History

When we look at the history of Jonathan's House, we really have to look at it from at least two different human perspectives. One is that of Pastor Kainwo in Sierra Leone and the other is that of Roger Hatch in the United States. These two perspectives, however, are molded into one plan in the mind of God.

Pastor Kainwo comes from a long line of pastors. Both his grandfather and his father were pastors in Sierra Leone. It wasn't long after Pastor Kainwo became a pastor that the 11 year civil war broke out in Sierra Leone. It was during this time that God used Peter to begin to rescue the lives of children from the ravages of war. One doesn't have to be in the company of Reverend Kainwo's colleagues long before you begin to hear stories of how he repeatedly entered villages being attacked by rebels to save the lives of young children whose parents had been brutally murdered. Even then God began to bring children to Peter and gave him the insight to begin to find widows who were willing to care for destitute orphans. God began to build a vision in Reverend Kainwo to build a home to care for children and to give them the sort of environment they would have had their parents still been alive.

God began working in Roger's life in the early 1980's when he began working with inner city youth on the north side of Chicago. He has also worked in several children's homes and in children's psychiatric units with many disadvantaged children from the inner cities of New York and Chicago. God began to give Roger a passion and a love for these "throw away" kids. He knew that God could take any one of these kids and give them a new life.

Roger visited Sierra Leone just after the war was over in December of 2002. It is then that God crossed the paths of Roger and Peter. Both had a love for underprivileged children and both wanted to provide a loving home for kids for whom no one else cared. They purchased land in Bo in 2003. The land was cleared and a home was built for 10 kids. Soon that number began to grow. By the end of 2003 there were nearly 30 kids being cared for. That is when the second home was begun for 80 more kids. It has now been completed and there are more kids that need a bed in which to sleep.

It is our dream to one day walk the streets of Bo and not be able to find a child living on the streets. It is our dream that all the kids in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone would be fed and clothed and receive the proper medical care as well as an education. We want to see every child introduced to a personal relationship with the Living God who sustains all life. We don't know what God has planned from here, but we know His plans are perfect. It is our goal to continue to work and to reach kids in Sierra Leone as our motto says, "Until Every Child Has Hope".