Vocational Training School
The vocational school has been in operation since the early 2000’s.  The training of students began even before the school facilities had been built; because the students participated in the construction projects required to prepare the school for use.  Clearing the land and erecting the classrooms and dormitories occurred over several years.  Each new class got to experience brick making and bricklaying as the buildings went up.   The physical goals for each class were to prepare the students for the rigors of daily manual labor in the construction industry. 

Our students are orphans and vulnerable youth who have no hope of getting an education because of the expense required to attend school.  Our desire and goal for these students is to give them both a physical and spiritual education.  We have the students for two years, which gives us time to disciple them in the Bible through daily Bible lessons.  Our Bible training starts with understanding the Bible is God’s word and takes each student through understanding, believing, receiving and walking in God’s culture rather than the culture of sin.


How effective is our training? 

A survey of all the laborers in our district indicated a large percentage of the skilled laborers are graduates of our vocational school.  All of our graduates receive government certificates after successfully completing a rigorous testing process.
 
What is the spiritual impact on the students?  Enjoy a few testimonies.

  • In addition to his regular job, George has become a worship leader.  He has organized a group of young men in Kisumu who travel on weekends to lead worship in local churches.  His desire is to help them grow in their understanding of the power that comes when God is approached thru worship.
  • Silas was illiterate and unable to learn because of abuse during his childhood.  He received Jesus and began to submit his life to God’s direction.  At the end of his class time, the teachers were very concerned that he could not pass the government exam.  We prayed and he prayed.  God opened his understanding and Silas passed.  The teacher came back to school proclaiming “Silas passed!! Silas passed!!”… We all were amazed at the love and power of God on behalf of one little African boy who was willing to submit to Him.  Two weeks after graduation, Silas called our pastor/teacher and told this story.  “On my way to work a drunk woman approached me for money.  I told her she did not need money, she needed Jesus.  After sharing the gospel with her, she prayed with me to receive Jesus then went on her way.  A few days later she came up to me on the street carrying a Bible and said ‘young man, I no longer need alcohol because I have Jesus’.  She was on her way to church”.  Silas, transformed from a hopeless orphan to a skilled craftsman/evangelist by the power of God.
  • Zakiyo was an orphan taken in by a family group in his neighborhood.  When he came to school he was very pleasant and smiled a lot.  One day he was riding with Steve Bishop on the tractor to get firewood when he pointed to a group of mud huts and said, “Baba, that is my family compound.  They want you to come teach them about God.”  I asked why and he said, “They want to meet the God who can set a man free from alcohol.  I am an alcoholic but God has set me free”.  Wow, what a testimony, when he started school he was an alcoholic, but after receiving Jesus he was set free.  Steve took some workers to that village and shared the gospel.  Four adults received Jesus because of a young man being set free from alcohol.
The students and leadership have many opportunities to share the Gospel as they are invited to churches in the district to share about Jesus.  The students also take great pleasure in going to the small villages to sing and give their testimony on the streets to anyone who will listen.
Community Outreach Center
In addition to vocational training, the leadership is introducing new areas of impact for the ministry which will increase our effectiveness to the district.  The goal is to bring community and spiritual leaders into the compound for advanced training in Biblical character and principles.  

The directors of the school have maintained a relationship with most of the church leadership in the district, without excluding any of the various denominations.  The desire is to provide foundational Biblical teaching to give the church leaders a stronger understanding of Godly principles.  Eventually we want to see the different churches working together to win their communities for Jesus.

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Pastor Mitto, one of the former pastor / counsellors at the vocation school, graduated from teachers college and is a special needs education teacher.  He has gained a reputation with the government education leadership and has been asked to teach the public school teachers how to work with special needs children.  The public schools operate on a quarterly basis, three months of school then one month of vacation, year-round. By request from the government, Pastor Mitto conducts quarterly 2-3 week seminars with up to sixty teachers. For these seminars, the government rents a hotel and sponsors the event. Mitto has been a friend of our school for many years and is excited about the possibility of renting the compound and conducting the seminars on our property.  The goal would be to train the teachers during the day then conduct Bible teaching and worship for them at night.  Three weeks of nightly church has the potential of sending a large number of teachers back to their jobs with a new understanding of the Bible and a closer relationship with Jesus.