Dr. David Kitonga and his wife Ann founded Africa Equip Ministries (AEM). The Lord helped them envision the transformation of the lives of people in this dreadful slum, to become Christ following, educated and productive men, women, and children.
They planted a church, founded the Huduma School, and AEM center which ministers to one thousand and two hundred children and youth daily, providing them education, food, and Bible teaching. The center operates a medical clinic and job skills training for young men and women.
Please Pray: David and Ann as they labor daily for the Gospel in Kawangware. Pray for resources, both material and spiritual, to educate children, train adults for productive work, and provide food so that no one in Kawangware will be hungry.
Kawangware is one of Kenya’s largest and fastest growing slum communities, located 15 kilometers west of Nairobi. With a population estimated at 300,000 adults and children, and families living on less than $1 USD per day, many families cannot afford more than one meal each day. Most children in the slum suffer from malnutrition illnesses, and clean water is difficult to find. The unemployment rate is staggering, and most families cannot afford to send their children to school because the costs for public school books and uniforms are prohibitive.
At the invitation of Atlanta Pastor Daniel Rickett PhD, Tom Schuler attended a ministry conference outside Nairobi, Kenya in 1994, where he met Pastor Dr. David Kitonga. David invited Tom to visit the ministry he was hoping to build in Kawangware. It was during the visit that David told Tom about his vision to build a church and school in the slum, and said he needed a “partner.” Tom’s heart was moved to help, and although he told David he was an Atlanta business consultant, not a fund raiser – he agreed to try.
As the funds were raised through business clients, Atlanta churches and ministry friends, a tented church and a small five-room school building emerged, and teachers began changing the lives of dozens of pre-school children who had no access to schools.
In the years to follow, mission team members from Atlanta churches began making summer trips to Kawangware, conducting medical clinics with doctors and nurses, meeting with children in the classrooms, and working with men and women in micro-enterprise carpentry and sewing ministries. In the next 15-18 years, more than 200 men and women, neighbors and ministry partners traveled to Kawangware to aid in the ministry and help support the school.