The Story of CMS-Africa Wholistic Transformation C…
Bishop Moses Otunga of the Kao la Tumaini Children Centre was a pastor in Mathare when he attended his first VISION Conference in 2002 at Ongata Rongai. A man who himself started off his life in a children’s home run by a CMS Missionary John Green in 1960’s did not only develop passion and interest to serve the less privileged and destitute in the society but is practically living out his life in Korogocho slums in Nairobi.
When he visited CMS-Africa Offices one of the Tuesday, he shared the impact he has realized in the community since he moved from just being a Sunday preacher and became a day to day servant leader in the community
From Mathare where he was serving as a pastor under one of the Pentecostal churches in Kenya, he moved to Korogocho where he started his own ministry running a church as well as a school.
This initiative which was his seed project after attending the CMS-Africa’s Samaritan Strategy training has grown from a daycare to a primary school to a secondary school all as seed projects. His ministry helps children and youth but is under constant risks, operating in informal settlement.
In the 2007 post elections violence, his initiatives were greatly hampered due to political violence. This led to him closing most of the initiatives except the church which continued serving the slum dwellers.
Whenever there was political tension, his area was greatly affected as interethnic violence roared on. His prayer is that KENYA experiences some harmony in the countries leadership. He is grateful to God for helping the Kenyan leaders Raila and Kenyatta coming together to shake hands which has really cooled down the tensions in informal settlements.
He has since gone back and reopened his secondary school and now they have 67 students in the school.
Most of these students are needy and he is trusting God
He has bought a piece of land in Lucky Summer where he has started a Children's home that host 17 kids to date. The orphans are mainly from Korogocho slums which is his catchment area.
He is trusting God for provision of funds to continue with these initiatives that target children and youth in informal settlements.
He has also introduced a rescue center for young girls who get pregnant and have nowhere else to go to. He takes them to rehabilitation centers and places where they can learn some trade to earn a living. The children they give birth to are taken to the children's homes as these young mother go to get a lifeline in some training institutions and apprenticeship.
He is trusting God for partners to help them in the rehabilitation of these young girls who experience teenage pregnancies. He has currently taken 4 girls to a college in Thika where they are learning life skills like tailoring and dress making.After they graduate, his desire is to get them start up their own initiatives that can make them earn a living.
Technical skills training is offered for the young boys to help them earn a living and stop engaging in crime. Most of them end up getting employed in the construction industry.
His gospel is practical and goes beyond the pulpit. It is the gospel of wholistic transformation where that involves helping the people with their needs.
His children's home was recently affected by floods and he is trusting God for partners who can help him rebuild it.
He is also trusting God for continuous engagements with the communities in the slums. Peace forums undertaken by various groups always calms down the anger but it has to be sustained.
Successes so far
- One of the boys who went through Kao la Tumaini works in UK and is now supporting the Orphanage especially the building materials.
- Another girl who went to Canada also visited and brought with them various gifts and items from shopping’s to help Kao la Tumaini.
- Currently he has form 1 to Form 4 with 8 teachers.
- The wife started running a hotel in Lucky Summer as part of her application of her trainings from the women training programme. This was doing well as a seed project but was also affected by the post-election violence.