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< Back Food Support Based on careful ongoing assessments and on the advice of our field partners Aggrey and Everlyne, monthly supplemental food support is distributed. We supply three different sized food packs each month. The size of the food pack depends on the family and how many mouths are to be fed. Our food packs do not supply all the necessary food for an entire month. Some of our widows have graduated out of the Widow Care Program and are now self sustaining. We continue to stay in contact with them, and if our field partners feel there is a need, we address that and provide help. Our goal is to have all of our widows and their children/grandchildren become independent and self sustaining through the education and knowledge that is provided. Our hope and prayer is that the cycle of poverty will end with more knowledge allowing them the ability to rise above the issues that keep them in this vicious and oppressive cycle. 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

< Back 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. Over the past few years, we have become more intentional in supporting the education of our women’s children. Our field partners, Aggrey and Everlyne, conduct regular check ups with the schools to ensure attendance and progress. We are taking steps to transition struggling high schoolers into polytechnic schools to learn a trade. We have developed protocols for this assistance and have also extended assistance to several post-secondary students. Esnas is an example of an elderly grandma struggling with school fees. She is 71 years old and has 6 grandkids that she feeds and tries to send to school. Some of these grandkids have lost their mothers to illness and some of their mothers may be working in cities like Nairobi, trying to send money home. Tuition payments were made inconsistently, but with assistance from Voice of Hope, Esnas now sends her grandchildren to school regularly, without the burden of scraping together funds. Security in education can be instrumental in breaking the cycle of poverty for many of these families. On a recent visit Helen wrote: “Esnas came to us singing as we approached her home. The little ones look well and well loved.” Arise & Shine School The Arise and Shine ECD program was started by a compassionate woman named Beatrice who noticed children in her community were not attending any ECD programs. With a desire to prepare them for school, she started a program for less fortunate children in her home. Shortly after, Beatrice built a classroom and took in 45 children between the ages of 2-6. Many of these children do not have parents but are cared for by a guardian/family member. Through the support of Voice of Hope the school is now expanded to four classes, a kitchen/dining hall, a sturdy playground, clean latrines and wash houses, a fresh water well, stipends for teachers and cook and up to date curriculum. Westbow Gives Back 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