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ATLANTA – John Williams of Roanoke, Va., found that when a group of American Christians build something in Kenya – particularly something as beneficial as a school for young Kenyan children – the villagers come.

They come to watch progress happening before their eyes. They come to support the work, and they come to say thank you. They know the change it will bring to their community, and they know the difference it will make for their young children.

“It’s just unbelievable,” said Williams, who has helped construct two child development centers in Kenya as part of the ministry of CBF field personnel Melody and Sam Harrell.

The Harrells call this education project Change for Children because the construction of eight integrated child development centers around Kenya has the potential to better the lives of the nearly 650 children, ranging in age from 3 to 6, who will attend the schools this year.

“Those who follow after Jesus will recall how he often welcomed children. He also said that it would be better not to have been born than to cause harm to come to a child,” said Sam Harrell. “Unfortunately, children as a group, remain among the most vulnerable, marginalized and neglected sectors of the human family.”

Children in sub-Saharan Africa countries such as Kenya are among the world’s most vulnerable children. In 2004, statistics showed the region was losing ground in child mortality, Harrell said. Then, 42 percent of all children who died before the age of 5 were living in sub-Saharan Africa. Lack of access to nutrition, vaccines, safe drinking water and other resources are just some reasons these children are so vulnerable.

The Harrells, who have served in Kenya since 1999, wanted to build on the change they have seen through previous feeding projects, agriculture advances and education initiatives. While government-sponsored primary school has been free for children since 2002, pre-school and kindergarten programs are not or are not available in rural areas. Seeing a need, the Harrells launched Change for Children with the hope that the centers would give children a head start in school and also help marginalized communities.

The Harrells turned to Fellowship partner churches for funding and support of the project. Williams’ church, Rosalind Hills Baptist Church, is one of several Roanoke-area churches who have helped fund child development centers.

“The [centers] give children an opportunity to be in a school. It gives them a place to learn – that they can come to and not only be fed from school work but be physically fed with food,” Williams said.

Change for Children includes a daily nutritionally-balanced meal. so that no student has to learn on an empty stomach. The project also ensures children have all the materials necessary for learning, are immunized and treated for parasites and malaria, have access to safe drinking water, and receive an insecticide-treated mosquito net to protect them from malaria at home while they sleep. The construction of foot bridges ensure children can get to school even during Kenya’s rainy season when river levels rise and are impassable.

The centers are also in line with the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, which focus on improving quality of life among the world’s poor by 2015.

“Change in the lives of children through education, better nutrition, elimination of disease, and Christian love and compassion is the goal of this effort,” said Harrell.

The students’ families and the larger community also benefit from the project’s community health education efforts and micro-enterprise development that will enhance money-making potential for families.

“Our role is coming alongside these communities to give them the backup they need in these efforts and to help them succeed,” Harrell said.

But Kenyans aren’t the only ones changed. 

“An equally important benefit is the change that occurs in the lives of those who commit to be partners in the initiative, using their God-given gifts, resources and skills and discovering God in the process,” Harrell said.

And that’s just the kind of project CBF of Missouri was looking for when it committed to funding and supporting a child development center.

“We wanted to do more than raise money and give it to the project,” said CBF of Missouri coordinator Harold Phillips. “We wanted it to be an experience that had some personal involvement. [Change for Children] helps us to have our eyes opened to a part of the world and some needs and challenges beyond where most of us live.”

That’s one reason CBF of Missouri will continue sending teams of church members to Kenya to teach, play with children, do construction and provide medical services.  Other churches supporting Change for Children have sent similar teams to serve and learn. 

With all eight centers now constructed and educating children, the Harrells look to the future – adding playground equipment to better develop children’s motor skills and continuing work to ensure children have access to food and clean water no matter the season in Kenya.

“It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child,” Harrell said. “In these days, a global village response is [needed] in order that children in difficult circumstances are treated with the dignity they deserve and are not forever hampered due to improper treatment during the most crucial developmental periods of life.”

To learn about partnership opportunities in Kenya, contact Chris Boltin at cboltin@thefellowhsip.info or (800) 352-8741. To financially support the Harrell’s ministry, give to the CBF Offering for Global Missions at www.thefellowship.info/give.

CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.