(A few of our school kids on the shore of Lake Victoria.)
My daughter and I traveled to Kenya during the first two weeks of January to visit our school projects. This was an important visit as I have not been to Kenya in several years. The last time I was planning a visit, my daughter became sick with cancer. It was a thrill to be able to make this trip with her!
Over the last few years we have greatly expanded our school projects. And while I have an excellent Kenyan manager of these projects, I have felt a little out of touch with many of the details. This visit amazed, excited, and terrified me all at the same time. I was able to see that God has built something wonderful in our two schools. Of course, the kids are amazing, but the structure with facilities and staff is efficient and academically excellent. This is a direct result of your continued support and the trust built over many years with my Kenyan manager. God has put together an amazing team!
However, I have also come back somewhat terrified. Terrified at the responsibility. With class promotions, which took place in December, we now have over 200 kids in our two schools with a paid staff of 24, including 18 teachers, 2 cooks, 2 security workers, a director and a family pastor. We are providing a vital role in the lives of many families, most of whom live in 10ftx10ft rooms in Nairobi or dirt homes in Gudwa. We are able to provide nutritious food, quality education, and a nurturing foundation from 7:30 in the morning until 5:00 in the evening. I would like for this to continue!!
The challenge is our monthly support needs. Last year you sacrificially gave to construct a school facility in Nairobi (Mathare). Two floors are finished. We would like to finish two more upper floors but the current construction is adequate for our current needs. Our real need is monthly support. The end of year giving provided a two month cushion, but by the middle of March we will be out of funds.
Some of our real needs include:
Teacher pay: It is much, much more efficient to hire a local Kenyan teacher than to send a Western teacher. For one thing, the Kenyan teachers are excellent! They absolutely know what they are doing and command an inspiring respect from the kids. But I would like to do a better job with their pay. We currently pay teachers an average of $75 per month – shocking , I know. Good teachers in Kenya should be paid between $300 and $400 per month. Our teachers are committed to the ministry of teaching kids but we need to allow them to survive or they will soon need to leave. I would like to immediately increase our teacher pay to $100 per month and further increase the pay to $150 by the end of the year.
Food: Our food program is essential to our education program. Most of these kids would go hungry were it not for our feeding program. And teaching would be but a dream if the kids were not well fed. Our staff is also able to eat during meal time; a nice benefit. Our feeding program is quite efficient, but we still need to spend about 50 cents per child per day. Multiplied by 200 kids and 20 or more schools days per month and the need becomes significant.
Nursery program: This is a ministry program that fills an important need. We provide a service where mothers can leave their infant children while they go out and look for work. We rent a small space for this program so with workers, facility and supplies we need $300 a month to keep this project going.
I know this is a lot of information – and I really want to tell you more about the actual families using our schools – but please consider supporting the work that is already taking place. We are not a ministry with a vague idea of what we would like to do; we are already doing, and doing it well! But we need help. We need those who will take on the support of a teacher, those who want to support feeding a group of students, and those who just want to contribute to the many needs I didn’t talk about, like supplies, utilities, and upkeep.
We can ALWAYS use one-time donations, but there are also several ways you can become a regular contributor. The Donate Now button will let you set up monthly credit card donations. Several people have set up regular Bank Checks through their local bank. You can also send me your address and I will send you a packet of donation envelopes. Checks can be mailed directly to:
God’s Daily Word Ministries
PO Box 12441
Jackson, TN 38308
Thanks for your faithful support, and please pray that God would allow us to continue!
Have a Christ Centered Day!
Steve Troxel
God’s Daily Word Ministries
