Birthdays at Made in the Streets

  Each month we have a birthday party for all our kids and Team with a birthday since the last party.  We had 7 today -- 1 Team member, 4 students from Kamulu and 2 of our young moms from the Eastleigh Center.  It was also a different day from normal for us, since almost all of our Team went to Eastleigh in the early morning to spend the day working on the streets.  Joel was stuck at a roundabout with a leaky radiator; he had taken our visitors to the pickup point for their safari.  Francis Mbuvi, fresh back from the States and on jet lag, Milly Omondi, Darlene and I had the kids.  

  They sang and read library books and played games and drew pictures -- Darlene is the master at activities for teenagers!-- and late in the day, Ken Owino walked up to me and said, "We really had fun today!"  Seven of the kids went away from the building when I had said "5 minute break, and when I say it, I don't mean 15" and were gone 15, so I got some help moving rocks and pulling goatheads out of the Learning Center lawn for 20 minutes.  We also went up to the boys' property in the afternoon to play basketball and soccer, but the only two balls we had wouldn't hold air, so Francis and I decided the kids wouldn't mind moving rocks and cleaning up trash in the boys' compound.  It look a lot better when we were through.

    

  Then it was birthday time.  After games, there were two big circles of about 25 kids each, plus Team members, each with 3 birthday kids in the middle, and they pass around a balloon, and when it stops, the person gets a chance to say something good about one of the birthday people.  This is a wonderful time that blesses kids who never had a birthday party before and who have seldom in their young lives heard good things about themselves.  

  And...today the catering school kids, under Laurent's leadership, baked the cakes for the party -- 6 of them.  They had fun, learned something, and made our day better.  Next time they will have a class in cake decorating from Darlene and we'll have even better cakes.  

  One of the special events was that Shannon Jack is here from California, and she and her mom are sponsors of Millie, the mom from the Eastleigh Center whose birthday is this week.  So she got to celebrate Millie's birthday with her.  

  These teenagers have such a good time together.  We are so proud of them and the way they act.  And so proud of many of you, who help us do this ministry.  We are all doing something very special together, making a new life for homeless and hopeless kids.  Have a Happy Birthday when it's your turn.