Kenya, Africa Mission

Mt. Olivet United Methodist Church has sent 12 to 18 members to Kenya, Africa on five different missions to construct buildings and gain better understanding between the two cultures. A new expedition is planned for July 2007. Funds and volunteers are welcome. See the authentic Kenya, Africa links at the end of this webpage for additional information about Kenya.

The X marks the approximately location of Rev. Mischek Kanake's development which is the site of the expeditions. www.kenyapartners.org: 'Hope Kenya' link

Bus recently purchased with major help from Mt. Olivet

Computer Purchases

Funds are currently being collected to enable Mischek Kanake to purchase computers to use in his school. This will be a large step forward in the children's understanding of the world. The school only obtained electric power in 2001; now the students will be able to use computers and interact with the world wide web. The Kenya team is continuing to support Mischek Kanake's educational program with money for teachers, student tuition, and computers. * Interested in exploring being a team member? * Want to be an active part of planning this trip? * Want to help raise funds? Send an e-mail to the Church Secretary if you would like more information.

30th Anniversary Celebration
of the Partnership between Mount Olivet and Misheck Kanake
May 2007

When the Kanake family returned to Kenya, little did we realize the impact Misheck had had on our congregation or the doors that were opened for him by participating in this exchange. A few people maintained contact with the Kanake family. We knew that he was elevated to the position of bishop of his synod and that he had attended training in Japan.  But, over the years, the contacts became fewer. 
A visit in 1989 changed all of that!  Misheck stopped here on his way home from an international conference.  That night, he shared that one of his biggest disappointments was that no one from Mount Olivet had been to his home.  And that lit a fire in some folks….     

In 1991, the first Mount Olivet Kenya team traveled to Maua, Kenya.  The sixteen-member team began constructing a wooden dining hall with an attached kitchen.  In 1994, a ten-member team went to the school that Rev. Kanake had opened.  We built a three-room wooden dorm that housed about one hundred students.  This was the beginning of our involvement with the ARI School that educates children from kindergarten to eighth grade.  Our 1997 project was one of our biggest undertakings.  The major difference was that this chapel was to be constructed from stone cut from the local hills.  Our ten-member team dug a foundation using shovels and picks, laid block, filled in the floor area with stones and gravel and then mixed and hauled cement for the floor.  In 2000, our project was to complete a dorm that was under construction.  We installed window grates, slung mud on the walls to finish them, and laid a cement floor.  Two of our team members drew murals on the walls of the chapel that we had begun in 1997 and which was now completed.  Our 2003 trip was abruptly cancelled when world situations caused the cancellation of all flights in to Kenya by major airlines.  We returned in 2004 with our youngest member in tow—Cameron was six years old at the time.  He worked along side his father, grandfather, and other team members to enlarge the kitchen and dining hall facilities at ARI School.  The next chapter begins with ripples in the pond…..
   
The ripples of Misheck’s story continue to reach out.  Several years ago, Dwight McBride set up a website for the church.  He included information about the Kenya mission trips.  A man from one of the largest churches in the WNCC was looking for a place to spend some of his church’s mission money.  He did a web search and what popped up—our Kenya mission connection.  He and his wife were at our church on the Sunday we returned from our 2004 trip.  They witnessed the depth of feeling that each speaker had for this project.  Wesley Memorial UMC has now sent four teams to Kenya—not just to ARI School but other parts of the country also.  They have made improvements to churches, schools, and medical clinics.  Last year, they touched the lives of over 15,000 Kenyans.  In January 2007, they sent a medical team to one of these clinics.  They treated 1,500 people in one week!  Before this team left, they invited Rick and Delinda to attend a workshop to learn to make reading glasses.  In July, we will be fitting adults with glasses so they can study the scriptures.

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Kenya 2007 Expedition Group standing in front of our project--a four room classroom for ARI.	Dr. Renda Welch examines the teeth of an ARI student. Every student and teacher at ARI had an exam by Dr. Welch.	Terry Spry, Scott Rodgers, and Erin Welch shovel sand in to wheelbarrows while Rev. Wes Judy oversees the operation.
Meredith Spry, John Brown, Jim Stowe, and Erin Welch cut rebar for the classroom construction. Scott Rodgers can be seen in the background bending these pieces to the proper specifications.	Mary Ann Brown finds another use for a rain poncho! The paint is really thin in Kenya. Notice the electrical wires above her head.	Jim Stowe looks in as Kaleb Spry and Mackenzie Rodgers look at a book inside a classroom located at a school several miles away from ARI.
The faces of the students at ARI will never be forgotten.

This is the 2004 Kenya Team. Notice that there are more women than men on this trip. The youngest member of the team was only six years old at the time. He was accompanied by his father, grandfather and grandmother who have each been on all five trips.	The blue paint on the roof line indicates where the building originally stopped. Our 1997 team built the original portion of this dorm.	Our project for 2004 was to enlarge the kichen area at the ARI school. The large pot shown is used to cook beans which are served to the children daily. Note the cups at the front of the picture. Children are served porridge in these cups for breakfast.
The kitchen area is being enlarged and a home science room is being built around the existing kitchen.	Other projects which we have undertaken over the years includes purchasing a cow for a family. This project was funded by a Sunday School class and the Boy Scouts of Mt. Olivet.	Mt. Olivet, in conjunction with an organization based in Raleigh, NC. called Stop Hunger Now, purchased a vehicle for Rev. Kanake.
The children were fascinated with Erin Welch's blonde, curly hair.	Cameron took marshmellows to class one day. What a treat for the children! They wanted to put them in their pockets and take them home to show their parents. This is a first grade class. Kindergarten through third grades did not board at the school.	They did not speak the same language but communication did not seem to be a problem for Cameron and his new friends.
The two Camerons became friends during the 2004 trip.	Hands linked in friendship and with the understanding that we are all children of God.

This is our 2000 building team.	Tears rolled down the cheeks of the team members who had worked on the 1997 project when we drove up and saw the completed chapel, we were overwhelmed with emotion. Rev. Misheick Kanake continued work on new chapel completing it in 1999. The foundation laid by Mt. Olivet UMC members in 1997 has blossomed into a beautiful & useful addition to the mission.	Work had already begun on the building that we funded in 2000. We worked to put a roof on the building, to complete the inside walls and to instill windows. Please notice the homemade ladder and scaffording.
Another project in 2000 was to complete two murals inside the chapel.

This is our 1997 team	Kenyans and '97 group at Chapel.	Spreading dirt in foundation for new Chapel at ARI Reumea Boarding School in Maua in '97.
Our 1997 project involved laying the foundation for a building that was to house a chapel and a library. The process moved very slowly because this was the first time we used stone in building.	Rev. Misheck Kanake(w/ wife in background), delivers his first message in new chapel in '97.	Members of the '91 and '97 teams in front of the dining facility built at the Methodist Women's Hostel in '91.

This is our 1994 team.

During the 1994 trip, we built a three room dorm at the A.R.I. school that Rev. Misheck Kanake had established. This dorm was used to house ninety girls and has more recently been converted to a classroom building.

Inside of dormitory built at school in '94.

The first Kenya team from Mt. Olivet United Methodist Church went to Maua, Kenya in 1991. Here are the sixteen members of that original group pictured with a few of the local ministers.

Our main project during our initial trip to Kenya was the construction of a kitchen and dining hall building for the Women's Hostel in Maua.

Kenya Country Book

World Atlas Kenya map

'Go 2 Africa' Kenya map and details

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