Pine Haven group connects with sister camp in Kenya

Pine Haven Christian Assembly Church Camp, located on Long Lake south of Park

Pine Haven Christian Assembly Church Camp, located on Long Lake south of Park Rapids, has been welcoming campers since 1941. A group of board members and staff members took a 10-day trip to learn more about the camp that is operated through Ministries of Hope International (MOHI).

Tay Odor has been the manager at Pine Haven for 19 years.

"A couple of our Pine Haven alum who are in ministry are connected with MOHI," she said. "Ben Cachiaras is a grandson of one of our founders. Tom Moen also grew up coming to camp here. Both are ministers at Mountain Christian Church in Maryland. I grew up going to camp with them and we’ve kept in touch over the years. Ben was in Kenya on a church trip when MOHI was starting Angaza Discovery Camp, and he's the one who connected us.

"The kids over there are learning about our camp and the campers at Pine Haven learn about their camp. We talked about how if we’re going to see what God is doing with this connection between our camps and deepen this friendship, we had to do more than be video pals and decided to meet face to face."

Eight members with connections to Pine Haven went on the Kenya trip: Odor, husband Larry, their sons Josiah and Jordan, who have been part of the Pine Haven camp staff; board chairman and program director Ben Piotrowicz, board member and program director Blake Saathoff, camp alumni and faculty member Renee Domogalla, who is an active part of Eastside Christian Church in rural Park Rapids, along with senior high camper Jacob Taplin.

The Pine Haven board paid for Tay to go and part of the cost for board members. The rest of the $4,000 cost per person was done through fundraising.

"Lots of people helped send us over," she said.

In addition to visiting the camp, the group visited a school and attended a church dedication.

MOHI is a Christian ministry that started working with kids coming out of the slums of Nairobi and now has schools throughout Kenya.

Founders Mary and Wallace Kamau are Kenyans.

"When she was in college, Mary's Christian fellowship team went into the slums on Saturdays to share Jesus with the kids," Odor said. "Her husband was a financier and they started by providing help and a school with their own resources. God took that heart and has blown the doors wide open. MOHI started by providing education to 50 kindergartners in a 10-by-12 house in the 1990s. Today, they have 30 schools, educating about 28,000 students. Now they’re also in rural areas and just started a church in Liberia across the border. It's very much hand in hand, with a church and a school at every location.

"It's all led by Kenyans. It is a holistic ministry that educates K-12 students and provides social workers for their families. They provide training for parents and are empowering the Kenyans to be able to support their families. They also provide medical and dental health, food and clothing in the name of Jesus. And the children learn how much God loves us."

Odor said the biggest need is for sponsors so more children can attend school and donations to send them to camp.

"The MOHI 10-year goal is 100 schools, 100 churches and 100,000 students," she said. "And to send kids to camp costs $300 per student."

Some parts of Nairobia have 600,000 to 800,000 people living in a four-square mile area. "It's one of the poorest slums in the world," Odor said.

Because of the high regard Kenyans have for MOHI, visitors from Pine Haven were welcomed wherever they went.

"We were able to visit the homes of some of the students," she said. "When I say homes, what I mean is 10-by-12 or 12-by-14 shanties that are corrugated metal on the outside and lined with plastic seed bags on the inside to keep rain out. One home we were in had a full-size bed, a dresser about 4 feet tall at the end of the bed with not even enough room to fully open the drawers. Five of us were standing in the other half of the room where the mom had some water jugs. She lived in that home with five children. Being in the slums kind of blew us away. It's amazing, it's heart wrenching, it's inspiring, and the people are beautiful. The people were so welcoming and hospitable. One mother told us the people with MOHI are special because they walk alongside them and partner with them. "

Education is a big part of the hope MOHI provides.

"The founders and the schools are so highly respected by the government," she said. "They test at sixth grade to see what kids are able to go on to seventh and eighth grades. In the MOHI schools, 98% pass. That's a stark difference from a lot of the other schools. Eighth graders test again to see if they can go on to high school. Again, MOHI students are in the high 90th percentiles."

About two years ago, MOHI decided to start a camp for all sixth graders enrolled in school to teach them more about God, Jesus and God's creation.

Partners of the MOHI ministry provided funds to purchase land near the Indian Ocean. There are army-style tent cabins with coconut-thatched roofing over them for shade. Camp sessions are divided into girl and boy weeks.

Similar to Pine Haven, the camp has chapel and activity times, games and songs.

Someone had helped them build a gaga ball pit, but no one knew how to use it until the Pine Haven visitors cleaned it up using machetes and showed them how to play.

Campers sleep in triple-decker bunk beds.

"A lot of sixth graders who come to camp don't have their own bed at home, so the first day they learn how to make a bed," Odor said. "Many have never been away from home before. So they deal with homesickness just like we do with our younger campers at Pine Haven."

Food is prepared in a cook shack with huge pots on a wood burning stove where they cook rice and beans. The camp menu also includes pastries with meat and spices inside, a sweet fry bread and stews.

Recently, funds were donated to purchase more land connected with the camp.

"Ben is working to raise funds so 10th graders will be able to come to camp as well," she said. "They’re hoping to open by 2025."

For most students, the trip to camp is the first time they have been out of the slums.

During their five-hour train ride to camp and the hour-long bus ride that follows, they see the countryside of Kenya and wildlife, such as giraffes, elephants and zebras for the first time.

"Some of them have never seen the stars because of the light pollution in the city," she said.

"And some of these kids have never been submerged in water. They just take sponge baths. So getting in the ocean is a totally new experience for them."

After camp ends, mentors visit with the students in their homes to encourage them in their faith.

Odor said they are waiting to see what the next step is in their Kenyan connection.

"We’re trying to discern what God is doing and what this friendship between our camps looks like moving forward," she said. "Lots of groups come to tour the camp, but we are the first ones who came because of the camp and focused on that part of the ministry.

"This trip was very much a relational experience. It's amazing to see what God is doing over there. They have so little and yet they are so filled with the joy of Jesus. This friendship and connection is as exciting to them as it is to us. God has done the work of connecting us. We don't know exactly what that means, but we know we have friends and brothers and sisters in Kenya that we’re forever connected with. Whatever God does next, we’re listening."

Learn more about sponsoring a child at mohiafrica.org , where there is also a link to their YouTube channel and to blog.mohiafrica.org to learn more about supporting the camp.

"No gift is too small," Odor said. "If you can only give $10 a month, that adds up to help send someone to camp."

To read all of the journal entries from the trip and see photos and videos go to https://www.pinehavencamp.org . Click on previous Angaza Discovery Camp trip updates on the main page.

Ministry to help those who age out of foster care being built on faith

Mooresville’s most affordable starter homes

News

Pine Haven group connects with sister camp in Kenya