Joshua Ouko says the boy is determined to succeed in life and that it is through the help of a sponsor that his dreams can now be achieved.  “His parents have now died and we have come in to help so that he can have his education paid for,” he said.  Giftone has promised to work hard in class to ensure one day he becomes a mechanical engineer.   In Giftone’s own words, “This will make my dream come true.  Maisha has helped me and I will not disappoint them.”

Giftone At The Gate of His New School

Lily and Her New Friends

I’m sitting upstairs in the Maisha community center as final preparations are made for our departure.  Part of the team is finishing the job of distributing donations here as part of the team worships with the Maisha community downstairs.  We sang, Blessed Be Your Name and You Never Let Go of Me together and my eyes filled with tears at the lines, “I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on.  There will be an end to these troubles but until that day comes, still I will praise you.” As I looked out across the faces of my new Kenyan family, my heart rejoiced in knowing that I will never forget them. There will be a day when their earthly troubles will be no more and Christians will rejoice together in heaven.  Pray for our Maisha friends, especially the leaders and staff as we depart.  Pray that God will encourage them each day of the year – not just the days that we labor side by side.  They are incredible people with incredible faith in Jesus and work ethic that continually amazes me.  It has been an honor to meet them and to join alongside them in the work God is doing in Kisumu.  Thank you for sending us.  Thank you for praying.  See you in America!

Hanging Out w/ Friends at The Tree of Life

Today has been a day of blessings, smiles, laughter, and adventure.  Over half of the team hung out at Maisha community center and played with the kids while Mark Gunnels and I joined the Maisha team in the slums.  First, we delivered a bag of maize to Teresa, a young woman suffering from AIDS, so that she can sell it and begin to sustain herself.  Then, we had the privilege of delivering a mattress, pillow, sheets, and blanket to a refugee with AIDS named Joseph.  We talked of God’s provision and faithfulness with him and rejoiced that he is our brother in Christ. By the time we left Joseph’s house, we passed Teresa on the street and she had already set up selling the maize! What a testimony to her desire to make it on her own.  In the meantime, Chuck and Liz Lewis, Linda Lumry, and Helen Monday took two of Maisha’s brightest students shopping for much needed school supplies.  Afterward the two boys were so thankful.  After discussing it as a team, we were able to combine our funds to have enough to buy another piki-piki (motor bike) for Maisha and place a down payment on a tuk-tuk (local taxi) which we will purchase in full as a team by June. Both vehicles will provide much needed transportation for Maisha programs and the tuk-tuk will create an income generating program to promote self-sustainability.  When we returned to Maisha, Mark Gunnels and Jeff Brown baptized over 15 women in the river.  To finish the day off, we showed the Jesus film in Luo, the mother tongue of the Maisha area.  Please pray for us as we worship tomorrow and say our goodbyes.  Pray for peace for our hearts as we miss our new family and health and safety for us as we begin to travel back home.

Team Purchases Piki Piki!

450 Treated This Week!

Day five has been full of praises and visible movement of the hand of God.  Our sister Rosalind (see day 3’s update) went to be with the Lord, but we rejoiced as a team to know that she is with Christ.  The workers finished the walling of the ground floor for the permanent clinic and it was reported that the temporary clinic treated over 450 patients over the course of the week.  In the women’s Bible study, Helen and Sherry taught over 1 John 5, the last verse of which commands us not to create idols.  Upon reading this, the women began to explain to Helen that many of them have been praying to a rain god because Kisumu has not had rain in over two months.  Sherry suggested they pray to Jesus for rain, as the Oklahoma team had been all week.  Within two hours, enormous storm clouds billowed above Maisha and rain began to fall.  Some children danced and laughed and we had the joy of saying, “See! We prayed for rain and God has brought it!” Please continue to pray for our team here, both Oklahoman and Kenyan, as we see God bringing himself glory through His work in Kenya.

God Through Whom All Blessings Flow

Pastor Gunnels Ministers With Team in Nyalenda

On Thursday, nearly half of the Oklahoma team went into the slums to visit victims of HIV/AIDS.  Several members of our team who had been sick were feeling much better and were able to join in the work, which we rejoiced in!  We visited Teresa, James, and Joseph – three of Maisha’s proudest success stories.  Each of them has accepted Christ because the Gospel was shared with them by a Maisha team and as we met them, the light of hope shined so brightly in their eyes.  Back at the community center, the temporary clinic served over 120 patients as the construction workers worked hard to complete the permanent clinic’s ground floor, Helen led a Bible study for the women, and members of the Maisha staff were busy enrolling students for the new Maisha nursery school to be opened next year.

1st Floor Maisha Clinic....Check!

Living Positive

Tonight, our team reflected on what a privilege it is to be a part of God’s work here in Kenya.  Many recollected today’s events with tears in their eyes as we rejoiced together in the ways God is making Himself known.  As the temporary clinic served 105 patients and the construction team made even more amazing progress on the permanent clinic, Helen and Tiffany led Bible study and fed lunch to 450 kids in a half hour (a daily occurrence at Maisha).  The team in the slums visited five homes, the last of which bears an astounding story.  There they visited Rosalind, a 21-year-old woman dying from AIDS.  Her body was so frail, they believed her to be within days, perhaps hours of death.  As they met with her, Rosalind became a Christian and was baptized on the spot.  Then, the team called for a Tuk-Tuk (local taxi) to rush Rosalind to the hospital.  The group tearfully shared how each of them were so broken to see a young woman in such devastation and how God shined his light and eternal life into her life as she was literally on her death bed.  Also, Helen Monday is continually having spiritual conversations with a cook at Maisha named Suleman, who is a Muslim.  We have gradually seen her become more and more willing to reach out to our team and be willing to talk about Jesus.  To finish the day off, Pastor Mark Gunnells had the privilege of baptizing two of the girls in the river who became Christians yesterday in the slums! Please specifically pray for Rosalind and Suleman – Rosalind’s physical life and Suleman’s eternal life.

Widows Bible Study

Lets Go Down to the River

Working Side by Side

As one member of the team put it, “It’s only our second day here and it’s already been a life changing experience.” Whether it was hugging the precious Maisha kids or toting cement blocks beside Kenyan construction workers, today was a day the kingdom of God was furthered in Kisumu.  While Linda treated 97 patients in the temporary clinic, a large group of Oklahoma men worked hard alongside native construction workers to build a permanent clinic – to meet the needs of hundreds more in the future.  Helen and Sherry had over 30 women at their Bible study and soon will be delivering Bibles to all of those who do not have one.  One team joined Maisha workers in their daily trip to the slum to visit individuals with HIV/AIDS in their home.  They were ecstatic to report that they prayed with four women who received Christ! Also, we gained a new member of our team, Wycliffe.  He is a beautiful orphan who Lance West had the privilege of meeting just as the team was leaving the slums. Please be specifically praying for our team as we engage in more kingdom work here, for our new brothers and sisters in Christ, and especially little Wycliffe as Beatrice and the Maisha team pursue the best opportunities for him.

450 Fed

97 Treated