Bishop with a big heart

By Maureen Odiwour

Bishop Phoebe Onyango, 42, built a primary and secondary school and a children’s home that is shaping lives of orphans in Kisumu.

From her many accomplishments, one can assume she has a refined education background or is from a well off family. Far from it.  

Bishop Phoebe Onyango dropped out of school at Class Seven. Yet despite this, with meagre resources and no education, Phoebe has managed to start a fully-fledged church ministry with over 26 branches in Kenya and one in Uganda; and build a children’s home, a secondary and primary school.

What is astonishing is that Phoebe’s background is humbling; born and bred in Nyawita slums in Kisumu where she lived with her parents.

“I was forced to drop out of school because of biting poverty that my family was facing. My father was a small-scale businessman in Kisumu and his meagre income was not enough to cater for our family’s needs,” she shares.

In 1976, her parents separated and she was forced to move in with her mother, who was a housewife.
“My mom could not take care of me and so she took me to live with my maternal grandmother who enrolled me at Pandpieri Primary School,” Phoebe recalls.

LIFE OF STRUGGLE
In 1979, things became tough for her grandmother and her life took another turn.

“Grandma took me to Asembo to live with my stepmother (my dad’s new wife) and I was again enrolled at Nyagoko Primary School. I was forced to drop out when in Class Seven because my father could not afford it,” recounts Phoebe.

From then on, Phoebe’s life was one of struggle as she tried her hand in menial jobs within Kisumu. She continued to yearn for education and she saved the little money she earned to enroll for a series of short courses.

But when the situation at home grew worse, Phoebe opted to get married at 17  years hoping to improve her fortunes.

Sadly, the marriage did not offer any solace because her husband was a man of little means.

“My husband worked as a tout in Kisumu. I tried to supplement our family income by selling second-hand clothes, but we lived from hand to mouth,” Phoebe remembers.

On top of the financial problems, her marriage deteriorated. “I lost two children and this brought a lot of distress in my life. I was a young mother and this was a blow to me,” she says.

In 1992, beaten, broken and weak, she decided to turn to Christ and receive salvation.

“I was on the verge of breaking down. My entire life had been nothing but misery and now my children were gone. I could not take it any more. I wanted new hope and that is why I got saved,” she says.
But even with her newfound faith, she still felt downtrodden.

“One day, while walking in the streets of Kisumu, I noticed many street children, most of them abandoned by their parents. I thought, ‘I can’t continue mourning my children yet there are others in the streets who have no mother or father’. That was my turning point,” the bishop recalls.

She was so moved by the plight of street children that she took in six of them to live with her and her husband in their single room in Nyawita slums in Kisumu. That is how her dream started unfolding.

“It was quite difficult to feed my big family, which had tripled though our source of income remained the same,” says Phoebe.

Though life was tough, Phoebe refused to rescind her action. Instead, she started seeking help from government social welfare offices.

“When I told the state officials that my dream was to start a children’s home, they advised me to register it,” she says.

The hand that giveth never lacks,  and from the moment Phoebe opened up her home to destitute children, funds started flowing in. She has since registered Salem Children’s Ministries and, with the help of donors like Feed the Children, the number of street children in the home have increased tremendously to more than 150.

Today, the home is now a refuge for orphans in Kisumu.

In 1997, Phoebe constructed a primary school and a clinic for the children.

“I was inspired to start the schools because I felt that giving the children food and a roof over their head was not enough. Education would be a long-term investment,” she says.

To ease the transition from primary to secondary school, Phoebe built a secondary school. Both schools have recorded stellar performance in the region.

With time, Phoebe established a church ministry. “I found it hectic taking all the children to church, so I decided to start my own church where I could minister to them,” she says.

But her mission was not without challenges. In 1999, the children’s home suffered a major setback when  17 children died from HIV-related complications.

Currently, Salem Ministry takes care of over 1,300 orphans and abandoned children from all over the country.

Aside from taking care of the street children, the ministry has also introduced a widows empowerment programme.

“We equip the widows with farming and weaving skills so that they can be independent. We give them hybrid seeds and show them modern farming methods,” Phoebe says.

What drives this selfless woman?

“I find joy when I see the life of an orphan or a widow changed. My dream is to give people who are less privileged a chance in life. At the end of the day, life is about giving,” she declares.