HOTGS

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Home of the Good Shepherd is part of the comprehensive ministry of God's Grace for All Nations (GGFAN).

VISION

A center that rescues orphaned and vulnerable children and connects them with able-godly foster parents.

MISSION

To care for, develop, and nurture orphaned and vulnerable children in the community before reintegration.

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 fulfill the mission and vision transparently and accountable.
• Provide counseling support

HISTORY OF HOTGS

The Home of the Good Shepherd (HOTGS) was conceived from the efforts of Reverend Lucy Thuo (Bishop Simon Mwaura’s wife) to feed the street children in Nyahururu town with food prepared at their house. Lucy's attention was drawn to the plight of these street children and she started the feeding program together with members of their congregation. Most of these vulnerable street children had run away from their homes as a result of poverty and abuse. Lucy was unable to provide shelter for these children hence most of them ended up sleeping on the cold street floors, especially in the dark of the town.

Touched by the lack of shelter for these children, Lucy and her husband, Bishop Simon envision setting up an institution that could offer the vulnerable children a safe and loving place they could call home. Their mission was to start a home where they would meet the children’s basic needs, teach life skills, provide formal education, instill discipline and Christian morals and values, teach the power of right decisions, and offer counseling support.

In 2007, Bishop Simon made friends who shared the vision of establishing a homely place to care for and protect orphans and vulnerable children. This led to the start of the Home of the Good Shepherd in the same year. As per the requirement by Kenyan law, the Home was first registered as a Charitable Children’s Institution (CCI)  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, twenty-two are in elementary school and 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 successfully integrated back into the community with skills and training to be self-reliant.

During school holidays, the children spend time at 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 children. The children are also trained in 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 society once their time in the home is due. Self-reliance is always encouraged by 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 the summer. The visitors range from individuals, families, and organizations. The visitors offer assistance to the home in the form of foodstuff, gifts, and spending time with the children for encouragement and doing various activities which involve direct interaction with the children. The interaction helps to boost the morale of the children and equip them with the social skills necessary for when the time will come for their integration back into 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 plan 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 organized 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 into society spend time with the children living in the home to encourage them. They are expected to be role models 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 SUSTAINING 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 greenhouse 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 pepper 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 offset 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 the way to curb this problem and they came up with a strategy to start a school for the Home.

THE LITTLE LAMBS ACADEMY

The Little Lambs Academy was started in 2018. We believe that 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 organization, and expand our Christian impact in the surrounding community.  

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.