A Gleam of Hope 

Several small children kick up a cloud of red dust as they run past Elijah Mwangi, their large backpacks bouncing up and down. Mwangi watches them disappear into a classroom. It’s been more than seven years since he last visited the site of the orphanage where he once lived. 

Mwangi was six years old when his uncle brought him and his two brothers to the Baptist Children’s Centre (BCC). Mwangi’s extended family were unable to care for the three boys after their parents died. 

“We were struggling financially, and we needed to go to school,” explained Mwangi. “We needed to learn and try to make something out of our futures, so that’s why I came here to Buckner.” 

At the time, BCC was an orphanage. It was founded in 1989 by Pastor Daniel Munyano, but in 2001, the Baptist Convention of Kenya and the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention engaged Buckner International to operate the orphanage. 

Mwangi and his brothers arrived three years after Buckner assumed operations. They joined 42 children residing at BCC who came from underserved communities surroundingNairobi, the capital of Kenya. Many had lost one or both parents to AIDS. 

“I felt hopeful when I came here,” said Mwangi. He described BCC as a haven where he and the other children felt safe. 

The campus was undergoing continual improvements thanks to the support Buckner received from churches like Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas and many other donors and volunteers. Their generosity led to new dormitories and an updated chapel and clinic. 

Mwangi remembers the impact some of those volunteers had on him, most notably through Vacation Bible School. “In VBS, we had different facilitators who came from abroad…I was interacting with people from different places and also learning the word of God, together as a family.” 

His time with Buckner is when Mwangi learned to play the piano, which ignited his lifelong passion for music. He also spent his afternoons running around a field that the children designated as their football pitch. 

When Mwangi was in sixth grade, he transitioned from the orphanage into kinship care with his grandparents. Foster care and kinship care were still new to Kenya back then, explained Buckner Kenya’s executive country director, Dickson Masindano. 

“We have been on the forefront advocating for the change of the legal framework around foster care, kinship care, and adoption with the government,” said Masindano. “We took it upon ourselves to be the pioneer into taking our kids out of the orphanage and taking them to families.” 

Buckner continued to facilitate Mwangi’s studies through high school and up until university. Support focused on family preservation and long-term sustainability was also made available to Mwangi’s grandparents to help them care for their grandsons. 

Mwangi, now 28, is amazed by how much BCC has changed. No longer an orphanage, the campus houses a Buckner Family Hope Center® to empower local families through education and resources, a school serving more than 400 children through ninth grade, temporary residences for children waiting to be placed with foster families, and one of the bestmedical clinics in the community. 

But Mwangi has changed too. In 2019, he earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and sports with a minor in mathematics. He worked as a teacher for five years. “I love working with children and young people and inspiring them,” said Mwangi. 

He is currently employed as an assistant editor at Hummingbird Publishers, where he edits textbooks for grade schools to ensure they align with Kenya’s curriculum needs. The job allows him to continue to work in education while affording him more time to pursue his music career. 

“Niko Ready,” the first single Mwangi recorded, is a combination of Swahili and English meaning, “I am ready.” It serves as a reminder for Mwangi to always be ready for any challengeand any opportunity. 

Opportunity is all he’s wanted since he was a boy. “I believe Buckner provides us an opportunity where we can change our lives. And I believe through perseverance, we can make it.” 

When asked what advice he would give to any of the vulnerable children across Kenya, Mwangi said, “They need to stay resilient, and they need to stay true to their values and keep pushing. One day they’ll make it. 

“For me, Buckner is the gleam of hope in this country.”