Of Sadness and Joy

There is sadness in my heart today.  We received word that Berkeley Hackett has ended his sojourn on this world.  Please go to my personal blog for what I have written about our history together.  One of the special things is that it was Berkeley who invited us to move to Nairobi!  And that is joy!  It is hard to imagine a life in which I didn't meet street kids, and find my heart's desire.

Another joy is that Jane Njeri, a girl who has been at MITS for about two years, was baptized Sunday.  And after it was over, one of our newest girls, Nelly Nyawira, came to tell me she wants to be baptized, but she wants to study first.  Lucy "B" Wairimu (she calls herself "B" because we have another Lucy Wairimu) heard Nelly talking to me and she came up to say she wants to study too.  So they will both study with Darlene this week and also with two of our interns who are here (Chris and Aubrey).

When I mentioned the girls to Jackton Omondi, he said there were some of the boys who recently said to him that they are about ready to be baptized.  So...we may have a cascade of baptisms.  It sometimes happens like that with teens - a large group in a short time.  Here's a picture Darlene took today of Lucy and Nelly.  You can't believe how sweet they are!!!

CONTINUING TO BUILD....AN OPPORTUNITY

This picture is of our "Octagon" or the Chapel.  The Kamulu Church also meets there on Sunday, and the women's group meets on Thursday afternoons. Each weekday morning the student body and staff has chapel, with songs and prayer and a short talk by one of the students or staff - and an encouragement from Kulu (that's me, Charles).  I also teach a Sunday morning Bible class there. Recently we did a study of "Named Heroes of the Bible" which followed a series on "Unnamed Heroes".  Now I am doing a class called "Ask Kulu."  We have had some great questions.



It is a wonderful thing to have a good infrastructure for ministry.  We currently have the building out of which we do street ministry in Eastleigh, and we have several buildings at Kamulu.  We have shops along the highway where students get practical experience.  We have a learning center for literacy studies for students 13 to 16; there are 3 buildings in a U-shape with a courtyard; it makes up part of an acre of land.  We have a girls' center on another acre where there is also a World Bible School office and a staff house. The girls' center has 4 residential areas for girls and housing for 3 supervisors, along with rooms for visitors.  We also have a boys' center with 4 residential halls, a kitchen, a house for visitors, a basketball court, a water well, a tower for water supply and a barn for the tractor, along with 3 hen houses and a pen for the cows and goats. The boys' place also has an irrigated area with drip line on about 2 acres and lots of banana trees scattered around.  On the parcel across the road we have the chapel and an orchard (with mango, avocado, orange, mulberry and macadamia).

Across the road the opposite was is our Children's Center where we have day care for the street moms' little ones and another house for visitors.  This property is surrounded by a stone fence.

At our Skills Center, on another parcel, we have 2 staff houses, a building for agriculture and maintenance, a boys' residential hall, another water well and two buildings where we do skills training in hairdressing, catering, woodworking and sewing.

We are working to build up an infrastructure that will enable the Kenyan Team and our supporters in the USA to continue doing street ministry as long as there is need in Nairobi and Kenya.  There are only a few more buildings that we want to construct, then we are finished, since the Team wants to have a maximum of 100 students at any one time (we have 78 just now).

We want to build a structure for the sewing program and allow the woodworking to expand into the whole building where both are now. This sewing building will have a classroom as well as skills area.  We already have the funds for this building and hope to begin it before the end of 2012.

We also want to build one more residential hall for girls, which we will attach to the current property for access.  It needs to have the same security wall and house 16 girls and a supervisor.  The cost will about $35,000.

We also want to build classrooms near the Chapel that can be used by both Made in the Streets and the Sunday school.  These 3 rooms will cost about $25,000.

THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT A GOOD FRIEND OF MADE IN THE STREETS HAS ANNOUNCED A $30,000 MATCHING GRANT FOR US.  If we match his offer, then we have the amount of money needed to build all the structures that we think we will ever need at Kamulu.  After that it is only our dream for a Christian Camp at our Mountain View property -- which we can talk about later!!!

When you are ready to help us, we will, as one of my Kenyan friends once said, "be happy to receive it with open hands...and open hearts."  We are grateful for all our friends who love the idea of making a new life for street kids.  And we are grateful to have the kind of facilities that enable us to serve them well.