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.