Mattaw Children's Village

For more detailed information about the work of Mattaw and how you can get involved, download the following documents.

Kenya, Africa

There are currently 1.9 million orphans in the country of Kenya, Africa. Since the summer of 2005, Katalyst Ministries has been working to decrease that number. After spending the past two years working along side another ministry to operate a children’s home, we have recently partnered with the Imagine Network to build and operate a brand new children’s village in Kitale, Kenya. We purchased six acres of land just outside Kitale in April of 2007 and have begun construction of the Mattaw Children’s Village. When complete, the village will house around sixty orphans in six homes living as families along side their house parents.

What is Mattaw?

Mattaw is the Hebrew word for ‘garden’ or a ‘planting’ that is found in Isaiah 61:3. This scripture describes the motivation of our hearts. Our desire is to bind up the broken hearted, to set free from prison the captives, and to comfort those that mourn. Our prayer is that the living God will use us to bestow on these children a crown of glory instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Our mission is our commission. We are in Kenya to see these children grow into life giving disciples of King Jesus that they will one day be called oaks of righteousness, a garden (Mattaw) of the Lord for the display of His splendor.

Who is there?

We currently have a young husband and wife in Kenya named Bud and Kimberly Huffman. Both Bud and Kimberly served on Katalyst Ministry teams before moving to Kenya to head up this work. They are incredible young people with a true passion and calling for Africa. We are praying right now for another couple to join them in the near future as long term missionaries.

A unique work

One of the things that makes this work unique is that you can be in on the ground level of the work there. We currently have four college age interns serving with Bud and Kim for the summer of 2007. We also facilitate a trip to the home once a year that usually takes place in late summer. Because our ministry and the Imagine Network are sole owners of the village and the Mattaw ministry, you can be assured that any support you send to the work will be used with integrity. None of the employees of Katalyst Ministries or the Imagine Network are compensated in any way by funds that are brought in for the children’s village. Even the support for our missionaries is raised specifically for them.

How can we help?

Pray. More than anything please pray as we seek to honor God and grow disciples. Right now we are seeking churches that would partner with us in helping get the overall construction of the village completed. By the end of 2007 we will have sponsorship packets available for churches that are interested in funding the construction of the village. From linens to bricks to the kitchen sink, churches will be able to fund individual pieces of the construction or the entire build.

We are also currently seeking sponsors for our long term missionaries in Kenya. These sponsorships go directly to our missionaries in the form of salaries, housing, and other needs while on the field in Kenya and here in the states.

Our hope is that by the end of 2007, we will be offering our first child sponsorship packages that will allow individuals or groups to sponsor children by name. These sponsorships will be around $35 a month and will be used to supply each child with the tools they need to grow into incredible disciples of King Jesus.

How do we get started planting this garden with you?

You can simply email Kevin D. Kirkland directly at kevin@katalystministries.org or email our missions coordinator Lauren Caldwell at lauren_caldwell@msn.com. We will gladly answer any questions you might have and put you on a list to receive more information as we move forward with this work. If you are a pastor interested in having your church be involved in the construction or other areas of the home, ask us about having someone from our team or even our missionaries come to your church to share the vision in person with your church family. We look forward to hearing from you and pray that God would use us together to do something great in the lives of the abandoned children of Kenya.

One Home Unit:

This is the blueprint for one home unit to be built in the Mattaw Children’s village. One of the things that makes this unique is that children do not live in dorm style homes. There will be a maximum of ten children living in a home with a set of house parents. We are discipling and training house parents right now in Kenya. The village will contain six units like this one, a chapel, and several shower and toilet units. The remainder of the land will be used as crop land that will be worked by our house parents to help make the village as selfsufficient as possible.