Kenya

As I get ready to leave for Europe today, I want to catch you up to speed on our activities in Kenya. The firstfruits of harvest at Ngetut Farm can be seen above. This is the fruit of a lot of work and generous donations from many of you. They are so happy now to have a way to grow their own food in a parched land using the well we drilled three years ago and the new irrigation system we helped them install three months ago. blessed at their joy.

These people have been staving for years with incredibly limited resource. Can you imagine what it must mean to look at the growing plants and know this is from God’s generosity as well as their hard work. They prepped the land, planted the seeds, and are now enjoying their first harvest.

This is their report:

Irrigation in North Pokot {Ngetu Farm} is going on well, the crops are also growing very well, brother Joram the farm worker is teaching the community and involving the committee for coaching in agriculture.

As I was there, the elders from the village where we built the school, sent the delegation of elders just walking, guided by the committee, they came in Ngetut irrigation project purposely of requesting us if we can help them to do the same. (See picture t right) I listened to everybody share about the Almighty God. It is a great evangelism to this work. I interacted with them and I was so happy after hearing that many of them were involved to help the Ngetut people for digging and clearing the bush.

As you know brother Wayne, these people understanding is very low , they were thinking that after clearing there bush we would come immediately and fix the irrigation.  They cleared the bush last month but we talk with them that irrigation project needs a process of communication and planning as well as getting the feedback from you. It is not a matter where we start in our own idea. What touched me so much is about the matters of the school nutritional value but I told them to pray and believe almighty God to provide.

This is the first achievement we have seen in the side of vegetables, but for the sweet potatoes and other crops we will updates you when time come. What was your suggestion concerning this? We believe strongly that irrigation progress it only the way which will give out long-term solution to this people.

About Forkland school, renovation and repair is going on I will update you soon, thank you very much for the great help. You can go through the below picture

Vegetables from this plot of land are not only going too feed their community, but the surplus is being sold to a school to help generate further income. We feel like we have enough track record here now to be able to move ahead on the second irrigation project for the people of Chemnyon Village, who helped so much in the preparing of the land with the Ngetut people.  We are sending money this week. We also support the Forkland School near Bungoma, a place where orphan children are being educated. They had a major flood that wiped out housing for some of the kids who live there and it had to be rebuilt. That’s what Thomas is referring to above.

Our coaches in Pokot have told us that these farming operations are essential to these tribes becoming self-sustaining and not reliant on outside resource. So as we commit another $33,000 to help build a second irrigation project, your gifts and prayers will be welcomed again.  If there ever was a time you wanted to genuinely help poor people, without anyone else siphoning off money for administrative fees or other benefit, this is it. All contributions are tax-deductible in the US.  And as always, every dollar you send goes to the need in Kenya.  We do not (nor do they) take out any administrative or money transfer fees. Please see our Sharing With the World page at Lifestream. You can either donate with a credit card there, or you can mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560 Newbury Rd Ste 1  •  Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

Thank you on behalf of the people of Pokot for your gifts and prayers on their behalf.

Can you imagine what it’s like for that man above to stand there with a hose, spraying water on the parched land to begin the first farming operation in this part of Kenya?  These are nomadic people whose life was destroyed by a drought, and now they have the tools and resources to grow their own crops and feed themselves.  This is a dream-come-true for them and its thanks to the generous support of many of you they are able to put two acres of land under cultivation near one of the wells we helped drill for them a couple of years ago. The people of Ngetut Village did all the hard work to prepare the land and help to build the irrigation system that will provide for those two acres. The project is big enough to expand to seven acres in time. If this prototype project goes well, six other villages are hopeful that we will help them too, though the costs are huge. These projects are in addition to the $10,000 we send monthly just to help them with water, food, education, hygiene, and building a new economy.

The cost for tanks, irrigation, land, and fencing to keep out the goats and cattle runs almost $35,000 per tribe. If you’d like to help us expand this project to other villages we would appreciate your help.  Here’s the current report from our first project by Michael and Thomas:

Greetings in Jesus’ name. Thank you very much for standing with us in prayers during our election process, God has done marvelous here in Kenya. The nation is calm and the businesses are return to normal, despite some little misunderstanding, but the people are continue with their lives without problem. The whole world was looking this election and God is faithful for protecting the life and properties.

I can’t hold the joy of tears after hearing the ladies sharing with us how the well has helped this communities Some of them were walking between four to five hours and now they can see the flowing water within some few meters. One woman said, “I have a dream to see the land full of flowing water and others sprinkled. This is really God’s miracle. Many years we were believing the god of mount Muteo and Kadam. Every year we would slaughter a hundreds of goats and some cows crying that they may have mercy with rain and water. But today the whole community believes the living God has answered us with what we are seeing today.” May the lord bless you along with your team. I know this investment it has cost a lot. May the lord reward all of you for this great task. 

Thank you also for the additional money for the fence, we had to change from wooden posts to metal rods because of termites. I have arrived this evening from the site, everything is excellent. The plumbing expert has worked exactly as the first sketch. The water has started flowing to the irrigation tank as the water flows to the farm, this amazing grace. The all land has been covered more two acres, and the water will be enough, even to flow more as you may see in attached pictures. The plumber and his team will be completing the whole work, the end of the week. We have planted the first plantation and we are expecting the community to plant the rest.

The community were so happy, and they see it as a miracle for the first irrigation to be founded in this region.  Surprisingly some people from Chemyon Village  spent the whole day helping the Ngetut village for ploughing and digging the land together. This is so amazing and irrigation might be the last solution of this communities. Thank you also for supporting them with fencing, otherwise the goats and cows might have destroyed the pipes and crops.  Everything is protected and the expert team will complete the work at the end of this week. We will continue updating you the ongoing irrigation project. We have the confidence this first irrigation project will succeed to feed this community. It is our prayer that, God will provide again for the next irrigation in Chemyon Village. Our joy is to see the live of this people has been transformed, thank you for your great concern and the all people who has stood with us to see that irrigation is done.

May the lord bless you for the great help; we thank our almighty God who touched the heart of people so that they were able to respond quickly for this pressing need.

We have had some added expenses to the first plot in helping the people to learn about irrigation and farming, and to have a place to store and distribute the harvest.  We are moving slowly here to make sure this project is successful before branching out to help other villages.

If there ever was a time you wanted to genuinely help poor people, without anyone else siphoning off money for administrative fees or other benefit, this is it. All contributions are tax-deductible in the US.  And as always, every dollar you send goes to the need in Kenya.  We do not (nor do they) take out any administrative or money transfer fees. Please see our Sharing With the World page at Lifestream. You can either donate with a credit card there, or you can mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560 Newbury Rd Ste 1  •  Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

Thank you on behalf of the people of Pokot for your gifts and prayers on their behalf.

If you’ve ever wanted to help with people so poor and so excluded from resources they cannot help themselves, this is it. Bad charity gives us a lot of reasons NOT to give, but this project in Pokot ticks all the right boxes for me.

• The need is genuine. This is one of the truly tragic places left in the earth with great need and little aid from government or nonprofits from anywhere in the world. It is remote and the need is so great many turn away overwhelmed. It is truly one of the uttermost parts of the earth where drought, malnutrition, and lack of hygiene are killing off thousands of people.
• Every dime you send goes to the need in Pokot. We do not take out any administrative or transactional fees. All that is paid for by Lifestream.
• It is furthering the Gospel in a non-coersive way. The help is being given freely, but with it the opportunity to come to know the Living Jesus for those who are interested. And there are so many interested, because they used to pray to their ancestors, but their ancestors did not come to help them. You and our friends in Kitale helped them.
• We are not creating an ongoing dependency on western aid, but intentionally helping them no longer need it. This is not giving someone a fish, but teaching them how to fish and supplying them with the nets and boat so they can actually do it.
• The Pokot people are deeply involved and vested in each phase of this project. Resources from us are matched 50/50 with sweat equity from the people there so that they come to “own” it. These people already began to clear land in advance of our saying we’d help provide irrigation in hopes that God would provide some way.

Please don’t let any of that put you under a load of guilt. I say this so people who are normally cynical about these kinds of needs would look a bit deeper. We do not need and do not want any guilt-driven dollars to help here. We are looking for generous hearts who have some extra resource and upon hearing of the need, a growing desire to help the people of Pokot.

This week ChristianityToday.com ran an article about World Vision having a difficult time raising money to help with the desperate need in Turkana.  It was called, Why Christians Should Stop Caring About So Many Causes. Turkana is the county right next to Pokot, with the same challenges we have faced there. Here’s a brief excerpt from that article:

Many people come here and take pictures,” the elder told me as he leaned on his walking stick, his slender frame swathed in heavy cloth despite the heat. “Then they go away and never help.”  This is the moment that haunts me from my recent visit to Turkana, a region in northwestern Kenya crippled by drought and sliding inexorably into widespread hunger.

This article made me all the more grateful for the generosity of this audience and those at The God Journey for helping us send over $1.3 million to that region in the last nine years.We began after the disputed election brought tribal violence to that region leaving hundreds of children homeless and in need of care.  It has continued in recent years as people we know there discovered the great need in Pokot and have been helping them with water, food, education, medical needs, and income generation. We are helping on a five-year plan to create sustainable economies in this very desperate regions of the world.  Our hope is to continue to send them $10,000 per month for another 42 months, but there is still more that’s needed to give them the tools to determine their own future.

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been asked by the villagers in Pokot if we can help them begin agricultural projects near the wells we drilled for them a couple of hears ago. There is simply no food to go around and they want to put in the irrigation infrastructure to help raise their first crops. Just since putting the need out last week, we have already received enough to do the first well as a prototype to do five others.  I am amazed and blessed and want to see if we can find enough ($150,000) to do all six over the next year or two. That will provide them with a steady source of food and they will look to expand it in years to come.

If you have it on your heart to help these Kenyan people suffering under such a huge strain, you can direct it through Lifestream as contributions are tax-deductible in the US.  As always, every dollar you send goes to the need in Kenya.  We do not (nor do they) take out any administrative or money transfer fees. Please see our Sharing With the World page at Lifestream. You can either donate with a credit card there, or you can mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560 Newbury Rd Ste 1  •  Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

Thank you in advance on behalf of the people of Pokot for your gifts and prayers for them.

I still get a bit freaked when I see that 50% of our expenses last year went to help people in Kenya and South Africa. That’s not how we designed Lifestream to function, but God had plans that went way beyond our own.

If you haven’t followed this saga over the past decade or so, it began with a set of relationships both those I had at home who could afford to help, and with Kenyans abroad who needed help. Over the last 8 years we have channeled over 1.3 million dollars to help our friends in Kitale with orphanage, school, medical expenses, and micro-finance loans and their friends in Pokot with a medical clinic, food, water (drilling six wells), schools, coaching, and business loans. Our goal has been to help tribespeople whose cattle-drive and nomadic economy was wiped out by a prolonged drought. We continue to send $10,000 per month over five years to help when no one else would. I am overwhelmed and grateful that this much generosity would flow through our little corner of the web.  Who would have thought?

We now have an opportunity to help them add some agriculture to their community by helping them plant crops near the wells we drilled for them. We’re going to start with one, of the six they’d like to have over the next few years.  They will serve 2-7 acres with irrigation and allow them to begin to grow their own crops. In hope and faith they’ve already begun to clear the land. Each agricultural enterprise will cost about $25,000 US and I’m curious if there is anyone out there who would like to help us do that?

Here’s what they wrote me:

We have been praying so much concerning our brothers in North Pokot on how we can get simple irrigation system to cover two acres of land. The starvation over there is high,and they have been affected with outbreaks of diseases due to lack nutritional value in their food. Some already tried farming especially those who stay around the wells to plant little plantation but because of drought the cops dried up. Sometime when we go there we cannot hold the tears to see the starvation but the monthly support of food donation it has really saved their life, especially old aged and breastfeeding moms but the rest are in great distress. The coaches and the committees of Ngetut village where we proposed to have first irrigation. Surprisingly they have started clearing some parts of the bush, preparing for irrigation. Thomas tried to stop till we get a cheaper plan, but they told they are doing it in faith, that one time God will provide. This people are really having great faith.

God is good. He recently  connected us with one good man who is an expert in fixing simple irrigation system and he has been installing this irrigation system to the farmers in dry areas like Maasai land and some parts of Busi, so we got his contact and visited him. He was installing to one group of women in Succo, as you may see in some pictures (see above). We invited him in our office and we shared with him at large concerning North Pokot and simple irrigation. He gave us the quotation and sketch for two acres.

The man who will be supervising the work recently found them a solar panel from one of the NGOs that work closely with Red Cross.  It has the capacity of generating enough water to cover 7 acres. So in the future they will be extending to the capacity of seven acres as God provides. You can see from the picture above that they plan a very rudimentary water tower with pipes and valves to help irrigate the land when the rains don’t come. They will be doing the work as our friends from Kitale will be coaching them.

What amazes me about this project is that none of these funds benefit those in Kitale who are doing so much work on behalf of those in Pokot. Who does that? Who lets so much money flow through their hands when their needs are great as well, but they have compassion for the people in Pokot whose needs are even greater.

So I am coming to the readers of this site once again. Any amount you can send will be helpful. I am always amazed at the response that we get from those of you who have partnered with us in this corner of the world. If you don’t know our ongoing story here, you can check out this blog from last year.  If you have it on your heart to help these Kenyan people suffering under such a huge strain, you can direct it through Lifestream as contributions are tax-deductible in the US.  As always, every dollar you send goes to the need in Kenya.  We do not (nor do they) take out any administrative or money transfer fees.

If you would like to be part of this to support these brothers and sisters and see the gospel grow in this part of Africa, please see our Sharing With the World page at Lifestream. You can either donate with a credit card there, or you can mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560 Newbury Rd Ste 1  •  Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

Thank you in advance for your gifts and prayers.

A couple of weeks ago I told you that the drought in Kenya had returned this year and they were in need of an additional $8,000 to purchase food or people would starve to death. Thanks to your generosity we were able to share that food with them.

We already send $10,000 per month over a five year period to help them build a sustainable economy and develop health strategies to save these tribal people from the mass starvation and disease that was killing so many of them. We are always grateful for the generosity that comes from people like to help us do that in this corner of the world. It’s great to get some pictures like the one above and these two below that celebrate their joy and receiving sustenance for their very lives.

Here’s is their latest report from last week:

We purchased maize and beans 150 bags and 50 bags respectively and we distribute equally to the remaining families. God bless you abundantly. The villages were very happy praising God for the provision of food.

Also the villagers, they are happy for our coaches who are tirelessly doing coaching and training the community on doing business, digging toilets and keeping their utensil clean. This has curb down the rate diseases caused by micro-organism bacterial. Through that training the 25 women has prepare a closed box with a small hole and every time they meet they deposit Ksh.60 and they said , they are doing that for a period of time , then they will call our coaches , committee and us to open it and see what the lord is doing through this training. Really this training has transformed many and we are continuing doing coaching.

On side of toilets and hygiene they have done excellent work, since there is no more cases of outbreak of diseases caused by human waste/ Our committees together with our community health workers are doing a great job and may God bless them abundantly.

In the picture above the people are divided into families as the food is distributed to all who have need.  Here are a couple more below.

Unloading the trucks with food for the people of Pokot

Families open their gifts

Thanks to all those who gave to help.  The needs here are ongoing as is our giving to them. If you don’t know our story here, you can check out this summary from last year. If you have it on your heart to help these Kenyan people suffering under such a huge strain, you can direct it through Lifestream as contributions are tax-deductible in the US. As always, every dollar you send goes to the need in Kenya. We do not (nor do they) take out any administrative or money transfer fees. If you would like to be part of this to support these brothers and sisters and see the gospel grow in this part of Africa, please see our Sharing With the World page at Lifestream. You can either donate with a credit card there, or you can mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560 Newbury Rd Ste 1 • Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

Thank you in advance for your gifts and prayers.