Kenya: The Vision & The Opportunity

Webster’s dictionary defines mission as 1) a specific task with which a person or a group is charged, 2) a pre-established and often self-imposed objective or purpose, 3) a calling or vocation, 4) a body of persons sent to perform a service or carry on an activity, 4) a ministry commissioned by a religious organization to propagate its faith or carry on humanitarian work, 5) a local church or parish dependent on a larger religious organization for direction or financial support, and 6) the act or an instance of sending.  These are the person, place, thing definitions. All of these are what Travis and Laura have worked to establish in Kenya.

Mission as a verb, an action, means to send or entrust with a mission; to carry on a religious mission among or in. The Sawyers are both—missionaries missioning with a mission on a mission. In essence, they embody the word mission. They are fulfilling the GreatCommission by spreading the Truth of Jesus Christ, but they are also the hands and feet of Christ on the ground and in the community fulfilling the call of every believer to go and be ambassadors for Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

When they began, they were sent by a larger organization that has since diminished. In response to that organization’s decline, the Sawyers started their own mission organization through which they collect and distribute support. Straight Up Missions currently supports six other missionaries located in Romania, Kenya, France, and Haiti. But that’s it. It is not a large organization. In essence, SUM (Straight Up Missions) is simply an umbrella under which these missionaries can receive help with their legal documents and accounting. Short of paying for the salary for the one person who does this for them, you can be assured every penny you send goes directly to the needs of each missionary and their God-ordained mission.

Yes, each missionary family needs monthly support. Travis recommends most do not enter the mission field without $5000 of monthly support. However, he is very up front with the numbers. He shared his family of six pulls a monthly salary that is a small fraction of that monthly number. With that monthly support, he also pays for insurance and a plethora of other generous endeavors on the mission. When they told me they personally sponsor a large number of the children on the mission, I had to assume the money comes from this support. The difference an American dollar can make in Kenya is mind-blowing. Travis has calculated that just $250,000 would allow him to finish every building project currently planned for the future of the mission! $250,000 won’t even buy you one house in some parts of the United States, and he could finish building schools, boarding houses, apartments, soccer fields, additions to the clinic, and so much more!

My favorite part about being partners with the Sawyers is their ability to share needs and post picture updates for how your money is being used and spent. There was a need for washing machines for the laundry of all the clothes for the children who board at the school. He posted the dollar amount, and it was an amount we could give at the time, and as simple as that, we were partners in providing means for the children at the mission to have clean clothes. Sometimes he needs funds to continue building projects. Sometimes he needs to provide desks for classrooms or school supplies. Sometimes a student or child needs a sponsor. The needs are many, but I appreciate how they only ask for what I would consider the imminent needs. When you follow them on Facebook or Instagram, you don’t feel like they are constantly asking for money—even though they could. They also give you glimpses of how the money has been used and the difference it is making on the mission. They provide snapshots of Kenyan life and updates about the current ministries and progress of the church in ministry. They can show you how the clinic helps the community and also celebrate the school’s achievements. When you give to the Sawyers, you don’t feel disconnected by miles of ocean, you feel connected through the work of the body of Christ.

So now what? What is your opportunity? I’ve mentioned several already, but the harvest is ripe in Sekenani! Here is what I know, what I observed and heard, and what I can offer…

Travis needs people who are called to missions. A full-time medical staff person would be life changing. Maybe teachers. Maybe chefs. I’m not sure there’s a tradesman who couldn’t be put to work on the mission, but he needs you to be passionate about Jesus first and foremost. Any other agenda or purpose is secondary to leading these people to Christ and living lives filled with Christ-like integrity. Ultimately, his goal is not to bring outsiders in to be in charge of all the things. He needs servants willing to train and teach the people with high levels of integrity fueled by their love for Christ, so others can follow your example, and the people can begin to help themselves and help each other more effectively. Could you raise $5000 a month in support so you could be sent? Would you even entertain a conversation with Travis about what this could look like? It’s been a long time since I sat through a mission’s service at any church I’ve attended in the last twenty years. When I was in high school, churches used to constantly support and send. I don’t know where that falls on the priority list of church business these days. I don’t know who’s promoting the sending and the going, but the need is still very real.

The Sawyers need more givers. You can even designate to what you’d like to give—the Children’s Home, the clinic, Mara Christian Academy, Ten31 projects. Travis has visions and plans for decades of progress. He wants to build a soccer field not just for school athletics, but a place where the community could gather to watch football (soccer) games together which opens up more opportunities to connect and minister and spread the fruit of the Holy Spirit and the Gospel. (Soccer is not America’s sport, but in case you’ve missed the memo, it’s the rest of the world’s. Building a soccer field and offering a communal location to watch games is the equivalent to churches hosting Super Bowl parties.) 

Ten31 is an ingenious plan to not only provide more jobs in the community, but to funnel funds back into the mission through the sale of gasoline. Travis would like to build shop spaces and apartments at each of the gas station locations. Some of these shops could allow some of the girls from the Haven (girls who have graduated secondary school) to possibly start their own businesses, such as hair braiding. The apartments could allow income revenue from rental, providing jobs for the people who would oversee these businesses. He would like to equip each gas station with a local “grocery” store and possibly a snack shack. His ideas are endless and only limited by the amount of funds he’s able to procure.

The secondary school is still in need of finishing. It is their current imminent project with a fast-approaching deadline for the following school year. The school will need to be outfitted with supplies in the coming months on top of finishing building. While the dollar stretches further in Kenya, Kenya is not immune to the rising costs of building materials. As each month passes, materials become more expensive. Buying in bulk sooner at lower prices would be wise if the funds were available.

There’s a dream of adding a boy’s home also. Unfortunately, there are more girls who come to them in dire circumstances, but that does not mean there are not boys in need also. But that’s another building and more staff and more food and more need.

There are plans to expand the clinic to include a labor and delivery room along with a room for quarantine purposes (which is needed for many of the diseases they treat). There’s a need for a new X-ray machine and other medical equipment.

The opportunities are endless. With the vision big and God bigger, there is a sense when you visit that the winds of change and progress and growth are only beginning to blow.

Maybe this all seems out of your pay bracket. Maybe these projects are too sacrificial an ask. But maybe sponsoring a child is not. Girls in the home and children at the school are constantly in need of sponsors to help with costs. I believe $30-$40 a month can send a child to school. Comparable to Compassion International in cost except you could actually ask for updates on your child in real time, inquiring about specific needs or desires, and truly invest directly in a child’s life. I’m not knocking Compassion International. (Our family sponsors two children through them as well!) I think they do as good of a job as they can on the large scale they operate, but here’s an opportunity that’s just smaller and can be a bit more personal.

Travis is also good about posting big and small needs on the mission on his Facebook page. Unfortunately, Facebook and Instagram’s algorithms do not always place them at the top of your feed, so you may have to be more intentional about favoriting them or just purposefully checking in from time to time yourself. Odd how that happens. Good people doing good things often do not get highlighted in our feeds. Wonder if that’s by someone’s design? Hmm. But I digress. (Most people know I’m a bit of a conspiracy theorist when it comes to government and media, and I’ve read all of Frank Peretti’s Piercing the Darkness series and C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters—fictional pieces, I know. But still, I’m not opposed to blaming the devil for anything when it comes to social media, advertisement, or promotion on those platforms.)

So grateful my God is bigger than any roadblock Satan can scheme to throw up! So grateful technology can be used for good—to connect, to close gaps in distance and time, to bring face to face what could not be twenty years ago. Grateful for pioneers of how to operate missions differently like the Sawyers who demonstrate how technology can be leveraged to bring not just people, but cultures closer together, who can account for every penny ever sent their direction and show you proof of where it went and how it was used, who understand the purpose of missions is helping the people, not helping themselves.

I’m not sure how much you give, how sacrificially you give, if giving is something you’ve never even considered, or if you give to a million different charities already. My ask would be to dig a little. Dig into the study of God’s Word and find out what promises He fulfills for those who give. Dig into your heart and uproot and take a good hard look at anything rocky or weed-like keeping you from having a grateful, giving heart. Dig into your pockets and find some change to spare. Dig into your charities. Do a little deeper research. How are they being held accountable to accomplish with God’s money what you think you are supporting? Ask hard questions and hold them accountable, and if you can’t find suitable answers, be a better steward of the finances the Lord has given you. Dig in. Be diligent and ask the Lord to guide you in wisdom and understanding. Don’t just blindly stroke a check or automatically pay someone every month without knowing what you are supporting.

Does the money you send to support your child actually support him/her? How would you know for sure? Did the gifts you purchased actually get to a child who needed it? How would you know? Are the missionaries you support using your money to build a house for themselves or the people they are sent to serve? How would you know? Do you just take the organization’s word? Your missionary’s word? Have you seen proof recently in photos, emails, or newsletter updates? I ask these questions not to discourage giving, but to encourage accountability. Even missionaries and the organizations they work with and for are sinful humans. They make missteps. They fall short at times. Corruption exists within any business as a result of sin, and no business is without sin. That doesn’t mean you throw the baby out with the bathwater! That means as an investor you check on your investment from time to time, and if the company you’re investing with isn’t doing a good job or won’t make changes when held accountable, then you prayerfully consider investing somewhere else.

And maybe you just need to go see it all for yourself.

Travis loves people to come and stay and do life with them. He loves people to see how they live and what the Lord is doing in person. Their family is a gracious host, and to sweeten the pot, he has a relationship with one of the best game drive (safari) drivers in the area. The plane tickets to get there will cost you more than the rest of your trip including the game drive. It’s not an easy place to reach. Almost 24-36 hours of flying time plus a 4–5-hour drive when you land is no joke, but if you’re making this trip with comfort in mind, then you’re going for the wrong reasons. While I felt we were hosted with the utmost of hospitality and the best of what the Sawyers had to offer, you are in Africa, not the United States. There’s a motto I like to live by in life currently, “Keep your expectations of life low, but your expectations of God high, and you won’t be disappointed.” Our family was not disappointed in the least by our visit. We slept in safety, had hot water for showers, and were fed well.

My kids have already asked to go back. Lord-willing, this won’t be our only trip to Kenya ever. We will see how the Lord guides and provides. But if you can go, you should pray about going. If you can give, you should pray about giving. Like I said, do a little digging and see what the Lord uncovers in your heart, your life, and your finances. There’s not a penny we’ve given we regret. Not one.

How is the Lord calling you to dig in? What will be your response to what you find? Praying you are blessed in your efforts to sacrificially give. And if you need a place to start, you’ll find no better place than with the Sawyer family.

 

To find out more information about the Sawyers and the mission, please find them here:

Website:https://straightupmissions.com/

Facebook: Straight Up Missions, The Sawyers in Kenya

Instagram: @sum.travis @laurainthemara