July 2024

Due to the number of grants this biennium, this month there are two grants featured!

Water and the Word

2023–2025 Mission Grant 13 — $80,000

Two Kenyan girls hauling large containers filled with water on their backs.

Before water system installation by Water and the Word, these girls are hauling water on their backs to their school.

Students in schools and orphanages sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK) lack clean water and regular access to pastoral care. Water and the Word, based in Thermopolis, Wyoming, works with the ELCK to improve water systems for the schools. After evaluating a school’s needs, Water and the Word installs water harvesting equipment (rain gutters and tanks), locally sourced filters, hand wash stations, and clean water storage systems. Students and staff are taught about personal hygiene, handwashing, and the importance of drinking only clean water.

After installation, an ELCK pastor (trained in water equipment) visits the schools every 3–4 months to ensure that the water system is working, visits with the children, and provides needed pastoral care.

This grant will provide clean water and cover travel expenses for pastoral care to students in 12 additional schools and orphanages in Kenya.

Resources for Grant #13

Large Print Resources for Grant #13

Learn more about this mission grant and view more photos here.

Donate to the LWML Mission Goal

Care for Street Children of Western Kenya

2023–2025 Mission Grant 16 — $50,000

Benard Wadegu (#281) was rescued on 18/02/2014. He had run away from home due to peer influence and was found in the local market. He was invited twice to Capstone youth center at Lutheran Church in Kisumu. He had really worked hard in secondary school and finished wit a "B" average and qualified for a government scholarship to university. This is quite remarkable for a former street boy. He is at Masinde Muliro University studying for a BA in information technology.

Capstone Ministries helps enrich the lives of former street boys and girls who have been reconciled with their families. Capstone Ministries works in Western Kenya, an area where over 800 boys live on the street and survive by begging or stealing. They work to reconcile the boys with God and family.

This grant will provide educational scholarships for day and boarding school as well as vocational training for 52 children. It will also provide 100 Bibles and catechisms, translated into Swahili, for 17 Bible study groups.

Plus, it will support Capstone Camp which focuses on spiritual development, provides group counseling, scouting activities, and mentorship of primary school boys by secondary school boys. They invite 25 to 35 boys to participate in the one-week camp held at a rural university during the school break.

Resources for Grant #16

Large Print Resources for Grant #16