It is the practice of the Baylor University campus ministry to allow one student group each spring to sponsor chapel programs to raise money for a student mission project. In 2017 the Baylor Men’s Choir sponsored chapel programs about their work in Komolion village in Kenya. Zipporah and Daniel Sindiyo and one of the first high school graduates of the Baylor-sponsored program travelled to Baylor to speak in the chapel programs. In response, Baylor students donated around $7,000, which enabled the Men’s Choir to undertake several community development projects in Komolion in the summer of 2017.
They provided new desks for students and teachers in the village primary school. They repaired a wall in one school building that had been destroyed by termites. They helped villagers lay out a garden on the shore of the lake and provided a pump to get the water to the garden in this drought-ridden area of Kenya. The county government then provided a greenhouse to protect some of the plants from goats. The Men’s Choir helped villagers construct hand-washing stations and beehives. Bees are plentiful in this area and eventually the Komolion men can make money by selling honey. Women in the village were supplied with chickens for eggs to improve family nutrition and to sell at market. The father of a student came on this trip and helped the men provide a simple medical clinic for villagers. Brenda Bradley raised money to buy “shoes that grow” for all the children of the village.
We will be able to continue with community development work only if we can continue to raise funds beyond what is needed or the students’ tuition and for the coming-of-age ceremonies that substitute for female genital mutilation.