A visit with Mary
MOHI director speaks at Westside sponsorship event
If you’ve ever wished you could hear Mary Kamau, the founder and director of Missions of Hope International (MOHI) talk about the amazing mission to which she’s given her life, here’s your opportunity!
Mary visited West Side Christian Church in Springfield, Ill., recently for a child sponsorship event, and spoke movingly in the morning services about how she and husband Wallace started the mission with one Hope Center and 50 preschoolers in 2000. She also shares about MOHI’s other programs, and the brand new school they just started in Morokani, Turkana, a 100 percent Muslim community.
When asked about the “secret sauce” that has led to MOHI’s amazing growth and success, Mary says the answer is simple: “When God is telling me to do something, I will do it … and quickly!” |
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| Click the photo to watch this inspiring message. |
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More kids sponsored
Mary’s visit inspired many more people at West Side to begin sponsorship, too. The grand total for their three-week sponsorship event was 253 kids sponsored! The church now sponsors a total of 697 children!
Thanks, West Side, for your partnership with MOHI and CMF in Kenya! |
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If your church would like to hold a CMF Child Sponsorship event please contact Ruth Ann Fair, our Child Sponsorship Church Relations Coordinator, for more information.
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| FIRST MEETING — Kelly and Paul BeDell were thrilled to meet their sponsored daughter, Grace, for the first time on a July visit to Nairobi, Kenya, with Traders’ Point Christian Church. |
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‘We’re more than just pictures and letters!’
Couple visits sponsored child at MOHI
Paul and Kelly BeDell fulfilled a two-year dream when they traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, in July with Trader’s Point Christian Church, Whitestown, Ind., to meet Grace, their six-year-old sponsored child who attends Pangani Center at Missions of Hope International (MOHI).
“We got to meet her on the very first day while we were at Pangani,” said Kelly. “She is still learning English, so the social worker had to translate some for us. We brought a coloring book to give her, so the three of us just sat down and colored together and talked, and she helped me with my Swahili!”
The couple met with Grace three times during their time there, including a visit to her classroom, and developed a strong bond with the child, who is the same age as their own daughter Evelyn.
“It was so amazing to hear her little voice and learn what she likes to do,” said Kelly. “She loves to draw and her face lit up when we brought out drawing paper.” |
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Making connections
The team from Trader’s Point, which partners with the Bondeni Center, also made home visits in the community, visited the children at the MOHI boarding schools, held a teacher appreciation day at Bondeni, and took children in levels four, five and six to the elephant orphanage as part of a conservation classroom study.
“It was the first time out of Mathare for some of the kids,” said Kelly. But for the BeDells and others who also got to meet their sponsored children, the opportunity to build that personal relationship was the high point of their journey.
“It was just incredible to make that connection, and realize that Grace is just like our little girl, and that her mom Joyce, whom we also met, is just like me,” said Kelly. “Now we’re more than just pictures and letters to one another! We left a little part of our hearts in Kenya.” |
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There are many children in MOHI schools in Kenya who are still waiting for sponsors. If you’d like to make a real difference in the world, start with a child!
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| TRUNK BUMP — The Trader’s Point team took students from the Bondeni school on a field trip to the elephant orphanage and discussed how they can help care for God’s world. |
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Teams flock to MOHI this summer
There were plane-loads of visitors coming and going at Missions of Hope International (MOHI) this summer, reports missionary Mark Firestone, who works with the CMF team serving with MOHI in Nairobi, Kenya.
Here are some statistics that Mark pulled together from the beginning of June through the middle of August that show just how busy their summer was!
- Twenty-seven teams from all over the world visited the ministry.
- Those teams were comprised of 355 people.
- Visitors came from four countries: the US, Brazil, New Zealand and Korea.
- US visitors came from 12 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Nevada, Oregon, Virginia and Washington.
- MOHI arranged for about 672 children to enjoy visits with their sponsors.
- Eighty-four additional children were sponsored by visitors.
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MOHI parents love BigDent!
Not only does Missions of Hope care for children through its educational and spiritual programs, but it offers a helping hand to the kids’ parents, as well, through the microfinance loan project known in the US as BigDent.
About 415 BigDent clients, or approximately 10 percent of the total number of microfinance clients, are the parents of children in MOHI schools.
MOHI and CMF are committed to working together to bring transformation in all areas of life to the families of Mathare and neighboring regions! |
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Help a Kenyan family with a micro-loan to a Big Dent client today!
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