Video Summary of Our 2026 Benin Visit

The Team at Mission Soliel d'Espoir provided this video of our visit.

 

2026 Benin Visit

Purpose and Mission

Channels for Change exists to enable donors in the United States to provide support to Christian ministries who operate in other countries. 

Our current focus is on Benin, West Africa. Since 2024, we have partnered with Mission Soleil d'Espoir (Sun of Hope) there to provide wells, Church roofs, and MP3 audio bible study materials. See their page at Sun of Hope

So far, we have processed funding for 10 wells, serving 5,900 people in Benin. In addition, we have provided funds for Church roofs, and MP3 audio players containing Bible study materials.

There are many ways to facilitate the spread of the gospel of Jesus across Benin and neighboring countries. See our current projects for more information.

Evangelism through sewing training - Video of a project from 2025

One of the projects from the 2025 Missions Conference was to fund the purchase of sewing machines and a gluing machine. The project leader is the wife of a pastor. She brings in girls to teach them sewing, and while teaching she preaches the gospel. We heard that every one of the girls in the program last year placed their faith in Jesus for salvation. 

Watch the video below. When I watched, I set the CC to Auto translate to English. Your YouTube might pull that in, or you can set your own language preference.

Sewing Project Video

The work or this project is ongoing. She could use 4 more machines, and a workshop to house this equipment. 

Channels for Change is currently accepting donations to help expand this ministry. The 2026 needs include 4 more sewing machines for a total of $825, basic workshop construction for $5,100, and finishing of the workshop for an additional $5,100. 

Projects - 2026

For 2026, Channels for Change has already received funds from our partner Church, Community Bible Church in Omaha. These funds will provide two wells and should be completed in March 2026.

Our Benin partner, Mission Soleil d'Espoir (MSE) has modified their recommended approach, and will be doing deeper, machine dug wells this year. The reason for this change is that the hand dug wells sometimes run short of water during dry season. Hand dug wells are about 50-60 feet deep, while these machine wells will be about 250 feet deep. At least 2 of the hand dug wells from the past couple of years are not quite providing water fast enough during the dry season. These can be improved by making them a little deeper, so we will be watching for opportunities to do that in the near future.

The deeper wells will have better water quality, and they should not run short of water during any season. Instead of a bucket with a rope, these rely on a hand pump. The mechanism is simple, sustainable, and can be repaired with readily available parts. 

MSE has 10 communities approved and ready for water wells. Channels for Change will fund 2 now. Reach Beyond, another mission agency, plans to fund four wells this year. So, there are available opportunities to fund 4 more wells right now.

Along with these wells, we will be seeking support for additional outreach and discipleship projects in the coming months. If you want to know more, please reach out to me at kastrasser@cox.net    

Scenes along the road

We are traveling today from Parakou to Cotonou. Here are a few pictures of scenes along the road.

Conference

What an amazing couple of days it has been! About 160 people attended the missions conference today, maybe a few less yesterday.

Can you find us?😂

Each morning the conference started with some singing and prayer time, followed by a devotional. There were speakers who challenged those in attendance to serve well, in a variety of areas. Very powerful teaching in each case. The speakers were able to handle the word properly. 

One big event of the conference was presentations by people who received money for projects after last year’s conference. Project managers, who included pastors missionaries, and evangelists, gave updates of how the funds were used, and the people impacted by their projects. 

As an example, MSE gave a pastors wife a few treadle sewing machines, the kind you pump with your feet. She brings in refugee girls and trains them to be tailors, and while training them shares the gospel, and disciples believers. All of here apprentices got saved.

One project close to our heart because of our work with CEF was this man.  

He used money from MSE for food and supplies, and using these fund he was able to hold a series of events across Benin. Around the country, about 4,000 children heard the gospel and about 400 believed!

The end of the day Friday was eagerly anticipated. Projects for the upcoming year had been presented to a committee on Wednesday, and now the 30 which were approved for funding were to be announced.There are 13 outreach projects and 17 discipleship projects for 2026.

Pictured below are 13 men with outreach projects selected for his coming year.

I was granted the privilege of praying for these man as they go out to do their work. 

I will learn more about the projects soon. There may be ways we can help support the work of these projects this year.

At the close of the event, Lisa and I were honored to be recognized as special guests, and received a gift from MSE. We are bringing this gift home with us, but the real gift is in our hearts and minds as we think about this trip, and the work of spreading the gospel here.

Wednesday

 

Wednesday, February 11th, 2026

 

Today, pastors, missionaries, and evangelists from Benin and several other countries came to the MSE headquarters to write a single page description of projects. They need grant money to move the work they are doing forward.

 

I opened by giving a short devotional, during which I spoke about assurance of salvation. After that there was a talk about the importance of these workers completing the required forms to provide accountability for the funds they receive. They have some good strategies in place for this year to force people to comply with this requirement.

 

Honoré expected about 70 projects to be presented. We listened in on three project interviews. MSE expects to be able to fund about 30 projects, so some people will be disappointed. We heard two request to build a church or put a roof on a church, and one request to help feed refugee children about 35 miles from Niamey Niger. The goal was to try to provide 2 meals per month. 

Interviews like that were to go on into the night, maybe until 9 PM. While listening would have been very interesting, we felt like we might have been a distraction, so we left. By Friday MSE will have made a final decision on which projects they will accept. Criteria include specific measurable goals, and being in an area without a church. The focus people groups must be unreached, meaning less than 2% of the population is Christian.

 

The needs are so great here. Sobering to see how little people survive on. My estimate is that the meat in an average meal is less than 2 ounces. And that is here at the conference, in the city. It is very possible a rural community has far less.

 

Our friend James took us to shops so we could by some things to bring home, it’s been a string of busy days so after we shopped we came back to the hotel a little earlier today. We have been relaxing this evening. Internet is not very strong at the hotel, we will try to post pictures tomorrow.

Photos from Monday and Tuesday

Honorè with his youngest daughter, Aurelle.

His middle daughter Jessica.

Oldest Shekinah

This is Alexis, a pastor born in Nigeria, so he knows some English. The three of us are all about the same age, and the oldest here today. Lisa is the oldest by seven months, making her the honored elder!

This is Jobet (French  version of Obed). The office calls him Joe Biden, I said we need to find a better Joe nickname.

This is James and I during my teaching, more about that below.

Tuesday, February 10th, 2026

 

Today was a pastors seminar at Mission Soliel d’Espoire, Sun of Hope Mission, or MSE. There were about 25 men at the conference. This was for pastors who have proven they are willing to preach the word, and were invited to encourage them on their journey of service.

 

I was assigned to teach on the topic “Being a Faithful Servant of the Lord”. All those in attendance are French speaking, so my teaching was through an interpreter. I met yesterday with James who would translate for me, and shared my topic. My focus was first salvation by grace thru faith, then assurance of salvation, and finally rewards which will be given to faithful servants.

 

He said he has been preaching on this topic for the past year! We talked further and were of the same mind on nearly everything It was great to work with him on this project.

 

After some singing and praying, Honoré introduced the day and gave a short talk on what he wanted the men to focus on. Some of his points were right in line with verses I was going to use in my teaching.

 

I delivered my talk, working thru James to translate, and it went well. Thank you for praying! There were good questions and input to help answer those questions from many of the men. After Q&A, I closed by singing a verse of a song called “It’s Not in Vain”. I have sung this with a quartet years (decades) ago. Total time for my session was about 90 minutes, which was just the right amount of time.

 

After a coffee break, the next speaker, a man who serves with Campus Crusade here, spoke. His first scripture verse was 1 Cor. 15:58, which is the text that is the basis for the song.

 

It was great to see how well the three teachings fit together. We met a number of very nice men. It is a real blessing to be here!

 

Winra camp Peulh

On Monday we toured the offices of our Benin partner, Mission Soliel d’Espoire, or MSE. We met the energetic staff. Many seem so young!

The office includes audio and video studios.

The main event of the day was a drive over a notably bad road for about 2 hours each direction. This took us to a community called Winra Camp Peulh. Peulh is the French word for a people group called Fulani, who are spread across much of this part of Africa.

The people were so happy to see us, and so very grateful for the well. I asked how far people used to walk for water and the women said they used to get up at 3:00 amand carry a torch, maybe 3 miles to get swamp water! 

This is the pastor, his wife, and their son Aquiles. The pastor has 4 churches around this area, and Aquiles enjoying some gummy bears we brought to share.

It is great to see how polished the handle is in this. It shows how much it is used every day.

Honoré and the well, with a bible verse on top.

Water spilled in the well area drains to this basin for animals to drink.

Katarabanga meal prep

The women doing meal prep. They are pounding yams to make a  carb side to eat with meat and sauce.

I tried too! The starch is like glue and it’s hard to pull the stick out. These women are seriously strong! 

A short Video from a worship service

 

KataraBanga

The well in this community was funded by CBC in 2024. Then in 2025, a roof was provided for the church. It was great to worship with these people on Sunday February 8. 

The road to reach Katarabanga is rough! This road can only be travelled in the dry seasons of the year. During rainy weather many parts of the road are flooded.

The people there are very grateful for being a part of their answer to prayer by funding the well, and putting the roof on. 

We drank the bucket into the well, cranked up a bucket of water and drank from it. 

More photos when I have a stonger internet connection. 

Pictures on the road to Parakou

Cotonou

We have arrived in Cotonou. All our flights were in time, and mostly as comfortable as economy tickets can be. All our luggage arrived in perfect condition too.

Honoré and his associate met us at the airport It’s a balmy 81 here with very high humidity. We drove past the presidential palace, and a large seaport. We are checked into our hotel and getting organized and winding down now. 

Tomorrow will drive to Parakou. It will be much dryer there.

Expecting about a 7 hour drive. It will be nice to see sights. 

Time for a visit!

 We are heading to Benin to visit some of the wells we have helped to facilitate. Looking forward to seeing the work and sharing pictures of us with at some wells! 

While we are in Benin we expect to visit three communities where we have wells, and churches. We will also participate in a pastor and missionary conference hosted by our partner there.

Below are a few pictures shared by our partner in Benin.