Joan Mwende has been passionate about church missions since she was 14. Hers is a story of the hope in Christ and a courageous woman who lives to pass it along—with joy and triumph! It is through these missions that she received her salvation and has since been actively involved in church missions, seeking to serve the marginalized communities in Kenya. She derives pleasure from sharing God’s love to those who have not had the privilege of interacting with the Gospel that brings forth saving grace and while at it, helping to meet their daily needs with food donations. The biggest setback, however, was the unsustainable nature of the donations, given that a vast portion of it streamed from friends and well-wishers. Then came the realization that there was a dire need to empower the women economically to be able to uplift the communities.

This need to offer a long term solution to the impoverished communities birthed a great initiative in 2015. Given her background in business, Joan put her skills to the test and out of it came Lulu Thamani whose key intention was to emancipate the women in those communities through business literacy skills and capital to set up profitable businesses.

Later that year came the great union in holy matrimony of Joan and his now husband, Daniel, a passion that was brewed during a mission. Daniel, who is passionate about missions and church-planting joined hands in the great initiative, Lulu Thamani in a bid to see his wife’s vision come to fruition. With over 10 years of experience as a Youth Pastor at Kahawa West Baptist Church,where he currently serves, Daniel has been a great resource in reaching out to the youth and offering mentorship to help them through the journey of life.

This partnership has really served to grow Lulu Thamani. Now they work together with a team of people to see the lives of people from communities plagued with poverty changed. They also not only partner with churches through missions but also work with other community organizations to grow their impact and influence on families and consequently the communities as a whole.