Search Results

Projects Widow Care Many women living in sub-Sahara Africa are subject to a wide range of plights and deplorable conditions. This is intensified immensely following the death of a spouse. Voice of Hope provides assistance to 80 women and their children or grandchildren in rural Kenya who find themselves in these conditions. Read More Secure Housing It was common for our women to live in homes that had no security or protection from the elements. Many lived in homes that were falling apart. Personal hygiene was nearly impossible with no latrines or wash houses in which to bathe. Read More Education and School Tuition It was apparent when other members of the widow’s family were expected to pay school fees, there were often gaps in support, which would result in the children missing school and falling behind. Read More Spiritual Groups Loneliness and isolation is prevalent in the day to day toil in our dear women’s lives. A sense of hopelessness and fear often prevails because life is hard. In 2019, it was decided amongst the women to create small groups in each community to study the Word of God and to encourage one another. Read More Medical Support Access to medical care has been a game changer for our women. Living such hard lives, often performing heavy, manual labour in the fields, brings with it a toll on their physical bodies. Read More Food Support Based on careful ongoing assessments and on the advice of our field partners Aggrey and Everlyne, monthly supplemental food support is distributed. Read More Adult Education Receiving education is a rare privilege for most of our widowed women. Some of our ladies were able to receive a primary education. Few were given the opportunity to graduate from high school. Many in our program did not have the advantage of any formal schooling. Read More Community Development An important aspect of the work of Voice of Hope has been to fund clean water wells and facilitating piped water access. We have also focused on proper sanitation with new latrine and wash house facilities, improvements to existing homes or as needed the construction of new homes. We have also been able to facilitate adding some classrooms to an existing school. Read More 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. Read More

< Back Community Development An important aspect of the work of Voice of Hope has been to fund clean water wells and facilitating piped water access. We have also focused on proper sanitation with new latrine and wash house facilities, improvements to existing homes or as needed the construction of new homes. We have also been able to facilitate adding some classrooms to an existing school. Four water wells have been funded though Voice of Hope in the Kakamega district. Safe clean drinking water is a luxury in rural Kenya. Women and children often bear the burden of walking miles each day to find water in streams and ponds, full of water-borne diseases that is are making them and their families sick. Illness and the time lost fetching water is significant. With safe water, clean hands, healthy bodies; time lost is dramatically reduced. Good functional latrines (outhouses) and a private bathing space is such a blessing for our women. It was not uncommon for our women to share that before she they received their latrines, they were taunted because they did not have bathroom facilities and were forced to use the neighbouring bushes to relieve themselves. Taking a ‘bath’ was also very difficult. Many of our women would wash outdoors in the dark of night, hoping that no one would walk in on them. All of our ladies have a wash ‘stall’ beside their latrine where they can wash themselves with privacy. Home improvements are on the ‘to do’ list for every widow that joins our program. Sometimes her home will be so dramatically dilapidated that a new home will be constructed for her. Our goal is to be sure they are comfortable and secure; that each family can proudly feel like their house is their ‘home sweet home’. Donate Project Gallery

< Back Widow Care Many women living in sub-Sahara Africa are subject to a wide range of plights and deplorable conditions. This is intensified immensely following the death of a spouse. Voice of Hope provides assistance to 80 women and their children or grandchildren in rural Kenya who find themselves in these conditions. As widows move through their own experiences of grief, loss, or trauma after the death of a spouse, they may also face economic insecurity, discrimination, stigmatization, and harmful traditional practices on the basis of their marital status. They struggle with food; at best, most live on the edge of hunger. They struggle with insecure shelter. Having their land taken by in-laws and distant relatives is not uncommon. They struggle with the woeful lack of access to adequate health care and consistently good education for their children. Mothers, by their very nature, long to provide well for their children. Often, this is the biggest challenge our women face. Sadly, due to the high incidence of premature death in adults, many of our women have buried children. Some have buried many children. This leaves an aging grandma to care for her grandkids. An example of this is Grandma Margaret: Margaret R. is a sweet woman who, at the age of 76 years, we’d expect to see loving her grandchildren from a rocking chair. Instead, due to the death of her son and the hardships her other adult children face, Margaret labours as a full time grandma to six of her grandchildren. While the task of providing for these little ones is daunting, Voice of Hope offers assistance, allowing Margaret to provide food and education for her family. Donate Project Gallery

Written by: Sue This is the day the Lord has made and we rejoiced and were glad in it! This morning we were blessed to worship with fellow believers at the Ceje Glory Center Church. Pastor Akal The message was based on Romans 8:37 “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us!” He had seven interesting points with lots of scripture backing. Conquerors: 1. Recognize their limitations, allow God to help. Ie Moses, Jeremiah 2. Have a positive mental attitude. Don’t be pessimistic ie the twelve spies. 3. Never expect everyone’s approval, only seek God’s approval. 4. A conqueror does not conform but seeks excellence. 5. A conqueror knows how to listen and accept criticism without losing sweetness. Separate destructive from constructive criticism Galations 2:12-13. 6. Give meaning to everything you do. Prayer has a purpose so pray with a purpose. 7. A conqueror knows when to say no. Resist the devil. Have an understanding spirit to discern what is right. The message had lots of practical tips. The singing was amazing and the fellowship sweet! We have now completed all of our widow visits and most of our project work. Tomorrow we will fly to Nairobi and visit Martha’s Shiphrah Home. After visiting Martha we will head to our overnight safari. Our trip is coming to an end and our thoughts are turning towards home.

Written by: Linda & Rebecca Today was Ladies’ Day similar to the previous one in Kakamega. We arrived at the Yogo Glory Centre as the first lady arrived, and we were able to go watch (and some played) with the students who were playing handball. The impromptu, drumming, singing, and dancing, were enjoyed by all. We made our way back to the building as the last few ladies arrived. The ladies sang beautifully for us and there were several speakers, including a talk on water treatment. The new ladies we are supporting received VOH shirts. Each lady was able to pick out two skeins of yarn after we all enjoyed a time of refreshment with a pop, Queencakes and a stroopwaffle. After a quick break, we spent the afternoon visiting 3 widows. We would appreciate you joining us in prayer for Eveline’s daughter Michelle. She lives at the boarding school she attends and is having nightmares every night. While we don’t know the exact cause of Michelle’s nightmares, there are potential underground dangers at boarding schools, including devil worship and lesbianism. Please storm the throne of our mighty God for Michelle that she may be relieved of her nightmares and that she will come to know the Lord as her Saviour and only source of true comfort. We enjoyed supper at Pastor Silas‘s house. Now we are heading off to bed so we can be prepared for church in the morning.

Written by: Carla Rather than walk you through each widow visit we had the privilege of doing this morning, I'll focus in on one and leave you to extrapolate as to the other 30some over the past week. My hope is you get a feel as to what it's like to be 'boots on the ground' ... It'll be a long one; sorry, not sorry! This is the first time a VOH team met Monica and her grandson Tyson; the widows in the Seje area have had 3 visits total already from the 2 field partners and the HFL liaison. Today we all learned she had 11 children, 9 of which have died. She elaborated she did not see it as a punishment from God or that it was her personal guilt contributing to these losses, but she could endure and continued to pray throughout that God strengthen her. She is now raising her grandchildren as a result. She acknowledged the goodness of the Lord and sees how it is Him Who gives them peace. Even in pain He consoles you, she affirmed. He gives a strength which she said is not normal, it is from the Lord. Whenever she goes to church and has the opportunity in her home, she encourages others. She reminded me of the portion of Matthew 12 regarding the tree being known by its fruits: 'For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks'. She was so happy to report they recently started a Seje women group to study the Bible together. When we dug a little deeper, we discovered both Tyson and Monica both need a Luo translation of the Bible (the Swahili version is too difficult and 'deep' for folks with lower education levels). When we discovered her eyesight was deteriorating, Helen gave her an extra pair of eyeglasses which absolutely delighted her because they made such a huge difference. The VOH field partners had already given them a bed, 2 blankets and a mattress. The males in her family sleep in the simba (a separate hut) with 3 men on one mattress, sharing one small blanket under a thatched grass house roof that leaks. They have to gather the mattress and their blanket when it rains and stand in a certain part of the room and wait until the rain passes. Monica's home needs new treated (to protect from termites) rafters and a metal roof, another 4 mattresses and 4 more blankets for the females of the family. Termites are eating the wooden rafters of the main house and the roof is leaking due to a few holes and the joints of the metal not being sealed. Further questions determined she cooks under a tree so we are proposing to make a kitchen house and use the old metal from her home for the roof on that. She has no wash house and also needs a latrine. Her water is currently being hauled from the river 4 km away twice a day. Her grandsons Tyson, Don or Felix haul the water by bike. We learned they drink untreated river water and confirmed Monica was coming for the educational sessions presented at the upcoming Women's Day where one of the topics deals with the need for and method of treating river water. Monica's shamba is 1.5 acres of land and she plants maize, sorghum and beans. VOH ordered soil tests to be done due to low yields in the past and determined it is very acidic soil and nutrient depleted. This information will be passed back up to VOH leadership and they will decide on the fertilizer and lime needed to increase her yield. Monica's only soft-spoken request was for post-secondary education fees for her granddaughter so she could continue on a career path; Monica knows her time is short and the biggest blessing would be that her grandchildren would get educated and be able to provide for themselves after she passes. Tyson prays, if the Lord allows, that he can go to driving school (a 6 month course) because there is good opportunity to get steady work with that qualification. One challenge is there is only one bicycle in the home... so if he needs it to get to his classes in the town 14km away, his cousins can't haul water with it and would have to walk. Every decision has so many consequences. What a privilege it is to again observe the relationship being built with the widows, the wisdom and stewardship mission organizations need to have as they evaluate and pray through the needs they are presented with. The field partners are invaluable; understanding the culture and all the nuances, translating for us and all the while leaving the recipients feeling valued, loved and with their dignity intact is an immense skill set. Please remember Everlyne, Cathy and Aggrey who continue to work for VOH between team and HFL visits. This afternoon we visited the Seje Glory Centre Academy and read Bible stories to the students, sang a few kid's songs, handed out soccer & tennis balls, frisbees & skipping ropes as well as bubbles & wands. What a joy for us ALL! Soli Deo Gloria.