MITS YOUTH AT CHURCH

Here the youth group from the Kamulu Church are meeting after the assembly. The Made in the Streets youth make up about 75% of the youth group. As a visitor to MITS once said, "Oh, I see what Made in the Streets is. It's a perpetual youth camp." In some ways that is true, but we also have the everyday life of study and chores and the ordinary life of being with the church.

A great number of our young people are doing very well in their spiritual lives -- and in service. They teach Sunday school, they lead songs and prayers, they serve communion and come to the Sunday morning Bible class for adults and youth. And they are in chapel every weekday before classes and skills training begin, where they lead songs and make talks and confess sins and encourage one another. Some of them occasionally go back to the streets with our Team members and encourage those who remain on the streets.

Later this year we will have a Vacation Bible School at Kamulu and then some of our Team and students will go to Nziu on the way to the coast and help lead a VBS at the Nziu Church of Christ. Please pray for these kids, that they may grow in spirit and wisdom, pleasing to God and others.

Street Moms at MITS-Kamulu

Here are the 7 teenage girls with babies who are in our pilot program for street moms. We had a meeting with them to talk about their life together and plans for the future, then took their picture. Their children were all at our Children's Center at the time, so the moms can attend classes or skills training.

Last week all 7 of them and the kids moved into the same house, which is located next to the girls' center. We bought individual double size beds for mom and child together, and we repainted the house and repaired everything. They are all very excited about the new house, and it is great for them to be near the girls and the Learning Center.

Mbuvi Can Still Cook

Since our Anniversary Celebration for 15 years of ministry to street children in Nairobi is coming up, we have been sharing some of the history of MITS with the students at Kamulu. Some of them were not born when MITS started!

As part of that history we have told them that our Administrator and the preacher for the church at Kamulu, Francis Mbuvi, started out as the cook for us when we were located on the campus of Kenya Christian Industrial Training Institute (KCITI). We said, "Look at him now. There is no way to know what you may be able to do, with God's help and your commitment."

Francis regularly goes in to the Eastleigh center and meets with the Team members there, and he goes out on the streets on those days as well. On this day there were cooking a meal for some street kids who were in a program at the center, so he picked up his old trade and helped cook ugali (it's kind of a hard corn meal mush), which is a staple of Kenyan diet.

First Quarter 2010

The following report was turned in to the missions committee at Otter Creek Church and to the Board of Made in the Streets. We thought maybe all of you would like to see a summary of events in the first quarter of the year. The 2010 Goals are listed first.

MADE IN THE STREETS

FIRST QUARTER REPORT 2010

MADE IN THE STREETS MINISTRY GOALS 2010

· STUDENT POPULATION: Increase our boarding program students total in Eastleigh and Kamulu to a maximum of 100 students.

· SECURITY: Ensure all our property is fenced and planted with kayaba (thorny bushes) and trees where possible; get dogs for all properties and take other measures as they prove cost-worthy and do-able.

· SKILLS TRAINING: Work on getting the skills classes increased to at least double capacity with the addition of catering and hairdressing. Both skills training and the children’s center be open to the public, depending on approval from the Board.

· CONSTRUCTION: Multi-purpose hall built that can also be used by the church. Ag/Weld Building to be completed on the 20 acre property. New Boys’ Dorm to be completed on the Boys’ Property. Girls’ property to be refurbished and enlarged – building a wall to enclose the house Mbuvis lived in and building a dining hall/lounge in front of the kitchen

· CHURCH: Plant and help grow a street youth church in Eastleigh.

· FARM: 50% or more dependability on farm produce for basic foodstuff.

· TEAM: Develop a staff development program in consultation with the Otter Creek Church of Christ and our advisors.

FIRST QUARTER EVENTS

STUDENT MATTERS

· We made a timetable for the first 3 months for the Education Department, scheduling where each student will be. We have two literacy classes. Learning continued in Literacy and skills in the Kamulu centre.

· We moved five young mothers from Eastleigh to train in skills at Kamulu – cooking, hairdressing, sewing and auto mechanics.

· We kept former students Francis Cugia, Kenneth Wambugu and Mercy Wanja to train on the job in the street ministry, auto mechanics and the cafeteria respectively,

· Willys Odhiambo (farming at Brookside Dairy), Grace Wahu (catering), Francis Wahome (mechanics) and Joseph Wambua (mechanics) found internships.

· We had a new girl join us from Mlango kubwa base named Priscah Kerubo.

· We had a day camp for one week with Andrew and Katera with the main theme being “Reveal your true identity in Christ”. This culminated in a concert on the 20^th of the month. There was a guest group called Teen Challenge.

· 12 students were baptized—Alex Atemai, Anastacia Njeri, Mercy Mugure, Dennis Kamau, Dotrine Zainabu, Florence Moraa, Jane Njoki, Michael Mackenzie, Cecelia Mwenza, Lucy Achieng, Mary Njoki and Francis Ndungu.

TEAM MATTERS

· In keeping with a new plan for staff development, we are hiring the following people:

o Hellen - a nursery school teacher

o Terry - a salon worker, helping in girls’ dorm

o Phyllis - a salon trainer, helping in girls’ dorm

o Magdeline - a catering school teacher

· We moved Millicent Omondi from the cafeteria and put her as a helper in the nursery.

· Mbuvi met with every team member and urged a recommitment to serving students and street youth.

· One of our team members was suspended for a month -- Anthony Owino. The ministry is considering whether to dismiss Anthony after the month is over, during which he will meet with Mbuvi and other Team members.

PROPERTY MATTERS

· We started using the nursery school building with 9 children.

· Repairs were done at the girls’ drainage system.

· All the irrigation zones were prepared, seedbeds planted and new chicks ordered.

· The gate at the 20 acres was widened a little because it was small.

· We installed wire mesh at the learning centre court grills and side doors so that we can use the dogs inside the compound.

· Fencing of the 20 acres was completed. This was done because the fence had been torn down in September 2008 when the area member of parliament and others invaded.

STREET MATTERS

· 14 street youth were sent to various schools or job sites for training in skills.

· Friendships, visits and evangelism were made in the streets with two new bases visited, Kayole and Ngara.

· Base visits and evangelism continued as well as the street youth programs in Eastleigh with a street “couples” meetings being initiated.

· We had one street girl baptized----Margaret Wanjiru.

OTHER MATTERS

· The church continued to meet outside along with the Sunday morning class and Sunday school, in spite of sometimes heavy rains. Each last Sunday of the month the church has a fellowship lunch or snacks after worship.

· We had Katera and Andrew from China and Joel Reed and his wife and Mike and Trisha Hyodo from Lighthouse church visit us and work with us for a while.

15 Years of Street Ministry

It's June 2010, and that means Made in the Streets has been in existence for 15 years, working on the streets and alleyways of Nairobi. What a delight it is to remember some of the young people who came to us in the beginning. Snake (Samuel Kamau) is a pro boxer now, a lightweight with a devastating right cross. Daniel is in his third job and doing well. Laurent is a chef at the University of Nairobi, with more than 5 years behind him. Three of our former kids are serving in the ministry. Mary imports and sells matching dresses and shoes, and her husband has a good job. Maggie has continued to work, even though she must live in the slum in order to care for her younger brother and sister and her aged grandmother. Caro, Jane, Cathy, Zaina, Riziki and Halima work in the Narcisse Salon, an upscale place in the Sarit shopping center.

There are stories that are remarkable, stories that break our hearts, stories that make us feel so good about what we do, stories that are unfinished yet. And so many of these young people love the Lord God. We have made many mistakes and we also have many victories.

On June 26 we will celebrate 15 years. We are inviting all the former students out to Kamulu for the day, along with various government officials, church leaders and friends. Pray for us that this will be a most rewarding day. We will present 12 certificates to students who have completed their studies with us in the past year.

And thanks for all the support and prayer and love from so many people. We could never think of doing this without you.