Carrey Joy Wanyonyi is a missionary from the U.S. who came to Kenya to spread the Gospel and fell in love with a man from Bungoma. In a recent Youtube video, she detailed that she works with the End Time Prophetic Ministries and divulged how she abandoned the luxury of modern conveniences in the US for a simple village life.
And now she has fitted into the Bukusu culture like a jigsaw puzzle and can even communicate in the local dialect.
Here is her story as told by WoK,
Background
Carey is a first born in a family of three and has a brother and a sister. She was born in California and holds four degrees: organizational communications, economics, global history and political & economics. Her father worked as an engineer while the mother is a philanthropist concerned with humanitarian activities. Carey details that she has taken after her mother who would forego her needs in order to help the poor.
Relocating To Kenya
Both of Carey’s parents relocated to Kenya to support christian ministerial activities. Carey details that she worked as a property manager before she quit her job and sold some of her most prized possessions including a car and a piano so as to follow her parents’ paths. She arrived in the country in 2018 and one of her first posting was in Bungoma County.
Meeting Albert Wanyonyi
One of the people she first met is Albert Wanyonyi a boda boda rider and a devoted christian who hosted the entire entourage for a meal. Carey details that she was smitten with Wanyonyi but he kept avoiding her company. She felt confused but as time went by the duo got accustomed to each other and became lovebirds after Wanyonyi surprised her with flowers and expressed his love for her.
“I met my husband about a week after I came to Kenya and I knew right away that he was my husband. God told me he was the one I was supposed to marry,” she says.
They then got married and settled in a remote village in Bungoma. Carey had a lot of challenges to deal with in the maiden days including culture shock and language barrier as her husband wasn’t well versed with English. While she was used to a luxurious life in the U.S, she now had to live in simple semi-permanent house with an earthen floor which had to be coated with cow dung.
“In the U.S, your house has air conditioners, central heating and built in gas; you don’t have to go and refill, instead you get it from a utility company which brings it to your house themselves through the pipes,” Carrey Joy says.
But the opportunity to live a simple life was more of a life gift to her, and as they say, you don’t stare a gift horse in the mouth. Carey fell in love with the beauty of simplicity whereby she could grow her own vegetables and rear animals.
And after a few months, she was pregnant, a matter that would bring in both beautiful and a near death experience.
Severe Malaria
When she was expectant, her husband proved to be a pillar of her life. Albert Wanyonyi would cook for her and even assist in various household chores. However, with Bungoma being a malaria endemic zone, Carey contracted the life-threatening disease.
A laboratory test through a microscope revealed a high number of malaria parasites in her blood. Her condition had deteriorated and her blood pressure dropped. This necessitated an admission to Lifecare Hospital in Bungoma.
“The doctor tried to test and find my blood pressure and the machine wouldn’t even read it. It was so low. He was like; she’s dying, get her to the hospital right now,” she recalls.
After treatment, another test was done and she still had malaria. After recovery, she was necessitated to fly back to her home country in order to prevent another infection.
She would communicate with her husband through whatsapp call on a daily basis. Carey gave birth to her first born while in the US before she came jetted back to Kenya.
Investments
The couple is currently blessed with two children. Carey says she also takes care of a child that Wanyonyi had in a previous marriage. Gifted with a heart of gold, she doesn’t discriminate against the step daughter.
“We’re sending her to a private school; the same as we want to send our kids because I don’t want to treat my stepdaughters any different than I do for my own kids,” she says.
Carrey Joy gives back to the community through organising fund drives for the disadvantaged. She says she has plans of venturing into commercial chicken rearing as well as acquiring a truck for transportation business.
