east Africa

Meet Our New Director of Kenya Operations

Diana MaysUncategorized

My name is Augustine Mumia Wanyama. I turned 36 years and I am married to Everline Nanjala and a father to five kids. I am a third born son and child to my mother Florence who is the second wife to my father Andrew. In total, my mother gave birth to ten of us. Our rural home is in a town called Bungoma which is found in the western part of Kenya. Due to the climatic conditions, my home area is one of the poorest areas in Kenya. This, among other factors made our lives very difficult as we grew up. It was a total struggle but all in all I am where I am. Most of my brothers and sisters dropped out of school due to lack of school fees. After I graduated from high school, I managed to come to the city of Nairobi. At that time I had nothing; no high school certificate of any kind nor a national identity card, I just came. That was back in 2001. As I got used to Nairobi I came to learn a lot. Among these was the common sight of the street kids. I felt bad whenever I saw […]

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Enter the Fight for Love Challenge

kellyUncategorized

Every child deserves love.  Every. Single. Child.  Children in the U.S. and children in Africa, every child around the world.  But for many children this love is taken from them. Taken by disease and tragedy, taken by abuse, taken by poverty.  Children find themselves alone in life without a family, without support for their hopes and dreams and feeling a deep hole in their hearts that should be filled with love. Every day at Light Up Hope we fight to provide love for these children.  We fight to keep families together through our LIFT program, we fight to bring healing to their fragile hearts through counseling, we fight to keep their hopes and dreams alive through education and empowerment programs.  We do this because we love them, and they deserve to know though life has taken so much love from them; we are in their corner, fighting to bring love back in. Love isn’t something you find. Love is something that finds you ~ Loretta Young For the next four weeks we are issuing a challenge, a challenge to spread more love to the people around you.  Maybe you want to stand with us and help fuel our programs to […]

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Bringing the Vision of Love into Focus

KellyUncategorized

For 10 months we have been working hard to make the children’s home in Kitale look and feel like a welcoming home for the children. These children have suffered the loss of parents and family.  We want them to know they are not alone. That is why the front gate is open for them to walk to and from school and to play with the neighboring children.  Our Kenyan partners provide them will customized educational opportunities and fun experiences outside of their home; like a trip to a local nature park or a visit to the community swimming pool.  We are  installing shelving and painting the doors and windows to beautify the environment for the children.  Every month we are able to watch our vision for a self-sufficient, loving, encouraging, educational and safe home for children in need come into focus.

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Family Matters

KellyUncategorized

Do you remember Rodgers?  We sure do.  He is one of the most beloved young men at Hope Children’s Home and he has been deep in our hearts for over 5 years.  Over this time we have watched him grow and become a young man (he is now 20).  He has a great heart for service and is always thankful to be part of what is going on at Hope Children’s Home.  Here is a photo from December 2012 when he was helping Pastor Fred to collect fish from one of the fish ponds that were being prepared for commercial fish farming. As he has approached adulthood there have been challenges and our partners, Fred and Alice, have dedicated their hearts to mentoring Rodgers through this difficult transition.  Here you can see Rodgers and Fred working side-by-side to beautify the new dining hall. During our visits and through letter writing with his sponsor we have encouraged Rodgers to make the best of his life.  Here he is pictured with Jacquie, who has sponsored, mentored and visited Rodgers for over three years. Despite all of our best efforts, Rodgers was not transitioning well into adulthood with the opportunities available to him […]

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It is amazing what can be done when people come together

KellyUncategorized

It is amazing what can be accomplished when people come together with open hearts for children in need.  At the beginning of December we had hopes and prayers to be able to provide for the needs of the children at their new home in Kitale.  By January 1, 2013 we had collected an additional $27,000 in donations for the care of the children.  With the help of generous spirits we have provided new beds, sheets, blankets, school uniforms, school fees, water filters and a new home for the children we sponsor.  We have also been able to send a grant to finalize the purchase of the land and to begin construction of two additional buildings: a girls dormitory and a building that will provide housing for additional caretakers, a study/dinning room and a new kitchen. They say a picture tells a thousand words, so check out this 4 minute video that shows the excitement our friends in Kenya are feeling over their new home and enjoy the photo gallery below with pictures from our most recent visit in December 2012. [wpvideo tY8he7aF]

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