World Impact Ministries / Peter Youngren

  Not surprisingly, the President recently declared Kenya in a state of national emergency: The situation is so extreme and people are so hard pressed; - in such desperate need, that the officials now call on the rest of the world for help….

Politics, corruption, lack of water and hunger are not part of a healthy cocktail – but these are the perpetrators, the silent killers; famine and drought the visible effects and disease the final hit.
As I travel across the country I see the fields of failed crops, the sun scorched vegetables and the damaged maize. And I am reminded that this represents people’s entire savings and a complete season of hard labor wasted in the efforts to prepare the soil, plant and cultivate the land, only to watch the harvest go to waste due to lack of rain.

Water, so precious a commodity, yet how easily we take it for granted….especially when it runs endlessly from our taps and we never experienced being without…!

For the kids in “The Breakfast Club” (the 30 odd street kids that come to my door for food everyday), water however, isn’t as easily accessible! Days, even weeks pass, between what we would call a bath! So, most of the time, these kids are forced to bathe in the local rivers and streams of Nairobi….or go dirty!
As I return from my trip, I find the kids expecting me; waiting at the gate, asking for food and water. I notice, that several of the kids have an unusual peeling rash all over their faces and bodies and I enquire as to how they got what looks like a third degree burn…..? (!) They explain to me that the peeling started after they bathed in the local river (read: toxic sewer!) The river is so polluted and has such toxic acidity that their skin got severely burned from the exposure! The life these kids are forced to live is completely surreal!
No words really can describe how it is to be living in a place where everything is so extreme….corruption, pollution, hunger, lack and need! It is devastating and disillusioning – especially if you don’t know Jesus.

  Even the supply of “living water” is limited here in Kenya….. Legalism and religious indoctrination is rampant causing people to live dry and thirsty Christian lives; where their actions continuously are in forefront – instead of focusing on Jesus and His ability; solely enabling us to live a successful Christian life.
   
My hope is to bring the real water of life as well as bread for life - physically and spiritually… these people are starving and suffering…….. They need our help!

You can help, - even from afar – by helping me, help them.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers