Heaven’s Gateway Ministries seeking financial donations as Kenyan orphanage in desperate repair need

St. Marys Rev. Janet Jolly-Lockyer and Alec Lockyer of Heaven’s Gateway Ministries.

By Emily Stewart

Rev. Janet Jolly-Lockyer and Alec Lockyer of St. Marys are urgently looking to repair an orphanage in Kenya and ensure the safety and security of the children who have been living there.

The Lockyers, who run Heaven’s Gateway Ministries, opened the orphanage, Kakamega Place Childrens’ Rescue and Home, also known as KP, in Kisumu, Kenya. With Jolly-Lockyer as bishop, Heaven’s Gateway Ministries runs 284 churches in three different East African countries and other programs addressing hunger, education, health and endangerment issues children face.

After nearly a year of operations, the orphanage has 30 children between the ages of five and 14 years old living there under the care of four staff members. The children recently had to be evacuated and relocated after a leaking roof caused by heavy rain and hailstorms that hit East Africa. The damage is right above the children’s dormitories.

For now, the children have been split up into three groups living in three different locations, including the boys in a church, some of the girls at the village chief’s home and other girls with a pastor.

Government authorities told Heaven’s Gateway Ministries the situation was unacceptable and that per a bylaw, can take the children away from the care of the orphanage at any time and relocate them where they see fit unless the roof of the building is fixed within a week.

“This is sending the children right back into the very situations that we saved them from, so we are desperately trying to get sufficient money together to go ahead and do these repairs as fast as we can,” Jolly-Lockyer said.

There are some buildings on KP grounds that are unused and could be used for temporary living accommodations with roofs also in need of repair. Authorities gave the okay for temporarily moving the children’s beds and belongings from the dorms to the other building, but the repair still needs to be done. Repair costs are estimated between $1,800 and $2,500 Canadian dollars, or 180,000 to 250,000 Kenyan shillings.

Prior to living at the orphanage, some of the children were either orphaned, living in abusive situations, living in prisons, or subject to prostitution. Throughout the interview with the St. Marys Independent, Jolly-Lockyer said she could not fathom thinking about the children returning to such situations, and they have been thriving since living at the orphanage.

“They are now well, healthy, exceptionally bright, exceptionally happy and for the authorities to say, ‘You’ve got to get this building done and the children back onto the KP site within a week,’ is totally unreasonable, but it’s also totally upsetting for us because we have struggled for the last year to be able to keep them in the fashion that we have been doing so,” she said.

The Lockyers live off of a small pension and in a small apartment, sending any money they can. Alec Lockyer went around St. Marys to tell the story to people he provided snow shovelling for and was promised donations at some point. The deputy of the orphanage has called a meeting with the church leaders in and just outside of Kenya to see if any money can be pooled together towards repair costs. However, Jolly-Lockyer said that many in the area are in poverty.

Financial donations for the repairs are accepted either through e-transfer or cheque, though e-transfers are preferred. Cheques can be made to Heaven’s Gateway Ministries Inc. and e-transfers can be sent to revjanet.jollylockyer@yahoo.ca.