A Daystar University research team has won an international research grant to study the Shakahola horror!

The competitive grant was awarded by the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) to a team of researchers led by Prof. Laban Ayiro, the Vice Chancellor. The other researchers are Prof. Egara Kabaji, Dr. Caroline Ayuya Muaka, and Dr. Martin Munyao.

While awarding the grant, the Council congratulated Daystar University for its successful bid.

Daystar University becomes the first African University to win this grant! The grant will provide Daystar University researchers the opportunity to collaborate and connect with the broader scholarship community, while providing a vital component of Christian-based research on an important topic.

Shirley Hoogstra, J.D, the president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities noted that it was an honor to bestow the grant to Daystar University faculty. The grant will enable CCCU to assist faculty at Daystar to add Christian intellectual perspective on a contemporary academic conversation on 'Deception, Occultism and Cultism.'

The topic of the research is Deception, Occultism and Cultism in the Body of Christ: Towards Understanding of False Doctrine of Death. The research project aims at directing enquiry into the deception, occultism and cultism witnessed in Kenya in recent years, resulting in the loss of hundreds of people deceived to starve to death “in order to see Jesus Christ.” The most horrific of these happened at Shakahola where a religious leader is said to have led his followers to this remote part of the Kenyan coast and hypnotized them to starve to death.

Hundreds of bodies of adherents have since been exhumed. This research will collect narratives from survivors of various cult activities, religious leaders, scholars, opinion leaders, survivors of the various cult activities and interrogate them to reveal the strategies of deception and general occultism and occult practices.

The researchers will further enquire into the practice of magic and witchcraft within the body of Christ while focusing on manipulation of prayer and faith. In essence, it will seek to reveal characteristics of cults, types of cults, the underworld of cultism, cult practices, cult totems, cult membership, secrets of cults, tactics of deception, and the manipulative process of reading and misreading of scriptures in Kenya.

Prof. Laban Ayiro the principal investigator, will guide on Research methodology while Prof. Egara Kabaji will be in charge of Analysis and planning. Dr. Caroline Ayuya will take care of execution of field trips while Dr. Munyao will be in charge of Report writing.

We congratulate the team for placing Daystar on the world Map!