A place to lay their heads

MISSIONER NEWSLETTER – Fall 2024

Rich Tarro, Kenya

Evalyne and four of her eight children in front of their new home with Rich Tarro.

I’m blessed to have so many generous people supporting my ministry work in Kenya as the director of the HOPE Project. I always tell our donors: “We couldn’t do what we do without you.” Without the generosity of those who fund our work, there would be no HOPE Project. I’m grateful for all that we’ve been able to accomplish together over the past five years.

However, as blessed as I feel about the good that we’ve been able to accomplish, I’m also often haunted by what we cannot do. 

This comes into high relief when we visit the homes of students and their families to deliver beds and mattresses or survey a completed home that we recently constructed.  

In the areas where our students live, I stand out and generally draw a lot of attention, especially with kids wanting to see what I’m doing as we bring in new beds.  

Knowing that these kids are sleeping on the ground and that we can’t also help them is very difficult. I wish that we could buy them all beds.  

Similarly, when we build or refurbish a crumbling home of a student, which sits next to other homes that are in as bad a shape as the home we just repaired, and we cannot do anything to help those that live in the other homes, it’s tough to swallow. 

I wish that we could build them all new homes. 

Evalyne is a 37-year-old single mother whose husband left her with eight children she is raising alone. Evalyne looks for odd jobs at construction sites where she either carries stones or mixes sand and cement. She also earns money doing laundry. Evalyne leads a hard life and struggles to earn enough money to feed her kids. 

Evalyne’s children range in age from 9 to 20. The HOPE Project supports two of her children.  

We paid for Hamisi, 19, to get a Motor Vehicle Mechanics certificate, which he completed earlier this year. Hamisi is looking at going back to school to complete the next level of motor vehicle mechanics training.

Umazi, 17, is finishing her third year of high school. Umazi does well in school and would like to be a doctor. We will do our best to try to make her dream a reality. 

When Umazi was referred to us for support, we did a home visit to assess her home situation.  Evalyne and her eight children were living in a makeshift structure consisting of a single room constructed out of plastic, cloth, and metal sheets. The family lived in this structure with no furniture. Everyone slept on the ground. 

The family’s old house, above. Their new house, below.

We had been wanting to build Evalyne and her family a new home for several years, but she did not own the land on which they were living. In August, we were finally able to build the family a new home in a rural area outside of Mombasa. We are in the process of getting beds and mattresses for the family, so that they no longer have to sleep on the ground. We also help the family with food every month. 

Evalyne is so grateful for the support she receives from the HOPE Project, which she says has completely changed her family’s life. She told us that she prays that the HOPE Project will be able to help others facing the same challenges. She said that she doesn’t have anything to give to the donors, who make the assistance we give her family possible, but that God in heaven will reward everyone who helps her and her children. 

Being in mission has taught me more than ever before that all I can do is trust in God’s grace. I can’t solve all the world’s problems but can only do what I can. Like all of us, God is not asking me to change the world, but rather to love as best I can those who he puts in front of me. 

We need your help to improve the lives of other children like Evalyne’s. 

God is good.

Please consider financially supporting our work at HOPE Project to improve the lives of families like Evalyne’s. You can make a donation through the link below.

I invite you to walk with me as a “COMPANION IN MISSION.” Companions in Mission are friends and generous donors who give financial gifts on a regular (usually monthly) basis. For more information, visit Become a Companion in Mission. Thank you so much for your generosity!