Fifty years of broadcasting hope.

Stephen arrived in Nairobi by way of Ghana and Germany. Hoping first to study accountancy in the United States, then dreaming of professional football in a country famous for the game, he ended up in Bible school instead — steered there by Mrs. Herta Wojahn, a German woman who took in foreign students and treated him like a son. She also introduced him to Evangeliums Rundfunk (ERF), the Christian broadcaster that would later send him to pioneer TWR's work across Africa.

Nairobi was chosen as the base for continent-wide programme production: Kenya was politically stable under President Jomo Kenyatta, centrally located, internationally connected, and open to the gospel. TWR itself was still broadcasting by shortwave from Manzini, Swaziland — Kenya at the time had only one broadcaster, the government-owned Voice of Kenya.

Stephen's first task was mundane: finding a house. The one he found in Adams Arcade became home, office and studio all at once. He recruited an interdenominational board — including Rev. Johana Mbogori of the Methodist Church of Kenya and Bishop Birech of the African Inland Church — to lend the new ministry credibility. Programmes were produced entirely by hand: scripts typed, sermons recorded to reel-to-reel tape, edits made by physically cutting and splicing the reel.

As the work grew, Pastor David Mbugua Mungai became the ministry's first employee, and young broadcasters Chris Basalirwa and Kwame Rubadiri joined to build youth programming. Outgrowing Adams Arcade, the team moved into offices at Ufanisi House on Haile Selassie Avenue.

Continued growth pushed the ministry into a larger home on Kamburu Drive, off Ngong Road, converted into proper recording studios and offices. A young man named Boaz Otiende Olewe impressed the team during the renovation and was taken on as caretaker.

When famine struck Ethiopia in the early 1980s, TWR's founder Dr. Paul Freed launched Africa Challenge, a programme addressing food security and development from a Christian perspective. Youth shows Breakthrough and New Dimension found a wide following, Bible-teaching programmes Powerline and Words of Hope became well known, and the Swahili broadcast Kua Katika Imani drew a particularly strong audience in Tanzania.

Around this time, Stephen returned briefly to Ghana to marry Grace, who joined him in Kenya and became known to the ministry as "Mama Herta." In Germany, Mrs. Herta Wojahn — the woman who had first pointed Stephen toward Bible school — kept supporting the work from afar through prayer and gifts, including a Christmas present for every member of staff.

TWR's expansion across the continent eventually needed its own regional structure. Stephen was appointed International Director for Africa. After the end of apartheid and Nelson Mandela's election in 1994, South Africa became the natural choice for a regional office, and Stephen relocated his family to Kempton Park, Johannesburg, to lead it.

Leadership of the Kenya office passed to Kwame Rubadiri, who became TWR Kenya's first National Director; his wife Emmy Rubadiri, who had been leading the youth ministry, stepped aside as he took on the role.

When Kwame Rubadiri relocated to the United States, Dr. Stephen Njiro became National Director, though his tenure was relatively brief. He was succeeded by Rev. Daniel Serwanga, who had previously served on TWR Kenya's board.