Droughts in Tharaka and the Thiiti School

One of our ministries in Kenya was to help people in crisis when there was a drought. We did this many times and in different ways to meet peoples’ needs. Before we had land and a compound of our own in Tharaka, we put a shipping container on a school ground and stored sacks of corn and beans in it. We cooked the food every day at lunch. Our philosophy was that we needed to see the children eat, so we cooked it for them and watched them eat.

We wanted to get to know these tribespeople and develop relationships with them. At the school where we fed the children, called Thiiti School, they were in desperate need of a new school building. It was so primitive, and I often said the only thing holding it up was the African termites. So we helped organize a group of school parents to make bricks from the clay at the river and carry them to the school site. We bought the mambati, or sheets of corrugated iron, for the roof and helped them with the cement floor. Later on, they built another building by themselves.

Now Thiiti School is one of the leading schools in Kenya, with top scores in the area. We developed a strong relationship with the people there. We also did some medical and dental clinics under the trees at this school. It was a ground-breaker of love with these people.