Pokot Outreach Ministries: Chemolingot Children’s Home

By Jonathan Lancaster 

As you travel throughout the Pokot tribe of northwest Kenya you see many children.  They wave as you pass by, always with a smile, and are the first to greet the visitors when you arrive.  They are always eager to laugh, play, and sing with you.  In many ways they are like many children here in America, full of energy and life. 

The sad reality is that many of the children you might see throughout Pokot are orphans.  These are children orphaned by famine, lack of water, disease, tribal fighting, and a land so inhospitable that it is amazing anyone could survive there at all.  These children often go hungry without anyone to care for them and don’t have the opportunity to attend school.  As orphans they are deeply at risk.

A Project of Faith

In Chemolingot, East Pokot, Rev. Yusef Losute of Pokot Outreach Ministries is working diligently to give children like these a home.  For years now Yusef has had a vision for a children’s home where children could live in a place of safety and be raised to know Jesus Christ.  Without any resources Yusef and Chemolingot A.I.C. Church, which he pastors, set out in faith to build such a place.  Through prayer and faithfulness God provided them all that they would need.

Now years later the orphanage is almost complete and efforts are being made to acquire government certifications and approval.  In early August a Harvesters’ team from Kensington Community Church, made up of ten high school aged young adults and six leaders applied many of the final touches on the three orphanage buildings.  The boy’s dorm and dining hall each got final coats of paint, while the team completed the cement work on the interior floor of the girl’s dorm.

The Chemolingot Children’s Home will house 120 children of all ages in two dorms, 60 boys and 60 girls.  It will be home not just to Pokot orphans but also to children from neighboring tribes as well.  This is in an effort to prove that warring tribes can live together and instill a new spirit of peace in the coming generation.  Also, among a people who still practice female circumcision and early forced marriages, the home is a place of refuge for girls escaping from brutal and abusive home environments.  In all the children’s home will be a safe haven and a place of growth.  It will produce the next generation that will lead their communities.  Most importantly, through teaching and worship, it will produce Godly young men and women with a heart to serve their own people.  These will be the next pastors, evangelist, doctors, nurses, and teachers that will in turn go and take the Gospel to another generation so that they might have hope and a future in knowing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

As the orphanage nears completion there is still much work to be done.  The children are ready to move into the facility but there are beds, mattresses, and sheeting that need to be purchased to provide them with places to sleep.  Metal trunks need to be bought to act as small closets, holding what few belongings they might have.  Then there’s the dining hall that must be filled with tables, chairs, cups, plates, pots, pans, and a stove to prepare all of the food.

In addition to outfitting the orphanage to comfortably house children, staff is needed to look after them.  A woman caretaker will live with and look after the girls in their dorm and likewise a man will be in charge of overseeing the boys.  There are faithful men and women in line to fill these positions but the ministry is in need of financial support for these people.  Then there is the on-going need of continued monthly support for feeding the children and keeping the orphanage running.

Chemolingot Children’s Home was built as a project of faith and by faith the church there will continue to seek God to provide for their needs and the needs of the orphans.  God has shown his faithfulness in bringing their vision this far and they continue to have faith that He will see it through.  At Harvesters, we ask that you would consider partnering with Pokot Outreach Ministries and Chemolingot Children’s Home.  There is still much work to be done and then there is the issue of supporting the monthly operating expenses of the orphanage.  There will be many mouths to feed and a staff to support to look after all of the children.  We trust God that He will provide.  Would you be apart of what He is doing?

A dedication of the Chemolingot Children’s Home will take place in conjunction with Harvesters’ Vision Team, March 13-27, 2010.  If you or your church is interested in being apart of this dedication please feel free to contact us for more information.  We would love to have you.

Also, if you would like more information on Harvesters International Ministries, Pokot Outreach Ministries, or Chemolingot Children’s Home please don’t hesitate to call or write.