At the end of June, a six-member team from Eastminster Presbyterian Church, Marietta, Georgia journeyed to the highlands of Kenya to make a visit to the Tumaini-Huruma Children’s Ministry. Eastminster, an Outreach church partner, had not sent a team to Kenya (due to COVID constraints) since 2018. Here is a quick snapshot of our two-day visit:
Read MoreWendell Hill, Outreach trustee and Synod Men’s Council Kenya Leader (Mid-Atlantic Synod), recently returned from his seventh mission trip to Kenya. Wendell shared,
“It was another amazing, life-changing experience. Our visits to the Booth Girls’ High Schools will always be remembered. We completed four ministry sessions of “Why I Love Jesus” with 625 girls, hearing and witnessing their faith stories and testimonies of their lives. The visit ended with the girls sharing that they were blessed to be accepted at the Booth Girls’ School.
Read MoreTumaini Runners’ Program
The Tumaini Runners’ Program was started in 2007 by two young women who had recently graduated from Stanford University. Following their graduation, the young women, avid amateur runners, embarked on an adventure taking them around the world to participate in marathons across the globe. A stop in Kenya found them looking for a place to stay for a race taking place in the Mt. Kenya Region in the Central Highlands. A long-time donor to the Tumaini Children’s Center, a home for vulnerable children in Nyeri, Kenya, gave them an offer they couldn’t refuse. In exchange for accommodations, they had to promise to visit Tumaini and spend some time with the children. Out of that encounter, the Tumaini Runners’ Program was born.
Read MoreThe Firm Foundation project has proven to be a remarkable initiative since its inception in March, following the devastating earthquake in the region. This program has effectively addressed the pressing need for education among individuals whose schools were either destroyed or repurposed as shelters for the homeless. Extensive efforts have been dedicated to implementing a wide range of activities, resulting in not only the continuation of academic pursuits for these students but also an enhanced educational experience.
Read MoreThe Philemon Project GROW Center provides Christian early childhood development programs for underserved and at-risk children in Beirut. Rev. Dr. Robert Hamd, the GROW Center’s founder, recently shared this update:
The ongoing economic crisis in Lebanon has affected the whole population. Those living at an acceptable level previously are now finding it extremely difficult to cover the costs of daily living and the essentials of health and education.
Read MoreBaby Prosper, one and a half-year-old years old, was brought to Alliance for Children Everywhere (ACE) by the Child Protection Unit (CPU) in Lusaka, Zambia. The baby was living on the streets with his twenty-one year-old mother. The CPU, in collaboration with several other stakeholders, removed Prosper and his mother and many other babies from the streets during one of their outreaches.
Read MoreFounded by British missionaries in 1868 as the first school for the blind in the MENA (Middle East/North Africa) region, the Lebanese Evangelical Society decided to expand Blessed School’s mission to receive students with special needs including autism and Down syndrome. Blessed School spreads the Word of God not only to the Lebanese but also to people of many other nationalities who study there and learn and explore the God of Love during daily chapel services.
Read MoreFrom 1975 to 1990, civil war raged in Lebanon, causing enormous destruction. As a result, countless families were torn apart, and many children were forced to search the streets for food and usable materials. Increasing social conflicts and rising criminality among unprotected children eventually led to the establishment of Home of Hope (HOH) in 1999 as the first Lebanese institution to care for street children. HOH is part of the Lebanese Evangelical Society, which runs several schools including one for children with special needs.
Read MoreThe Best Back to School Ever!
We are thrilled to share the news that the HOM-sponsored schools successfully reopened yesterday. This was a day students and faculty had been eagerly awaiting since last September, when the opening day was initially postponed and then made impossible by rising insecurity.
Read MoreA Joyful Return
After a four-year absence from Cuba, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was a delight to return with an Outreach Foundation team and reconnect with our beloved Presbyterian family there. We arrived at the Presbyterian Church in Guanabacoa in time to share in the Wednesday morning prayer service, led by Rev. Yoelkis Sierra and one of the elders, who brought a message on Acts 3:2 — the lame man carried to the temple each day to beg. This question followed: do we see the needs of our neighbors? The congregation has answered that question by providing “meals on wheels” to the poor and elderly in their community and by joining with the local municipality to renovate a run-down playground for local children.
Read MoreOur visit to the Philemon Project GROW Center, which provides Christian early childhood development programs for underserved and at-risk children in Beirut, was a reminder of the redemptive ministry to which Christ calls us when we pour ourselves out to serve “the least of these.” With 80 children ages 1-4 under their care, many of them children of domestic workers from Ethiopia and Sudan, they also focus on parent education and embrace the welfare of the entire family.
Read MoreBlessed School, tucked away in a poor area of Beirut and founded by English missionaries in 1868 as a school for the blind, now primarily serves those on the autism spectrum and with mental challenges. Our short visit with Rev. Linda Maktaby, who directs this faithful ministry, and Tony Haddad, who runs the Lebanese Evangelical Society which oversees this tender place, was a reminder of Christ’s call to serve “the least of these” whom He loves.
Read MoreWe thank our Lord who has been so faithful in the work of community schools. The government of Zambia has a policy of free education that presents challenges for the running of community schools. We are grateful for the support that we receive from our Outreach partners.
As reported in our April update, the COVID-19 pandemic did affect CCAP Community Schools. We followed government-required measures
Read MoreA Forever Home for Edward
Edward is an orphan who was referred to Alliance for Children Everywhere (ACE) in 2018. Prior to coming to ACE, he was in the care of his great-grandmother. Edward was seen by his neighbors regularly looking for food in the garbage dump. The neighbors brought their concern for Edward to the attention of the local police, and they brought him to ACE. They investigated and found that his mother died, and
Read MoreHaiti Outreach Ministries and the Crisis in Haiti
Sadly, there has not been an improvement in the situation in Haiti since our last message. Daily life in Port-au-Prince remains mostly paralyzed, and the Varreux oil terminal is still blockaded by gangs. Due to lack of clean water access, cholera cases continue to rise,
Read MoreTwo little girls, Comfort and Charity have become the best of friends at the Bill and Bette Bryant Nursery (BBB) in Lusaka, Zambia.
Comfort was brought to the House of Moses (HOM) because her mom was in jail and unable to care for her. Since then, she has had no other family willing or able to take her into their home. As Comfort grew, she was transferred to BBB and continued to thrive. She is now three years old and can comfortably count to ten and say almost all her alphabet with a smile on her face! She has a fun and mischievous sense of humor and loves to make the other kids and caregivers laugh.
Read MoreWe are saddened to announce the recent death of Eunice Muindi, wife of the late Rt. Rev. Bernard Muindi, former moderator of the Presbyterian Church in East Africa, former pastor of the Riamukurwe Parish at Nyeri, and visionary advocate for the needs of vulnerable children at Nyeri and beyond. Rev. and Mrs. Muindi were great partners and friends of The Outreach Foundation.
Read MoreIt has been a heartbreaking season in the life of the world, but we worship the God who has journeyed through the depth of pain and heartbreak for us. Each year at Easter, we celebrate the promise that through Jesus Christ, God brings hope out of despair, abundance out of scarcity, and new life out of death. At Mother Esther School, we have certainly witnessed new life emerge from situations of despair, and we have experienced joy — fierce and defiant — in the face of hopelessness.
Read More
