CARING FOR WIDOWS AND ORPHANS IN KISUMU, KENYA
KIBOS HOPE ACADEMY
Educating Orphans and vulnerable children
More than 8 million people in Kenya(East Africa) live in abject poverty. Those most affected are young children left uneducated and uncared for, leading to increased illiteracy and a continual circle of poverty. Hope for the Destitute, established Kibos Hope Academy to provide educational, medical, spiritual, and physical care to these children.
Educating Orphans and vulnerable children
More than 8 million people in Kenya(East Africa) live in abject poverty. Those most affected are young children left uneducated and uncared for, leading to increased illiteracy and a continual circle of poverty. Hope for the Destitute, established Kibos Hope Academy to provide educational, medical, spiritual, and physical care to these children.
Support Hope For the Destitute
Director
Rev. Dr. Bishop Joseph Ochola Omolo - Director
Hope for the Destitute was started in 2005 by Rev. Joseph Ochola Omolo and his wife Ruth. Dr. Ochola Omolo grew up as an orphan in Kisumu Kenya and struggled to receive an education.
Through philanthropic donors in the Lutheran Church, Dr. Ochola Omolo received an education and became a pastor in the Lutheran Church.
Education in Kenya is not free and thus many low-income families and orphaned children often do not have access to it.
Lack of access to education leads to generations of illiteracy and poverty. Hope for the Destitute strives in its mission and vision to provide educational access and the gospel of Christ to orphaned children and low-income families.
Dr. Omolo currently serves as the Arch Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya is in table fellowship with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS)
Board
Rick Imel – President of the Board
I have been in the financial services industry for over 40 years and currently, work as a securities compliance consultant for Lincoln
Financial Group. I’ve been blessed to be able to be a part of our church’s (Aboite Lutheran) involvement with HFD for over 14 years (we call it Mission Kenya). I’ve also been blessed to have been able to travel to Kisumu, Kenya on a couple of mission trips in 2004 and 2009 (I’m hoping to make another mission trip very soon). I agreed to join the board because I wanted to be more involved in helping raise awareness and increase support for the overall mission of Hope for the Destitute.
Dianne Moellering – Board Treasurer
I look forward to serving on the board. It is an opportunity to bring more
people to Christ while helping them receive some of the physical necessities of life. After having met Pastor Ochola Omolo and having heard his selfless passion for ministry with the orphans and widows, I am drawn to support those efforts through Hope for the Destitute.
Alicia Herman – Secretary
Alicia Herman is a Hoosier by birth who spent nine years as an Active
Duty Army officer living the dream and traveling the world where she learned to appreciate the wonderful diversity of human cultures before she voluntarily became a Hoosier again to spend more time with family. She earned an MSW from The University of Michigan with a focus in Management of Health and Human Services and was overjoyed to have a
faithful, physical LCMS church to belong to again. She was drawn to Hope for the Destitute`s mission because of its strong emphasis on providing children and families with the tools they need to improve their lives in the direction of their choosing and its acknowledgment that the spiritual life of an individual has a lasting impact on their future. Alicia loves cats, helping people solve problems, and her adorable nephews, althoughmaybe not in that order.
Monica Hartman – Development and Program Manager
Hope for the Destitute is more than a project—it is a calling deeply woven into my life’s story.
My father, now the Archbishop of the Lutheran Church in Kenya, grew up as an orphan. Life could have closed every door for him, but God, in His mercy, used the generosity of well-wishers and donors to open the path of education. That gift changed everything. It not only gave my father the tools to build his future, but also equipped him to become a servant of God and a leader to many.About 15 years ago, I joined my father in this God-given mission. Together, we serve through Hope for the Destitute—offering orphaned and vulnerable children in Kisumu, Kenya the same life-changing opportunity my father once received: access to education and the life-giving message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Through this work, we have seen lives transformed—children finding not only knowledge, but also hope; families touched by the love of Christ; and communities strengthened in faith.
May the Lord richly bless all who pray for, support, and partner with us in bringing hope to those the world has forgotten—but God never will.
