(KENYA) Each time that I visit a community, I see families struggling to find adequate food, shelter, and education. Those who suffer the most are the largest part of the Kenyan population: children and teens between five and 15 years old. I ask God to give me peace about the challenges that people who live in poverty face every day, especially the children.

“Instead of letting difficulties draw you into worrying, try to view them as setting the scene for My glorious intervention” 

~ Jesus Calling: Devotion for Every Day

Each time that I visit a community, I see families struggling to find adequate food, shelter, and education. Those who suffer the most are the largest part of the Kenyan population: children and teens between five and 15 years old. I ask God to give me peace about the challenges that people who live in poverty face every day, especially the children.

I also often see malnourished children who are happy, playing out in the open fields. They don’t realize that their health is compromised or that there is the possibility of a life without hunger. God did not create these children to live without adequate food, shelter, and education, so as a World Renew staff person I am always encouraged that I am at the right place and doing the right thing by serving God holistically in empowering communities to work towards transformation.

It is not about giving the communities what they lack BUT it is about taking community members through a self-discovery process. In this process they identify their resources and how they can maximize their use.

In one village, a young girl named Magdalene made sure that she accompanied one of our field staff on every visit he made to the community. This little girl of about 12 years old was learning along with the adults in her community. She took what she learned from the adult class and implemented it herself at home. She realized that her family was one of the poorest in her village, and she became a role model within her community.

Magdalene is a bright girl that has known about World Renew’s work in her village. She wants to become an agriculturist so that her home and community can be food secure.

Magdalene’s family owns very little land, so she learned how to grow the fruits trees, including oranges, mangos, and paw paws to help provide enough food for them to eat. She knows that her younger brothers and sisters need an adequate amount of healthy foods to grow well.

When I visited her village to check on the project outcomes, Magdalene insisted that I visit her home also. I did not understand why this little girl insisted that we visit her home. Little did I know that Magdalene is one of the silent beneficiaries of our training. Her parents did not attend our workshops, but Magdalene did. She went home and put most of what she learned into practice on her parent’s little plot of land.

This surprised me. I always thought that she was a child of one of the participants, but this was not the case and she saw the benefit of the training. Magdalene is in grade 4 and loves farm work. She is a bright girl that has known about World Renew’s work in her village. She wants to become an agri-culturist so that her home and community can be food secure.

Pray with me that Magdalene will become a role model for other young children in her community.

Pray that World Renew’s project in this community will impact to the lives of many more families than the 2000 families who actually participate in it.

May the Lord open the eyes of the people in this community to overcome witchcraft, which can only be overcome by building hope among the young people. Fear causes children to disregard their school work and hampers interest in the development of the community.

Turning fear into hope is what our Lord Jesus Christ has called us to. As we facilitate development it is important to look at drawbacks that cannot be easily identified through traditional development techniques. The church has a big stake in the sustained development of the rural people in Africa.

Thanks to your support, we are empowering people to care for their own health and produce enough food for their families to eat and enough extra to sell. I see the economic income of households increase and the health of the children improving greatly.

Thank God, there is hope in communities like Magdalene’s where World Renew works.

Davis Omanyo

East Africa Team Leader
World Renew Uganda