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This banana plantation is part of the agricultural project of Bring The Light Ministries in Nyakach.

A ministry transforms life in Nyakach

by Diana Magwari • 28 April 2022

This article continues our series of articles on poverty in the Nyanza region of Kenya. In this series, we seek to understand the causes of poverty, its effects on the spiritual lives of ordinary people, and solution ideas.

In Nyanza, poverty has deep roots. Every new person and every new organization that I interact with reveals further aspects of how entrenched poverty is in this province of Kenya. One acquaintance to whom I had mentioned my work around poverty suggested that I try Bring The Light Ministries in Nyakach, Kisumu county, and he gave me directions to the place. Nyakach is not very close to where I currently reside, but is not too far away either.

I was able to interview the leader of this ministry, pastor Boniface Oluoch. He has a bachelor 's degree in education arts, a master's degree in human resource management and a diploma in Theology. Previously, he was a high school teacher where he used to minister to students in various schools on invitation. Today he is a renowned pastor among teenagers, as he knows how to handle young people. Like many Kenyan Christians, he speaks with great joy about how he is a born–again Christian and loves God as his personal savior. Bring The Light Ministries is a church organization based in Nyakach, Kisumu county, but it is also a missionary organization from Sweden. They are here courtesy of a charity organization in Sweden that funds their operations in Kenya.

The pastor explained that their location, Nyakach, is amongst the poorest places in Kenya, with a history of famine and high levels of illiteracy. He also mentioned the bigger picture: Over the years, poverty and food insecurity have arisen as some of the major global issues facing people worldwide. According to Gorta, an Irish Charity, 414 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa live on less than 1.25 dollars a day. This extreme poverty is concentrated in rural areas. In Nyakach sub county, over 60% of people live in poverty. Agricultural productivity is constrained by poor climatic conditions, leading to low income and food insecurity.

In addition to pastor Oluoch, I also spoke with two members of the church where he preaches; they also gave me some views that helped me write the article. Their perspective about poverty is similar to previous interviews. They cited unemployment or rather lack of income as the major source of widespread poverty in that area. They as well note that low agricultural production is the reason that particular place is highly ranked when it comes to famine in Kenya. Some people actually do not practice agriculture at all due to high cost of production. The area was hit hard by the HIV pandemic and lost a big part of its working population. This left behind many orphans who were left under the care of elderly parents or grandparents. With the working population lost and the elderly unable to work, education was hard to achieve. This led to high levels of school dropouts, or even kids not attending school at all. That has contributed to overflowing levels of illiteracy.

It is most intriguing how this ministry is trying to eradicate this poverty problem. The ministry has developed methods and projects that they say have come a long way to alleviate poverty. They first established a church and had a feeding program. They also started an agricultural program within the church where their members were able to get started with some agriculture for free. This they say boosted agricultural production and new methods meant even better harvests. This solved the famine issue.

The next hurdle was to eradicate illiteracy. They started supporting kids from poor backgrounds to achieve education. They even paid full amounts and upkeep for the children who are orphaned. This has resulted in a surge in the number of people who are educated and therefore eligible for long term employment.

The ministry has also addressed the water shortage by means of a number of boreholes in the community. This has ensured that more kids are in school instead of going out looking for water. This has also resulted in agricultural production happening all year round.

To boost their spiritual lives, the ministry has taken more than 20 people to Bible schools to study theology. Pastor Oluoch and the two church members with whom I spoke believe that therefore the ministry will be in safe hands when the time comes to hand it over to the next generation, because the ministry has managed to train pastors that can run the spiritual matters smoothly. These are local people and they have good rapport with the locals.

Church and community empowerment

The ministry has always considered as its main task to bring more people to church. To achieve this they have developed programs to encourage people to come to church. Their first initiative was to provide breakfast and lunch on Sundays, before and after service. This initiative pulled a good number of people to church and strengthened their faith, but it was short-lived. As much as they were providing a meal a day, they asked themselves what about the other days when the doors of the church were closed? That the members of the congregation were fending for themselves during the week also impacted their numbers negatively. This forced the ministry to think of more robust projects that would improve the livelihood of people as well as growing them spiritually.

Bring The Light Ministries went into a community empowering mission. To ensure that people had enough food for consumption, they provided their members with planting materials. This included seedlings and fertilizer. They also did a follow-up on every member who received the package to check on the progress of what they had planted. They went a step further and hired agriculture experts who did the necessary tests on the soil to make sure that the right plants were planted. This resulted in a rapid increase in food production. On their side, they received a lot of people in church because they were saved the hassle of working long hours for food. It was a win for both the ministry and community.

Another community-oriented initiative that the ministry has undertaken is creating water boreholes. Water shortage was a thorn in the flesh in the area. They contracted a company that sunk boreholes in the area and one at the church. The boreholes have not only provided the residents with reliable and clean water, but also it has boosted agriculture, since now there is water year - round. The farmers are now able to sell extra produce, and it has become easier compared to the past to afford services like health insurance and education. This has provided members of the ministry time to focus on their spiritual lives. Today the church operates four days a week conducting various engagements and meetings with its members.

The ministry has also engaged to improve the environment: Through the youth group, the ministry has managed to plant a lot of trees in that area. Every December they have a major tree planting campaign. They claim that this has changed the climate of this area, that there is an increase in the amount of rainfall received per year as well as more fresh air. The tree planting sessions have attracted many youth to the ministry, and there are programs by the ministry like mentorships that have immediately benefited the youth generation, who could otherwise have been lost in immoral activities.

In a move to boost education, the ministry has elected to sponsor children from poor backgrounds but with great academic potential. The program has so far benefited 30 students from poor backgrounds and more are to be enrolled. This is a long term project that aims at educating the community and empowering the youth. This as well has attracted more people to the church, and through better education they are also empowered spiritually.

So maybe the work done by Bring The Light Ministry can be seen as a significant example of how poverty reduction can improve the faith of the people and grow them spiritually.

Greed and tensions around money

This ministry has managed to attract many followers perhaps because of the material benefits that come with its programs. At the same time, the ministry has gone all out to ensure that no individual is benefiting alone: They have embraced community projects and shunned proposals that could only benefit an individual. This has helped to root out people who attended church for material gains. As this policy was announced and implemented, perhaps surprisingly most young people stayed with the church, while about a third of the population of higher age dropped out. This shows the great future the ministry holds taking into account the huge young population that ironically benefits least from the donor funded activities.

The ministry leaders noted with sadness how some individuals felt that the funding was their right, and how they would brazenly make huge demands that would have driven the organization to its knees. The leaders met with the members and explained why they are there and that the funds are there just as a bonus, as their main aim is to nourish them spiritually. The disgruntled left with their people, while those who understood the bigger picture remained. At least that was the perspective of the pastor and the two church members whom I was interviewing.

I also wanted to hear the perspective of those on the other side in this conflict. The pastor graciously provided me with contact information for some of his critics. One of the disgruntled ex-members, who asked to remain anonymous in my article, was willing to speak with me. In fact he had quite a few things to get off the chest. These were heavy allegations, but he could not provide evidence. My take on the critic is that he is bitter for missing out on management, or rather didn't benefit as much as he wanted. I may call him selfish. My conversation with him showed that he was not well informed. I believe that what he was saying was hearsay, as he couldn't explain the specifics of whatever he was lamenting about. Pressing him hard for answers would trigger anger in him, and he would even threaten to the end the conversation if I insisted on many questions.

Then I also verified the claims of the ministry leaders by talking to people in the community, who confirmed that the ministry provides spiritual, psychological and often material support for individuals and families. They say that the ministry leaders help people make sense of their lives as well as their role in their families and in the community. They say that the ministry has been a major source of social services like schooling and medical care, hence helping to eradicate poverty.

My conclusion of this investigation is that Bring The Light Ministries have done a commendable job for the community. On top of that, they are very welcoming and didn't react poorly to criticism.

Does the future depend on continued donor funding?

Similarly also in other places, there has recently been an upward trajectory in the living standards as well as spiritual lives of people in some areas hitherto considered to have low living standards. The rise can largely be traced to the doorsteps of ministries and missionaries who have set camp in the areas and have hence stimulated the economic of the people around there. Some missionaries come loaded with donor funds and are willing to spend, prudently, to solve the poverty menace that has crippled these regions. That begs the question of whether or not these regions will maintain the living standards when the missionaries leave, or whether the situation will relapse.

The leaders of Bring the Light Ministries have also often asked themselves such questions about sustainability beyond a possible end of donor funding. Their ministry exclusively relies on donor funds, so that there are concerns about what would happen if those funds dry up. They have written a number of proposals to corporate and private individuals who are known for philanthropy. So far they have not received positive responses. This puts a lot of pressure on the managers of Bring The Light Ministries. But at least they have the confidence that they have undertaken serious projects that will serve the community for a long time, quite independently of whether the ministry can continue. They also believe that the education programs they have will empower the community not to depend on missionary work alone.

Additionally, considering that the ministry is working on tight budgets, to ensure maximum effect of the funding, and given how careful they are to ensure that not a coin is spent unaccountably, there is reason to hope that the donors will not withdraw their funds anytime soon. All in all the ministry leaders firmly hold that they have done enough so that the community will never plunge into poverty again.

 

The next article, Pain of losing a young family member, is a human-interest article about life in Kenya.

 

About the author:
Diana Magwari is a Kenya based journalist who comments on topical issues.

About the images:
This banana plantation is part of the agricultural project of Bring The Light Ministries in Nyakach, photo taken 24 March 2022 by Diana Magwari.

Suggested citation:
Diana Magwari: A ministry transforms life in Nyakach. MissionField News (ISSN 2813-2270) https://missionfield.news/2022/4_Ministry_transforms_life_Nyakach 2022-04-28.