Into Africa Missions

We visited for the first time in March 1994. We moved to Kenya in September 1995. It’s been nearly 14 years since Africa has become like home to us. For nearly three years, we worked with Christ Church Kisumu where Rick helped to upgrade their church and school facility. We thoroughly enjoyed teaching Sunday school and working with their teachers. But a huge need in the community was becoming too obvious for us to ignore.

At first it was a trickle of teen boys moving to the streets. Having been orphaned and/or traumatized by the AIDS pandemic, they came for survival. The numbers grew exponentially as statistics for HIV grew—and, the boys who came were coming at a younger age. Tragically, girls who moved to the streets were all too often grabbed for house help or prostitution. They were always more difficult to find, often disguised as boys. We joined efforts with Medical Ambassadors International. God helped us bring over 100 boys from the streets. With a lot of prayer and hard work, we saw God transform many of these young lives as He helped them break their addiction to sniffing glue. Leaving their objectionable street habits behind, those who began to receive Jesus’ love for them became socially acceptable young men.

To ensure that these young guys could receive an education, we built and started a school, making much developmental improvement to their fledgling Agape Children’s Home facility. We started a farm several hours away from the city for the older boys. Up to 30 of these boys at any given time lived right at our own home.

As we became more involved in the community, we discovered that there were many babies being abandoned.
Joining efforts with New Life Home in Nairobi, we started a satellite rescue center right at our own home in Kisumu. At first, we thought the reason so many babies were being (literally) discarded was that they might have AIDS, but as we started rescuing these babies, we learned that they were born of incest, labeled as taboo babies, and were not allowed to be raised within their own communities. In the first year and a half, we had rescued 150 babies! We couldn’t resist the great opportunity we had right at our own doorstep. We adopted our delightful darlings, Holly and Rodney! We were encouraged to obtain our own registration with the children’s department. In 2001, we were registered with the government of Kenya as Into Africa Trust for children in crisis—and kept rescuing boys, babies, and, eventually, girls!

Many of the children we have rescued have completed school and have become stable Christians in their communities. Today, Into Africa is caring for boys and girls who are serious God-fearing students, knowing they are among the privileged who have a new destiny. Into Africa’s kids are still under construction but are beginning to help us build the next generation!

Our mandate at Into Africa:
“I’ve given you a job to do among nations and governments… Your job is to pull up and tear down, take apart and demolish, and then start over, building and planting.” Jeremiah 1.10 MSG

Thank you for your prayers and your finances to help us build!

Every child wants hope. Every child deserves hope. Please give a child hope.

Rick and Audrey McAninch