(Photo courtesy of Kenya Hope)
Kenya (MNN)—Kenya Hope exists to change lives in Kenya through the Gospel of Christ with a holistic approach to children, families, and communities. The single most life-changing thing Kenya Hope can do for the communities they serve, apart from preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is providing a reliable and affordable source of fresh water.
“They’re dependent on the rivers,” Kenya Hope’s U.S. Director Steve Holman says. “Right now we’re out of that four-year-long drought, but only God knows how long we are. But what I saw during that period was these rivers are not fit for humans to drink the water, and it means that young girls and women carry loads of water great distances, couple miles or more, to the home, and that they just live with that awful water.”
Kenya Hope can help communities by digging wells, providing electric solar-powered pumps and storage tanks on their Hope Center property, with distribution points to go outside of their Hope centers, as well as building concrete water troughs for animals to come and drink.
“It means drinkable water, safe water, is accessible to the same girls and women who would carry it from miles away from dirty rivers. It means it’s right there, within walking distance of their house,” says Holman. “It really is life changing.”
It also provides a bridge for Kenya Hope to reach people with the Gospel, by first showing communities that the ministry cares about them as people and about their most basic needs.
“It’s wrong to not proclaim the gospel,” says Holman, “but it’s ineffective to proclaim the gospel and ignore needs. They provide a bridge so that people will be inclined to listen. They will want to listen to the audio Bible put in their hands. They will want to come and see the Jesus Film. They will welcome teachers in their homes and settlements to talk about who Jesus was and what he claimed to be and that really the gospel is about the God of creation, and all those things they need to understand in order to call on the name of the Lord to be saved.”
Providing water does come with challenges. The technology used needs to be made in a way that will last; it requires people who are familiar enough with the technology to properly operate it; and it requires security to keep parts from being stolen.
So how can we be praying for Kenya Hope?
Holman asks for prayers for personnel: “To raise up a person or persons that can be rapid responders, to keep all of our infrastructures going so it fulfills the use, why we spent the money on it. We can have all the money in the world, which we don’t, but we need people, and God always wraps his message in people as they live out and love and are faithful. And I’m speaking particularly and mostly about Kenyan brothers and sisters in Christ, that’d be the right ones to join the team and serve and make all these things happen.”
Photo courtesy of Kenya Hope.
