HISTORY OF SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH IN KENYA.
Between 1903 and 1905, the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists met and decided to send some missionaries to East Africa. These were Pastor A.A. Carscallen and his wife, together with Pastor Peter Nyambo from Malawi. The three first set foot in Mombasa which they found already occupied by Muslims. Although transport was a big problem then, they moved to Nairobi by train.The missionaries did not settle in Nairobi but instead proceeded to Kisumu, a town by Lake Victoria which already had rail connection by then. Here, Pr Carscallen and Pr Peter met missionaries from other denominations who had already established bases. Pr Carscallen and his Adventist Team then decided to cross the Nyanza Gulf by motor boat belonging to a Mr Spark who was a businessman in South Nyanza. They started the Seventh-day Adventist Church as missionaries from the other denominations also moved around Nyanza establishing their churches too.
Pr Carscallen and his team landed near the home of Osumba, the son of Simba, an elderly Luo man from Karachuonyo. Osumba was one of the Kakwajuok sub-location old men who gave a piece of land to Pr Carscallen for building. The missionaries started by pitching two tents — one for himself and his wife, and the other for Pr Nyambo.At GendiaPr Carscallen started by building the church and residential houses. The first church building was a wooden structure with a grass-thatched roof. Materials needed for the building construction was brought from Kisumu by motor boat. Pr Carscallen’s wife, anticipating his return by night, could light a safari lamp (lantern) and put it on a tall post outside the building to guide the motor boat to the pier.And at this point the Pastor learnt the native Dholuo language.
Though the gospel had reached Pare in Tanzania in 1903, the work of spreading the gospel at Gendia progressed more rapidly. Young men started doing what we are told in Matthew 4:18-19. To begin with, there were only two young men — Isaac Okeyo and Thomas Ojiero — ready in Kakwajuok, the clan area in which the mission station was built. Other young men did not believe in forsaking their customs and joining this religion for fear of mockery from their contemporaries. In 1906, seven young men — Samuel Dola, Daniel Aroka, John Odago, Simeon Odindo, Samuel Adhiambo, Norman Yugi, and Daudi Obuya — from Konyango, the clan next to Kakwajuok, came and accepted the faith and joined the other two men.
