WELCOME TO REMEMBER THE POOR
Located in Lodwar, Kenya
GIRLS' RESCUE CENTER, NAWOITORONG, KENYA | 2020
MEET THE YOUNG WOMEN
WATCH A VIDEO TOUR OF THE GIRLS' RESCUE CENTER
BOYS' RESCUE CENTER, KANAM KEMER, KENYA | 2020
MEET THE YOUNG MEN
WATCH A VIDEO TOUR OF THE BOYS' RESCUE CENTER
Personal Testimonies & More
HISTORY OF CALL-TO-HELP | STREET CHILDREN:
RoseAnn (Yoder) Howell first encountered street children in the capital city of Nairobi where her family lived in Kenya. In 1971 her family temporarily took two young street boys into their home until their prostitute mothers were found. On her return trips to Kenya since 2007, Rose Ann became increase-ingly troubled by the presence of ragged, destitute, glue- addicted children on the streets of every large town. Her efforts to unify local pastors to provide food & shelter for the street boys of their town produced no action. Therefore, in 2013 when an evangelist in the northwestern town of Lodwar invited her to come to that arid region to help street children, she accepted. Partnering with her Kenya team and several locals from 2013 to 2015 she initiated occasional feeding programs, art projects with street children [to learn why they went to the streets and what their lives on the streets were like], and instructive gatherings to tell them Bible stories and encourage them to put their trust in God. |
Street Children Rescue CenterSTREET CHILDREN:
UNICEF estimates that there are over 150 million street children in the world. Most are boys between the ages of 10-14. Street children are some of the most vulnerable people in the world. Readily victimized by adults for sex trafficking, child labor, drug abuse, physical abuse, sexual assault, crime rings and deprivation; these children have no one on earth to defend them. In the streets of Kenyan towns, street boys band together and work, beg and steal together. For work, they peddle teeth-cleaning sticks, gather scrap metal, push wheelbarrows and sweep storefronts. They scavenge for food in trash heaps. They beg for food and money, and steal from pedestrians and shops. Any money they obtain through stealing, begging or working they use first to purchase glue, secondly for cigarettes, marijuana and alcohol, and lastly, with any remaining change, for food. These children are beaten, kicked and cursed. At night they sleep on dust piles, or on sidewalks where the police periodically round them up, beat them and put them in jail. They are exposed to and involved in perpetuating gang rape of street girls and women, and are themselves victims of sexual abuse. 
Rescued street boys, Mamundu & Ibrahim // Circa 1971
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ERAI AKUJ AMINA CHILDREN’S RESCUE CENTER
BOYS' RESCUE CENTER, KANAM KEMER, KENYA
In 2014 Remember the Poor purchased and fenced 5 acres of land several miles outside of Lodwar Town, and six traditional homes were erected. Upon her return in February 2015, RoseAnn (known as Mama Maua to the Kenyans) paid 40 Turkana women in food staples to build a whole Turkana walled village of huts woven from palm leaves and branches. A 50’ x 24’ thatched pavilion was built to serve as a church and school. An administration block, hand-pump well, outside toilets and open-air kitchen were installed and 40 street boys between ages 6-14 were rescued from the town of Lodwar. They originally ran to the streets because of abuse, neglect and insufficient food at home at the hands of an abusive drunkard parent.
The rescue-village was given the name ERAI AKUJ AMINA (Turkana language for "God is Love") and carefully screened loving Christian Kenyan staff came on board to minister God’s love to these children. Special mention must be made of our beloved administrator Jackson Oshuku ole Kamoiro, who has worked tirelessly to love, teach and reform these rescued castaways. Staff housing was built, a library, and two dormitories to more permanently house the children and provide indoor shelter during inclement weather.
These former street children receive food, clothing, shelter, protection, education, love, medical care and, above all, training in the life, teachings and salvation found in Jesus Christ, and the loving, secure relationship with their dear heavenly Father. Their lives are being radically transformed, and their futures hold much hope. Ten of the thirty boys rehabilitated enough to go to public school are consistently placing at the top of their class, and seven have been chosen to be prefects.
Several of our Kenya team have generously sponsored our boys on several field trips to Aleya Springs, Masai Mara, old Mombasa on the coast, game park, museums and government buildings in Nairobi. and Hells Gate National Park in Naivasha. Many challenges have been faced from two Lodwar locals, but God intervened on behalf of the children and protected His great work! As our children grow older, their lives will be guided into higher education or a marketable trade according to their abilities. To God be all praise and glory for this His work and His transforming power in the lives of these former street boys! Hallelujah!
ELIJAH ESINYEN is a boy who we rescued off the streets in April 2015. He was addicted to sniffing glue, and ran back to town several times that first year. A born leader, Elijah quickly shone at Erai Akuj Amina and was soon enrolled in an excellent school in town. In his KCPE exam at the end of eighth grade, Elijah made the fourth-highest score in Turkana County--a county the size of South Carolina. He was selected to attend Alliance High School in Nairobi--the best secondaryschool in the country. What an honor!! A former street boy! This year Elijah was among a group of students selected to spend four days at the State House and dine with His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta, and also meet with a foreign dignitary. Surely, we give all the glory to God!!
JOHN LOTIRA John Lotira is another former street boy who is shining. A quiet, serious boy, John is very bright and designed a solar light with a small battery, a piece of solar, a flashlight bulb, and some wires all strapped to a stick. He also wired the boys' dorm with solar electricity. John has a front tooth missing, knocked out during a fight over drugs in his street boy days. He was also becoming increasingly crippled because of being hit by a vehicle while on the streets. Remember the Poor took him to Kijabe Hospital (CURE) in Nairobi where an operation on his knee and physical therapy has helped him to walk normally and well, for which we give thanks to God the Healer. John, along with eight other youth who were rescued in 2015, seriously gave his life to Christ and was baptized in the Turkwel River in February 2019. And the street boy who got his tooth knocked out in a street fight long ago has been named Peacekeeping Captain at his school, Turkana Blooms Academy in Lodwar. What a testimony to his inward transformation! All praise to our great God!!!
Almost one thousand neem trees for shade have been planted around the boys' and girls' properties. rain mill was built to grind our own supply of corn flour, as well as provide this service to the community. The goal of Remember the Poor is to eventually be financially independent and self-sustaining.
GIRLS' RESCUE CENTER, NAWOITORONG
In February, 2017 Remember the Poor sent our social workers to the streets of Lodwar to locate and identify the street girls. After one month of relationship-building, feeding programs and investigation into home situations, 58 girls were identified as vulnerable street girls. This information was provided to the necessary government authorities who endorsed their rescue. Using funds from generous grants and generous donors who partnered with this worthy work, Remember the Poor purchased ten acres of land on the outskirts of Lodwar town, four kilometers distance from our boys' village, and began building a rescue center for the girls. In May 2017 we rescued our first girl, a rape victim brought directly from the hospital, and since then we have rescued 52 girls from the streets of Lodwar.
As with the boys, Mama Maua and the social workers gave each girl a blank book in which to draw her life story, then explain each picture. Their stories would break your heart. Most had been raped and sexually abused either by adults in town, taxi motorcyclists, or grown street boys. They found no safe place to hide from their predators, they were attacked at night as they slept on pieces of cardboard on the sidewalk. Older boys burn the feet and legs of young boys and girls as they sleep to force them to comply. Several girls confided that they slept in a discarded soda machine, disguised themselves as boys, and hid during the day . Some had been trafficked. Most were addicted to sniffing glue. How grateful to God they are, and we are, that they are now in a safe place where they can be children!
REHABILITATION AND INNER TRANSFORMATION
When we rescue our children off of the streets, they are immediately withdrawn from glue. The following weeks and months require intensive care of these children. During withdrawal, they are distracted, overactive or sleeping, fighting and aggressive, disrespectful and scheming always to run back to town to get glue. Because of the extreme traumas they have suffered at home and on the streets, they also need intensive counseling. It is a beautiful thing to see them gradually calming and becoming restored. It is a beautiful thing to see them relax their guard and become happy, well-adjusted children. They quickly put their hope in God, Who they see is the whole source of their rescue and restoration, and they love Him with all of their hearts,
As of end of 2019, thirty-two girls are rehabilitated enough to be attending three of the local schools. We praise God for each one!
In 2014 Remember the Poor purchased and fenced 5 acres of land several miles outside of Lodwar Town, and six traditional homes were erected. Upon her return in February 2015, RoseAnn (known as Mama Maua to the Kenyans) paid 40 Turkana women in food staples to build a whole Turkana walled village of huts woven from palm leaves and branches. A 50’ x 24’ thatched pavilion was built to serve as a church and school. An administration block, hand-pump well, outside toilets and open-air kitchen were installed and 40 street boys between ages 6-14 were rescued from the town of Lodwar. They originally ran to the streets because of abuse, neglect and insufficient food at home at the hands of an abusive drunkard parent.
The rescue-village was given the name ERAI AKUJ AMINA (Turkana language for "God is Love") and carefully screened loving Christian Kenyan staff came on board to minister God’s love to these children. Special mention must be made of our beloved administrator Jackson Oshuku ole Kamoiro, who has worked tirelessly to love, teach and reform these rescued castaways. Staff housing was built, a library, and two dormitories to more permanently house the children and provide indoor shelter during inclement weather.
These former street children receive food, clothing, shelter, protection, education, love, medical care and, above all, training in the life, teachings and salvation found in Jesus Christ, and the loving, secure relationship with their dear heavenly Father. Their lives are being radically transformed, and their futures hold much hope. Ten of the thirty boys rehabilitated enough to go to public school are consistently placing at the top of their class, and seven have been chosen to be prefects.
Several of our Kenya team have generously sponsored our boys on several field trips to Aleya Springs, Masai Mara, old Mombasa on the coast, game park, museums and government buildings in Nairobi. and Hells Gate National Park in Naivasha. Many challenges have been faced from two Lodwar locals, but God intervened on behalf of the children and protected His great work! As our children grow older, their lives will be guided into higher education or a marketable trade according to their abilities. To God be all praise and glory for this His work and His transforming power in the lives of these former street boys! Hallelujah!
ELIJAH ESINYEN is a boy who we rescued off the streets in April 2015. He was addicted to sniffing glue, and ran back to town several times that first year. A born leader, Elijah quickly shone at Erai Akuj Amina and was soon enrolled in an excellent school in town. In his KCPE exam at the end of eighth grade, Elijah made the fourth-highest score in Turkana County--a county the size of South Carolina. He was selected to attend Alliance High School in Nairobi--the best secondaryschool in the country. What an honor!! A former street boy! This year Elijah was among a group of students selected to spend four days at the State House and dine with His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta, and also meet with a foreign dignitary. Surely, we give all the glory to God!!
JOHN LOTIRA John Lotira is another former street boy who is shining. A quiet, serious boy, John is very bright and designed a solar light with a small battery, a piece of solar, a flashlight bulb, and some wires all strapped to a stick. He also wired the boys' dorm with solar electricity. John has a front tooth missing, knocked out during a fight over drugs in his street boy days. He was also becoming increasingly crippled because of being hit by a vehicle while on the streets. Remember the Poor took him to Kijabe Hospital (CURE) in Nairobi where an operation on his knee and physical therapy has helped him to walk normally and well, for which we give thanks to God the Healer. John, along with eight other youth who were rescued in 2015, seriously gave his life to Christ and was baptized in the Turkwel River in February 2019. And the street boy who got his tooth knocked out in a street fight long ago has been named Peacekeeping Captain at his school, Turkana Blooms Academy in Lodwar. What a testimony to his inward transformation! All praise to our great God!!!
Almost one thousand neem trees for shade have been planted around the boys' and girls' properties. rain mill was built to grind our own supply of corn flour, as well as provide this service to the community. The goal of Remember the Poor is to eventually be financially independent and self-sustaining.
GIRLS' RESCUE CENTER, NAWOITORONG
In February, 2017 Remember the Poor sent our social workers to the streets of Lodwar to locate and identify the street girls. After one month of relationship-building, feeding programs and investigation into home situations, 58 girls were identified as vulnerable street girls. This information was provided to the necessary government authorities who endorsed their rescue. Using funds from generous grants and generous donors who partnered with this worthy work, Remember the Poor purchased ten acres of land on the outskirts of Lodwar town, four kilometers distance from our boys' village, and began building a rescue center for the girls. In May 2017 we rescued our first girl, a rape victim brought directly from the hospital, and since then we have rescued 52 girls from the streets of Lodwar.
As with the boys, Mama Maua and the social workers gave each girl a blank book in which to draw her life story, then explain each picture. Their stories would break your heart. Most had been raped and sexually abused either by adults in town, taxi motorcyclists, or grown street boys. They found no safe place to hide from their predators, they were attacked at night as they slept on pieces of cardboard on the sidewalk. Older boys burn the feet and legs of young boys and girls as they sleep to force them to comply. Several girls confided that they slept in a discarded soda machine, disguised themselves as boys, and hid during the day . Some had been trafficked. Most were addicted to sniffing glue. How grateful to God they are, and we are, that they are now in a safe place where they can be children!
REHABILITATION AND INNER TRANSFORMATION
When we rescue our children off of the streets, they are immediately withdrawn from glue. The following weeks and months require intensive care of these children. During withdrawal, they are distracted, overactive or sleeping, fighting and aggressive, disrespectful and scheming always to run back to town to get glue. Because of the extreme traumas they have suffered at home and on the streets, they also need intensive counseling. It is a beautiful thing to see them gradually calming and becoming restored. It is a beautiful thing to see them relax their guard and become happy, well-adjusted children. They quickly put their hope in God, Who they see is the whole source of their rescue and restoration, and they love Him with all of their hearts,
As of end of 2019, thirty-two girls are rehabilitated enough to be attending three of the local schools. We praise God for each one!
Grain Mill-Mount Elgon
Every trip Mama Maua makes to Mount Elgon, she is met by many widows, many widowed by tribal clashes in the region. Most are caring for children or their multiple abandoned grand children. The CFO for Remember the Poor began negotiating a piece of land in the name of 15 of these widows and in January 2016 a grain mill was built. The widows formed a co-op, with the goal of sharing the income that the surrounding community would bring them [through bringing their maize to the widows' mill to be ground into flour]. Grain mills can bring in from $1,000 to $3,000 a month. Divided among 15 widows, this margin of profit holds promise of being a great help to the widows in paying for basic needs and school fees for their children and grandchildren. A house was also built on the widows’ land to house Jeremiah, a Christian brother with ten children and his widowed mother, who had been evicted from their rental property. Jeremiah serves as watchman and curator of the grain mill, and his children are assigned to help bring water from the river to cool the diesel-powered engine. The widows are grateful to Remember the Poor for donors who remember their plight and stepped into help them towards financial emancipation.
UPDATE 2020
In July 2018 when Mama Maua visited Mount Elgon, the widows met her with the story that their pastor had just stolen their grain mill and carted it off. He had leveled the buildings and carried off the iron roofing and sturdy doors several days before. We called a meeting with the village elders who listened to all sides and ruled that the pastor had to return the stolen goods. So the mill is up and running once again. Remember the Poor built a house for Hannah and her eight grandchildren, who operates the grain mill. The widows have formed a CBO (Community Based Organization) supervised by the village elder. With their profits, the widows have purchased chickens which have now begun to lay eggs. Remember the Poor funded a chicken house for the widows. In this situation, as well as the street children with those who are threats to their safety, the following Scripture becomes most real:
"DEFEND THE CAUSE OF THE FATHERLESS. PLEAD THE CASE OF THE WIDOW." Isaiah 1:17
Benson's Chicken Business
Benson Mukhwami, a young man whose father died when he was in his teens helps to support his widowed mother and siblings. This enterprising young man started a chicken business and Remember the Poor funded him to make substantial improvements to his enterprise.
Benson has ensured his success in raising chickens by researching the care of poultry and by attending seminars held by the Kenya Agricultural Society. He has learned to vaccinate his chickens against disease, keep his new batches of chicks warm by keeping the charcoal burner at a steady temperature, and feed his chickens with the most balanced, nutritious feed to ensure maximum egg production.
One who manages his money carefully, Benson hopes to use his profits to support his mother and his siblings, make improvements to the property, and put his savings in the bank in order to meet future goals.
Benson has ensured his success in raising chickens by researching the care of poultry and by attending seminars held by the Kenya Agricultural Society. He has learned to vaccinate his chickens against disease, keep his new batches of chicks warm by keeping the charcoal burner at a steady temperature, and feed his chickens with the most balanced, nutritious feed to ensure maximum egg production.
One who manages his money carefully, Benson hopes to use his profits to support his mother and his siblings, make improvements to the property, and put his savings in the bank in order to meet future goals.
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Solar Dramatized New Testaments (Audiobook)
Remember the Poor took solar dramatized New Testaments donated to them by Every Church Every Village to illiterate women from the more unreached tribes of Kenya: The Turkana in the desert of northeastern Kenya, The Pokot of western Kenya, and plans for The Masai of south-central Kenya. A Proclaimer was also played daily at Erai Akuj Amina, the village for rescued street children of the Turkana tribe. They soaked in the words, teaching and life of Jesus daily as the illiterate cook played the Proclaimer continuously. Proclaimers were also given to Samuel, a Blind man from the Kikuyu tribe and ShoSho, an illiterate elderly woman who loves Jesus so much, also from the Kikuyu tribe.
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Medical Assistance - Naomi Nanjala
Naomi Nanjala is a teenage girl who lives on Mount Elgon with her mother and father in a simple mud house overlooking an expansive valley planted with maize, and grazing land. She is short for her age, and has a hunched back and bowed out chest. She attends school and loves to read, but walking up the steep paths leaves her out of breath. Naomi was diagnosed with extreme thoracic scoliosis. Remember the Poor intervened on her behalf: a surgical procedure expanded her chest cavity so that now she rejoices in being able to climb the mountain effortlessly without getting out of breath. She is very grateful. Still attending school, her only request was for a Bible, which was gladly procured for her.
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Other Medical Intervention
- Isak Khaemba – 3 tuberculoses (pulmonary, spinal, and kidney TB) + elbow septic sore
- Naomi Nanjala – surgery for extreme thoracic Scoliosis
- Martha Nanjale – physical therapy for congenital spina bifida & club feet
- Mercy – eye medication for her eye scale
- Riziki – hospital bill for broken leg / fall from coconut tree
- Dorcas Nyambura – Caesarian Section (2011) Emergency Hysterectomy & follow-up (2015) Asthma medication (2016)
- Sarah Koech – chemotherapy for ovarian cancer
- Paul Esinyen – treatment for snake bite & kidney failure due to antivenin
- Doli and second boy – scorpion bite treatment
- Mama Mercy and two Turkana widows– typhoid medication
- Edith Sechero plus other individuals– malaria
- Nisola – anemia
- ETC.
Education for Needy Children
SCHOOL FEES FOR NEEDY CHILDREN:
Kenyans highly value education as the way for their children to achieve a higher standard of living and in turn better support their parents and families. With school fees, supplies, uniforms, examination fees, sports & field trip fees, food, and transportation, Remember the Poor funds many needy children in order for them to get an education especially in high school and college. Following are some of the children sponsored:
ABALUHYA TRIBE:
- Brillian Indakala - the daughter of an AIDS widow, was funded by Remember the Poor from Form One to Form Four at one of Kenya's top boarding schools and is currently attending Medical School.
- Kennedy Mwalaki – Kennedy’s mother is a widow. Kennedy is being supported through 4 years of Medical School.
- Oscar Kakai – Oscar was helped in Teaching School and is now working as a teacher.
- Many needy school children and orphans from Ingolomosio Prayer Mountain are being funded. Widow Esta and Isak Khaemba’s children are also.
MATESO TRIBE:
- Joshua Imani – Joshua, (the son of a very poor, one-legged pastor on Mount Elgon), is being sponsored through High School.
- Samuel Etiang – is from a poor family on Mt. Elgon and was supported through High School.
KIKUYU TRIBE:
- Blind Samuel’s daughter -Simon Nditu’s son: Agricultural training school
DIGO TRIBE:
- Shay, and now his younger brother, from a poor family on the Muslim Coast, is being funded through Secondary School.
KALENJIN TRIBE:
- Four needy children from Pastor Barnabus’ Grace Baptist Church in Eldoret were funded with fees for several years.
TURKANA TRIBE:
- David Emana – David’s mother is blind and extremely poor. He is being funded through High School at a good boarding school. - Elijah Esinyen, a brilliant former street child, is being funded to attend a good Africa Inland Mission boarding school. -Benson Esinyan, son of an impoverished widow, is funded to become a mechanic at Lodwar Youth Polytechnic.
- Rebecca’s Daughter – is being sponsored through High School. Let it be noted that Turkana girls aged 12 and upwards who do not receive education are often married off at young ages to old men who can pay the high livestock dowry.
- 39-40 former street boys at Erai Akuj Armina rescue village are all being funded by Remember the Poor. All are being schooled at the village school, public school, or private schools.
Kenyans highly value education as the way for their children to achieve a higher standard of living and in turn better support their parents and families. With school fees, supplies, uniforms, examination fees, sports & field trip fees, food, and transportation, Remember the Poor funds many needy children in order for them to get an education especially in high school and college. Following are some of the children sponsored:
ABALUHYA TRIBE:
- Brillian Indakala - the daughter of an AIDS widow, was funded by Remember the Poor from Form One to Form Four at one of Kenya's top boarding schools and is currently attending Medical School.
- Kennedy Mwalaki – Kennedy’s mother is a widow. Kennedy is being supported through 4 years of Medical School.
- Oscar Kakai – Oscar was helped in Teaching School and is now working as a teacher.
- Many needy school children and orphans from Ingolomosio Prayer Mountain are being funded. Widow Esta and Isak Khaemba’s children are also.
MATESO TRIBE:
- Joshua Imani – Joshua, (the son of a very poor, one-legged pastor on Mount Elgon), is being sponsored through High School.
- Samuel Etiang – is from a poor family on Mt. Elgon and was supported through High School.
KIKUYU TRIBE:
- Blind Samuel’s daughter -Simon Nditu’s son: Agricultural training school
DIGO TRIBE:
- Shay, and now his younger brother, from a poor family on the Muslim Coast, is being funded through Secondary School.
KALENJIN TRIBE:
- Four needy children from Pastor Barnabus’ Grace Baptist Church in Eldoret were funded with fees for several years.
TURKANA TRIBE:
- David Emana – David’s mother is blind and extremely poor. He is being funded through High School at a good boarding school. - Elijah Esinyen, a brilliant former street child, is being funded to attend a good Africa Inland Mission boarding school. -Benson Esinyan, son of an impoverished widow, is funded to become a mechanic at Lodwar Youth Polytechnic.
- Rebecca’s Daughter – is being sponsored through High School. Let it be noted that Turkana girls aged 12 and upwards who do not receive education are often married off at young ages to old men who can pay the high livestock dowry.
- 39-40 former street boys at Erai Akuj Armina rescue village are all being funded by Remember the Poor. All are being schooled at the village school, public school, or private schools.
ESTA INGASIANI
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The story of an Empowered Widow
In early 2009, Rose Ann Howell encountered widow Esta on her inlaws' plot of land overlooking a plain of cultivated land and peaceful mud huts of people of the Luhya tribe in the region of Webuye, Kenya. She was struck by the look of utter hopelessness and unhappiness on this young widow's face; and by how thin she was. Recently widowed and left to care for six children, her husband's land was withheld from her. She was forced to move to her inlaws small plot and rely on them for sustenance. By 2011, Mrs. Howell had collected funds from well-wishers to purchase Esta one acre of land in distant Chepsaita, with a view of Mount Elgon on the far off horizon, where she had farmed land with her husband before his death. But in Africa as well as many places, life is not easy for a widow. Esta was beaten to prevent her from building on the land, and her neighbor planted sugar cane but refused her a right-of-way to the road.
So Mrs. Howell directed three trusted Luhya men to intervene on her behalf. First they helped her finish the building of her house, funded by caring believers in America. Then they negotiated the purchase of an additional 0.2 acre of land which they cleared to make a path for her. Furthermore, they had her land re-surveyed and it was discovered that her neighbor had planted some sugar cane on her property, so this was ruled in her favor that that sugar cane was hers. The brothers then fenced her land with posts and barbed wire, to prevent thieving neighbors from stealing her crops. Widow Esta would also benefit from having water piped to her property so that she does not have to walk so far every day to carry water, and this is a project Remember The Poor, Inc. is hoping to help her with. When Mrs. Howell visited Esta in 2014, she found her property fenced, with a spacious path through her neighbor's sugar cane patch, and her acre of land industriously planted with banana plants, cassava, castor oil plants, shade trees, sweet potatoes, onions, beans and many other crops. The cow purchased for her was in the field. Esta's children were attending school, their fees supplemented by Remember The Poor, lnc.. Esta's mud house was roomy and clean, and Esta said she is very happy in this place. UPDATE (2016): January 2016: Remember the Poor funded underground piping to bring water onto Widow Esta’s land, and have a faucet installed near her house. Esta is now able to meet her family's water needs without walking long distances every day to draw it from a stream and laboriously carry it back to her home. Esta is also involved in a church which looks out for her welfare. UPDATE (2020): January 2019 Esta was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. Remember the Poor took her to Eldoret Referral Hospital where the tumor was successfully removed in March. However, the cancer had already spread, and sadly, Esta passed away in June. Remember the Poor funded her hospital and funeral expenses, and intervention on behalf of the best interests of her children. Esta's mother has moved in with the children, and Remember the Poor continues to sponsor her three youngest children in Silungai Primary and Shandarema Secondary schools, and the family with food and seed for planting. |
ISAK KHAEMBA
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A Story of God's Restoration and PowerPastor Levy Washuruka asked Mr. & Mrs. Howell to come and pray for a sick young man on Mount Elgon. They found Isak Khaemba, aged 26, lying inside the mud hut of his parents, unable to walk, and with a chronic septic sore on his arm. He was unable to bend his arm, and a there was a bony protrusion on his backbone. His face was vacant and hopeless.
When caring Americans learned of his plight, funds began to come in and Isak was immediately taken to Kenyatta Hospital in Nairobi where he was diagnosed with pulmonary, spinal and kidney tuberculosis. He was put on a regiment of TB drugs for one year. Isak spent about five weeks in a rehab to have his septic sore tended daily until it was healed. He went to an orthopaedic hospital in Kitale to get physical therapy to learn to bend his arm and strengthen his legs for walking. Money was sent to build a house for Isak and his wife and two children, buy them a cow, and purchase seeds and fertilizer for Isak to plant tomatoes; the proceeds of which he then used to purchase maize and bean seed for the next growing season. When Mrs. Howell visited the community in Mount Elgon in 2014, she was met by Pastor Levy and a bright, pleasant young man. Presently, Pastor Levy asked Mrs. Howell, "Do you know who this young man is?" "No", she replied. "This is Isak", the pastor explained. What a joy to see the utter transformation, from a hopeless young man dying on the floor of his parents' mud hut, to this bright faced, pleasant young man walking with an upright walk! Moreover, he had given his life to the Lord Jesus and been baptized into Christ in the nearby stream, and the joy of the new life showed on his face! Both of his parents came to express their utmost gratitude for the intervention given their son, to save his life, and Isak himself penned a thank you to his well wishers in America! UPDATE (2020): Remember the Poor helped Isak purchase a small plot of land where he built a house for his family. He furnished his home with a sofa and chairs purchased with profits from his tomato business. The cow purchased for Isak calved, and the milk sold helps to support his young family. Remember the Poor also funded Isak to start a small chicken business, a donkey to help carry water up from the river, and paid his children’s school fees. During the COVID crisis, Remember the Poor paid Isaks's wife Rose the monthly income she normally received from the school as water-carrier, and which she relied on for family needs, while the schools are shut down for the year. Isak has become a strong member of the church, ministering to many orphans in the Sunday school/Youth group and intervening on behalf of needy widows and believers in his community. He is a fine, maturing, loyal man. |
BRILLIAN INDAKALA
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Empowering future generations through EducationBenson Mukhwami of Kambiri found 13 year old Brillian and her mother, a widow sick with HIV, weeping together in their mud hut. Brillian had passed her 8th grade (Standard 8) exam with flying colors, but there was no money to send her to 9th grade (Form 1).
In Kenya, parents must pay school fees for their children to go to school. This is a great hardship for parents who are poor, and the cost increases in the upper grades. Yet they see this as a way out of the cycle of poverty; a way up in society, and so they work very hard to send their children to school and consequently the children take their studies very seriously. And so Brillian was heartbroken that she could not continue her education. She had a little brother just 3 or 4 years old. If her mother died, how could she take care of her little brother with no skill sets? Benson called Mrs. Howell and informed her of the crisis, and of Brillian's intellectual potential. So money from wellwishers was sent and Brillian found herself in a very good boarding school in the town of Kakamega. She worked hard and academically placed number one in her class of 300 girls. The next year in Form 2 she retained her position at the top of the class, and again in Form 3 where she placed number two, and was made prefect of her class. Speaking with her in 2014, Mrs. Howell found her to be a very serious, respectful young lady who is very grateful for her opportunity to continue her education, and hopes to make a difference in her world in the future. Remember The Poor, Inc. helps many children like Brillian with their school fees so that they can continue their education. UPDATE (2016 - 2020:) Now a gracious, reserved, refined young lady, Brillian graduated from Secondary School with excellent marks, and was accepted into medical school. She gives a testimony of her faith in Christ, and her gratitude for the donors who have helped her, and for the goodness of the Lord. Remember the Poor continues to contribute towards her educational needs as she looks towards a bright future in a medical profession. Brillian is currently in her fourth year at Maseno University in Kisumu, Kenya. |
