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Where We Began | Where We Are | Where We're Going About Voice of Hope Our Beginnings Voice of Hope was born in 2013 when Mary Anne Westeringh had the opportunity to accompany her husband Dick on a Hungry for Life trip to Kenya and Uganda. The objective of this trip was to familiarize board members and their guests with the various projects with which Hungry For Life was involved in. Mary Anne saw an opportunity for further outreach. And it was only a matter of time before the Voice of Hope organization was formed. The events of one particular hot and dusty afternoon became very significant in her life when they visited two women. While both women were widowed and named Margaret, their needs were different. They happened upon the senior woman lying on an thin, worn-out mattress, where they learned she spent all of her days and nights. The other was a widowed mother trying desperately to raise her 8 children amidst a home that was falling apart. Both of these women were hungry, tired, discouraged, and lonely. Both of these women lacked resources and hope. Hope was what Mary Anne wanted to offer to these women, and many others in similar circumstances. Realizing how destitute, lonely, and forgotten many of these widows were prompted Mary Anne to put together a team of women to come and offer hope and assistance. On this day, Voice of Hope was born. Our Why The stress these widows contend with does not end with being a sole provider for children or grandchildren. They face impossible situations because of crop failures, food scarcity, high unemployment rates, decrepit homes, and school fees combined with loneliness, isolation, sickness, and hunger. The weight of this burden feels impossible and there are no options for social assistance. Our Team Trips Voice of Hope made our first team trip to Kakamega in October 2014. All our team trips have been facilitated by Hungry for Life International. Throughout our first and subsequent visits to Kenya, we have met many inspiring women who are trying to make a life for themselves and their children without the protection or income that a husband traditionally provides. We developed our Widow Care Program working with our Kenyan field partners, Everlyne Imbenzi and her assistant, Aggrey Mudi. Together, they facilitate the assistance we provide for our widows and families, while also arranging and monitoring all projects. Our Expansion In 2014, we started our operations in the Kakamega and Siaya regions with twenty widows. Each year, the number of widows has steadily increased. We expanded our program to the village of Yogo in 2019, where we were able to assist an additional twenty widows. To date, we have quadrupled our numbers in these three regions. Voice of Hope currently has two groups engaged with one based in Chilliwack, BC and the other in St. Thomas, ON which was formed in 2019 and is led by Helen Van Dyk. Our Future We visualize empowered widows and orphans building healthy families and contributing to a transformed world; by improving the overall quality of their lives.

We are Voice of Hope. Since our beginning in 2013, Voice of Hope has sought to improve the quality of life for impoverished widows and orphans in Kenya. We seek to encourage women spiritually, physically, and emotionally with the Word of God and by facilitating opportunities for them to have better everyday lives and self sustainability. This is done through the building of lasting relationships with our widows. By God’s grace and abundant provision, together with our generous donor community, we have made a difference in many lives! “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble” James 1:27 Learn More What We Do We strive to be the hands and feet that show Christ-like love and compassion to the needy widows and orphans, to share a cup of water to the least of these, to be a voice of hope, to answer the cries of the hungry and helpless, to build relationships, and to encourage them in the Lord. Vision: We envision empowered widows and orphans striving for self sufficiency; building strong families and communities that contribute to a transformed world to the glory of God Mission: We bring hope through the gospel of Jesus Christ and seek to improve the lives of impoverished widows and orphans in Kenya while fostering lasting relationships. Values: Christ Centred: We bring hope based on the revealed will of the Lord Jesus Christ as taught in the Bible. Relationship focused: We nurture personal connections to better support the spiritual, physical, and mental well-being of our widows and orphans Integrity: 100% of all raised funds go to the projects Respect and Humility: We believe that every woman and child is created in God's image for His glory and deserves love and respect, regardless of their status, education, or age. Widow & Orphan Care We have invested in capital projects, improving homes and living conditions. Furthermore, we invest in food hampers, tuition, agriculture and business training for a group of families. Community Care We visit schools throughout the area with feminine hygiene packs for girls and hygiene teaching for boys, run teaching days on a variety of topics, drill wells and so much more. We seek to bless all those we encounter in Kenya.

< Back Shiphra Centre We work with a childrens’ home called Shiphra Centre in Nairobi. Thanks to your compassionate and generous donations, this little home has been receiving help with student tuition for many years. Martha Njeri has a generous heart, a lovely smile, infectious laugh, and a deep faith. Her home is warm and welcoming and the children are happy and well looked after. There are upwards of 90 children attached to the home, ranging in age from infancy to late adolescence. She also cares for mothers with babies who are in transition situations. Martha grew up in a nominal Christian home. She explained the troubles and problems she encountered in her family, in her marriage, and on the street; she asked the Lord to speak to her and reveal Himself. Her 'test' was that she needed a word from the Lord to not go back to an abusive man who had fathered her children. He spoke through Psalm 57. At that time, she realized she wanted the power of faith, and not just the form of it; she wanted the faith and perseverance of Daniel, and anyone who knows her, sees that she has found it. Martha knows what it is like to be a neglected child, to grow up poor and to have no food or education. Now that she had become an adult and had a strong relationship with the Lord she wanted to find a place in her community. She felt led to help children who were in situations like she had been. At first, Martha would just look after children where they were on the street, providing food and love, but she began to see that the next day they were in the same place with the same problems; in 2006, she began to take them into her home. Shiphra was a midwife in the book of Exodus, who refused to follow Pharaoh's genocidal instructions. It is said that Shiphra was one of the earliest, and in some ways the most powerful examples of resistance to an evil regime. This is an appropriate name for this home, as Martha is a powerful example of love and resistance to the status quo of child neglect in her community. She has earned a strong reputation in the community, with government workers, doctors, and police officers. The home has a board of community members that are passionate about caring for her and the children and helping her in her work. Martha feels so accomplished when she helps her children. Her heart’s desire is to see them succeed, to know God, and to grow to be caring and loving adults in their communities. She also sees the limitations of her work; her dream is to one day train others to care for more children so that all children in Kenya will have a safe and loving home. Donate Project Gallery

The team left Nairobi on the 28th at 1:00 am. 🥱 We’ve landed in Istanbul and after a 3.5 hour layover we’ll be off for 13 more hours. Very thankful for the wonderful weeks we were privileged to have in Kenya. Thanks to the Lord for His care and protection

Today, the team traveled back to Nairobi from Siaya. We boarded a small plane in Kisumu to begin our journey to "the big city". The whole day was spent at a Children’s home called Shiphrah Home. Martha along with her daughter Eva are 2 miraculously amazing women who have taken on the heavy responsibility of caring for about 100 children. They are blessed with a team of helpers to help lighten the load. For some of us, It was our first time visiting, others had gone on previous years. When we first arrived we were greeted by Eva, Martha's daughter, who took us to go and see Martha. Martha was laying in bed resting as she is healing from a knee replacement. You could see that Eva is really stepping up to help her mother as she's recovering. Martha was able to walk to the living room where we started our visit with some devotion time. Afterwards, some of the younger children were brought into the living room, you could see how much of a mother figure Martha is to the kids as she came alive with joy when they arrived. After a short visit with Martha , we went into a hall where we met up with children of all ages and served a nice lunch of KFC and beans. It was wonderful to see how all of the children waited patiently and then joyfully prayed for their food. It was definitely noticeable from the first moment that they are clearly being educated in God's word. After the meal we read the story of Esther and all of the children made a crown and also had a small book of the story to color. The children were so respectful of one another and you could see the older children helping the younger children with the craft and coloring. When the craft was finished we were blessed with some of children coming up to the front and reciting bible verses. You could tell that they were shy but definitely not afraid. Then we were even more blessed when they started singing a song about how God loves them. Their voices sounded like angels and hit you right in the heart with deep feelings. It was powerful, and you could feel that God definitely dwells at Martha's house. These children are being raised with God's grace. Before we left, we had the opportunity to see the new floor of the facility that is being built for the girl's dormitory. The boys still stay in an older section of the home but there is a plan for an expansion for the boys to have a new space as well. Visiting Martha's house definitely had mixed emotions. When our team came together afterwards to debrief we used words like overwhelmed, heartbroken, shell-shocked. But then we also used words like heart warmed, love, security, education and home. It's easy for us to look at the situation with "1st world eyes" and see all the issues. But in reality, these children are being saved from the streets and or abuse, getting three meals a day, Godly education and continual love. We could leave in peace knowing that all these 100 children are in Martha and Evas loving care, but even more peaceful knowing God has his loving arms wrapped around each child leading their lives toward salvation. ~Jenn

Today began with teaching hygiene at the Yogo school.  We expected 50 girls and 50 boys:  instead we were blessed with 94 boys and 93 girls!  They enjoyed the teaching and most received packages to take home.  (Because we did not expect so many, we came unprepared and were so sad to send some children home without a pack.  They will receive them in December.) We then made our way to 6 widow visits, which were a bit unconventional due to time constraints today.  We met outside with each lady and had a time of prayer, sharing scripture, and song.  We always ask each widow for prayer requests.  These usually consist of asking for prayer for health, that their children or grandchildren would do well in school, or that they could find meaningful employment.  When we arrived at Millicent's home, we realized she was not in a good place.  Her home that she shared with 4 children is very small, and in extreme disrepair.  She asked for prayer that she might find help to fix it, as well as to be able to come up with money for tuition for her children to go to school.  What joy filled her face when we were able to tell her both prayers were already answered!  Mary Anne had seen these issues at her preliminary visit, and had coordinated with VOH to be able to build her a new home, as well as pay the tuition for her children to go to school!  (Photos of her home and her family below.)  We also visited Margaret Were and blessed her children with a new soccer ball, which they immediately began to play with.  The sound of their laughter followed us down the trail to the van. Next we made our way to Cathy's drop off point, where we took a group photo before saying goodbye.  Cathy Is our field partner in this area and served as our interpreter for our days in Siaya and Yogo. She is an incredible asset to our team! Goodbyes are bittersweet:  we have grown to quickly love these dear, sweet, welcoming ladies! But, as Jane aptly put it in her devotion tonite, we leave them in the best hands.  We leave them with the One who sees all things, knows all things, and cares for His people more than we ever could.  He goes before them, stands behind them, walks beside them, and holds them in His hand.   Back to the hotel to pack for our flight to Nairobi early tomorrow. Hadi tukutane tena!  Until we meet again! ~Marilyn