Ora Et Labora: Dr. Florence Muindi
Dr. Florence Muindi has been passionate about serving the world’s most underprivileged people for nearly as long as she can remember.
“My journey began when I came to Christ when I was 5 – even from that young age I had a passion for serving the poor and vulnerable,” Dr. Muindi told the Kuyper community at the year’s last session of Ora Et Labora, a weekly time where speakers come to campus to talk about their work and how their faith impacts that work.
Growing up in a very poor, rural area on the eastern side of Kenya, Dr. Muindi saw what her friends and neighbors endured in their daily lives and was moved to do something about it.
“I began praying for people I knew who were vulnerable and defined what would be my call,” Dr. Muindi recalled.
After her father died when she was 20, Dr. Muindi experienced a clear sense of God’s voice, telling her to offer her life as worship to Him. “It took me the next ten years to actually get equipped to do so. I went through medical school and became a doctor and trained in disaster response with the international Red Cross,” she said.
Following her training and marriage, Dr. Muindi and her husband began serving the leprosy-impacted in Ethiopia. Eventually, the two would go on to start an organization called Life in Abundance International (LIA) which empowers local churches to serve the poor and vulnerable, creating sustainable transformation in their communities.
“Today, we serve 12 countries in Africa and two in the Caribbean. We also have support offices in the US and UK,” Dr. Muindi said.
She estimated that in the 29 years since she and her husband began working in ministry full-time, their organization has served nearly 2 million people.
Reflecting on a life of following God, Dr. Muindi said, “It might take a long time to get to that bigger purpose that God has for us, but He invites us to a journey of trusting Him to lead us.”