Beginnings
Forgiveness opened the door back home
Not long ago, a young boy reached out to one of the chaplains at The Route Sixty One Foundation, the Kenyan society we founded. He’d recently left a government-run children’s institution and returned to his family, a reconciliation that once felt out of reach.
But something had shifted. He asked for the chance to return, not for help, but to testify: to tell others how the message of forgiveness he’d heard from the chaplain had opened the door back home. It had mended his relationship with his family and given him back his place in it
We’re Derek & Penny, and we’ve been living in Kenya since 2010, following a call to make the love of God known—the kind of love that welcomes with arms wide open and transforms from the inside out.
We spent our first few years overseeing a children’s home in Kakamega. It was there we saw the damage that years in an institution can do to a child, and the extraordinary healing that happens when a child encounters the love of their Father in heaven. We watched hearts come alive, strength return, and hope take root where it had been lost.
In 2015, we moved to Kisumu and founded what is now The Route Sixty One Foundation, a Kenyan society. Its mission is to bring the light of God’s love into Kenya’s child protection system. It works under a formal agreement with the Directorate of Children’s Services (DCS), serving children in need of care and protection and those going through the justice system.
The Foundation sends its own chaplains into government-run children’s institutions, and it also supports the DCS’s own chaplains through workshops, retreats and times of refreshment. Through this partnership, it finds, trains and equips local teams to minister in institutions across Western Kenya, and works alongside those in the Nairobi area. They’re Kenyan men and women who share God’s Father heart for every child to know His love.
As a result of their work, thousands of children have experienced God’s healing love, children otherwise unseen in Kenya’s child protection system.
Along the way, the Foundation’s work has grown. It now also includes:
Helping families stay together by encouraging good parenting, healthy relationships and stable homes. We work to identify the root causes of separation—often buried in pain, offence, or unmet needs—and seek restoration through forgiveness, healing and encouraging personal responsibility.
Walking with local churches and Christian leaders, offering training, mentorship, and spiritual support to strengthen what God is building through them.
We also love creating safe spaces—whether through workshops or simple conversations—where people can encounter the Father’s love and see themselves through His eyes. Penny carries a contagious joy that opens hearts, and Derek loves helping people see God’s Word in new and freeing ways.
We’re not trying to build something big, just something real—something that reflects the Kingdom and helps others step into their identity as beloved sons and daughters. We believe the love of God changes everything, and we want to keep saying “yes” to wherever that love leads us.
Today, Route 61 International sends us as volunteer missionaries. Derek chairs the Foundation’s board and Penny is its Treasurer, alongside Kenyan board members.
Support Derek & Penny
Derek & Penny do not receive payment for their work and rely upon the generosity of others for all their financial income. You can support Derek & Penny with a regular monthly or a single one-off donation by clicking the button below:
Derek & Penny are pastors, ordained by the Harvest Alliance – a global family of churches and ministries.
