Our History
A team from a church in Ojai, California traveled to Uganda in 2005 to explore the possibility of working with a church in the village of Kakira, Uganda.
On the team’s second trip in January of 2007, they discovered that some of the children from this local church were being mistreated & reported harsh conditions in a local orphanage. Upon returning home to the United States, God placed it on the heart of one of the team members, Devo Marshall to do something about this injustice.
Shortly after the team returned, “Living Home Children’s Home” was established in Uganda to care for these rescued children. “Psalms Ten Incorporated” was formed stateside to address all issues concerning the well-being of these children.
Eydie Miskel’s first trip to Uganda was as part of the January 2007 team. On October 16, 2007, she resigned a job as church administrator at her Ventura church of 13 years to serve voluntarily with Devo & Psalms Ten.
Since that time, the ministry has gone through many changes. Because of an illness in Devo’s family, he resigned from running the organization. He turned the ministry over to Eydie. With a renewed vision we re-launched our ministry with the current name, “Raining Hope” and “Raining Hope Children’s Home” on 9-9-09.
Stateside Staff
Eydie Miskel, Executive Director
Eydie Miskel has a story to tell. After a long effective career in California Southern Baptist churches and associations as church administrator and sign language interpreter, Eydie was unexpectedly called by God to go to Africa.
Eydie attended a Lions Club District Governor Installation Dinner in San Diego in July 28, 2006. It was at this dinner, she met Father Bonaventure, a priest from Uganda who was in the United States to raise funds to build a hospital for children stricken with malaria. As Eydie spoke with Father Bonaventure, she first heard the sobering facts that every 30 seconds, a child dies in Africa from mosquito borne malaria. The majority of malaria deaths occur in Africa in children under 5 years old. She listened as he said the reason most die is because they can not get the $3 shots that can combat the disease. God tugged at Eydie’s heart through the meeting of this unexpected dinner guest.
Two days later, Eydie ran into another friend who was doing her masters thesis on building a rehabilitation center to provide a safe place for rescued children from the violence in Northern UGANDA! By time Monday rolled around, Eydie was amazed to realize that a country she knew little about occupied her whole weekend! Then came the front page of the Ventura County Star. There was a picture of a young man from Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, California holding a little boy from God Cares Nursery & Primary School in Kampala, UGANDA! The caption read, “More people are volunteering abroad, hoping to make a difference – and Africa holds a special allure.”
God definitely got her attention. For the next 7 days, God brought to Eydie’s attention something about Uganda or Africa twice a day! It was one of the most incredible weeks of her life. By the end of the week, Eydie discovered that Pastor Scott Harrell of Ojai Valley Baptist Church would be returning to Uganda with a missions team in just 4 months! It was clear that God was calling her to go.
As in the book of Genesis, God’s call to Abraham was to “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family and go to the land that I will show you.” Genesis 12:1. God said, “go.” Abraham obeyed. Eydie didn’t know why but she was obedient to His call and began to make plans.
That was 13 years & 25 trips ago. Eydie travels throughout the year to Uganda from her home in Ventura, California where she lives with her husband, Michael. Their daughter, Kiana and son-in-law, Taylor live in Riverside, California. Raining Hope is based stateside with an office at Poinsettia Pavilion in Ventura. She has successfully led four International Service Project (ISP) teams to Uganda with students from California Baptist University in Riverside as well as four teams from Raining Hope.
The story of Eydie’s call and of her subsequent work for the children of Africa is inspiring and encouraging. She has said that “the people there taught me how to live, breathe and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.” Those that have heard Eydie’s story have listened in wonder at the greatness, goodness and power of God to transform His children and love the world.
To her ISP & Raining Hope teams, she is “Mama Eydie.” To her children in Uganda, they have lovingly and prayerfully given her the name, “Kisakye” which means Grace of God. She has the heart of a mom for her children... A heart of a mentor as she carries out the Great Commission ...And a desire to see the Lord use the students of Raining Hope to be the catalyst for change in Uganda.