the solution
If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
-Mother Teresa
The Orphanage
Hope's House Kenya
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:27
A Basic Timeline
2013
Pastor Peter Kuyuni and his wife, Cppline, saw the need in their community and began to care for 23 orphans and oppressed children.
2014
God connected Pastor Kuyuni in Kenya with Elizabeth Paige in America, and they began to work together to help the cause of the orphans. The first major accomplishment was taking the street children and orphans to schools, buying books, uniforms, paying school fees, and enough food for them!
November 2014
Through generous donations, Pastor Kuyuni was able to purchase a dairy cow (who later gave birth to a calf), and a motorcyle to provide him with a much needed means of transportation, which he uses to reach his three congregations and to preach about Jesus all over the region.
April 2015
The number of orphans grew to 28. We registered our NGO (non-governmental non-profit organization): Hope House Foundation Kenya. Not only does this organization deal with orphans, but general humanitarian aid. These are: looking after orphans, widows, old aged, HIV/AIDS victims, people stricken with natural calamities like floods, hunger, displacement, helping the poor, initiation of projects for poverty alleviation, starting game activities, rehabilitation center for drug addicts and many others!
The process of registering the foundation and opening its account was very expensive! God provided through generous donations.
June 2015
In the summer of 2015, Elizabeth Paige hosted the first annual Hope's House Kenya community yard sale fundraiser in Colorado. Over the 3-day event, she was able to raise $3600 for building the orphanage. We purchased the first half an acre piece of land for $5600 USD. $2000 remained in debt.
July 2015
With the help of local volunteer labor, we were able to fence in the property, bore the hole for clean water, build latrines, build a house for our senior teacher (Rida Khisa and her family), and build a school kitchen, a school office, and two classrooms!
December 2015
For Christmas, the children enjoyed a wonderful Christmas celebration, remembering all that God had done for them. They ate well and dressed beautifully and felt very special and blessed.
January 2016
We began Hope and Light Academy with 15 students, two teachers, and a cook. We opened the doors to orphans and non-orphans so that the children could grow up as other children do.
June 2016
Elizabeth Paige hosted the 2nd annual Hope's House Kenya community yard sale fundraiser. So many people in her community came with truckloads of donations that she eventually had to turn them away. After the 3-day event, she had raised $5000 in donations. We were able to pay off the $2000 land debt, expand to include another half an acre, and pay for all of the building materials to complete the boys' and girls' dormitories.
December 2016
All of the structures were scheduled to be complete by Christmas, but we ran into some "red tape" and governmental delays which lasted several months. The children had a wonderful celebration of the Lord's birth with a special meal and gifts for all of the children.
February 2017
The school now has 35 students, 6 teachers, a cook, a housekeeper, and a gardener. We have hired out a field and planted it with beans to be able to provide food for the children. The dormitory construction is under way. We are expecting all of the structures to be complete and the children to all be moved in very soon.
May 2017
The dorms are complete, but we have further need for expansion, as many of the parents who have their children in the school are seeing how much of a better life the orphans have than their own children and they are wanting to have their children stay at the school, as well. It is hard to imagine such circumstances, but these loving parents can see an opportunity for a better life and a future for their children. In the photo below, see the children celebrating Pawell's birthday. The smiles say it all.
JULY 2017
Elizabeth Paige hosted the 3rd Annual Fundraiser for Hope’s House Kenya. Approximately $3000 were raised during the 3-day event, which was disappointing to the organizer, BUT GOD put it on the heart of an anonymous donor to donate a check for $15,000! GOD IS ABLE!!! With these funds, we were able to expand the school, hire additional staff, build the school you see below, and create a business for the public which would help fund the orphanage and serve the community.
July 2018
Elizabeth Paige suffered from a miscarriage and was unable to proceed with the planned fundraiser, however, God had not forgotten the children! Another anonymous donor said that God put it on their heart for years to help and this was the year to begin. They sent a donation of $15,000! With that, we were able to build a second orphanage to care for the youngest orphans, under 12, who were complete orphans and were relinquished into our care.
October 2018
Construction began on the new orphanage. The project was completed in record time and under budget!
November 2018
The first precious children arrived. First Abel Baraka (age 6), then David Simiyu Wafula (age 10), then John Gift Wangila (age 8), then Emmanuel Ushindi (age 9), followed by Peter Rock (age 7).
April 2019
Three more precious children were added to the precious five above in the new children’s home. They are: Faith Maua (age 9), Samuel Kibali (age 7), and Dusan rays (age 9).
With the blessings of God and faith to move mountains, and the willingness to be doers of His Word, life is changing for these precious children! “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
the school
hope and light academy
Things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; ... -King David
Psalm 78:3-8
From the seed of an idea, based on a desperate need, and a grassroots effort to see that seed grow, with the help of a few faithful and faith-filled partners, we miraculously built Hope and Light Academy and now have 35 pupils enrolled! We also employ 6 teachers, a cook, a housekeeper, and a gardener!
The children all receive meals at the school and we have hired out two acres of land to plant beans for two seasons to help feed the children. This is such a blessing and gift of hope to these children who now have the opportunity to learn and train for their futures alongside "normal children", far from the lives they have been rescued from.
Kenya does not have a public school system, so many children cannot go to school for lack of financial means. Many children are forced into child labor or prostitution just to fill their bellies. Many live without education, limiting their potential and restraining their futures. By providing this school, all of these children can learn and grow, with no limit on who they can be and what they can achieve.
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
“Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren’t any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life’s challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person.”
The Future
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11
“...Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
This work was begun by God and has only come to pass because of His power and love, not only for all of these most precious children who have done nothing to suffer so, but for us, too, that by showing love to them, God can show His love to us, as we bring His Kingdom principles to earth--as His hands, His feet, and His heart for the hurting.
We have no doubt that, with the Lord's blessing, we will continue on in greater and greater measures. It is most unfortunate, but many more children will need our ministry of hope. Many will need to be rescued from a life on the streets. Many will need to fill their bellies and heal their broken hearts. Many will need to know that they are loved and were created by God Almighty with a plan and a purpose. And by His grace, and with the help of amazing people like you, we will continue to feed, to clothe, to house, to encourage, to educate, to prepare, to inspire, to refresh, to bring healing to, to bring joy to, and to love without measure the orphans and oppressed of Kitale, Kenya. Will you join us?
“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”