Agape Children's Ministry - History of Agape

History of Agape

Agape Children's Ministry began as a response from the heart of a nurse, Darla Calhoun, who had gone to Kisumu to teach preventive health care in surrounding villages. As she spent time in Kisumu, she was approached on a regular basis by groups of street boys begging for food. Though at the time she knew very little about street boys, she was touched by their plight and their expressions of utter hopelessness.

In February 1993, Darla began holding Sunday afternoon meetings with the boys where she would talk with them, offer them encouragement, and where they would sing, enjoy skits, and play soccer. What began with 20 boys quickly mushroomed to 80. Then the numbers grew to more than 100. Sometimes friends Darla met in town prepared a meal of rice and beans for the boys. Otherwise, Darla gave the children hardboiled eggs, packets of milk or juice, or simply bread and butter. And, they still came. A relationship of trust began to form with boys who had almost lost their ability to trust an adult.

Darla knew in her heart she had to do more. She had to do something to get some of the children off the streets permanently. As a giant step of faith, she began using her own modest funds to rent a house in Kisumu and gather a staff of house parents, a guard, and a cook to provide care for the first five boys she rescued from the streets.

Over time, through her kindness and generosity of friends and family in the United States, funds grew to allow the number of boys to gradually increase. New boys were carefully assimilated into the group one at a time.

From that humble beginning, Agape Children's Ministry was born. Agape has now grown to include dormitories that can sleep 90; a primary school for Agape boys and other at-risk children; a vocational training facility on the shores of Lake Victoria that equips boys in a particular trade; an outreach ministry for boys who remain on the street; and a re-integration ministry that helps to place boys back into their families.

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