TURKANA, KENYA MISSIONS PROJECT:
OASIS CENTER – WELL & CHURCH PLANT
We have been given an opportunity to reach a community far beyond the borders of DuBois, PA!
We are working together with both Kenya Assemblies of God and WorldServe International to build an oasis center that provides clean water and a new church building for the people of Turkana!
The project consists of raising $50,000 over a 2-year timeline for the oasis center!
We Raised a Total of
$51,989.76!!
We began to promote this project during our 2021 Christmas Eve service, with 100% of our offering that service going to the oasis center; we received over $5,000 on that first night towards our $50,000 goal!
We then received over $11,000 on our next Sunday service. Within the first month of the project, we raised over ⅓ of the total budget!
We also gave all of the funds received on our 2022 Easter service towards the project. Our total from that day was, once again, over $11,000! With that offering, we hit 70% of our goal in just under 4 months!
During our 2022 Vacation Bible School, we challenged the kids to raise money for this project, showing them how it would bring clean drinking water to kids in Turkana. Over 5 days, with over 60 different kids attending our VBS throughout the week, they raised $756.90!
In our offering from October 30, 2022, just over 10 months (311 days) from the start of the project, we received the final funds needed to complete the project and more!
Thank you to all who gave to this project and helped us reach another community of believers on the other side of the world! We praise God and give Him all glory for our small church reaching the goal far short of the 2-year timeframe for the project!
INFO ABOUT TURKANA
Turkana County occupies the northwesternmost section of Kenya. It has an area of roughly 26,000 mi2, and an estimated population of nearly 1.2 million people; about 15% of the population density of DuBois!
The area in which it is located is classified as arid land, meaning it receives very little rainfall, which makes obtaining water very difficult. The people have to travel far distances early in the morning each day to gather water for their communities, and the water that they find is usually not very clean, which leads to increased health issues.
The main economic resources of the people of Turkana are livestock (mainly camels) and fishing (for those near Lake Turkana). This means that the people must gather and travel with enough water for their families, the livestock that they raise, and the crops they grow, which help feed the people in the community.
The people are very religious with around 52% of the population involved in traditional religion, and 92% of them being Christians (48% of total population); of those Christians, about 46% are evangelical (22% of total population).
We began partnering with a group of roughly 50 believers who were holding services under the shade of a tree!
INFO ABOUT THE OASIS CENTER
Turkana, Kenya is over 7,000 miles away from DuBois, but the Kingdom of God has no earthly limits or boundaries, and we are excited about this opportunity to impact God's Church in Africa!
The funds we provide will help to build a 35' x 60' tabernacle structure for the people to meet under. The structure will be converted over time into a full church building, with walls and flooring, for the people to gather and worship!
WorldServe International also provides immediate access to fresh water by drilling a well and placing water storage tanks. They install faucets for families to collect clean water for drinking and hygiene, set up a solar-powered pump with a water trough for their livestock, and lay out an irrigation system on farmland to provide sustainable crops for better nutrition.
This oasis center consists of both the well and the church that sustains it. Our prayer is that people from all over Turkana will come to this oasis center for clean water and they will find Jesus and living water!
The Oasis Center we are helping to build is located in the Naibun village of Turkana, Kenya.
