Missions of Hope International Brings Hope, Health, and Healing

By Laura McKillop Wood

Twenty-five years ago, a young African couple had a dream. Unlike most newlyweds, theirs wasn’t just about the life they’d build together. It was about serving the poor—the most disadvantaged of Africa.  

The couple began working with community leaders in the oldest slum in Africa to identify the 50 poorest, most distressed four-year olds in the community and started a preschool. This began what would become Missions of Hope International (MOHI). During this, their 25^th anniversary year, the ministry now has 38 schools in Kenya, another in Liberia, and one opening soon in Ethiopia. The schools now serve over 32,000 students and are “Hope Centers,” places of robust holistic ministry that transform lives, families, and communities. 

The Founders  

Mary Kamau was the seventh of 20 children in a polygamous family in rural Kenya. She made her way to Nairobi to the university, where she hoped to escape poverty. During her first year, she committed her life to Christ and began volunteering in a ministry in the Nairobi slum. Wallace Kamau came from a well-resourced Kenyan family and graduated from the country’s best university with a degree in accounting. He rose quickly in the business community, first as an accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, then as CFO of an insurance company. Mary and Wallace met at a prayer meeting. Their relationship was built on love for each other, love for God, and a deep burden for the poor. 

The Need 

Missions of Hope International began in the Nairobi slums with the goal of serving not just the poor, but the poorest. In Nairobi, nearly three million people live in eight-by-ten-foot shanties in giant contiguous slums. One shanty may house 10 or more people. There is no government electricity, no running water, no police protection, no fire protection, no sewers. The slums are violent places.  

Sociological terms are sometimes too neat and tidy and do not tell the real story. “Food insecurity” speaks of anxiety and concern, but in extreme poverty it can mean three or four days since the last meal. “Casual labor” doesn’t sound bad, but in Nairobi it means parents up before dawn, walking into the city to find someone to hire them for the day. If it’s a good day, they make $2. If it’s a bad day, the children do not eat. Eighty percent of the women are involved in commercial sex, primarily to get money to feed their children. 

The Four Pillars 

MOHI has four “pillars” in its holistic approach: education, spiritual development, economic empowerment, and basic medical care. Founded and led by Africans, MOHI does not impose solutions on any community but seeks to work with them to empower them to improve their community, beginning with education. Most parents in extreme poverty welcome a school as a way out of poverty. With each school, MOHI starts a church. The church pastor is also the school chaplain, connecting the pastor with families. MOHI’s students typically get above-average marks on national exams. Last year one of their earliest graduates was sworn into the Kenyan bar as a lawyer, and a current graduate scored 411 on a national exam. The country’s highest score was 428.  

Once a child is in school, social workers reach out to the parents, helping them develop skills to make a sustainable living. One way they do this is through an eight-week program designed to help them develop a business plan and launch the business. Families often go from making an inconsistent $2 a day to making $4-5 a day every day—a total game changer. To date, MOHI has trained more than 15,000 people to operate their own businesses.  

MOHI also has a trade school, certified by the government, to offer technical training for jobs like auto mechanics, construction trades, fashion and design, catering, computer technology, and others. Nearly 1,500 a year are now graduating in these growing programs.  

The medical care pillar involves both prevention and cure. The child-survival program guides expectant mothers into healthy practices that can be lifesaving for both the mother and child. In some tribal areas, women give birth to 10-12 children, knowing half will die. Many of those deaths and the associated heartbreak are preventable.  

Some illnesses are curable with the right medications. Clinics within reach and school nurses can improve overall health and reduce reliance on witch doctors, who historically might have been the only presumed option. 

Spirituality of the Everyday 

There’s a saying at MOHI: “Everything is spiritual.” Spiritual life is integral to everything Missions of Hope does. Baptisms are frequent. One recent year there were 69 baptisms at the trade school. Their joy-filled spirituality permeates every program. 

Although MOHI is an African-led organization, Americans play a key role. Americans give monthly to a sponsorship program to support students, including a daily school feeding program. American sponsors write notes, send gifts, and visit their sponsored children. Many Americans play a first-hand role in the ministry. Last year over 1,200 Americans from U.S. partner churches went on short-term teams to serve alongside MOHI’s Kenyan staff. 

Cultural Change 

Over time, the work of the mission brings cultural change, sometimes to centuries-old practices. In remote areas, fathers still sell their seven-and eight-year-old daughters to much older men for a small flock of goats. The girls become their third or fourth wife, betrothed until the age of 10 or 11 when weddings take place. “Early marriage” is illegal, but the law is not enforced.  

When MOHI starts a school and a church in a rural area, the pastor and the head teacher go hut to hut, talking one at a time with each father. They explain the benefits of educating daughters and how it benefits the father as well, asking his permission for his girls to go to school. One by one, girls are putting on school uniforms and learning about the world around them and their heavenly Father.  

To learn more about Missions of Hope International, visit https://give.mohiafrica.org/give.