Our Story

Light Mission Alliance originated out of relationships dating back to 2006 when Cara Branson first traveled to Kenya. Her sister Sara Branson began her trips to Kenya in 2009. The Bransons befriended Jerry Odhiambo and Joash Oluande, local Christians with a passion for ministry, especially ministry focused on empowerment through education. Like many Kenyans from large, low-income families, Jerry and Joash never had the opportunity to complete their education. This experience, coupled with their faith in the restoring love of Jesus Christ, lit a passion in their lives for serving. The Bransons began leading teams from Oklahoma to Kenya where they would join with Jerry and Joash in their ministry endeavors. Christa Baine joined this team in 2013, and Jeff Baldie joined in 2014. Through their combined efforts, the group raised awareness about the various needs being faced by many in impoverished Kenyan areas like slums and rural villages.

In 2016, Jerry and Joash formed a Community Based Organization called Light Mission Africa with a focus on rural community development and the slogan, “love in action.” In the same year, the mission team from Oklahoma worked with Jerry and Joash to adopt a form of school ministry where students receive life skill trainings and hygiene materials once a month. Land was also purchased that year in Ugenya through donations raised in the US, which began the construction of a learning center which would be completed in 2017. During the summer team trip in June of 2019, Sara, Cara, Christa, and Jeff decided the best way to continue supporting the progress evident through Light Mission Africa, as well as to support the same model of empowerment through education, discipleship, and sustainability in other struggling areas of the world, would be to form a non-profit organization in the United States. Light Mission Alliance was founded that same summer, with a devotion toward serving in a financially accountable, culturally sensitive, and most importantly, God-glorifying way.