God's Little Ones

The cost of electricity in Kenya has been increasing to the point that the electric bill for the school and orphanage has risen to $800/month. One of the items that is necessary and uses electric all day long is the pump for the well water to pump it to the water tanks. An analysis was done by a solar company and it would cost approximately $6,000 for the panels and installation. This should generate enough electricity to run the school and the traditional electric can be used for a backup system.

Pastor Benard really anguishes over sending $800 a month to the electric company when there are ongoing struggles some months with shortages of food. This is a great project to help the school and orphanage become more self sufficient. There has been great success in the past with projects like the chickens and incubator, which provide eggs and income, and the purchase of land for planting crops.

God's Little Ones has received a generous donation for building housing so that some of the teachers can live on campus. This has been a prayer request for a long time and we are pleased to announce that the project is going well. This new building that you see in the pictures will house 8 teachers. This aids so much with their safety and taking good care of our students since the teachers are in the compound for 24 hours. Giving some of them housing will allow us to reduce their salaries and help with the salary deficit issues.

December 2025 Benard’s Vision School

We are very grateful to the Lord for the love and blessings he has granted us in 2025. My family appreciates your contributions which have helped bring our vision to life. We are still one of the best performing schools in the region in national exams, and want to extend our deepest gratitude to you for the generous support and for playing an invaluable role in making the growth and provision of our school a success. This year we had a total of 550 learners in elementary school, with ¾ of them orphans and the remaining percentage are private. The senior school had a total of 82 students who transitioned to high school from both Wachara and Ahero locations. Our school is loved by the community and we were overwhelmed at the beginning of this year whereby we had a lot of qualified learners join our school but we had to dismiss them due to lack of enough food, stationaries, beds, desks and chairs to have them stay in school. Therefore we are hoping for future provision regarding these children. Your support of the ongoing dormitory project in Wachara school is enabling us to accommodate the growth there.

Farming Critical Need - In prior years we did a lot of farming that gave us over 100 bags of maize and other grains and ensured the students were well fed. The process of food production from farming is key for us becoming self-sufficient. This year we were not able to do farming due to lack of enough funds for seeds, planting and harvesting, but it is our prayer that next year we will get money to do farming early enough for 2 planting seasons. 

Poultry And Cows

Your support and donations have enabled poultry farming to do well. Students are able to eat eggs once a week although our prayer is to produce more for them to eat more eggs. You supported us in purchasing an incubator for hatching of the chickens which is important since we no longer have to purchase chickens but it is working so well that more food is needed and we don’t have enough money to buy feed for the increasing number of chickens. The cows are getting enough feed which makes them healthy and increases their milk production. 

Teachers - Benard’s vision school is blessed to have an incredible, understanding and hardworking staff who have been the force behind the marvelous results we receive academically. Sometimes I'm unable to pay them their full salary. In the last 3 months this happened but their perseverance and commitment to the learners has been of great impact and as the director this has motivated me to try harder to retain them. My prayer is that next year I can build some housing on campus for the teachers to stay in. This aids so much with their safety and taking good care of our students since the teachers are in the compound for 24 hours. Giving some of them houses will allow us to reduce their salaries and help with the salary deficit issues.

Kenya Government Requirements

Our guidance and counselling department has been doing a tremendous job in ensuring both the students and staff are spiritually and emotionally cared for. The government of Kenya has dictated that every school has to employ a professional nurse who works very closely with the school counselor and the requirement to have enough sanitary pads for the girls. Our prayer is that as a school we meet the government’s demand for hiring a qualified nurse and providing enough drugs and sanitary pads for the girls every term.   

The government also issued a policy that every standard school must have a technical college for their candidates who have completed their senior school and are not able to get direct admissions to universities due to lower grades or lack of school fee. We have a vision for our children to learn courses like engineering, mechanics, electrical, food production among others. The government is doing this in order to reduce unemployment and for the students to be able to do practical work, get hands-on training and specialized knowledge that is not normally taught. My prayer therefore, is to help Benard’s vision 12th grade graduates join the training institute especially for the orphans who have as well passed their national exams but cannot join the university. 

In addition to this, it has come to my attention that there are so many little children in the community who are so vulnerable and some of their parents have died. We would like the school to take care of them by having a daycare within the school compound. This is my prayer to assist the little ones who are helpless and have no homes or proper care at a tender age of below 2 years.

Every year we have been able to provide Christmas food for the orphan families. The food items have been so helpful to them since most of them have no food to eat. We pray for funds to purchase food for distribution.Today as we reflect on what we have achieved together, we celebrate the spirit of partnership and commitment of you believing in our vision and investing in the potential of every child that we serve. 

We recently had a change to our hosting company and some of our coding to connect to our payment processor needs updating. Sorry for the inconvenience this may cause for those of you who donate online.

For the time being we are accepting donations only through checks. Please Send checks to:

God's Little Ones has sent money for an urgent need for food recently and now this situation Pastor Benard has made us aware of . . . .

The tires on the school bus are flat and need to be replaced at $1,800.

The teachers in Wachara and Ahero have not been paid for February. When this happens some teachers tend to quit and he loses good people.

Wachara is $2,800 Ahero is $5,600

These needs are always great but we walk forward in faith because God has always come through and blessed this ministry.

Dormitory and Kindergarten Needed

At this time the boys sleep in a tin building which the government has condemned. They have beds which can be used in the new building but the new building will accommodate more boys so additional beds will be needed. The budget for the building is $49,000. The dormitory for girls is done and sleeps 80.

The cost for the kindergarten building is $36,000 and includes desks and tables.

Food is needed for both locations. 200 bags of maize 15 bags of beans 23 bags of rice Total cost $6,000

The government has mandated that the jr. high students have lockers. The deadline was this past friday. God's Little Ones had money we could send to buy a few for Ahero. The government extended the deadline because they saw he was trying. The lockers cost $50 each. Wachara needs 34 lockers. Ahero needs 40 more.

More students that need a place to sleep have been admitted. They have been sharing beds. The government won't allow that. The beds are $200 each. Wachara needs 18 beds and Ahero needs 25 beds.

The cows in Ahero are out of feed. Pastor Benard needs $2,000 to buy in bulk for them. God's Little Ones had $600 so we sent that today. We can't let those cows starve.

Pastor Benard is trying to get an appointment at the embassy in Nairobi to request a Visa to come here. Things are very difficult now and he realizes it is important for him to do his tour in the US to keep people informed.

God's Little Ones Newsletter December 2024

Pamela and I are thrilled to share with you the progress we have made and the positive impact it has made on the Ahero and Wachara area.

First and foremost we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of our donors and volunteers who have continued to support us throughout the year. Your generosity and dedication have allowed us to keep our programs running smoothly and effectively. May God continue to bless you for your generosity. 

This years initiatives:

1. We are grateful for an increase in the number of students (orphans). We currently have a total of 465 in primary and 88 in high school. We started our high school program 3 years ago with only 18 students and have seen a huge increase. We are blessed and humbled to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in Wachara and Ahero.

2. We have ventured more into agriculture and poultry farming. This has allowed us to be more sustainable as we have witnessed an increase in egg and vegetable production throughout the year. 

3. BVS hospital has also made huge progress recording the highest number of patients this year and are meeting the needs of the Wachara village.

4. We also launched a mental health program within our schools. This initiative will serve students with the intention of creating safe spaces for children that have experienced trauma to tell their stories, find support and heal holistically.

Prayer Items - Future Needs

Dormitories First priority is a dormitory for boys in Wachara. The upper level of the dining space in Wachara is used as the dormitory for girls. With the increased number of students, we are also learning that we need to build a new living space for both primary and high school students in Ahero. 

Water In Wachara The current well does not produce enough water therefore we run out of water and have to bring containers to a place to get water but it is very inconvenient. A new well needs to be drilled.

Early Childhood Development Building We are in need of a stand alone building for ECD education. This is a requirement by the government. They will learn, sleep there and have food cooked separately for their age. 

School Bus A new bus or repair of the existing one (quite expensive) and/or a new van is needed to transport the small children and the increased number of students we have. We have also experienced lots of car breakdowns throughout the year which has made transportation challenging. The resources to continually fix breakdowns have been limited. 

Technical and Vocational Education and Training The government has required that we start a vocational school. It will facilitate an easy transition for our high school students into a 2 year program that is an alternative to going to college. They will learn practical skills such as carpentry, sewing etc., that will help them land job opportunities or even start their own business.

Land As we continue to enroll more students, so does the need for more space to accommodate them. Please pray for God’s provision for more land to serve the increased need of our students. 

Benard’s Medical Center Equipment and Supplies The hospital is in need of renovation as well as more supplies to meet the needs of our patients. Some of these needs are an incubator, X-ray machine, ultrasound machine and a pharmacy with fully stocked medication such as malaria tablets as that is the most common malady.

Library, Furniture, Computers and Books We are in need of a library. It will be a resource within the school that can be utilized on their own time to continue to learn outside the classroom. We are in need of more furniture and books for both high school and junior high. We need more computers for the computer laboratory.

Teachers Quarters/Houses Some of our teachers have been blessed to have houses within the school making it easier to provide support to our students living on campus. Pray for God’s provision to renovate the current houses as well as build more to continue to meet the needs of our teachers and students on campus.

We have so much to be grateful for and so much to pray over. Therefore we ask you to join us wherever you are and praise the Lord with us for His protection and provision throughout these years. Continue to pray for His guidance in meeting these needs next year and in the near future. May God’s will be done and may His will be fulfilled according to His plan. Together we continue to make a difference in the lives of the people of Ahero and Wachara for the glory of our God. Thank you for your continued support!   Pastor Benard & Pamela

Kale and collard green farm at Ahero

Eggs from poultry farming

Computer Laboratory

High School Girls Choir

Teacher Housing

1. Pastor Benard's brother died suddenly and is a great source of heartache. Please pray for the whole family.

2. The well in Wachara has failed and a new well is desperately needed.

3. Teacher pay donations are needed to catch them up by the end of the year.

4. We are working on our end of year newsletter with more information, so watch for that in your email or snail mail.

You may have heard that because of heavy rains in Kenya the Nyando river has overflowed its banks. One of the hardest hit places is Ahero Kenya where Pastor Benard’s school is located. We have sad news that the entire school grounds were flooded. No one was hurt but the loss is great. The orphans are staying with guardians but they will not get enough to eat with them. The grounds are still flooded but if the rain stops and the river recedes Pastor Benard would like to open the school next week for the sake of those children. 

Here is a list of damages and estimates to repair/replace . . .

Food - 10 bags of maize were saved but 60 bags were lost. All other food stored is lost. $3,000 needed to get enough food to open

All mattresses in the dormitories were ruined. $5,000 to replace.

Dormitory foundation was destroyed by the force of the water. $5,000 to repair.

Replace all ruined mosquito nets. $1,500

All books & teaching materials on the ground floor of the elementary and jr. high were destroyed. $3,000 to replace.

2 cows drowned. $700 to replace

All cow feed swept away. $2,000 to replace

All chicken feed was swept away. $2,000 to replace

Part of the farm crop was swept away and will need to be plowed and replanted. $1,500

The force of the water pulled out the posts of the fencing around the farm. The fence posts need to be repaired and this time put in concrete so another flood won't easily pull them out. $8,000

We thank God for the items that were saved. All the chickens survived because their cages were elevated. The new incubator for chicks was ok because it was on a second floor. The new shower for the children that were showering in the woods still has water in it but should be OK because it was a new building. The people from the village came to help and were able to get everything off the first floor of the high school. They also dug trenches to keep the water from getting to the second floor. Some of them are staying on the second floor of the school because they have nowhere else to go. 

Great progress has been made toward self sufficiency as a result of donations by you, our faithful donors.

A second chicken coop has been built that can hold 500 chickens. This means more income from the sale of eggs and children will have more eggs added to their diet.

The donation of an incubator and roosters has now resulted in the first batch of chicks!!

The incubator that holds 500 eggs and has it's own power backup since electricity is not stable in Kenya.

From Pastor Benard . . .

We thank God for leading us well the whole of this year 2023. The year started so well and had a very wonderful year of academic performance as Benard’s Vision School has really improved. This year we had 445 kids in primary 1-6, kindergarten & preschool. In junior high, grade 7 & 8, we had 38 students, grade 9 & 10 had a total of 68 students. In Benard’s Vision Wachara we had 248 students in kindergarten and preschool and primary 1-6. We are so grateful for the tremendous improvement in our schools. Our kids for grade 6 and 8 did their national exams this year and we are expecting the results in the course of the week. Kindly pray with us. Last year's exam results we were position 1 in the sub-county out of 420 schools and we were position 19 out of 780 schools.

We appreciate our supporters for your prayers and the donations you have been giving to us. We were able to buy 7 hectares of land (17.3 acres) for the production of food to sustain the students and we farm it and were able to produce 100 bags of maize and 20 bags of millet. Our prayer is to have 15 hectares. We now have cows for milk production and chickens for the eggs. Our plan is to work harder for food manufacturing  to become more self-sufficient because there will be more students admitted next year. 

THE TEACHERS

Our teachers are hardworking and well trained. They need a small salary increase yet our financial status does not allow us to pay them more, and sometimes we are not able to pay their full salary. This results in us losing some professional teachers because the neighboring schools poach them for better salaries. Our vision is to build housing for teachers because some of them pay rent outside the campus and therefore, if we are able to have housing for them on campus, then the salary will be lowered. Teachers prefer accommodation within the school rather than renting because it is safe, a conducive environment for academic work for students and also it will be cheaper for the school. Our plan is to build 14 housing units for teachers and we are praying for $120,000 dollars for the construction.

STUDENTS NEEDS

Right now, there is a lot of rain and our campus in Ahero has been flooded which will lead us to do some renovations and repairs of the walls and the floor. Our 9th and 10th graders have no building to shower in.  Because of this they wait until it is dark and bring a bucket with them and shower in the woods. The government is mad at us because they dislike students bathing outside. It will cost $5,000 to build them a shower building.

We thank God for the increase in the number of expected students for next year. We have been conducting interviews with partial or full orphans and depending on how desperate the situation is we will accept them. The school has been able to provide furniture and beds for the students except that next year we would not be able to provide enough for the students and that means we cannot admit more. The school needs 40 desks and chairs ($150 each set), for the classrooms. Also 20 double decker beds ($280 each), for the orphans that are boarding, to avoid sharing of the furniture for the comfortability of the students during their studies and even when sleeping. At this time many bunk beds are being shared by 2 students.

FUTURE PLANS FOR SELF SUFFICIENCY AND FINANCIAL STABILITY

We thank God for the chickens and that their production has been so good. We need to bring water to the coop as the workers are carrying buckets and that will allow salaries to be reduced. The students eat one egg a week right now and our goal is 2 eggs in a week for their health. We want to add 5 more chicken coops and pray for $15,000 dollars, which will pay for building 1 coop, the chickens, cages and feed until they start producing. Then 4 more coops as God provides. Some eggs are sold to pay for feed and worker salaries. Therefore the chicken project funds itself.Honey is another product that is really helpful to Kenya today. We need 10 hives ($520) to put on the 7 hectares we bought. One kilo of honey is about 10 dollars and 1 hive produces 10 kilos of honey, after a period of 6 months. Therefore if we have 10 hives we will make 100 kilos every 6 months. 

Our other vision is to keep pigs. One pig can produce 20 piglets and after 6 months, we can sell them to other farmers at $60 dollars each. We need to keep 30 of them for financial sustainability.

In conclusion, pray for us to be faithful to the work of the Lord here in Kenya, pray for my family, my kids are graduating next year from the university and I plan to visit the US from March through mid May. Pray for the general manager Madam Mercy who is doing a marvelous job. Pray for the funds we need to accomplish the vision we have for Benard’s Vision School. May God Bless You. In Christ's Name - Benard and Pamela

Heavy rains have caused flash flooding in Kenya. Many people have died. The location of the orphanage has been ok so far. The workers are putting items in place where it can flood, to turn back the water.

We are approaching the end of the year and there is a great need for teacher pay. Teacher pay is behind and $8,000 is need to catch them up and finish out the year. If the teachers don't get their pay they won't come back next semester.

Please pray for these items.

We will be sending out a newsletter after Thanksgiving with more news on great successes and future projects.

As part of the initiative to help Benard’s Vision School and orphanage be more self sufficient, a very large chicken coop was built last year that holds about 600 chickens. It is producing 30-40 crates of eggs per day at 30 eggs per crate. Some of the eggs are being sold and the funds used to purchase more feed and pay the workers. The additional eggs allow the children to eat eggs on Wednesdays and Fridays. This initiative has become self sustaining and is a huge blessing. We are hoping to develop more initiatives like this. 

Some enhancements to this project would be to bring water to the coop. Right now the workers carry water by the bucket in order to clean. This is very difficult. Bringing electricity to the coop will also deter thieves from stealing. 

We are thankful that the drought in Kenya has ended. This was hard on the animals as well as people. God's Little Ones sent money to ensure feed could be purchased for the animals. The rain started and we sent money for seeds, plowing and planting. Crops of millet and corn have been planted and are growing!

Thank you for your continued support.