Mercy Maternity House Inc

In March of 2010, Kristen Welch traveled to Kenya, Africa, with Compassion International, the world's largest child sponsorship program, to blog their relief efforts in the slums of Nairobi. She was especially burdened visiting Mathare Valley, one of Africa's largest slums. Just days after returning home, Kristen read a heartbreaking article by CNN about the large number of backstreet abortions by girls forced into prostitution to feed their families.  And came to learn of the following statistics:

• Annually, 21,000 women are hospitalized from having an illegal, unsafe abortion in Kenya. (Center for Reproductive Rights)
• Abortion is a volatile topic in Kenya.
• 13,000 Kenyan girls are kicked out of school for being pregnant. (Center for Reproductive Rights)
• 25% of pregnant women in Kenya are HIV positive (ObGyn in Kenya)
• Every 30 minutes, a woman is raped in Kenya. (Nairobi Women’s Hospital)
• Mothers often force their daughters into trading sex for food in the slums (CNN)
• More than 20,000 children are sex trafficked in Kenya (Human Trafficking)
• 1500 women die in childbirth every day across Africa (WHO)

While in Kenya, Kristen met Maureen, one of Compassion's leadership graduates, a former sponsored child. Maureen is single, 27 years old and speaks 5 languages. She traveled to the Unites States in the summer of 2010 on behalf of Compassion International to speak to thousands of students at Student Life Camps. Her moving life story led to the sponsorship of more than a thousand impoverished children.

Just weeks after returning from Africa, Kristen emailed Maureen and asked if she knew of any ministries reaching out or offering an alternative to the young girls having backstreet abortions. She didn't know of any.

They began to partner together. The Welch family lives in America and mobilize people to give with the help of supportive friends, family and blog readers.  Maureen is in Kenya with the language, education, leadership skills and the heart to be the hands of feet of Jesus.

In the summer of 2010, The Mercy Maternity House was formed to support the work Maureen will be doing. Maureen is the full-time as the Executive Director of Rehema House (word for mercy in Swahili) in Kenya. While she works in Africa, The Welch family raise money and awareness while supporting Maureen and her staff to support the vision and plan of Mercy House: 

The Vision of Rehema House (supported by Mercy House):

• Provide a safe place-a guarded home with 12 maternity beds
• Partner with local churches
• Prenatal Care- checkups, medical assistance for healthy deliveries
• Proper Nutrition-protein and regular healthy meals
• Counseling-post abortion/prostitution, rape recovery
• Ministry-prayer, Biblical teaching, regular devotions
• Education-help catch girls up in school thru 8th grade, then continue on to high school, or vocational tract
• Livelihood Skills-cooking, jewelry-making, art, sewing, etc
• A nurturing environment in-which to give birth and breastfeed babies
• A safe place to stay and learn and heal until they graduate 
• An account to start small business or go to school (from products they make and sell)

Our residents are invited to stay in the program for a minimum of two to four years, but our desire is to support each mom and baby throughout their lives. Each girl earns money through our Sustainable Skills Program and it will be dispersed over a long-term period to continue their education and even start a business as a part of our Graduate Program. Since our residents are at-risk- abused and even orphaned, we will assist them for as long as needed. We want to be their forever family and will tailor our help to each girl's situation. Our goal is quality, not quantity and total discipleship.

As of November 2012, the maternity home houses 8 girls and 8 babies and a handful of staff members. We give glory to God for all that He has done and we covet your prayers.