In everything we do, we prioritize sustainability. We believe in providing the children and families we serve with the means to support themselves and achieve long-term financial stability and well-being. These efforts are critical because empowering people to provide for themselves works towards the physical and psychological betterment of the entire community. For over forty years, we have been doing this through farming, animal husbandry, and seed distribution programs.
At our missions, you will find an array of crops that allow our partners to make the most of the harvest and cultivate many sources of nutrition. In Kenya, our Open Gate of Hope Farm uses water well irrigation to grow onions, garlic, bananas, and cassava. In Togo, they boast a bountiful harvest of peppers, pineapples, tomatoes, and more. The crops grown at these agricultural projects not only provide nutrition, but also teach useful skills in farming.
Alongside our farming initiatives, we have many animal husbandry programs. Our partners raise chickens, cattle, pigs, and goats to provide food for our orphanages, schools, clinics, and local villagers. Some of these projects seek to specifically aid vulnerable populations. For example, we have a Widow’s Project that provides widowed individuals in Uganda with a baby goat. Within the community, they breed and raise the goats, using them for milk and selling offspring to generate more revenue and benefit the local village. Likewise, our aquaculture program in Togo allows orphans at Kingdom Care Orphanage to learn how to feed and raise fish in our man-made ponds while also providing them with a great source of protein as they grow and develop. In these projects, any extra production is sold to generate more revenue for the local operating costs of the mission; nothing is ever wasted.
Together, we are empowering them to lift themselves out of the vicious cycle of poverty.
As we go out in the villages we serve, we continue to expand our initiatives beyond farming and animal husbandry. Our “Seeds for Transformation” program, spearheaded by Pastor Peterson Kasharu in Uganda, does just this. Following a dire request from the village chief in Kalgaami for aid and assistance from Peterson, he visited the village. Seeing how nearly each family had experienced starvation, many of them losing loved ones to the scarcity of food, he recognized the need for a short-term and long-term solution. He began by distributing food to those in greatest need; in providing them with rice, beans, and protein packs, he gave them back their life. Then, he distributed corn, soy, and bean seeds. His first distribution was to 150 farmers who, for the first season, became “farmers”. With the harvest, they were able to provide for themselves and their neighbors. When the next season came, they had their seeds from the previous harvest and a renewed commitment to the initiative. Peterson expanded the program, with little access to transportation, to 750 families. Again, began the slow but hopeful process of harvesting and retaining seeds for the next planting season. Currently, there are 4,000 families involved. Next season, Peterson expects that the program will be expanded to nearly 20,000 families. Not only are Kalgaami and its surrounding villages experiencing a decrease in starvation; they are thriving. Their reliance on the supply of outside relief has decreased greatly as they feed their families and keep the seeds. Together, we are empowering them to lift themselves out of the vicious cycle of poverty.
This is just one of the many successful programs designed to help desperately poor children and their families to survive and thrive. Although we are proud of these programs, we are just scratching the surface of the true need. To truly address the needs of all the vulnerable, we humbly ask you to join us.
Please know that every gift, no matter how large or small, is an answer to our prayers and an investment in the life of a child.
Thank you for your support!
Dr. David Bruenning
Founder/Int’l Director
Matthew 25: 35-40: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”