The vision for the Love Nairobi Festival Mission began eight years ago, but it gained significant momentum in September 2022 as a partnership of African Enterprise with Nairobi city churches and the Luis Palau Association, based in Portland, Oregon.
Then, in September 2023, a diverse group of missioners, totaling 215 individuals from various African countries, reached out with the Gospel across Kenya’s capital city. These included friends from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Togo, Botswana, South Africa, Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, DRC Congo, and Malawi, as well as some from Europe and the USA. These evangelists labored together to reach more than 320,000 people and saw the salvation of 78,593 individuals, as per the latest report at the time of this submission.
One of those who experienced the love of Jesus was a young woman named Joy, who arrived at a children’s home in December 2008, during a turbulent period of post-election violence in Kenya. She had been left there by a woman who initially claimed to be a Good Samaritan. Joy bore visible scars and a broken arm, isolating her from the other kids while she recovered. Eventually, she integrated into the home, but the stares from some of the children made her withdraw into loneliness.
Later, the woman who dropped her off revealed that she was Joy’s maternal aunt, not just a stranger, and Joy’s scars were not from the political violence but from abuse by her family. Her “aunt” disclosed that she was, in fact, Joy’s grandmother, covering for her daughter’s mistakes. Joy then learned that her broken arm resulted from her mother throwing her down the stairs in a fit of rage, intensifying her resentment.
Now a university student studying architecture in Nairobi, Joy (with her back to the camera to the left) is highly respected at the children’s home. During a recent visit by the missioners, Joy felt a spark of hope. Although she hasn’t fully healed from her past, she expressed a willingness to embark on a journey of forgiveness, taking one step at a time. Plans were made for further trauma healing support through the Foxfire Youth Evangelist team. Please continue to pray for Joy!
