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Bondeni Center Update

The Hope Partnership Center in Nairobi's Bondeni slum was one of the hardest-hit during the civil unrest following the presidential elections. Many of the students and sponsored children were delayed in returning to classes, but the CMF team's resettlement work has now enabled most to come back. There are nearly 300 children in the Bondeni Center receiving daily meals and food from God's Word. The team is looking for a permanent facility for the Bondeni Center; they have been using rented buildings. West Side Christian Church in Springfield, Ill., has "adopted" the Bondeni Center and is providing the funds for the purchase of a property and renovations.

Lives are being changed in the slums every day, thanks to churches such as West Side that are investing in the children and neighborhoods of Nairobi. On a recent visit to the resettlement area in Bondeni, for example, missionary Keith Ham and his teammates found a girl, Mary, who was obviously very ill, lying in the corridor. They took her to the hospital where she was diagnosed with heart failure due to rheumatic fever. She was in the hospital for more than a month for recovery and observation. She's now a student in the Bondeni Center and scheduled for heart surgery.

A new Saturday fellowship group is another result of the child sponsorship program and Community Health Evangelism efforts in Bondeni. About 25 adults and 50 children meet on Saturday evenings to study the Bible, pray, sing and share testimonies of what God is doing in their lives. The leaders in the Kosovo church have sent Steven Owino, who grew up in Bondeni, to lead the new group. When Steven became a Christian he jumped right into playing the keyboard and leads worship and the choir. Keith Ham is training him for the new job with a study of the Pastoral Epistles, with an emphasis on mature Christian leadership and sound doctrine. A new believers class is planned, because most of the group are new in the faith. When a core group of committed adults has stabilized, a Sunday church meeting will launch out of the fellowship group and meet in the new Bondeni Center.

The team has high hopes for the new church plant, says Keith Ham. "One thing that I've noticed in my 17 years here is the Kenyan willingness to see what the Bible teaches and practice it."