Lighthouse Ministries International of Africa

Lighthouse Ministries Int'l of Africa, DBA Light of Hope Kenya provides refuge, restoration and redirection to vulnerable, marginalized girls aged 0-19 in a loving, safe Christian environment through quality education, helping each girl find her gifts and interests, and counseling to work through the often unbearable abuse they have suffered prior to their arrival at our home and school.
Our goal is to launch each young woman on to higher education, vocational trade work with demand in Kenya, or back to her community to share the education and values we have instilled, to make a difference one person at a time. She will be healthier physically, emotionally and in her confidence to face her future than she would have been if she had not found refuge, restoration and redirection at Light of Hope Kenya.

We employ a staff of educators, counselors, security personnel, chefs, groundskeepers and others to ensure each girl is treated with respect and care, to help her deal with her difficult past and to find her gifts and talents. We are working to be self-sustainable and to provide introductions to many career options and vocational trade training. Visitors to the home and school have in the past introduced leadership training curriculum, computer lab hardware and software, along with training for staff and students, concepts for water recapture, solar heating of water for dining hall and shower facilities and more. The recent addition of a medical and dental clinic have enabled well-girl check ups and hygiene, and diagnosis and treatment of illness immediate and effective.

The founders are a married couple whom each of the girls identify as Dad Boni and Mum Sandy. They visit the school 2-3 times per year and stay for months at a time, overseeing the staff and getting to know the girls in the capacity of Kenya Operations Director and Executive Director. With generous funding from corporate and church sponsors, individual donors and grant monies, we have been able to hire qualified staff and caregivers who bring out the best in each girl. Our Board of Directors provides strategic guidance for long term planning and execution of goals to continue to improve our service to the 136 girls who now call Light of Hope Kenya their home and school.

Since 2004, Lighthouse Ministries Int'l of Africa, DBA Light of Hope Kenya has rescued young girls from terrible conditions, and has provided refuge, restoration and redirection. We have grown from 4 girls in 2005 to 136 girls and young women in 2019. To us and to our constituents, refuge means having essential needs met, including food, clothing and shelter. As soon as a girl is identified by Kenyan Social Services as being marginalized to the point of needing our services, and if we have the funding to take in another girl, she is picked up from her home, many times with a distant relative who is trying to care for her, and she is welcomed by staff and students. She is showered and provided fresh clothing. In early days, food was prepared over an open fire and water was carted in from far distances, but since 2008, the well on our property has provided clean drinking water and since 2013, Light of Hope has a beautiful dining hall which serves three wholesome meals a day with fresh food grown on site in our farm and via livestock, poultry and goats. She is safe because the campus is gated with guards on duty at all times, with watchdogs roaming at night. She is provided a bed with freshly laundered bedding and is surrounded by others who understand her situation, fears and hopes.
Restoration begins when those basic needs are met. Our caring staff counsels and teaches each girl, walking with her through identifying past trauma and loss, and focusing her sights on a future filled with hope and promise.
Redirection is the final step in an ongoing process of guiding each constituent to finding her gifts and talents.
We have a fantastic track record of growing into our purpose over the past 15 years and the results are proven in the change and growth we see. Our future plans are to become more self-sustaining by further developing the instruction of trade/vocational learning in our sewing and tailoring center, our computer lab and by adding the Expand Your Horizons Training Center focused on welding, which is a high-demand vocation in Kenya.
The on-site medical and dental clinic opened in 2019 will serve our students well, but also provide the girls with experience in a clinic and interacting with professionals from the community and visiting teams of doctors and dentist.
Long term planning is to build and run a guest house on site, enabling the girls to learn and practice hospitality and cooking/serving skills to international visitors whose lodging funds have in the past been paid to a third party lodge. This will help us to be more self-sustaining and provide practical experience to girls with interest in this type of work.