HOME OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD (HOTGS)
Home of the Good Shepherd is part of the comprehensive ministry of God's Grace for All Nations (GGFAN).
MISSION
To care for, develop and nurture orphaned and vulnerable children in the community.
VISION
To be a home that transforms children to be responsible, God fearing and self reliant individuals.
STRATEGY
Provide a safe, loving home
Meet the children’s basic needs
Teach life skills
Provide formal education for all our children
Discipline and mentor children in good christian morals and values
Engage children in decision making
Hire, train and empower qualified personnel to fulfil the mission and vision in a transparent and accountable manner.
Provide counselling support
HISTORY OF HOTGS
The Home of the good shepherd was started in the year 2007 by Bishop Simon Thuo and his wife Lucy Thuo. The idea was conceived from the efforts by Lucy Thuo, to feed the street children in Nyahururu with food cooked in her house. At first Lucy attention was drawn to the plight of the street children in Nyahururu town and she started the feeding program together with members of her congregation. The need was so huge as more children run away from home to the streets due to poverty and abuse. However she could not provide shelter hence most of them ended up sleeping in the cold dark alleys.
Bishop Simon and Lucy had a dream and desire to do more for these street children. They had the desire to set up an institution that could offer the orphans, the destitute and the poor children a safe and loving place they can call home and where they will be able to meet their basic needs, teach life skills, provide formal education, instil discipline and christian morals and values, inculcate the power of right decision making and provide counselling support.
In 2007, Bishop Simon made friends who wanted to partner with him and his wife Lucy in providing a homely place for care and protection to the orphans and vulnerable children and it was in that year that the Home Of The Good Shepherd was born. The Home was first registered as a charitable children’s institution in 2014.
NUMBER OF CHILDREN
Since, its inception in 2007, one hundred and one children have passed through the institution. Currently we have seventy six children living here. Twenty two of them are currently in colleges/polytechnic and universities, twenty six are in high schools, while twenty two are in elementary school while six are awaiting to join college/polytechnic after completing their grade 12 exams.
As of now 25 children have graduated from the home and been successful integrated back to the community with skills and training to be self reliant.
During school holidays, the children spend time in the home doing various chores like cooking, washing and ensuring the environment is clean.
TRANSITIONING
At HOTGS, children are cared for and nurtured until they complete their college education when they are left to be self reliant. While in the home, the children are always trained and equipped with the skills necessary for life. Christian morals and values are always encouraged among all the children. The children are also trained on financial management skills, decision making skills, and other basic life skills which are essential to help guarantee a successful integration of the children back to the society once their time in the home is due. Self-reliance is always encouraged through ensuring that the children are educated to help them develop entrepreneurial, communication and social skills.
SUMMER MISSION TRIPS
Every year, we have our amazing partners and friends from WUMC who visit the home during summer. The visitors range from individual, families and organisations. The visitors offer assistance to the home in form of food stuffs, gifts and spending time with the children for encouragement and doing various activities which involves direct interaction with the children. The interaction helps to boost the morale of the children and equip them with social skills necessary for when time will come for their integration back to the community.
LETTER WRITING PROGRAM
The children also have a letter writing program with Weddington United Methodist Church. Each child is assigned a ‘friend’ who they write to and who writes to them. Sometimes, the child’s friend is an entire family, so they will get letters from different people in the family. The children love and enjoy hearing from their friends. Through letter writing, most of the children in the home have been encouraged by them knowing that there are people who really care for them and love them. They have also been encouraged to believe that God loves them and He has a good plans for their lives. The children also enjoy sharing about their life and what they like doing for fun and so much more. The letter writing program aims at helping the children develop personal relationships with their friends.
ANNUAL GET TOGETHER MEETINGS
A Get-Together is organised every year where all the children of the HOTGS both the present and the alumni have a chance to interact. The come together helps to bring together the old boys and girls that have graduated from the home and also the younger children now living in the home. The alumni who are often children who have been successfully integrated back to the society spend time with the children living in the home to encourage them. They are expected to be role model to their young brothers and sisters who are still schooling.
TEN YEARS OF GOD'S FAITHFULNESS
In 2017, HOTGS celebrated its 10th year anniversary. This event brought together local leaders, members of the community, guardians whose children have benefited from this project and the entire GGFAN and HOTGS fraternity who came to celebrate with us what the Lord has done.
SELF SUSTAINAINING PROJECTS
Since the inception of Good Shepherd we have consistently strived to become a self-sustaining operation. We have been largely successful at this in terms of food production. We have had the green house project, poultry project, rabbits project and dairy farming. Through dairy farming, our cows have been able to produce milk which is used to prepare tea for the children every morning. Tomatoes, watermelon and peeper are grown in the greenhouse to provide food for the home while the surplus is sold so as to help the home generate income for development. The poultry project has also allowed us to not only feed the children, but also generate income through the sale of surplus eggs to local stores and businesses. Such income is then used to off-set other expenses.
SCHOOL FOR HOTGS KIDS
As the children adopted into the HOTGS continued to grow and move into higher grades of education, the cost of education continued to rise and grow to a point where more than 80% of the annual income for the home was going toward tuition. The Board discussed on the way to curb this problem and they came up with a strategy to start a school for the Home.
The Little Lambs Academy was started in 2018. We believe that by having our own private school facility at the Home of the Good Shepherd would allow us to better serve our children, guarantee they receive a holistic, quality education as we continue our goal of becoming a self-sustaining organisation, and expand our Christian impact in the surrounding community.
THE ONE WORLD CAFE
Mark Fogleman who is a missionary from TMS working with GGFAN and HOTGS also established The One World Cafe in partnership with the HOTGS to help provide an opportunity for jobs and work experience to the older and eligible children, support the farming program at the home and be a sustainable source of income for their needs.
This home has been a shelter of love and empowerment to many children who have recovered and gone out to face the world victoriously.
We welcome and appreciate Insights, ideas, field visits, gifts and donations from everyone whose heart is stirred to join this noble cause.