Birthday for Little Ones

Having teenage moms and babies at Made in the Streets has turned into a wonderful decision. The street guys who come to live at Kamulu get an opportunity to practice gentleness and care, and they are great with the little ones.

Two weeks ago Darlene Coulston invited all the single moms and kids -- and all our Team members who had kids -- to a birthday party for them all. They had fun playing in the yard (we have the only grass yard around here!!), eating cake and playing games. The Moms had as much fun as the kids.

Thanks for everyone who gives to Made in the Streets so that these events are possible - and especially so that young and vulnerable moms can get off the streets and have opportunity for training.

If you have been blessed richly and want to make an end-of-year donation, we are happy to receive it!! Send to Made in the Streets, 409 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN 37027. Happy Holiday!!

Spiritual Life

One of our goals has been to bring up boys and girls who love the Lord now and after they leave MITS. This Sunday and every other Sunday we have our

students involved in reading scripture as part of their growth in the lord. Peter Simala did the reading this week. Among other things, the church has an outreach program where we buy food stuffs and take to needy community members of Kamulu. Last week we had members take food to some families, among them Pamela who went the furthrest.

She had been referred to this family by another church member called Wachira. Pamela said she had to walk a long distance and was getting frustrated, but when she got there, she found that the family had nothing to eat for the evening. She was happy to see them get happy because otherwise they would have gone hungry that day. She gave them flour, sugar and some cooking oil.


It is one of many blessings that God is allowing the Kamulu church to do.

Holiday Giving

Holiday Gifts

Please take a look at the MITS web site made-in-the-streets.org for opportunities for "Holiday Giving". We have trips and special events planned for December. We cannot send our street kids living with us anywhere else for the holidays, and we do take a break from classes. So we fill the time with events as well as more work on the farm!! For those events we do not depend on the budget but on friends who want to give an extra gift outside of their families. You could pay for a retreat for the students, or a day at the park, or presents they can give one another, or a Christmas lunch, or a party for kids still living on the streets, or many other needs.

End of the Year Gifts

This is a great time to contribute to Made in the Streets and get an extra tax break you might need at the end of the year. We are happy to put your gift to work on behalf of street kids. Some of the special things we need to pay for now are

1. Turning our shops along the highway where our kids learn to deal with customers into a "Cracker Barrel" style shop and cafe.

2. Adding new staff to our dorm supervisor group so some of our Team can concentrate on teaching or skills training or other work, instead of having double responsibility. Usual costs for a starting Team member is $160 monthly for salary and benefits. Pay for the first year's salary (about $2,000) and we'll take care of raising funds for subsequent years.

3. The City Council has required us to do some additions to property and some repairs to plumbing, drainage and venting that will cost about $6,000. They want this before they will okay the renewal of our permit with the Children's Department to operate the boarding program.

4. CHALLENGE GRANT -- we hope to finish the $30,000 Challenge Grant by December 31. We are now at approximately $9,000. We want to build a set of 3 classrooms to go with our new chapel. A local church of Christ also meets in the chapel, which we use as a multi-purpose building.

Thank you for all your help. Send funds to Made in the Streets, 409 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN 37027.

Also please look at my personal blog site charles-coulston.blogspot.com for recent post.

Safety in Kenya

Many of you are wondering how we are doing in Nairobi and whether there is danger. In a city of 6 million or more, and with deep poverty and half the people living in slums, there is always a certain amount of danger. Our Kenyan Team that goes onto the streets each day face all manner of situations, but they handle them very well.

As for us foreigners, there may be some risk these days. Our Eastleigh Team has suggested that we not bring visitors to the streets for the time being, until it is clear what will happen. The danger in Kenya is primarily to people living on the border with countries to the North. The Kenyan army has moved into Somalia to drive militants away from the border. One government official said that when the army returns, they will "clean up Eastleigh," which means they will be searching for militia supporters. Our Eastleigh Team feel safe for themselves, but they are concerned about visitors, because they can't always identify who is who on the streets.

The ministry goes on, by God's grace. Our Team is courageous and committed; they don't want to see street kids fall between the cracks and be missed. And the work at Kamulu continues in peace.

A couple of our new boys stole something from a local shop recently, and that creates problems for us. But they have apologized to the owner and worked around his shop to "pay back" for stealing, as well as returned the merchandise. Our team handled the boys very well, and we hope they will "stop stealing" as Ephesians 4 says to the church. Other than that, the problems in the ministry are a minimum.

Back to the security issue, there is heightened security at the shopping center where we usually go. They had the mirrors for under the car, checked the back of the vehicle, and ran a wand over me as I entered the building. Since grenades have gone off in the city, they are highly security conscious. I will plan to make as few trips as possible around the city.

Keep on praying for us. The street kids and the Team need your support, and especially God's support.

Discovery Bible Study and Worship

For one more time we had our morning Bible class at the Learning Center before moving to the Octagon for worship next week. It was half and half of our church members and students and the Legacy Church team. After the introduction, everyone was involved in the Discovery Bible study. Only words of encouragement and love were heard later as they told me how they enjoyed sharing in the small groups.

Worship was also great and Joel listened to Darlene’s advice of our young men doing the leading!!! As the service ended, I saw Joe and Mary Lou McKissick meet with Wachira, Wambu and his wife. Today Wachira and Wambu and Michuki met for about two hours with Joe. Joe told me they will meet again on Saturday morning!!!!

Here is another pic of the groups doing Bible Discovery in the morning class. I forgot to say that in the afternoon three groups from legacy met with our boys, girls and community. The third group did the first aid question and answer time with Matt, Jessica and Shelly. Milly was the interpreter. O

ur single moms were there and Matt said a few other women came and they enjoyed answering their questions. A blessed day indeed.

Eastleigh Report from Jane Njeri

This report will help you to understand much about the street ministry in Eastleigh and other slums in Nairobi. Our 6 Team members there have great dedication and a sense of responsibility. They are also the kind of people who see that there are purposes and connections in all the things that happen in life. They are able to assure the street youth and kids that their lives have purpose and that even the hardships of the streets will turn out to be blessings for them, for God is there.

Eastleigh Report for July to September 2011

I thank God for giving us the strength to continue serving Him at MITS.

MONDAY PROGRAMMES

The street mothers have continued to attend the Monday program together with their young babies. We also thank God because some of them have improved in terms of cleanliness and not sniffing much glue and petrol substances. They have been active in games, songs and Bible study. Thy have also been sharing their life experience and why they came to the streets and bases. Some of them were orphans when they were young and others ran away from home due to mistreatments from their step fathers and mothers.

GIRLS / BOYS PROGRAM

Young boys under fifteen (15) years have been attending Monday & Tuesday programs respectively. Moses and Byron have been teaching different lessons and sometimes the boys are taken to the MYSA playground to play football on Tuesday.

On August 30, 2011, the young boys were taken to visit the Nairobi Arboretum and just by the look on their face it showed that they really enjoyed the trip.

The young girls under the age of fifteen (15) years have been attending the Wednesday program and at least seven girls come every Wednesday. Among the girls we discovered a young mother who comes to the program but leaves the baby with the grandmother. We are working for her intake at Kamulu.

THURSDAY PROGRAM

The older boys have been attending the football games and sometimes we have been having problems, especially with the Kijiji base, either at the field or at the Center. Sometimes they would occupy the whole field by themselves and would not allow any other base to use the field, but they would be the first to line up for food. But I thank God because after holding a meeting with them concerning the game they have changed and they are willing to play with the other bases.

BASE VISITS

The MITS team has continued to visit the bases in and outside Eastleigh. In most of the bases the boys have been respective expect at Mlango base where sometimes the boys and girls are high on drugs. Sometime Kanini, who claims to help them, tells the boys and girls not to listen to people from MITS or not to come to our programs. However they realize that MITS helps them a lot in medication, food, clothes and having shower and toilet. So sometimes they pretend not to bother about MITS, but they later come and tell us what Kanini tells them about MITS. One time she had told the mothers not to come to our Monday program but they don’t adhere to what she tells them.

BASE MASTERS' MEETINGS

A Base Masters meeting was held on July 6 at MITS Centre Eastleigh. The meeting was attended by nine (9) base masters and the following topics were discussed.

1. Leadership

2. Entrepreneurship

3. Dug abuse

4. Business.

The leadership topic was covered by Evans. He told them the importance and duties of a leader especially in the bases. He emphasized that they should lead by example and lead others to do good things.

Byron covered the topic on savings whereby he gave them an example of the young boys who save their money at MITS Center. Some have saved evenKsh 1000 and so on. Kiki from Kijiji said that they have formed a group like a merry-go-round. Each member contributes Ksh 1000 each month and they give the whole amount of money to one person. He said each person gets around Ksh 7000 per month. He said they get their money by selling pigs food which they get from the cafes around Eastleigh.

Mbuvi advised them to register the group and obtain a certificate from the Chief, the D.O. or the Ward Manager of the area. He also congratulated them for having the good idea of forming a group and he advised them to share with other bases.

Another meeting was held on Sept 7 at the same venue. This time we had ten participants from different bases. The first topic was again about leadership which was facilitated by Francis Mbuvi. He started by telling them that good leadership can only be attained by leaders who fear God. When you fear God you can be able to lead others in the right way and the right directions like the biblical leaders e.g. David and others.

The next was facilitated by Byron about conflict resolution. He said that the leaders should know how to lead others especially when people have conflicts and solve it instead of leaving them to fight and cause injuries to one another. People at the bases should keep themselves busy to avoid conflicts. The base masters should make sure that everybody goes out to search to avoid idleness and unnecessary conflicts. He said that the bases should have rules to govern the people in the bases e.g. the ten commandments. When the base master finds it difficult to solve the problems maybe he should involve other people and MITS.

The topic on Drug abuse was facilitated by Deborah who was on attachment at MITS. She advised the base leaders that if they could control themselves on abusing drugs, then the other boys and girls will be able to do the same. She said that there are so many dangers when one abuses drugs; e.g. lung cancer through tobacco, weight loss and memory loss. Loss of sight and hearing and so on.

The other topic was about HIV/ AIDS and STI which was facilitated by Jane. She started by telling them that we have received from various people that there is a lot of raping and sodomising in the bases and especially at Mlango Kubwa Base. Many young boys and girls are being raped at night and therefore HIV/AIDS is very high in that base. Most of them have been coming to MITS Centre for help and we have

transported others to their rural area and we also have referred others to Blue house for medication. Simon from Kijiji informed us that, if one of the people in his base is found raping or sodomising others, he gets beaten and chased away from that base completely.

CHURCH MEETINGS

People from the bases have continued to attend the Sunday services at MITS Centre Eastleigh every Sunday. The attending has been good so far with 20-30 people and Sunday school which is 12-15 children and more. Elijah Mwaura, his wife Jane Wanja and their daughter Margaret Nyambura from Liliput base posed for a photograph at the end of the service.

On 11th September, the Sunday school children visited the Bomas of Kenya together with their teacher Gloria Makena and Jackton as their driver. The children enjoyed playing in the playground, dances and visiting the villages of different tribes at the Bomas of Kenya.

by Jane Njeri

SAD REALITY

"No man is an island," or so many of us have heard. Not only that, but some people are magnets, who attract love and friendship. Titus Kioko is such a person. He lived on the Eastleigh streets in Nairobi from a young age. He got along well with older guys on the streets and was favored by them, partly because he would do things they wanted. As a result, he had some control over kids his own age, and he was well treated - for the streets. He go the nickname "kibaba" or "little father" as a result of this.

Many visitors from the USA, as well as the Team of Made in the Streets, like Titus a lot. We have many pictures of Titus with visitors. He is featured on the cover of the MITS brochure that we give out so people will understand our ministry, seated on an old tire in front of the MITS building in Eastleigh, stoned on glue. In spite of his constant glue usage, and his penchant for stealing, he was well liked.

He eventually came to live with MITS at Kamulu in the boys' residence hall. He cleaned up really nicely, learned to speak English very well, and would sometimes do translation for visitors. The Team at Kamulu began to think of him as a potential leader, maybe as one who would some day work at MITS. He had natural leadership abilities that everyone thought could be sharpened so that he would be a skilled leader. His prayers were beautiful; after the local Member of Parliament forcibly seized land from MITS, he prayed regularly for the salvation of that man. One of our visitors remembers talking to Titus about preaching, and Titus

seemed very interested. He chose to study auto mechanics at MITS, but he continued to lead prayer and participate in spiritual events.

But as Titus grew older, especially as he approached eighteen, his former ways began to come out again. He began to steal again, and he began to encourage boys to run away any time they expressed displeasure with something. Various Team members counseled with him, and various disciplines were used to encourage change. After he reached 18, our Team attempted to help him find work. But when he left us, he went back to live on the streets in Eastleigh.

Last week, Titus snatched a cell phone from a Somali living in Eastleigh. As he ran away, a policeman, whom Titus had not noticed, pulled his gun and fired. Titus is with us no more, and we are sad. But we also know a great reality. Titus was given opportunity to make something good of his life, and God was there for him. We at MITS are so glad to be on that front line where people are given opportunity, and choice. We are left with sweet memories of someone we love, with sadness for someone we lost, and with renewed determination to give at least one more young person the chance for a new life.

Kamulu Reports from Francis Mbuvi

The Legacy Church of Christ from the Fort Worth area are visiting MITS with a group of 15. The Team reports that they have done a wonderful work, beyond what we envisioned. A group from the Golf Course Road Church in Midland, TX, came for a short visit along with their visit to the World Bible School projects in Kenya. They also gave great encouragement to the students and Team. Francis Mbuvi reports:

ON AUTO MECHANICS

Another visitor from Golf Course Road Church was named Jeff. He is a mechanic and panel beater, and he helped Charles and the boys revive our pickup. He had a lot of things to teach them, and he said he wants to come back.

ON HOME VISITS AT KAMULU

During Wednesday's home visits, Wambugu, Samantha, Hudson and I visited Jenifer and her family. One of her cousins, whom she is taking care of, had triplets. After the caesarean she was paralysed on her left side and can hardly do anything. We encouraged them

to remain faithful and hope in Christ to take care of their needs. We also visited another lady called Mweni. Sam and Hudson did great.

ON SALON TRAINING

Pam hicks is from Golf Course Road Church. She was here with a group, and they spent some time looking at what we do. She had hoped to see the Coulstons. She got a chance to do manicure and pedicure and also braid her hair!!!

ON TEA HOUSE CONVERSION

Painting has been going on at our cafe. Kayla, George and Blake from Legacy Church have been doing great. Magdalene and the catering students have been learning one new thing every day. Here Hudson is painting Red on one side of the cafe wall. (NOTE: we are converting the Tea House into a “Cracker Barrel” type of store, with one room dedicated to selling what is made at MITS and an opening into the cafe from that room.)

ON Sunday AND JAMES MWANGI

Our class went well today. We had 14 people; after a small introduction, they discovered what the Bible had to say from Acts 10. James Mwangi led us in Lord’s table and giving and he gave a bit of his life story and how Jesus had saved him through MITS. I think the training at Leadership Training Institute is helping him. After the sermon, Agnes and the praise team had a song. We praise God for his word today that everyone belongs to him and that he has no boundaries to his love.

Legacy Church Visit

ON THE BASES

The Legacy Church team has been so busy. We can't believe it's already Thursday. When they came in, we arranged for five of them to visit Eastleigh on Monday while the others taught. They came back and reported how they had seen God at work. One of them said it was amazing that the guys in the bases would be so happy to see the MITS team. Then they shared Bible verses with them and prayed together. Everything is going on well and we thank God.

AT KAMULU

As scheduled the evening visits to families in Kamulu have been busy with six groups going around the community meeting, praying and encouraging both church members and others. It has been a blessed time. Among other

s, we went with Sherry to visit Wachira (a church member in a wheelchair who runs a local retail business) and as usual he was jovial and welcomed us so well. We had a long time just having fellowship and he told us hIs story of how he got shot. He had a lot to share and we also encouraged him and prayed with him. Other groups had other places and families to visit. We also invited people to church with some brochures that Moses had made.

SKILLS TRAINING

Robin, Nzioka and Charles have been making beds and cabinets and crafts among other items. Apart from the constant power losses, they are doing well. I found them making these crosses and the finishing they put on it is just so soft.

Thanks to you for your love of the work here.

Goodbye, Francis Mbuvi

SPONSOR A STUDENT

"We have one visitor from Legacy who is so interested in sponsoring one of our kids. Ashley Lehl wants to know which student she could sponsor and how to go about doing this. I will show her our website today, but I told her she could discuss this with Charles once he gets here. She is excited about this.

HOME VISITS

The home visits are going on great...the visitors are excited about it and so is the team. We split into groups and went to different sides of MITS properties. Some community members have asked us to re-visit them and pray for them and family. Another lady just gave birth to triplets, and she asked us to go back out and to help her place her newborns in Gods' hands.

PROPERTY WORK

We planted trees today around the octagon and other parts of the properties. We still have to figure out how to get all the red soil around the octagon!

Peace, Moses Okoth

Prepare for First Chapel

The Octagon is almost complete, and the Team and students are getting ready for the first chapel to be held in it. The church will also be using this building for meetings. What a great blessing to have this. Cecelia Mwenza, one of our street moms, who studies sewing, is doing the final cleaning for chapel.

Our CHALLENGE GRANT is still going on. And we still need the funds so we can build classrooms to go with the Octagon. MITS deeply appreciates all help given to this project.

Please send checks to Made in the Streets, 409 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN 37027, or go online at the web site made-in-the-streets.org and donate online.

Send an email to charles.coulston@made-in-the-streets.org to let us know of your contribution toward the Challenge.

Church at the Bases

Francis Mbuvi reports:

"Discovery Bible Study

We sent Byron to Isiolo for the CPM (Church Planting Movement) mission where they spent one month evangelizing and making disciples as well as planting churches. It was a great eye opener for him, and he says he learned to be bolder as he visits bases. This week on Monday, there was a reporting time at the Lifeway Mission where they reported on what the Lord did through them during that time.

There are many who have not embraced the Gospel of Jesus in the Bases and other parts of the world. We hope to implement a part of what he learned in building up the church. Thanks for your support and prayers for the work here."

We are continuing in our effort to train our student in what is often called the "Discovery Bible Study" approach to learning Scripture, doing evangelism and encouraging obedience to Christ. Byron went on this trip to gain experience in using the DBS to evangelize and start small churches meeting in homes. Our hope is that our students will leave MITS when they are 18 with the ability and courage to evangelize, to lead DBS and to use their apartments as a place for believers to meet and share Scripture with others.

Base Visits in East Nairobi

DOONHOLM and SINAI BASES

"Today we had the opportunity to visit Mutindwa Base where we met 8 women with their children. They all come from the Sinai slum where there was a fire tragedy that left over 80 people dead. They had not been directly affected, but they had lost seven of their friends. We encouraged them and prayed with them then went to Doonholm base.

We met 9 boys but only 7 stayed to listen to us. One of them read Psalm 12 for us, and Byron talked about it. Most of them were on glue and we asked them to learn to respect God and not glue. We had a blessed time then prayed before we left."

from Francis Mbuvi

Business Courses

Francis Mbuvi reports about one of the Bible courses that is part of the "4.30" Business preparation courses that Made in the Streets gives to the students who are in skills training. They are the 4.30 courses because of the time they meet.

"Our 4.30 class has been doing well. We are looking at "Relationships at Work", and yesterday the students did a skit on "conversation and table manners." It was such a good time as they practiced what they had learned. Darlene, thank you for helping put these courses together."

The business courses are very helpful in preparing the students to go into the work force. Since none of them have seen a model of business or work in their childhood, it is important that they have courses and practice in a wide variety of areas. The courses include "How to Get a Job", "How to Keep a Job," "Business Ethics," "Relationships Outside of Work," "Budgeting," "Office Practice," and "Computer Networking."

Bread of Life

At Doonholm Base we shared the word of God with them, but we also shared some bread with them. Most of the boys are between 12 and 16, and we had pity on them. After the "bread of life" we bought bodily bread to ease their hunger. We thank God for them.

by Francis Mbuvi

Danger Areas

Many of our friends will have seen the news that a fuel pipeline explosion occurred in Nairobi. The pipeline is gasoline, and the line burst with the fuel running downward into local streams. Many people were attempting to fill containers with fuel when the explosion occurred. Also people had built small houses on the pipeline land over the fuel line. So there was chaos and people severely burned, and many lost their lives.

We have two girls living with us at Kamulu who came from that area. They both have relatives at the local "base" where street kids gather at night. We do not yet have information on whether any of the relatives were hurt.

This area is along one of the roads on the East side of Nairobi that runs north to south to the airport. We do not go that way to the airport, since the Eastern Bypass was opened on the other side of the airport. It is possible to get around Nairobi without having to go through that area. We are very sad for all the people who have been hurt or suffered loss. It is another of the consequences of living in a city and especially of living with poverty. May our God be comfort to all, and may the work of the church bring about a better world, and a world where people take care of one another.

Jump for Joy

Made in the Streets has assets! And our most precious asset is the Kenyans who serve street kids with their love, their time, their strengths.

This picture was taken the day Tony Mauldin, an old and dear friend, visited us with a group from Southern Hills Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas. They did a great job of teaching our Team about business, about youth ministry and about writing, as well as having some inspirational singing time with all of the MITS family.

Here Joel Njue, who has served in street ministry since 1999, jumps for joy. Joel provide inspirational and steady leadership. He loves to learn, and he is in a business studies program at United States International University, and he passes on what he learns to our students. He is very happy when one of our students achieves an internship or a job, when they find housing and have any success, as he is joyful over his own achievements. He helps all of MITS keep our lives in context, by reminding us often of where we have come from, of our history, of the things we have learned, and of what our objectives are. He has a strong desire for young people to grow up in good things, to be restored to Christ, to confidence, to a good direction for their lives. And he treats all the students with equal kindness - he wants to include all of them in MITS' plans for a good future.

We are proud of the strengths Joel has to offer street ministry, the Team and the students. We think he is in exactly the right place to effect God's wonderful plan for our ministry.

We are grateful for the support of friends of street kids who enable our Team to continue their work. By way of reminder, you can buy the book of street kid stories from the web site www.made-in-the-streets.org . And when God has enabled you to jump for joy and you want to support this work of Christ, look at the web site for details. Be joyful!

Student News and Challenge Grant

Student News

Brenda Adhiambo is interning at New Life, a place that cares for babies born HIV positive. She loves little ones, so this fits her.

Edward Muhea moved with other older boys into a new dorm at the skills center. In his room by his bed we found together a book he was reading, a Bible and a picture of his sponsors, the Necessary family.

Jacky Imam Ibab is a new student from the Turkana region, near Somalia, center of an extreme drought including Ethiopia and Kenya. 12 million people are affected. It’s in the Kenyan news every night - Jackie was watching last week and saw her relatives on TV. Somehow MITS will help, including taking Jackie up there - about an 11 hour drive. She was herding goats and had never been to school when she ran away, came to Nairobi, and ended up in MITS. As she goes back, she will take the Good News of Jesus to her family. If you want to help in this, send funds to Made in the Streets, 409 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN 37027 and email me at charles.coulston@made-in-the-streets.org

Visitors

We are grateful for people who come and help us. Thanks to Iris Welch and her group (Molly, Shelly, Sarah, Jan), who were over the top. Favorite activities were Molly’s science experiments (blowing up things!) and the Living Museum of Bible characters. They also set up some peer counseling activities, tutored students and spent lots of time with the girls in the dorms. If you want to put together a group and visit us in Nairobi in 2012, let me know at the email above.

Challenge Grant

The Kamulu Church (150 people) has been meeting outside 9 years. A friend has given MITS a challenge grant of $30,000. In faith we have begun a chapel (an octagon) plus toilets and a kitchen. Matching funds will provide classrooms and finish the chapel. The church has been saving for years and will buy plastic chairs, Bibles and songbooks. MITS will have daily chapel there, and the church will use the chapel on Sundays. It’s a great time for you to help MITS -- double your money! Please email us if you can and send your funds to Made in the Streets, 409 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN 37027. Include a note saying the gift is for “the challenge grant.”

CHALLENGE GRANT

Made in the Streets has been blessed with a challenge grant of $30,000. We need another $30,000 to fulfill the challenge. When we receive from friends the funds, we will also finish the funds needed for our building projects at Kamulu. We will then have full facilities for housing our optimum number of 100 teenagers from the streets of Nairobi. We are grateful for the great support MITS has been given. The Team at Eastleigh serve faithfully, going to the streets every day to find the new kids who have left or lost their homes. The Team at Kamulu love and teach the young people who live with us - literacy education, job skills, life in the student housing - every day. And every day our friends around the world pray for the kids and the Team. And our friends give every month to make it all possible. Thank you! And thank you in advance for helping with the CHALLENGE GRANT. Whatever you desire to give, send it to

Made in the Streets

409 Franklin Road

Brentwood, TN 37027

Then please send an email to crc@swiftkenya.com so we will know what gifts have come. Be blessed. The picture is a recent one of a young man on an Eastleigh alleyway in Nairobi - just one of the many we want to rescue for a new life.

Bread for the Streets

Every other Friday the MITS Team from Kamulu goes to Eastleigh to work on the streets for the day. It is a great experience - the Team stays in touch with our key work, and kids on the streets know that MITS cares about them, and that there is a loving God who knows them.

Our catering school does practical cooking each week, and the day before the Friday visit, they bake bread. The rolls smell wonderful, and they are large and tasty.

Here is Florence Moraa, one of our older students, with the bread for this week. How exciting, to bring such pleasure to the kids on the streets. It's a way for our kids to "pay back." And it creates good will.

May you find your own way to create good will for Jesus today.

BASE REPORT by Mbuvi

The MITS team went out to several bases (a base is a place where street kids gather at night and sleep) telling of God's great love for street youth and his desire that they will one day stay away from sin and follow him.

We know this is a daily struggle, and they are under attack from Satan, but a struggle we will not and should not give up on.

Evans Ouma has become a darling for many and has good stories to encourage them. We are blessed to have such a team visiting bases with Jesus' love everyday. Please keep praying for strength for all.
This was at "Deliverance Base."

GREAT GOOD NEWS

We are very happy at Made in the Streets. Charles Kimani, who is pictured here as he learns in the wood-working shop, recently flew to Malindi on the Kenyan Coast for surgery. The surgery clinic was organized by BandS Ministries, under the leadership of Dr. John Bailey. Dr. Jerry Smith performed the surgery on a mass under the shoulder that had been revealed in an X-ray after Charles began to suffer pain. Apparently the mass had been there since childhood, but has grown larger lately. The surgeon found the mass to be inoperable, as the mass was interconnected to the scapula, the blood vessels and the muscles. It was also obvious to the doctors that the mass was cancerous, so they took a sample to be analyzed in a lab in Nairobi, since good facilities were not available in Malindi. When Charles returned, we took the sample to the Shah Lab, where we have undergone tests before. Also John Wambu's daughter Mary flew to Malindi with Charles and had surgery, so we took a sample of her tissue in to the lab as well.

When we received the news from the doctors, and before Charles returned, we shared the news with the street kids and the MITS Team, and we all began to pray. We asked for God's help, since this was something the doctors could not do. And we asked for healing. The street kids pray simply and directly and are not afraid to ask God for anything.

Today we received the pathology report -- AND THERE IS NO CANCER - NOW! The diagnosis is angiolipoma with adipose tissue. You can look up lipoma and angiolipoma in Wikipedia - lipomas are generally painless, but angiolipoma are usually quite painful, because of the vascular structure and the interconnectedness.

So Charles will have to live with pain, unless God is willing to take that away too. The kids will be asking for that. But already we are very grateful. And Mary was also free of cancer and should have no residual problems other than not being able to bear children.

Thanks for praying, and for loving our kids. I have always told the kids that I believe God hears the prayers of street kids.

Future Needs and Dreams

We are rejoicing that our 10 new kids are fitting in so well at MITS-Kamulu. The Eastleigh Team - praise God for Jane, Moses, Evans, Augustina, Jane and Byron, along with Larry and Hollye Conway - is doing a great work in finding kids and preparing them for change. We will continue to reach out until we have our optimum number of 100 kids living at Kamulu - we will need to intake 14 more.

In order to be highly effective at that number, we need a few things. If you want to help in this, please let us know and send in your funds, earmarked for where you want to help.

1. One new boys' dorm to hold 16 boys and a supervisor. Cost: about $36,000

2. A multi-purpose building to hold up to 250 seated. Cost: about $70,000

3. New Team members for teaching and training - 3 at a cost of about $275 a month each

4. Increase in Kenyan Team salaries to reach a "livable wage" in Nairobi (minimum of $250 monthly) - at a cost of about $4,600 a month.

You could help in multiple ways.

1. Get a congregation or class or small group to do a fundraiser on behalf of a building project.

2. Commit to "sponsor" a Team member -- at $275 a month -- for a year or as long as he/she is with us.

3. Give monthly toward salary increases for the Team.

4. Help MITS get a grant for the building projects or the Team plan.

Thanks for caring. Funds are to be sent to

Made in the Streets

409 Franklin Road

Brentwood, TN 37027

Write to me at charles.coulston@made-in-the-streets.org

Street Security

Some of you have wondered about our security on the streets in the light of news about people who have died recently who were involved in security problems in the world. Larry and Hollye stayed away from the bases for a few days two weeks ago. But now they are back at work in Eastleigh. They are a great encouragement to the team there and good street ministers themselves. Here is a photo from last week - see Larry on the far right in his street hat -- with visitors from Aggies for Christ of Texas A&M University at a baptism at the Eastleigh Center.

Street Ministry at the Bases

Our Team at Eastleigh continues to go out daily to the bases - to teach Bible, to talk and make friends, to see what new kids have come to the streets, to do first aid, to help solve problems. Here is one of our Team members at Mutindwa Base.

Our whole Team who go to the streets at Eastleigh share the strength of "connectedness." That means they feel a moral need to be connected to people and they see the connections between people and events and can use those connections to be a blessing to people.

We have been through a StrengthsFinder assessment with Kelly Davidson, director of Aggies for Christ at Texas A&M University while some of the AFC students have led a camp for all our kids at Kamulu. What a great week for us all. It was exciting to see the strengths of other Team members in this assessment (which is from a business point of view). The assessment gives us the top 5 strengths -- out of 31 taking the assessment, 20 shared "Responsibility" as a top strength and 19 shared "Learner." That is not a great surprise considering we are working with street kids.

We are already beginning to make some changes in the way we do things as a result of the Strengths assessment. We feel blessed to have had this workshop.

Serving the Lord Jesus

Eric Wairobi and James Omuga were in Eastleigh last week with some of our Team. They have decided to follow Jesus and to give their lives to him. So, after study, they were baptized at the Eastleigh Center by one of our visitors from Aggies for Christ. They had prayer before the baptism, and others were there with them. There is Larry Conway with his "street hat." And Mauryn Mbuvi is there with her youngest son Jeremy. Mauryn is the wife of our administrator and manager of a very successful World Bible School program that includes orphanages and feeding stations. Eric and James were very happy with their decision. This is one of our primary goals at MITS, to help our kids to know God and to want to obey him.

The AFC Team led a camp for 10 kids from the streets one week -- all of whom have now moved to Kamulu. We are seeking sponsors for these 10. If you are interested, write Tim Lewis at timannlewis@gmail.com and cc: the email to me.

The next week the AFC group led a camp for the kids living at Kamulu while Kelly Davidson led a Team development seminar for our MITS Team. It was a great and lively seminar, with emphasis given to the strengths of each Team member and our inter-relationships. We all felt really good, and we believe it will help guide our work together.

More Skills Practice at MITS

Opportunity comes at our own skills shops, such as the small salon we operate along the highway in Kamulu. Titus (Pius) Musyoki trained six months at the Pioneer college. Titus had worked hard to prove that it was worth it. I (photographer Mbuvi) caught up with him working on Cecelia so professionally. Joel will be helping him get an attachment (internship) soon.

Skills Student Practice

Duncan is learning beauty and hairdressing. The photographer found him working on a client doing massage and nails. He was ao happy to practice what he has been learning.

Kamulu Sunday from Mbuvi

Hi, Sunday was great. Our morning class was on

"Mothers Day" and we did the lesson on Mary.

Great discussions of what each person thought

about their mothers.

Risper shared how she dropped out of school

and her dad said she should be married!!!

Her mum fought for her and she was able

to finish primary school.

Loads of great things from others. Samuel

shared of how his mum brought up 11 of them

without a father in the house.
At church, Joel Njue led us in songs,

Francis Cugia in giving and Lord's Table.

I did the sermon--urging people to take action

and represent Christ.
The Praise team and Florence Moraa had a song.

What a Blessing!!!!

Security Concerns

With heightened security alerts around the world for Americans, you are concerned about Made in the Streets and our visitors.

We have decided that Larry will not go to Eastleigh for a time. And our Team members who have been seen a lot with visitors to MITS have been asked to either not go out in Eastleigh and Mathare Valley or to be very careful. Please be in prayer for our Team that must continue to carry out ministry regardless of risk - kids on the streets are always at risk, so we need to be there for them.

As far as visitors are concerned - since our boarding center is away from city center, there is little concern. We need to be careful about the places we go in the city. Other than that, we can carry on with business as usual.

This picture of a girl named Lydia at a base filled with garbage shows you a reason why our ministry must go on; the church must not fail in its mission to be with and near the poorest of the poor in the world.

REMEMBER THE POOR!

peace and joy, charles

Francis Mbuvi Reports

I hope your Sunday was a blessed one. We went to morning class and discussed 1 Corinthians 10:31 -- and it was a good time. We had two groups. Anthony Owino came too. In church, Alex Atemai led us in Lord's table and did wonderful. Ken Wambugu led us in giving and Joel led us in songs. Praise team had a song -- very nice.

Yesterday George Mwenda was in the cells at Ruai police station for some hours because our neighbor's child alleged he beat him along with other students (note: this neighbor is one who has been very angry at our boys when the soccer ball has been accidentally kicked over into his yard, yelling and cursing at the boys, so there is a history). The neighbor lied to Moses and Jackton that we could discuss it. Then he did not even report to the police station after George was arrested (note: George has never caused any trouble at MITS with the teachers or other students, so this behavior is unusual). The neighbor chased John Wambu from his place telling him he was arrogant. We paid bail for George and he is with us. Today he told Jackton that he wants us to remove the goal post on the side next to his place or relocate the soccer field. I will be responding to him tomorrow. Suggestions will be appreciated.

We asked ourselves in class-- how can we bring Glory to God in this situation and maybe lead someone to salvation?

Thanks, Charles and Darlene, for teaching us to trust in God. Have a blessed day. Lots of love from here.

The skills boys moved to the new dorm and they love it there.

Mbuvi

Note: We have had an amazing small number of incidents with boys from the streets getting angry, fighting or even having an argument with anyone outside of MITS. We are sorry for this incident and hopeful that God will make something good come out of it, for George, for the neighbor and for Moses and Jackton, leaders who handled the situation with grace. Mbuvi says they did a great job. Please pray for our neighbor's heart and life.

The photo is one that Mbuvi sent of some of our students singing to the church.