Hairdressing Skills

Titus Musyoki is being shown how to style hair. He is the only boy
who has taken our hairdressing course and is doing very well. Both Terry and
Phyllis are doing a good job in teaching and supervision.

Together Terry and Phyllis both operate the MITS Salon and teach hairdressing in our skills training center. The students are able to receive training, then work in our shop to gain experience.

Susan Wambui, who finished her hairdressing training a few months ago, has been volunteering at the Eastleigh Center while she waits for her national identity card. We found her there cutting hair for a street girl on Monday. Some local people at Kamulu have been asking about Susan coming back to Kamulu because they are her clients. She is the best at braiding that we have known. Hopefully Titus will also make us happy with the skills he learns.

Happy April Birthday

Often Made in the Streets celebrates a birthday with a teenager for the first time in his or her life. Each month at Kamulu we honor those with birthdays. Here is Francis Mbuvi's report on last Friday's party.

"While part of the team went to Eastleigh, the rest of us spent time in the library, played some games and watched a movie. We later had a birthday celebration for Mwanahawa, Mary Muthoni, baby Eric and Mercy Mugure. Wonderful things were said about how hard they work and how they are loved."

Rejoice with these young people as they learn to celebrate and have fun at Made in the Streets.

The Streets & World Bible School

Yes, yes, I know - it's the same picture as last time, but there is a new reason for showing it.

Sorry it has been so long since the last update - the Coulstons have been "on tour" with Jackton Omondi and Irene Akinyi in California, Texas, Iowa and Tennessee. Now we are all back in Nairobi. We had a great visit with congregations and friends who love us, with Rotary clubs and with family. Funds were raised for ministry and for building to house girls, boys and girls with babies.

The reason for this picture now is to point out the cooperation and mutual blessing Made in the Streets has with World Bible School. Of course our administrator, Francis Mbuvi, is married to Maureen, who is coordinator of a large World Bible School effort sponsored by the Golf Course Road Church in Midland, Texas. And we have had many World Bible School teachers visit us and help MITS while at the same time contacting students. One teacher, Linda Randall, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Central Church, has a student named Evans Ouma, who was baptized at MITS about 3 years ago.

Evans has become a staff member of MITS; he works on the farm, drives for the ministry, and, like all of the staff, he goes to the streets and teaches. The young man on the upper left in the picture with the brown striped shirt is Evans, sitting at Redeemed Base talking with and teaching some of the older guys who sleep there.

We are grateful for the relationship MITS has with WBS; may it continue forever. It is good news to WBS teachers that about 1/2 of the churches of Christ in Kenya were started by WBS students. Evans also serves in the church, often leading prayer or the Lord's Supper.

Street Visits by Larry Conway

God has blessed Nairobi with lots of rain recently. We are so thankful after suffering with such a terrible drought for so long. Last night's rain was 2 inches! While the rain is very wonderful it does create challenges for those who live on the streets. The nights are cold and wet and some don’t have any decent shelter so they stay awake most of the night moving from place to place trying to stay warm and dry. They may stay for a while under an awning or under a parked 18-wheeler. This means that when we are visiting them during the mornings they are very tired. They do appreciate our visits and we do our best to encourage them and share the word of God with them. Today we preached about the resurrection and reminded them that Jesus is alive and risen.

We didn’t find many street kids at the Mlango Kubwa base today. Usually the place is full of kids hanging out. Today, there were only a few. The police had been there this morning arresting street kids so many others were hiding from the police. Also, there was a rumor floating around that a notorious glue seller has recently been arrested. We hope so, because she is a real troublemaker but claims to be helping street kids.

Peter Ngotho used to live on the streets but rededicated his life to the Lord about 2 months ago. He has volunteered to walk the streets with us recently. He knows lots of people and has a great testimony since many people know about his former life. Apparently, he lived quite a dangerous life as a gangster. He has visited the bases with us yesterday and today and will also attend the fellowship this afternoon.

This afternoon we will start a mid week service /fellowship. Our goal is to give the new Christians and others from Eastleigh a place to come and worship during the mid –week.

Thanks to all of you who help the ministry to succeed. God bless, Larry