Kenya's Second Lady Comes to America to Rescue Her Country's Boys: 'God Has Called Us'

When most people think of Kenya, they picture spotting the big five on safari or the wildebeest migration at Maasai Mara, considered one of the great natural wonders of the world. For those who live there though, it's a different story. 

That includes the country's second lady, Pastor Dorcas Rigathi, whose main goal is to try to rescue the tens of thousands of young boys who have left the rural areas to find work in the cities but end up living on the streets. 

"Currently, we have a crisis in Kenya where young men are in the streets taking drugs, taking alcohol, and they are dying in numbers," Rigathi told us. "Millions have died in the last many years."  

Although Kenya is 85% Christian and she, her husband as well as the first couple are all Believers in Christ, Satan is trying his best to infiltrate Kenya. 

"Anytime Satan wants to destroy a nation, he goes for the boy. We may not look at it and see it as a satanic move, but it is," Rigathi exclaimed. "There is no way we can have our boys in the gutter and on the other side you have (girls) who are so well-educated and we have a boy who is directionless and is dying out in the streets," she said.

WHY ARE THEY IN THE STREETS? 

Rigathi says, "They are in the streets, one, because they have migrated to the town centers trying to move for jobs. Many of them have come from the rural areas. They are from single parenthood (households) and they are coming so that they can be able to make a living for all (their) mothers," she said.

But when the boys come to the cities like Nairobi, getting a job is not guaranteed. 

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"And they get themselves frustrated because they do not have housing, they do not have money, they are not in any sort of employment and because they are not able to get money and don't have access to food and all that, they start taking glue. They take glue and are introduced to drugs. Some of them now are hard drug addicts, and many of them are dying from HIV and AIDS because of the syringes," she told us.  

And when the boys are at their most vulnerable, Rigathi says they are often used as drug runners and vendors. "And that is the reason I feel as a mother, we need to rescue the child from this madness or this drug violence and also to move them from the streets," she said.

RIGATHI'S DREAM

Rigathi's dream is the creation of a multi-faceted program that would provide these boys a medical rehab facility with Christian counseling, a vocational training center to teach different skills and a sports academy. 
 
"So that those who want to do sports, they can get engaged there to redirect the energies to something that is more fruitful," she said.

And this is precisely why her Excellency is in the United States, seeking financial support so she can help the young boys of Kenya, starting with the sports academy. 

"We know God has called us to be able to reach out to those boys. And when I look at them, I see the future of the church," she said.

Rigathi knows there's a fierce spiritual battle for her country's future, but she also believes the same God who saved her and her young siblings from once living in an outdoor chicken pen can rescue Kenya's young men.  

"And so that is why, you see, I can feel the heartbeat of the street children, because I've been there. I know how to be without food. I know how to be without clothes. And it was so cold that one of my sisters died of pneumonia," she recalled.

"My mother prayed for us. My mother spoke words of power and authority over us. She told us, 'Don't worry when your father is not there and you are children of the widow, you have a Father in Heaven. He will see you through," she said. 

Pastor Rigathi believes she is in the palace for such a time as this, to rescue Kenya's young boys from the streets, to love them and teach them that with God, there are no limits. He can take them from the pit to the palace and she has her own story to prove it. 

Click HERE to learn more about The Second Lady's initiative and how you can help.