Ken Koome’s Message of Hope!

                                              

   Al and I had the privilege of hosting Ken Koome (pronounced “come-ay”) from Kenya at our home in May. Ken is a young missionary serving in East Angola, who came to Porterville to speak at Grand Ave. on Sunday, May 18th. This was the end of a two month trip from Florida to California to raise support for and share about his ministry with Global Ministries through the United Methodist church.

    We stayed up late on Saturday night, getting acquainted with him and seeing a preview of his slide presentation. Ken’s story was amazing, involving great personal sacrifice and passion for his own people, as well as one of hope. His roots are from a small tribe in Kenya. He is a “third generation Christian,” who grew up knowing about and believing in Christ, with Christian parents, a grandfather who was one of the first African pastors and an uncle who became a bishop in the Methodist church.

     When he was nineteen years old, Ken traveled with a group of young people to a neighboring country which had just gone through a terrible civil war and genocide. He drove an ambulance around the area, transporting injured people to hospitals. He said that he had never seen anything like it. The suffering and devastation was unimaginable.

      That experience opened his eyes to the meaning of the Gospel in a new way—realizing the evil which was present in the heart of man and also the depth of God’s love poured out through His Son, Jesus Christ. Ken went on to college, majoring in business and finances, got his master’s degree and then found a good job as a financial accountant with Global Ministries. We were astounded to hear that he speaks ten languages!

      When he was asked by Global Ministries if he would consider becoming a missionary in the area of his financial expertise, he agreed, even though his parents questioned him about leaving the security of the job. “Getting into the mission work was something I didn’t expect to happen,” he said. “But I am very passionate about what I do.”

      He served as a missionary with Global Missions for eight years before being assigned to East Angola, overseeing projects and keeping financial records for six districts with 69 pastors and 72 churches! Ken’s office is based in Malanje, which is the capital city of the province by that same name. At night, he works on the internet…the only time when he is most likely to get a connection, so that he can communicate with the UMC Global Ministries board and other individuals, send out his newsletters, and of course keep in touch with his family, who live in Kenya.

      His wife and two young daughters are in their native country, close to their relatives. Ken only sees them every three or four months. He told us that it would have been difficult to move his family to East Angola when he took the position there eight months ago, due to the lack of schools, hospitals and other services.

       During the war of independence in which Angola won its freedom from Portugal and the civil war which followed, much of the infrastructure of the country was destroyed. Missionaries had to leave and countless lives were lost. There has only been peace in Angola for about ten years.

      Prior to the war, the 3,000 acre Methodist mission compound near Malanje known as Quessua, was thriving, with agricultural demonstration farms, schools, training programs for people in the community, a church and hospital. The compound was also devastated, with landmines still being discovered on the grounds.

       Ken is helping with the rebuilding of the mission, overseeing volunteers as they repair the facility. The boys’ boarding house will be open to 250 orphans in September.

It has been rebuilt by volunteer groups coming from the states. A group from Florida is there at present helping finish up the “bath house” before the kids arrive. In his “spare time,” Ken helps take care of the needs of the kids currently living at the mission, using his own money to buy Christmas gifts, making improvised games and getting to know the children.

     The church at the mission only had about fifty people attending eight months ago when Ken first arrived. However, he mobilized some of the pastors and men in the area to build small prayer rooms called “church houses,” where people could gather to meet and pray. Their one-room houses weren’t large enough to serve as gathering places, especially since they kept their chickens and goats inside…still afraid to trust their “neighbors,” still fearful of being attacked by friends and family members as happened during the civil war. After the little church houses were built, the attendance steadily grew on Sundays at the church on the mission compound, until over 300 people were showing up for Sunday school and church services.

      There is a shortage of pastors, who currently live on the support from groups in the US, forty dollars a month. Most of them have to find other work to support their families. Pastors’ prayer requests included: “health, education of the people, reconciliation (between neighbors and families who were on opposite sides during the civil war), hospitals, schools, metal roofs for their churches…” Many of East Angola’s churches have thatched roofs which have to be replaced each year; and some congregations still are meeting under the trees, while others have no chairs.    

        A small women’s center has been opened where ladies are learning basic hygiene, sewing and skills to eventually start up their own small businesses. The prayer requests of the women in the training center are touching: “Pray for our church, our children, for strength to do our work, for a tractor to work the fields…”

       Some crops have also been planted on the compound at Quessua, including oranges, avocados, mangos and moringa, which is called the “tree of life” in Africa because of its highly nutritious leaves and seeds.  His vision is to utilize the land to produce food and train people; however agricultural experts as well as equipment are needed.

       The time with Ken passed by very quickly. After his presentation on Sunday morning, he was on his way to one more meeting before boarding the plane for a 27 hour (total) trip back to East Angola. His message was one of hope from the people of Africa and of inspiration to those who had the opportunity to meet him. We were blessed!

 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold he had and bought that field.” Matthew 13: 44 NIV