Why Maai Mahiu?

In a nation where 85.5% of the population professes to share our Christian faith, moving to Kenya for missionary work might sound a little pointless. Meet Maai Mahiu, a mission field ripe for the harvest. 

Trucks parked along the highway in Maai Mahiu

Located just down the mountain from Kijabe, a missionary town affectionately called the “holy city”, is the town of Maai Mahiu, infamously known as the “sin city” of Kenya. Situated along a major point on the Trans-African Highway, the area is plagued with prostitution, criminal rings that steal vital supplies from aid trucks and participate in illicit trade, and runaway criminals who use the transient population as a place to lay low after committing crimes ranging from petty robbery to murder. 

Maai Mahiu on a map of the Trans-African Highways

Naomi’s Village, situated right down the road from the heart of Maai Mahiu, is passionate about helping those most affected by the ills of the town: the children. With about 100 kids being raised in their children's home and 450 kids from the surrounding community receiving education at the connected school, Cornerstone Preparatory Academy, the organization is empowering the next generation to challenge the status-quo in Maai Mahiu with counter-cultural integrity and holiness. 

Lower Primary kiddos during chapel at CPA. Look at that JOY!!!

Reading about these issues from 8000 miles away may make them feel distant or foreign, but the problems they face in Maai Mahiu aren’t much different from the ones we face back home. The core of the issues in Maai Mahiu are a people who don’t know Jesus as the Lord of their life and are vulnerable to the temptations that the enemy uses to kill and destroy. This is my story too- a life wrecked by the enemy and redeemed by Christ. I’m guessing you can relate if you’ve experienced the grace of our Savior!

So, why Maai Mahiu? Because I know that without the worth we find in Jesus, we’d all likely be selling ourselves in one way or another like so many women there. Without the comfort we find in Jesus, we’d all rely on sinful crutches like the truckers who perpetuate the prostitution and illicit trade there. Without the healing we find in Jesus, we’d stay wrecked by our traumas like the ones tons of children there have experienced (and are finding healing from at NV and CPA!) Without the joy we find in Jesus, our hearts would be as spiritually poor as the homes there are materially poor. 

Jesus’s heart is for both the abused and the abuser to come to Him. Naomi’s Village is making a way for that as they provide a safe environment for children to grow and heal, and raise up leaders who can stir systemic and spiritual change in Maai Mahiu.

Jesus walked with the abused, the marginalized, and the forgotten. He invites us to walk with Him as we join the ways He is ministering in Maai Mahiu, Kenya. If you’d like to be a part of our team of financial, relational, and prayerful supporters, please send us an email, comment below, or visit our homepage for ways you can give and pray!

See if you can spot the ostrich beside us!

God loves you and we do too!

The McFarlins