Meet Kevin Kiden, our CDP Social Worker

While most of us make our own plans for the future and expect our life to turn out a certain way, there are times when God has a different plan for us. The Lord may direct your path towards something you never thought about, just like He did for Kevin Kiden, the Child Development Program’s social worker. For His glory, God used her experience of being raised by a single mother to help other single mothers as they raise their own children. Through Kevin’s position, she has the opportunity to share the gospel with many families.

When Kevin was very young, her father passed away, so she and her four siblings were raised by a single mother. When she was about eight years old, they moved to the city with her uncle’s family because of the rebel war in the Acholi region. Moving to the city provided her with the opportunity to attend a good school, and her aunt and uncle were able to support her mother by paying for her school fees.

Growing up, Kevin attended church with her family and listened to the Word of God, but she didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus until she was a teenager. At the age of 15, she went to a youth camp that was organized by several churches in the area. It was an all-day program for the youth to learn about the gospel and interact with teenagers from other churches. There, Kevin decided to place her trust in Jesus and ask Him to come into her heart.

In 2014, Kevin’s cousin, Opoka Grace, invited her to Abaana’s Hope to help as a translator. Kevin had experience translating for other missionaries who traveled to Uganda since she was in high school, so she agreed to go. Together they helped translate the message of God’s love to mothers and daughters who came to Abaana’s Hope.

Kevin’s dream had always been to become a journalist, but her mother couldn’t afford the cost to send her to school for journalism. Instead, she attended Gulu University and earned a degree in rural development. She’d never thought about becoming a social worker until God opened another door for her and gave her a calling.

“We may make our plan, but as the book of Proverbs says, the Lord’s Will will always be accomplished,” she said. “I’m forever grateful to the Lord. It’s wonderful seeing these children grow into young God-fearing men and women.”

Two years after Kevin’s first visit to Abaana’s Hope, Grace told her that Four Corners Ministries was looking for a social worker for the Child Development Program (CDP). The missionaries had interviewed several people for the position, but they hadn’t found the right person yet. Kevin was interested, so she scheduled an interview with one of the missionaries. 

“He did not ask me any social work questions,” Kevin said. “He asked me why I was born again, and when I answered him, I said, ‘Because I’m a sinner and I need Jesus.’ He said, ‘I will not interview you further. We are looking for a Christian who recognizes that we need Jesus because of sin and is willing to serve people to point them to Jesus.’”

Before she was officially hired for the position, she met with the rest of the missionaries for another interview, and they believed that God had brought her to fulfill this role at Abaana’s Hope. 

“At that time, I was 8 months pregnant with my first born. I’d been looking for a job, but nobody was willing to give me a job because I was pregnant,” Kevin said. “When they offered me the job, I knew that this was a place where God was calling me.”

Kevin began working as the social worker for Abaana’s Hope in January 2016 after giving birth to her son, Asher Christian, who is now 8 years old. In 2022, Kevin gave birth to her second child, Celine Martha, who is now 1 year and 7 months old. Kevin wasn’t sure what it would be like to serve the community of Abaana’s Hope out in the bush away from her husband, Okello Samuel, but God provided another opportunity for Samuel to work for the ministry as well. He is now an administrator at Abaana’s Hope and Asher Christian is studying at Living Stones Christian School.

“Few organizations employ couples, but God has provided an opportunity for both my husband and I to serve here and we are growing together in the Lord,” Kevin said. “We do not have to worry about being far away from each other, but we grow together in loving the Lord and learning more about Him.”

As the social worker, Kevin works closely with the CDP team. They go for home visits where they encourage parents, counsel them on biblical parenting, and share the love of Jesus with them.

“When they have struggles, we are to encourage them and love them as Jesus would love them. Most importantly, we remind them to love their children as Jesus would. For the parents who do not know Jesus, we share for them the good news and come alongside them amid the struggle,” she said. 

The CDP team cares for the entire family. The goal is to support parents, to help them raise their children, and to lead them to a relationship with Jesus Christ. The men counsel the fathers and sons while the women counsel the mothers and daughters. There are four team members, the supervisors for the program are missionaries David and Jessica Hagins, and the stateside director of the program is missionary Holly West.  

“It has been a blessing working with them. They’re such a great team and they love the Lord,” Kevin said. 

Besides going on home visits, Kevin is also responsible for making sure the program meets the Ugandan government’s expectations regarding the country’s child protection policy. 

“The Child Development Program has been such a great blessing that God placed this program into the community because through the CDP many families, the children, and their parents have come to know Jesus and the love of Jesus has been shared,” Kevin said. “God has also generously blessed this ministry through the partnership with the supporters, who help us send children to school.”

One of the priorities of the CDP is to provide an opportunity for children to receive an education. Through Living Stones Christian School (LSCS) at Abaana’s Hope, these children receive quality education as well as biblical knowledge. The CDP sponsors not only help with school fees, but they also help to provide for medical needs and food supplies for the children in the program. Kevin said it’s always a blessing to see the sponsors meet the child and family they sponsor when they visit on a short-term mission trip. There are currently 69 children in the program, ranging in age from 4 years old up to 23. There is no age limit set because Four Corners Ministries wants to help the children in the program until they finish their studies.

“Most importantly, we point to the Giver not the gifts because all of this will fade away. We remind them, ‘What does it profit a man to gain all the world, but lose their soul?’ We need Jesus, He who died to take our sins away, and that is the most important thing,” Kevin said.

Once a year, she helps to organize a Bible teaching week for the children during the school holiday. This incorporates the CDP students, their parents, and other LSCS students, and they learn more about the Word of God.  Since Kevin started working at Abaana’s Hope, she also joined the Women’s Discipleship Bible study where she’s been able to share the gospel with other ladies in the community as well as learn more. She still helps translate during the Bible study and for the missionaries and visiting teams.

“Whenever a need arises, I’m willing to jump in to translate,” Kevin said. “It has been a blessing serving here, especially serving in the Child Development Program. During the majority of homes visits, we meet with single mothers. I was raised by a single mom, and I know the struggles sometimes are not easy. It’s wonderful for these ladies to know that they are not alone, but the Lord God is their redeemer.”