Church and a History of Missions of Hope: 9-12

Today we woke up at 8:00 and took showers (due to the lack of hot water the night before). We got dressed and ate a breakfast of eggs and fruit. We rolled out at 9:30. On our way to church we picked up Justine (she graduated with a communications degree and is working as a liaison for CMF and Missions of Hope and visiting teams.) We attended church at Bondeini (one of the districts of Mathare valley). It was in a rented building on government property where a school was located. The church members are all from the Bondeini slum.

At church we met up with a team from Traders Point church from Indianapolis doing a short term trip. Worship in Kenya is very different than home. Everyone claps (throughout the whole song), some dance, some do motions that go along with the songs. It’s really cool to see people celebrating. All of the visitors were introduced.

One of the ladies from Traders Point did some chalk art. When she was done, the minister got up and stated that he didn’t need to preach a sermon because enough has been said. The church gets to keep the picture and Mary said that it is probably the only one like it in all of Kenya. When the church service finished we went outside and everyone shook our hands.

The minister of the church grew up in Bondeini. He brewed the local alcohol (changaa). Missions of Hope reached out to him and eventually he became a Christian. The Kamau’s personally disciple him and helped shape him into a man of God. He married and became a minister. He is a beautiful success story that many people in Bondeini look up to.

On the same compound a cultic church rents a building for their Sunday service(less than 100 yards away). I was standing in the dirt courtyard in front of the building and I heard screams and yells. It was really freaky. Mary just simply stated that it was a cultic church and that was all that was said. I will have to ask more about it later.

Me, Justine, Julie, Mary, and Wallace met up with the visiting team at their guest house. It was really nice and we ate a delicious lunch. After lunch we all met up in a room upstairs for the team’s orientation (Julie and I were pleased to hear more about the ministry of Missions of Hope).

Mary gave us more background on her life. She said that she was child number 7 out of 20. Her father has two wives, but she was born on his first wife. While she was in college in Nairobi, she gave her life to Christ her freshman year. One day, she met a man who played the bass guitar in a worship team. She was marveled at how skilled he was. She went up to talk to him immediately. She asked him if he was studying bass guitar at the university. He said that he didn’t even complete the fourth grade. He said that he grew up a street kid in the slums of Mathare Valley. His father beat him, so he ran away. He has three other siblings. He even lifted up his shirt and showed Mary the burns his father gave him growing up.

At this point Mary was taken aback. She didn’t understand how any of this was possible from a young man who was so talented at the guitar. From that point on, God placed the Mathare Valley on her heart. She asked him to come and pick her up and take her to Mathare so that she could see it for herself. He didn’t want to, but Mary is quite persuasive and finally he caved. He promised to come and pick her up to take her there in three months.

He kept his promise and Mary saw the Mathare Valley for the first time. She visited his sister’s shanty. In the time that followed, she felt like God was telling her to continue looking into Mathare. Every Saturday she would visit the guitarist’s sister’s house. As time went on, children in the area knew when she was coming and would gather around the shanty. She began to teach them about the love of Jesus and they were very receptive. When she finished her degree she helped start a school for 150 kids. Soon those numbers grew to 250. She needed more space. Keith and Kathy Ham eventually came to Nairobi and wound up partnering with Mary. With the Ham’s came the full support of CMF which allowed her to really expand her ministry.

Side story: Wallace also told us the story of how he met Mary. He graduated from college and began preaching all around Kenya. Eventually he wound up in Mathare. While in Nairobi, he visited his prayer group (he had been away for 6 months preaching). This happened to be the same prayer group that Mary had joined. They were the only two who didn’t already know each other. They were introduced and at that moment Wallace said that he knew Mary was the woman he was going to wed someday. He said, “I couldn’t stop thinking about her, but I told myself – I’m in a prayer meeting!” If he was able to stop thinking about her at that meeting, it didn’t last long. But he said that he tried to avoid her for a year. Mary laughed at this point in the story and added, “TRIED.” She also liked him.  Wallace said that one day they were riding in a van next to each other on their way to a wedding and he just blurted out, “I love you,” to her. Luckily for him she said, “I love you too.” And the rest is history.

Now there was a dynamic duo working in Mathare Valley. He got a good job working in insurance which allowed Mary to work in the slums full time. Soon, they discovered that the need was too great for the current support they had. At one point, they were using their credit card to spend Wallace’s paycheck before it had even arrived on their ministry. Keith and Kathy Ham eventually came to Nairobi and wound up partnering with Mary. With the Ham’s came the full support of CMF which allowed the Kamau’s to really expand their ministry. There are about 800,000 living in Mathare and the valley is approximately half a mile by three miles.

Today there are 4,300 students at 4 centers. Most are supported through the child sponsorship program. 

Here’s some facts about education in Kenya:

40% of 8^th grade students pass their exam to go to Form 1 (high school).

5% of slum kids pass their exam to go to Form 1

100% of students in the Joska school (a Missions of Hope school) passed their exam to go to Form 1

Clearly God is working in Mathare. Mary continually encourages us to “transform a life.” She says that these kids really need to be invested in because many don’t have any love and support at home. The teachers have a great opportunity to minister to their students. The vision of her ministry is: “Transforming the valley of darkness into the mountain of God.” She really lives this out. She truly is passionate about transforming the Mathare valley.

After that meeting, Wallace gave us a brief tour of downtown Nairobi. It was very clean and wealthy - much different than the neglected East side of the city. The contrast is alarming. It’s like the government turns a blind eye on the majority of the city. Nairobi has many huge slums, a small nice downtown area, and really nice subdivision style homes on the outskirts of town. While driving through one of the subdivisions we passed by the President’s house. Like the President of Kenya. We finally got home around 7:00. I played some PS2 with Victory and then hung out with David. Dinner was delicious (as usual).