MITS New Address

We do not have mail delivery in Kenya, so we don't use street addresses.  Interesting that we now have street signs at Kamulu!

We do have a NEW address at MITS - the nearest village development is Ruai, and there is now a post office there.  So from now please write us at

Made in the Streets
P. O. Box 631
00520 Ruai
Nairobi, Kenya

If you are a sponsor, please resolve to write your MITS teenager more in 2013.  And thanks much for caring about our kids.  We have new things we want to do in 2013, so also please resolve to support these kids as God prospers you.  Thanks, Charles

Sponsors Needed for New Students

 This is Naomi Minayo.  She is one of our new students who had not been to school, so she is in the beginners' class.  We had a closing program for the year 2012 last week.  Esther Muguri, a volunteer teacher who is going on to University in January, presented the award to Naomi for "#3 in Beginners' Class."  We are proud of her for her progress.

She needs someone to be her sponsor.  If you are willing, write me at charles@madeinthestreets.org  -- then send your first check to Made in the Streets, 409 Franklin Road, Brentwood TN 37027 OR go online to our web site www.madeinthestreets.org  click on "How You Can Help" and donate online.  It's $75 a month, payable each month or a whole year at a time, or whatever form you wish.  Naomi will be with us for 3.5 more years.

If you sponsor Naomi, please write her an email, send it to musaokoth@gmail.com and put "For Naomi Minayo" in the subject line.  Later we will post a new Post Office Box on the web site so you can send her a letter or a small package.

There are six others who also need sponsors - Moses Ndungu, Eric Mugoma, Jackline Akasa, John Mwangi (same name as one of our exiting students!), Kelvin Muya Mwangi and Silvester Ouma.  To sponsor one of these, do the same as described with Naomi.

Kamulu Church of Christ: Dec 2

A great Sunday at Kamulu.  It started out with rain.  Only 5 people were at the 9:00 AM Bible class on time, but 18 more came in within a few minutes.  The class studied "Epaphras", a companion of Paul's who is mentioned in Philemon and twice in Colossians.  It was a good experience for the class to share in small groups (a Discovery Bible Study) who it was who taught them grace.   Everyone enjoyed a cup of Java House coffee.

Mbuvi asked me to preach this Sunday, since Darlene and I will travel to USA Saturday for a visit.  I loved getting to preach to this congregation of people who listen carefully, eyes fixed on the speaker!

Afterwards 4 women who have been coming to the women's group were baptized.  Here Francis Mbuvi prepares to baptize Monica.  The picture below shows the 4 with Mauryn (on the right), who leads the women's group and does much of the teaching.  We are grateful for her leadership and for teaching women about grace.

Rain continued through much of the morning, much needed rain for our crops and gardens.

Growing Family

Made in the Streets is a growing family.  Not only do we have new kids coming from the streets to live with us, but we have Team members who get married and have children.  In the early years of MITS, it was Darlene and me with 9 young men and 1 young lady - all teenagers at the time.  Now we have 34 working full-time at MITS and 14 of them are married.  And we have children - Raymond and Trinity, Kelsey, Kehl, Jonathan, Jeremy, Susie, Mark and many others.

Now we have a new member.  Joel and Tira Njue had a baby this week.  A few weeks ago Joel drove someone to the same hospital they used when she was in labor, so they knew exactly how many minutes it would take.  There was no great rush, though, because the doctor sent everyone home at about 10 PM thinking it would be morning.  They did keep Tira there, and Joel had to go back, and Naledi was born at 11:15 PM, Thursday, November 29.  Lovely little girl!  Tira was home two days later and able to come our Christmas reception for the Team today (Sunday).

We fed the Team popcorn, peanuts, "bitings" of broiled meat, carrot sticks, soda, coffee, tea, cupcakes, cookies and candy.  Darlene made lots of icing and they all made a "Christmas Cookie House," a long-standing tradition at MITS.  It even predates MITS by 3 years.

Here is the first picture of Tira and Naledi, which Darlene took on her first visit to "hold the baby."

Negotiation Skills

Take a look at this cart!  It is a visible symbol of a war averted on the streets of Eastleigh.

During the summer two law enforcement officials from the USA visited us in Nairobi and led a workshop on "Negotiation and Mediation" with our Made in the Streets Team.  They did a great job, and the Team was impressed and happy.

Shortly after the workshop, a street youth who had once been in the MITS program stole a cart from the youth in another base.   They were using the cart to make money, hauling goods for people in Eastleigh.  Of course he sold it quickly, so it was gone.  The young men from that base came and caught him and beat him up.

Then the others at his own base decided to get revenge on the other base.  The problem was escalating fast.

Our Team members learned about the problem and called the guys from both bases to come for a talk at our Center.  Only one base initially came to the meeting, but they finally got with both groups.  They used the new skills they had learned and negotiated a settlement.  The base that lost the cart agreed to accept settlement, receiving another cart, and they agreed not to fight.  The other base agreed to earn money and pay half the cost of a replacement cart. A visitor from Seattle, WA, was with us at the time, and he got involved and was willing to pay for the other half.

So the wronged base got a cart.  The other base agreed not to seek revenge.

What a great thing that our Team can keep on learning new skills that make our ministry better.  This sort of event helps our Team have better relationships with the older guys who control the bases (which they called "masters".  And that relationship makes it easier for us to keep contact with the young boys and girls at the bases, the ones who fit our profile, and whom we can bring to Kamulu to begin a new life.  Thanks, visitors!  Thanks, Team! for a job well done.