Hope Center Success Stories

Below are Hope Centers that we are in the process of giving governance to the local community because they have grown and are ready to lead! We are excited to see how these communities grow in the future with great ministries partners.

Oloototo Hope Center

The first Hope Center, Oloototo Hope Center, started in 1984 includes a chapel, a health clinic, and dormitories for students on its astounding 120 acres. The K-8 school currently educates 1,200 students, has housing for teachers, the pastor, and health clinic nurse, and is complete with its own water system, including both a well and a water filtration system.

The school at Oloototo Hope Center is currently ranked 15th in the district of over 130 schools. They have one of the highest percentages of students who pass their 8th-grade exams which allows them to go on to high school.

As with every Hope Center, the chapel is the backbone of this center and community. Here students attend Bible classes throughout the week and the younger children enjoy Bible Club on the weekends. The pastor at Oloototo Church is home-grown. Having studied at the school here, he went on to secondary school, followed by Bible school, and then returned to pastor this thriving church.

Oloototo Hope Center has been implementing programs to make it a community sustained Hope Center. In 2020 Special Ministries and Helping Kenya Kids officially turned this Hope Center over to the community for its continued running.

Ololii Hope Center

In 2010, Mama Newman learned that children were walking a considerable distance from the Ololii community to attend the primary school at the Olooltoto Hope Center. It was then that Special Ministries prayerfully decided to help Ololii obtain a school of their own.

The need for this school became clearly apparent when they learned that one of the teachers was attacked by an elephant while on the road to school. The Ololii Hope Center was started so that school children would not be endangered by elephants that regularly chased them on the path between these two communities.

A school building for K-8 education was built, along with several restrooms, teachers’ housing, a cookhouse, and three water storage tanks. With 250 students at the Ololii Hope Center, the community has grasped the opportunity to sustain this ministry on their own. In 2020, Special Ministries and Helping Kenya Kids officially turned this Hope Center over to the community of Ololii to operate.

Bar-Karumba Hope Center

Located on a hilltop overlooking the city of Kisumu, the Bar-Karumba Hope Center has become a very independent center.

Begun as a secondary school for the area, this Hope Center has received a significant amount of government funding for its operations. Using these funds, the Hope Center staff have overseen the building of a full-scale health clinic and residence for a doctor. They have also constructed an administrative building. Plans are currently in the works for the construction of dormitories for students.

The Community Group at this Hope Center is very intentional and organized in their planning and implementation. They have done an excellent job of making this a successful and growing school. The current principal of the school has been utilizing area pastors to work with these students serving as both chaplains and counselors.

In 2015, Special Ministries and Helping Kenya Kids turned this Hope Center over to the local community to run. It is so encouraging to see the growth of this Hope Center under local leadership.

Il-kerin Hope Center

The people of this community were in an extremely difficult situation back in 2008 when Mama Newman through Special Ministries and Helping Kenya Kids stepped in to give assistance. The repeated droughts that had affected so many other Maasai communities were having its effect here as well. Their only water source is an 8-mile hike to an unclean river. Elephants in the area often make it difficult for the children to get to school as does the long distance they have to walk.

Il-kerin Hope Center now has its own church building. Under the leadership of Pastor Jackson, the church has grown to 150 people.

Classrooms have been constructed for K-7 education and the 400 children attending school here are being fed on a daily basis.

The Community Group here at the Il-Kerin Hope Center is doing a fabulous job in maintaining and sustaining this ministry. In 2020, Special Ministries along with Helping Kenya Kids have officially turned this Hope Center over to the local community to run.

Mutulu Hope Center

The Hope Center of Mutulu launched in 1996 and began with the building of a chapel. Subsequent years saw the startup of a school, a health clinic, and finally, a series of workshops for widows to use in learning tailoring, basket making, and baking skills.

The property houses 3 school buildings including classrooms for 400 students grades Kindergarten through 8th Grade. Included with these buildings are both boy’s and girl’s latrines, a kitchen, a large meeting room, and administration offices. There is a separate Chapel and Health Clinic built onsite. Due in part to the remote nature of this Hope Center, both boys and girls boarding rooms were constructed currently housing 42 girls and 20 boys along with a series of duplexes for faculty to live in. Housing is also provided for the clinic nurse and the pastor.

Lunch, consisting of rice, corn, and beans, is provided daily for all children, and a breakfast porridge is provided for the elementary students as well.

Located on the top of a mountain just outside the capital city of Nairobi, the Mutulu Hope Center is currently looking to hire a nurse to run the clinic and a pastor for the church. The church building is currently in use by the African Inland Church but the pastor is only available on Sunday and the desire is to have someone available throughout the week for Morning Children’s Club and adult counseling. Currently, about 80 of the students attend church weekly.