OBI has been requested to teach, train, and serve the medical and mental health needs of children and their families in Kenya. This is a NEW medical and mental wellness initiative and partnership with Mission of Hope International (MOHI) in Nairobi, Kenya, where the church, Christ Church of the Valley, (CCV) has served for many years.
Jeff Jernigan, PhD and I completed a survey trip to Nairobi last year. Based on their work with MOHI teachers, pastors, social workers, and children, a plan for raising the standard of care was submitted and accepted by MOHI. MOHI provides K-12 education, medical treatment, clothing, optometry, and food to impoverished families in 35 communities serving over 25,000+ children. A special focus is families living in the world’s largest slum, Mathare Valley, and adjacent slums, where over 600,000 people live in three square miles of squalor.
We will be teaching and training leaders to serve civilian and military families in the basics of mental health, stress and trauma injuries, and suicide prevention. Multi-cultural parenting styles and adult attachment disorders will be a focus since there are so many broken families struggling with the impact of extreme poverty, natural disasters, disease, and violence. The medical needs are huge, and the medical team will be treating common and rare cases in lifesaving situations. We also will inaugurate train-the-trainer cohorts to begin building a multiplying health ministry.
During the last survey trip, we saw three children only days away from dying saved from serious diseases. We helped a first responder who admitted they were going home to commit suicide choose to live. They changed their mind and committed to working with trauma experts to find new hope. We trained adults to handle life-threatening, traumatic situations to provide healing, health, and hope.
The medical team brings equipment, medications, and much-needed medical supplies, while the mental wellness team is tasked with teaching and training so the team in Nairobi can handle the trauma recovery challenges they face in the communities they serve. We now have a strategy and plan for building an effective medical and mental wellness program where needed most.
Your generosity joins OBI in helping children and families and marks you as a difference-maker in the kingdom of God. The military and civilian families have such great needs, and your gift makes a huge difference.
Please consider a donation to OBI for this new and life-changing humanitarian project.
Designate: KENYA, AFRICA.
Blessings,
Nancy Jernigan, PhD
OBI Finance Director/Board Member
Fellow, American Institute of Stress (AIS)
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