Marriage and MITS

Aah..marriage is a wonderful thing.  And there is marriage in the air at Made in the Streets.  When I was 20 and ready to get married, I only knew one way to do it.  Two decide to get married, he asks her dad, then they tell everyone, arrange for the church and the preacher, get a license at the County Court Clerk, have a wedding, and rent an apartment.  In Kenya I have found there are other ways.  You can get a license from the government and have it signed by someone authorized by the government to perform your wedding.  Or you can schedule a wedding at a church, and it's legal and acceptable whether you have the license or not.  Or you can even have a community wedding, which means that you announce to and get the permissions of all the important people in your life and you are then married.  There is no inheritance guarantee with this last one, but it is acceptable in society.  

At MITS, we have a joyful event about to occur.  No, it's not one of our 5 Team members who have fallen in love and are looking forward to marrying one of these days (I won't mention who those people are here, other than to say that two of our women and two of our men are looking forward to marrying, so they will have to move out of the dorms into their own homes).  Our joy comes because two of our former students from the streets will have their wedding on November 15 at MITS-Kamulu.  They actually opted for the community wedding three years ago and have a son who will be 2 in November.  But they did not go through the complete process of the traditional wedding, which involves a face-to-face meeting of any parents the young people have who then announce their agreement in favor of the marriage.  In this case there is one family background that is almost impossible to deal with.  As a consequence, they have not felt truly and fully married.  

Today (Saturday, 25 October) they came to visit at Kamulu and made the decision to not only have a church wedding but to seek to get a license signed and registered also.  So we got out the wedding dresses that friends in the USA have sent over, as well as the wedding rings that have been donated, and Eliza tried them on and chose one.  And Laurent says she is beautiful.  He also said he has always heard that "a good wife is a blessing from God," and he knows that he is a blessed person.  

We met Laurent near the very beginning of Made in the Streets; he was 13 years old and had been living on the streets in an alleyway for three years.  He loved learning; Darlene's Mother, Dorothy Wright, taught him to read during her visits in Kenya.  Our Team introduced him to a head-teacher at a local primary school after he had been with us about a year and a half. He was admitted to the 7th grade in spite of never being to school because he had learned English so well. He took the 8th grade exam the following year, and the Team enrolled him in a local cooking school.  When he finished in 2003, by God's grace he obtained an attachment (apprenticeship) at the University of Nairobi cafeteria, where he continues to work.  Once he cooked a meal at the University and served the President of Kenya, and this year he cooked at a meal attended by the President and the new Prime Minister.  He is well liked by his superiors and fellow chefs, and of course we are very proud of him.  

Laurent continues to support his mother, using about 1/4 of his total earnings for her monthly support.  He contributes part of his salary to a pension fund, so there isn't a great deal left for them to live on, but they have an apartment and recently managed to get a DVD player to go with the TV.  And there are many stories of his generous spirit with others, especially toward kids on the street.  

So...on November 15 Laurent Mogambi and Elizabeth Wangare will be able to feel complete in their marriage.  This is only one of the reasons why we think doing street ministry is exactly where we ought to be.