Holmans Africa-bound to serve as missionaries in Kenya

    For the last few years, Nate and Cynthia Holman have dedicated their lives to serving God in whatever way they can.
    Nate has gone on several mission trips to help with anything from planting pineapples and installing drip irrigation in Sierra Leone to provided hurricane relief in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
    Nate and Cynthia made a mission trip to Kenya (Nate’s third trip) to help on a family farm owned by a local tribal chieftain named Wellingtone “Tony” Wasiki and his wife Daisy. The family farm has been passed down through several generations.
    Seven years ago, Wasiki received a calling from God to turn his farm into a home for orphaned children.
    The first time Holman went to Kenya was in 2015 with former Crossroads Wesleyan Church Pastor Todd Burpo.
    Wasiki’s farm was caring for  60 to 70 orphans and serving them one meal a day.
    The farm uses unemployed teachers for schooling and missionaries for projects to build and improve the facility.
    The second time Holman visited the farm there had been noticeable growth which reflected positively in the children, he said.
    When the Holmans went back together on a mission trip to work at the farm, they found that it now supported more than 180 children being served three meals a day.
    “The farm grows its own corn to supply part of the food. They need help with construction, electrical and plumbing installation and education, among other things,” Holman said.
    “Wasiki had been praying for help, and we had been praying for a place to go,” both Holmans stated.
    The farm supports not only orphans, but provides an acre of ground for 10 widows to grow their own food and sell it at market.
    Widows and children are not highly thought of in much of Africa, and the mortality rate, especially in the 25 to 45 age group, is very high.
    It’s even harder for girls. The culture does not put much importance on girls. Wasiki and his wife do not distinguish between the value of boys and girls.
    Aside from the diseases that run rampant, there is danger from animals, people and insects.
    “Everything in Africa can kill you,” Holman said.
    The Holmans have felt a calling to move to Kenya and live and work on the farm with Wasiki and his wife helping with the orphans they take in.
    “We hope to awaken their awareness of hygiene and clean food to help slow the spread of disease,” he said.
    Holman will be providing industrial arts training in building, electrical, plumbing, sanitation (putting in sewers) and water conservation.
    An artesian well supports a radius of 50 kilometers. Children, mostly girls, walk up to 40 kilometers a day to get a gallon of water.
    Cynthia believes she will be working with children in their schooling, for the most part.
    Most children in Kenya don’t attend school beyond eighth grade. They hope to change that statistic, at least on the Kenya farm.
The moment life changed

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