OUR STORY
Rev. Paul Matheri, Dean of Superintendents of the United Methodist Church, Kenya, has been working with orphans and vulnerable children, many of them street children, for all of his adult life. He is passionate about helping these young people build a bright future. Paul did not have a sustainable program to make that happen until, through a chance meeting, God opened a door.
In April 2004, in an over-crowded sandwich shop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Paul met Bob Bushong, Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church Winter Park (Florida, USA). Both were attending a United Methodist Church conference and ended up eating lunch at the same table. They enjoyed their serendipitous meeting and committed to staying in touch. Over the next few years, as the relationship between their home churches in Naivasha, Kenya, and Winter Park, Florida, grew stronger, the concept for Inua was shaped.
In 2010, after much prayer, work and deliberation, Inua Partners in Hope was founded. Naivasha United Methodist Churches, under Paul’s leadership, and First United Methodist Church Winter Park, inspired by God’s love for the children of Naivasha, committed to transforming the lives of these orphaned and vulnerable children of Naivasha.
To date, over 4,500 lives have been positively impacted by the ministry of Inua Partners in Hope.