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