Kenya (MNN) — Weeks of explosive protests and clashes with police left over 40 people dead. Kenyan President William Ruto lit the fuse when he proposed a new tax bill to support the government budget. But the move would drastically spike the cost of basic goods like bread and diapers.

Young protestors flooded streets across the country, especially in the capital Nairobi.

“This is a very alarming situation in Kenya,” says Nehemiah with FMI. “Protesters now demand Parliament’s dissolution and new elections.”

FMI supports church planting and Christian discipleship ministry in Kenya. “We had a conversation with an anonymous activist from the capital of Kenya [who] reported that youth-led movement members were being abducted during the crackdown. Many journalists and social media influencers, they are being abducted from the streets.”

Kenya has a youthful population — nearly 60% are younger than 25. Kenya’s Generation Z has evidently had enough of the nation’s downward economic spiral.

Bible distribution in Kenya. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

Yet, there’s only so much hope political policies can provide. In times of unrest, it’s harder if you don’t have Christ.

Pray for the Church in Kenya to reach anxious young people with Gospel hope.

Nehemiah shares, “Our partners said, please pray for President William Ruto, government officials, and decision makers to have wisdom and discernment in addressing the financial crisis. Ask God to guide them in making just and effective decisions.

“Please pray for peace to prevail in Kenya in this financial unrest. Ask God to bring calm and stability to the nation, preventing further violence and chaos.”

Header photo of Kenyan President William Ruto. (Photo courtesy of Dean Calma/IAEA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.)

Kenya (MNN) — Kenya Hope plans to open a new Christian school in Oloshaiki, giving local Kenyan kids a quality education and the Gospel! The ministry already has a new Hope Center in the Oloshaiki community.

(Photo courtesy of Mueller family)

The new school will be named in memory of Dave and Joy Mueller, Kenya Hope’s former executive directors who died in a car crash in Kenya eight months ago.

Steve Holman, U.S. Director of Kenya Hope, says the ministry is still searching for new leadership. “We can’t replace Dave and Joy Mueller. They’re very unique. I would say they’re once in a generation. But we’re asking God to raise up other people.

“The Gospel is never advanced without someone somewhere paying a price. That means sacrificing your own culture and your own comfort and going and living close enough so that you have an impact. So that’s very much on our minds.”

In the meantime, additional responsibilities are being expertly handled by the ministry’s local Kenyan staff, such as Neddy Wafula, coordinator of the Widows Might program.

Holman asks, “Pray for Neddy. She’s a godly Kenyan woman. I’ve talked to her many times face-to-face in Kenya, and now it’s laid on her the administrative task of seeing to it that the cohorts of widows in six or seven locations are each moving along in the program, growing in their skills, and coming to know Christ and follow Him wholeheartedly.”

Neddy Wafula, Widows Might program coordinator [front right]. (Photo courtesy of Kenya Hope)

These community-boosting projects allow Kenya Hope to begin a Gospel presence there, and they open the doors for audio Bible distributions and JESUS film showings.

Pray that the Lord would guide the right people into leadership at Kenya Hope. Ask God to continue working through this ministry and ultimately lead more Kenyans to the Savior, Jesus Christ.

“We’re just reminding ourselves this is something that God is doing,” says Holman. “We’re asking God to do what only God can do — to provide, to raise up people, and to bear fruit.”

Learn more about Kenya Hope.

Header photo of Kenya Hope’s Emmanuel (Hope Center Representative) and Duncan (Hope Center Caretaker and Jesus Film Evangelist) at their newest Hope Center Oloshaiki. Photo courtesy of Kenya Hope.

Kenya (MNN) — Heavy rainfall continues to plague Kenya. The deluge is causing floods and landslides across 80 percent of the country.

The floods have displaced more than 280,000 people since early April, and at least 277 have lost their lives.

“For the better part of the last couple of decades, so much of Kenya has been in drought,” Unknown Nations’ Greg Kelley says.

“Anytime you go from the extremes of drought conditions into excessive rains, it’s always going to be traumatic.”

While a large percentage of Kenya’s population knows and follows Christ, there are pockets of unreached people groups – mostly in the refugee community. These groups are affected by the flooding, too.

Flooding in Kenya. (Photo courtesy of FMI partner, Pastor Caleb)

“It (natural disaster) creates a tremendous opportunity for us, as the body of Christ, to come alongside people and love them in Jesus’s name,” Kelley says, describing efforts to help Kenyan believers affected by the flooding.

“But also, let’s not miss the opportunity to share the Gospel where it’s most needed.”

Pray that responding Christians can identify groups who don’t know the Lord and will share the Gospel as they give out humanitarian aid.

“Unreached people have the same concerns as the Christian community has. They want to provide for their children, have a roof over their heads, clothing, and access to food, just like any other human being,” Kelley says.

“When you are in a disaster situation, that desperation makes you question everything. What better time for the Body of Christ to come alongside and declare the love of Jesus?”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Hermann Traub/Pixabay.

Kenya (MNN) — The school year in Kenya is only about halfway through – beginning in January and ending in October. But for some Kenyan kids, the school year may already be over.

Major flooding across the country damaged at least 62 primary schools. So when other schools were re-opening from flood closures last week, 15,000 students from destroyed schools had nowhere to go.

Since mid-March, at least 250,000 people have been displaced by the floods. The slums of Kibera were especially impacted.

Steve Holman with Kenya Hope says, “If water floods classrooms, that’s even worse. Because already, just the issue of each child having their own workbook or sitting at a desk meant for two and there are three, all those hardships are there every day — with or without floods.”

(Photos courtesy of Kenya Hope)

Kenya Hope supports widows and vulnerable children through its Hope Centers.

Holman explains, “The model of the Hope Center is that we bring in resources, fence it in, put in a water system, and up to 300 families can have a reliable place for clean and even drinkable water all the time year-round.”

The Kibera Hope Center has a daily feeding program for kids. For many of the children, it’s the only meal they get that day.

Up to 250 kids come to the Kibera Hope Center each week for Saturday Bible Club where they have fun, sing songs, and hear Bible stories.

Also, Holman says, “We help widows — often they’re young, but have a lot of children. We help them learn a livelihood. Plus, they’re discipled in the Gospel and following Jesus.”

Pray for good governance in Kenya to address infrastructure issues in the wake of flooding.

“For Kenya long term, there’s always the need for better infrastructure in a place like Kibera where everything is informal. The electricity is rigged, there’s no proper supply of water and drainage of sewage — all the things we take for granted here.”

Also, please ask the Lord to comfort Kenyans who were affected by flooding, and pray for encouragement for the Christians meeting peoples’ needs.

Holman says, “There’s just so many obvious ways that we can show compassion and…build a bridge, as it were, to have long-term opportunities to speak the truth of God’s Word into lives.”

Connect with Kenya Hope here.

Header photo courtesy of a schoolboy in Kenya. (Photo courtesy of Jan Canty/Unsplash)

Kenya (MNN) — A rising death toll shows this monsoon season in Kenya has been anything but normal. Flash floods killed 66 Kenyans on Monday. This brings the overall flooding death toll to nearly 170 since March.

Two Kenyan hydroelectric dams are at “historic highs,” and around 185,000 people have been displaced.

Nehemiah with FMI says, “Opposition politicians and advocacy groups have leveled accusations against the government claiming it was ill-prepared and slow to respond even in the face of weather warnings.”

Kenyan President William Ruto is finally ordering residents in flood-prone areas to evacuate or they will be moved by force.

FMI is in touch with church partners in various regions of Kenya affected by flooding. Local pastors say the floods have forced schools to close, washed away crops, and eroded farm soil.

“The floods have extremely affected the church because many of the church members are misplaced. One boat yesterday carrying more than 40 people from Madogo to Garissa was swept away by the floods. We have yet to know how many survived and how many lost their lives,” says Pastor Jaali with FMI. “Please join us in prayers for the brothers and sisters there.”

FMI-supported Pastor Caleb in central Kenya says, “Yesterday, I visited some of the affected families [in my area] and prayed with them. If we had a way to help them, we could actually. Most of the affected families are feeling hopelessness, and that breaks my heart”

Bible distribution in Kenya. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

While the Church in Kenya grapples with flood devastation alongside their neighbors, they are still living out the Gospel. Pastor Jaali supports church ministry in northeastern Kenya where it’s majority Muslim.

Nehemiah shares these words from Pastor Jaali: “‘We cannot worship freely, we cannot conduct meetings. But despite these challenges, we are still determined to serve Christ among Muslims.'”

Nehemiah asks, “Please pray for the safety and protection of all individuals affected by the flood, that they may find refuge from harm and danger. Pray for those who lost their homes and belongings, that they may find comfort and support in their time of need.

“Lastly, I want to request, please join hands with FMI to help our indigenous leaders and church planters in this very difficult and challenging time of their lives.”

Learn more about FMI’s ministry in Kenya.

Header photo of flooding in Kenya. (Photo courtesy of FMI partner, Pastor Caleb)

Kenya (MNN) — Seasons of grief often lead us to trust the Lord in new ways. Kenya Hope and its communities are learning to wait on the Lord amidst hardship and loss.

Last fall, the Kenya Hope team experienced its highest high and lowest low in a four-week span. First, “Our fiscal year ended September 30, and it was a banner year,” Kenya Hope’s U.S. Director Steve Holman says.

“It was the best year we’ve ever had financially in ministry initiatives and new opportunities.”

Then, at the end of October, a car accident tragically claimed the lives of executive directors Dave and Joy Mueller, as well as Holman’s daughter, Julie. The unexpected losses sent shockwaves throughout U.S. and Kenyan communities connected to Kenya Hope.

“Dave and Joy poured their hearts and all their physical and spiritual strength into the Kenya Hope ministry, and they’re suddenly gone,” Holman says.

(Photo courtesy of Kenya Hope)

In a moment, everything changed. Now, no one was at the helm to oversee Kenya Hope’s initiatives. “Unexpectedly, it caused us to raise certain Kenyans to a higher level of responsibility,” Holman says.

“Some of the things that Dave and Joy hoped to put in the hands of Kenyans, now God said, ‘It’s time!’”

Please keep Kenya Hope and its communities in your prayers. “I’d like to be able to announce that we have appointed an Executive Director, but we have not,” Holman says.

“It takes quite a bit of time to get a handle on what we have and where we’re going.”

Know someone who might fit the need? Connect with Kenya Hope here.

“My dream candidate would be veteran missionaries in their 40s with a proven track record of good leadership and cross-cultural skills. And, if it’s not too much, Lord, someone who speaks Swahili already,” Holman says.

Header and story images courtesy of Kenya Hope.

Kenya (MNN) — Are you thirsty? Chances are you can get a cup of water in a few moments. But more than two billion people around the world don’t have regular access to safe water, according to data the World Health Organization (WHO) compiled from 2022. (Learn more about WHO’s definition of “safely managed drinking water services” here.)

Kenya is among many countries whose people struggle find enough water to live.

“Don’t we just take clean water for granted?” says Brian Dennett with AMG International. “Our national leader (in Kenya) shared stories of people they work with that travel 12 miles in a day just to fetch water for cooking and drinking. Talk about how precious that water is with the amount of labor it takes to get it.”

Photo is of a bore well AMG installed in India to help fight extreme heat. (Image courtesy AMG India)

Multiple years of low rainfalls in the Horn of Africa led to a terrible drought in 2020–2023. Losses of livestock, crops and natural water sources were devastating. Then, heavy rainfalls and floods in late 2023 brought a different kind of destruction. It’s going to take a long time to recover, and in the meantime, help is needed. 

“In many countries like Kenya, we provide water filter systems. We’ve done hundreds of borewells just in the last several years. Like everything we do, we include the gospel,” says Dennett. 

The next time you turn on a faucet, would you pray for thirsty people in the world? Pray that ministries like AMG would be able to be the hands and feet of Jesus, offering physical water and the true spiritual water that Jesus is. 

You can partner with AMG to do this very thing. A gift of $60 covers one filter that can work for around seven years. Or you can give toward a borehole well, which costs as little as $3,000. 

“We’ve actually targeted five villages that are in desperate need of clean water. We’re going to be building wells in each of those five villages. Then in other parts (of the world), we want to be able to continue providing hundreds, maybe thousands of water filters,” Dennet says. 

(Header photo is a representative stock image taken in Kenya in 2023, courtesy of Evans Dims via Unsplash.)

Kenya (MNN) — Today is World Water Day, designed by the United Nations to raise awareness of the global need for clean drinking water.

Roughly half of the world’s population experiences severe water scarcity for at least part of the year. Kenya Hope’s Steve Holman says in remote Kenya, “They have to depend on the rains – or lack thereof – and go great distances, sometimes two or three miles down to the rivers, and bring back in plastic jugs what is pretty horrific stuff.”

(Photo courtesy of Kenya Hope)

Kenya Hope installs community water systems to help alleviate the need. More about that here. Each system “includes a deep well, an electric pump powered by solar panels, a way to store it, and distribution points,” Holman says.

“As many as 300 families could come to this water spot; we put this valuable resource inside the Hope Center.”

By meeting urgent physical needs, Kenya Hope gains an opportunity to speak into people’s lives long-term. Believers discuss the most important relationship anyone could have – a saving covenant with Christ.

“Nationally, Kenya has widely accepted Christianity, but in Maasai land, they’re still steeped in the ancient tribal ways, and there’s still a lot of oppression,” Holman says.

Occasionally, sharing the Gospel looks like “placing audio Bibles in the hands of people that missed the opportunity to learn to read,” Holman says.

“Sometimes, up to 300 people can watch the JESUS film, and then our pastors can go back again and again to home after home and teach the Gospel that way.”

Providing a reliable and affordable source of fresh water is the single most life-changing thing that Kenya Hope can do, apart from preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Help Kenya Hope install more water systems here.

Pray for wisdom and discernment as Kenya Hope seeks to fill leadership voids and make future plans. Kenya Hope lost its executive directors, Dave and Joy Mueller, as well as Holman’s daughter, Julie, in a tragic car accident last October.

“God’s people have been generous, and we have funding for several more wells. Our challenge right now is determining the most strategic locations,” Holman says.

“We’ll never run out of community settlements that need and deserve a water system like this. But we want to put the resources in places where we also have an opportunity to build a long-lasting ministry.”

Header image depicts late executive director Dave Mueller with Kenyan youth and a newly-installed water system. (Photo courtesy of Kenya Hope) 

Kenya (Kenya Hope) — It is with deep sadness that Kenya Hope announces that Dave and Joy Mueller, the executive directors, along with Julie Holman, daughter of Kenya Hope’s US Director, were killed in a tragic car accident on Wednesday.

Dave and Joy worked with Kenya Hope for the last 13 years and made significant contributions in providing freshwater wells, education, widow training, and food relief to a number of communities within the Nairobi and Narok areas of Kenya.

Dave Mueller, Joy Mueller, and Julie Holman. (Photo courtesy of Kenya Hope)

Prior to working with Kenya Hope, the Muellers worked as missionaries with Partners in Compassion in Southern Sudan and New Tribes Mission in Papa New Guinea.

Julie Holman had just passed the board certification for her nurse practitioner certification and was currently in Kenya as a volunteer with Kenya Hope to evaluate medical facilities and provide medical vaccines.

“Dave and Joy will be remembered as missionaries who worked both faithfully and tirelessly to help others who were in need and spread the gospel of Christ. While they will be greatly missed by our organization, I know they have a place in heaven for a life well-served,” said Eric Hoogstra, Chairman of the Kenya Hope Board.

As these three were in Kenya at the time of the accident, arrangements at this point will not be immediate. Another notice will be sent when arrangements are made.

Please join Kenya Hope in praying for both the Mueller and Holman families during this time of grief.

Learn more about Kenya Hope at their website.

Header photo courtesy of Kenya Hope.

Kenya (MNN) — Kenya’s government warns opposition leaders not to resume protests if mediation talks don’t go their way. Both sides have been at loggerheads for weeks; they began taking steps toward conflict resolution last week.

Unrest in one of East Africa’s most stable democracies raised alarm earlier this year. At least 20 people have died in police-protestor clashes, though human rights groups say the toll is much higher.

Protestors say the cost of living is out of control. By contrast, Kenyan President William Ruto insists the country’s economic rebuild is “progressing well” and that Kenyans need to “bear the pain” of excessive taxes.

Widows suffer greatly during an economic downturn. “They’re often very overlooked in the society there (in Kenya),” Kenya Hope’s Joy Mueller says.

“It’s a vicious circle cycle of being knocked down and always failing, failing, and never getting ahead.”

There are approximately eight million widows in Kenya. Most rural communities embrace a polygamous culture, meaning it’s normal for a man to have several wives. When that man dies, his family takes over the estate, and each wife is left to fend for herself and her children.

Typically, a woman enrolled in Kenya Hope’s Widow’s Might program meets two criteria. “One, she’s hungry [because she cannot afford food],” Mueller says.

“[Two,] her kids aren’t going to school because she doesn’t have the money to send them to school.”

(Photo courtesy of Kenya Hope)

Kenya Hope pairs Christian discipleship with job skills training, giving widows hope for the future. Learn more and become a “Widow’s Might” sponsor here.

“Once a woman starts earning an income, she can start breaking that cycle,” Mueller says.

The training varies by location. “The cornerstone training is breadmaking. We teach these women how to make these absolutely delicious rolls Dutch oven style, and then they start selling them,” Mueller says.

“In Nairobi, where we have electricity, we have been teaching the ladies sewing, and this is huge. They are now sewing all the school uniforms for our sponsored kids, and they are making gorgeous canvas leather bags that we sell here in the United States.”

Header and story images courtesy of Kenya Hope.