 History
of the Orphanage - by Hellen Ochieng
This vision started
in the year 1991 by my husband and me (George and Hellen Ochieng), a newly
married Christian couple.
We had moved to stay
in an area near a market that would be a suitable distance for both of us to get
to our places of work.
George was a
schoolteacher and I was employed in the bank in Public Relations.
At the start, women used to come to our house to ask if they
could give us assistance with the housework and they and their children would
only ask for payment in terms of food. As I got close to them, I realised they
were widowed women who were left behind with their children after their
husbands’ deaths. As we had grown up in Kenya and knew what poverty, starvation
and famine was, we allowed them to have their meals once a day in our house.
Totally orphaned children also got to know about us and three of them started
coming.
This happened
without us noticing until the year 1996 when the burden increased due to the
increase in the death rates due to Aids. We then talked as a family and told
another brother who was also standing close to us about this. We all started to
give our tithes towards the buying of food and the school materials.
In the year 1997 the
Lord called me to serve fulltime in the work of the needy people and
particularly the widows and orphans. It was quite difficult but in 28th
February 1998 I gave up my job in the bank to work fulltime in the ministry.
In 1996 we
registered the work with the relevant ministries in the Government and it was
not until I gave up my job that the Centre was setup. Previously the activities
of this organisation were carried out in rental premises.
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When I resigned I
was paid some benefits worth about £4000. Some of this money went towards the
buying of land and putting up a building to do the feeding and distribution of
food.
In July 1998 Rev
Peter and Freda Brazier
visited
the area of
Rabuor where t he orphanage is now situated. God
spoke into their hearts to help build an orphanage which was opened in July 2000
at the cost of £17,000. This money was donated by God’s
people in Wales and especially Ireland.
 Again the need of a
kitchen & dining hall became part of the vision and after
2 ½ years of believing God for the finances the Maranatha Kenya Trust House was
officially opened on 30th October 2004 at a cost of approx £25,000.
The money was solely donated by the generous people from N. Ireland.
Hellen
Ochieng |
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