by Jill Meier, Brandon Valley Journal editor
Chase Ward is going back to Kenya.
And this time, his young family – wife Nancy of nearly two years and 8-month-old daughter Araya – will be going with him. It’s the next chapter of Ward’s involvement with Simba Educational Ministries, which he founded in 2015 after taking part in a mission trip there in 2014.
The Wards will remain in Kenya for six months to oversee three building projects that are intended to benefit 350 families.
“This year, I just really felt a push toward families,” Ward said. “With everything that’s going on, even here in America, it just seemed like people were drawn closer to their families, spending more time together, and it’s going on over there, too, with the whole coronavirus thing.”
Prior mission trips have focused on sponsoring children and working with families.
“But we’re going deeper and really wanting to know more about that family and trying to get them out of situations they’re in or if there’s any brokenness in the family, to bring restoration to that home, connect them back to their families,” he said.
Another interesting program being implemented is family reintegration. Ward explains that “street kids”, referred to as “Zombies of Nairobi” on YouTube, flee from their homes because of abuse and the like, and soon become addicted to huffing glue.
“They’re living on the streets,” Ward said. “We have a rescue program they go through and after that we try to reintegrate them back into the school system, get them the education they need and then reintegrate them back into the home setting.”
Some families Simba will assist are simply lacking resources or jobs. Simba provides social workers, counselors and pastors that create care plans specific for each family.
So, what does that look like?
“Let’s say it’s a single mom with eight kids and she doesn’t have a job or is working casual labor,” Ward explains. “What would a consistent job look like that would be able to provide the income so she can feed all of her kids.”
That’s achieved through business ventures, such as the tailoring center, where this mom of eight, for instance can work making school uniforms for the Simba-supported school and surrounding schools, because Ward said uniforms are required in all Kenyan schools.
Another endeavor is the dairy project, which was enhanced by a tractor that was shipped from neighboring Hills-Beaver Creek, and is being used for haying operations.
Family members can also work at the school as a cook, cleaner, a teacher or security guard, for instance.
A mission house that will soon be constructed will not only serve as a place for missionaries to stay, but will be converted into a hotel when not used for that purpose. Missionaries take four trips a year, two weeks at a time, leaving the building available for the hotel business.
“We decided to convert it into a hotel and will have people that come in and clean the rooms, and we’ll also have a restaurant and bakery,” he said.
Why family is important?
The father of Ward’s wife passed away in recent months and in February of this year he became a dad.
“Seeing that aspect of it, it was like ‘Wow, there’s a whole deeper level to this.’ The care that I have for my child made me realize that these parents in Kenya really care for their children as well. They’re transitioning back into their home setting, reiterating this family strengthening,” he said.
Ward continues to be amazed by what God has done through his mission work. Among the projects is a well that was drilled for the school. The $20,000 project has solar panels and pumps. A computer classroom has been outfitted with 30 computers and the Brandon Historical Society donated 3,000 books, which were put on a shipping container, and now fill the library that was constructed along with 15 teacher’s quarters, a new preschool-kindergarten three-classroom building and dining room.
“I’ve invested a lot in this school and now we’re expanding,” Ward said. “The goal is to build the community up and empower them,” he said.
Another project that happened in this time of chaos was a food relief package, which provides three months of food to sustain them.
“But we didn’t want to create dependency,” he said, hence the Raise One, Give One project, which trains families how to start and maintain a poultry farm on their own property. Once they have gone through the training, they are given five chickens and one rooster. They are also required to give a certain percentage of their profits back to the ministry, which in turn is shared with the next graduating class.
“Sometimes, all of the different pieces that have come together, I’m like, ‘Wow, God does some pretty amazing things,’” Ward said.
This year, Ward estimates they’ve impacted the lives of 5,000 Kenyan people.
“That’s the direct impact, but you don’t know the other impacts, like the chicken project,” he said.
An Oct. 10 free barbecue, which will be served from 4-7 pm. Saturday, Oct. 10 at Ward’s parent’s home, 48304 254th St., rural Garretson, is intended to raise money for the mission’s next chapter. Ward is challenging 360 people to give $360 each ($30 per month or one-time gift of $360).
“That will help us with this new family strengthening program, transporting counselors and social workers to and from the homes to help these families,” he said.
Editor’s Note:
Looking back in our archives we’ve featured Chase Ward and his work with Simba Ministries in four major articles in the last few years and he’s been mentioned at least a dozen times in our newspaper. When we heard he was going back to Kenya, this time for a major half year visit, we of course wanted to do another feature. Sadly, the day of our interview with Chase, we spoke to him instead by phone, where he confirmed that he was ill and fighting off COVID-19. Thankfully, our friend Jill at the Brandon Valley Journal had just done this story which we will happily reprint. We last heard from Annie Ward on Monday Sept. 28, and she said that Chase is doing better. Our best wishes go out to Chase and the Ward family, in hopes of a speedy recovery and a clean bill of health as soon as possible so that they can resume their good work. I’m also grateful for my good neighbor, fellow independent journalist and colleague Jill Meier.
