The vision for Kutoa Project took shape over several months beginning in 2012. Shaé began to desire a place full of love and provision for those children and youth who have been abandoned to work through their struggles on their own. She specifically felt a connection to those in their late teens and twenty’s who were left with very few, if any, places that could be considered safe places to work through difficult situations.

If you were to ask Shaé a defining moment that sparked the beginning of the ministry, it was when she took a trip to Haiti to serve with an organization in the summer of 2013. During that trip, the Holy Spirit clarified that it was time to begin the steps to discern how to work with those who have been broken through abandonment, fear, and domestic and sexual violence.

This season was leading Shae back to Africa, where it all began, Kenya. Shaé assembled a prayer team, encouragement, and mentorship from the local community in Warsaw, Indiana who had walked with Shaé through her work on the mission’s field and were committed to discerning how to move the project forward. After several months, the team took the next steps to formalize the non-profit.

The word “Kutoa” is a Swahili word that means “to remove and provide“. During a vision trip to Kenya in June of 2015, Kutoa Project became a registered 501(c)3. It was received as a sign that this was part of God’s plan to clear the pathway forward to begin the work to provide hope, healing, and restoration to people. For the next year, Shaé took short trips to seek out a location and plan how to create this safe and transformational experience in Kenya.

In 2017, we opened our doors full-time in Nairobi, Kenya with an office at one of our first partners. We began hosting in-person counseling sessions and caregiver education programs. Betty became our first full-time employee in Kenya. Her journey to become a member of the staff has been nothing short of the perseverance of prayer. Betty’s heart for the broken and desire to help with the restoration of a person’s well-being made her a perfect fit to help grow Kutoa Project.

Moving through the seasons of change, our time in Kenya shifted from a vision to an organization delivering change. Kutoa Project began to grow in size with the addition of Maggie (2018) and Joan (2019) to our counseling team. Their addition has allowed the ministry to deepen its reach throughout the region.

In 2020, we were able to impact the lives of over 10,000 children and youth through our services. As our staff grew, so did our presence, we moved into two office locations in Thome Estate in Nairobi, Kenya. As the year progressed and our impact continued to grow, the need to move into a new location to house all of our services became the focus as the ministry entered into the next phase of its development.

Heading into 2022 our services have seen our reach increase to over 15,000 children and youth impacted in 2021. There have been two areas of impact that have been discovered through our training programs. First, there is a need to develop and deliver a contextualized East African specific trauma-informed curriculum and a crisis management program [Hope & Healing Program] aimed at youth ages 18-25. The latter is focused on women who have been victims of domestic & sexual violence.