Direct Help to Street Kids

Made in the Streets wants to do as much as possible for street kids in Nairobi.  We want as much as possible of our money to directly benefit the young people who must sleep on the streets.  We want to make a future for them.  We want them to know God.  We want them to have joy and hope.  We want them to know they are loved and worthy.

In 2013 we want to do more than we have done in the past.  There are a lot of ways you can help us to directly benefit street kids.  Here are a few -- maybe one or more of these will resonate with you.  We want you to have the opportunity to be of direct help to kids in trouble....

• Plan now for December - each year we want the kids to have a Happy Holiday!  We plan many activities for these kids who cannot be with relatives in December, the way most people are.  We have a holiday meal, we have a day to invite relatives to visit MITS, we give food and clothing to youth sleeping on the streets, we take our students to the Water Park....it will cost about $6,000.  
• Student-Team Trip - we want our street kid students to know their country.  Each year we want to take a trip somewhere to experience the countryside, the culture and the sights.  A trip in 2013 - probably in November - will cost about $6,000
• Bread for the Streets - a friend to MITS gave money in 2012 so that our catering students can bake bread every other Thursday and our Team can take bread rolls to the streets on Fridays to give out to street kids, who never get enough food and who often eat garbage.  $2,000 for a year's supply.
• Protection - we want to have guards to protect the students and the properties they live and study in; two guards will cost $1,800 each for one year, starting in April.  Total $3,600 for 2013.
• VBS Trips - we train our students to serve and teach - if we make three trips to villages to do Bible schools for children, the cost will be about $1,000 a trip, or a total of $3,000. 
• Shopping Trips - we want to take our students on regular shopping trips - 6 in a year - with each student getting about $5; they usually buy clothes, shoes, personal grooming.  Cost: $500 a trip. 
• Video Setup - our students love movies, and it is a great way to learn.  A projector setup with screen, speakers and DVDs costs about $1,500.  
• Computer Studies - we have built new computer rooms.  An N-computing setup with computers and workstations and cables is estimated at $7,200.
• Library Growth -- we need shelves, tables, chairs and more books - Cost:  $1,300
• Sunday School classrooms - our students learn, and also help teach younger kids - 3 rooms with chairs, tables and supplies - $15,000
• Aggs for Christ - all new skills students in all areas will also study agriculture, from a Biblical point of view -- tools, seeds, water hoses, books - $2,000
• Skills Training Equipment -- we need more and replacement equipment for hairdressing, sewing, woodworking, auto mechanics, catering - $2,000 each - total: $10,000
• Intake of New Students -- more kids are on the streets, and some of them fit our criteria and can be successful - want to take in 20 new teens in 2013, average cost $200 - total: $4,000
• Graduation and Exit - we should have 15 finishing in 2013 - we have extra costs beyond the sponsorship involved with getting the youth in a job and a home and becoming self-supporting - about $150 more per person - total:  $2,250
• Meat for Lunch -- we want our kids to eat more meat, more protein.  Meat for lunch one day per week costs about $50.  48 more weeks in 2013 equals $2,400
• Bibles needed in several places - classrooms, residences, Eastleigh Center - need 260 Bibles at $6 each is $2,560
• Holiday Party at Eastleigh for youth sleeping on the streets - clothes, food, Bible study -- 400 youth at $4 each is $1,600.
• School Fees - for youth on streets who do not quality to live at Kamulu but would learn a skill - 6 month practicum - $200 fees, $300 rent, $200 food -- that is $700 per person, goal of 10 in 2013 for a total of $7,000
• Weekly Meal for Street Kids - we can provide a meal each week for up to 400 street kids at a cost of $1.25 per person -- per week is $500.  For the next 48 weeks is $24,000.  
• Come to Nairobi as a Mission Specialist - for 2 weeks to 2 months.  Train a Team member and/or students in your specialty - auto mechanics, woodworking, sewing, hairdressing, catering/cooking, masonry, electrical wiring, auto-electric, or _______________ .  Will cost you about $3,000 for the trip and expenses, more if you add a safari trip or have other personal expenses.
• Food on the Streets -- enable our Eastleigh Team to take food to the streets, to the bases - $50 for one time a week; rest of the year $2,400.  

GIVE ONLINE - see web side on "How to Help".  Or send check to Made in the Streets, 409 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN 37027.  All gifts are tax deductible, as Made in the Streets is a 501(C)3 organization.

Please write me at charles@madeinthestreets.org to let me know what you want to give for direct ministry to street kids.

A "base" of street youth listen to a Team member of MITS teach and encourage. 

Making a Home at MITS

Some street kids find a real home at Made in the Streets.  My last newsletter was about Lydia, who counts MITS as her home, her family (to read this Christmas Story, visit the web site, click on "MITS Media" and then click on "Newsletters" - hers is the December 24, 2012, story).  This extends to sharing New Year's Eve together.  Today we called Jackton Omondi, our tailoring and sports instructor, who was just leaving to go to the chapel (9 PM his time) where the Team and students would spend the next three hours in singing, prayer and fellowship, and welcome the new year together. After midnight various Team members and Nairobians reported that it started raining hard while the kids were praying, there was a power blackout in Nairobi, and the Team and kids had a great time together.

Darlene and I are having a quiet new year's eve at home.  She was taking a nap, but just now at 11:30 is getting ready for bed!  I'm staying up to finish this blog before midnight.

One of our students is Simon Nyangala - his sponsor is a group of older people who receive food from a congregation and meet together each week - they give a dollar apiece each month for Simon's support.  Like all of our other students, Simon has written his "life story" with the help of one of our Team members.  I think you will see where he has found a home. Read on for your New Year's pleasure.  And pray that our Team will continue to do as well with each street kid as they have with Simon.  Simon is one of the few who has both parents, but it reached the point where they no longer wanted him at home, even though they tried to have him stay with them.  We are glad to see that what we do with young people WORKS!

A STORY FOR 2012....and 2013

      "My name is Simon Nyangala.  I am seventeen years old (according to the dentist).  I am from the Luhyia tribe.  My mother is called Esther Anjiwa.  She lives in Mathare Valley.  She used to wash clothes for the Somali ladies when we were young, but my auntie persuaded her to stop because it wasn’t a good job.  Now she just stays at home.  My father is called Simon Nyangala also.  He kills chickens at a place called Highridge.  I have two sisters; Agnes is my twin and Doris is a year younger.  My brother is called Joseph; he is only six years old.  They all live in Mathare and go to school at Kiboro school.

      I went to that school until class six.  My dad provided us food and school fees.  Well, most times, the fees were in “arrears” and my parents had to constantly talk with the school to let us continue going to classes.  In the classes, the teachers were violent.  I got a beating every day for not performing well in class.  So I did not like school.  I ran away.  I decided I would run to a place where my parents would not find me and take me back to school.  So I walked a long way, to Parklands.  Then I jumped on the back of a  truck and rode until I alighted at a place called Ngara.  I was safe.  No one would beat me, no one would take me back to school.  I walked along the road in confidence.  As it got dark, I found a place that looked safe for the night.  I met some street boys who invited me to spend the night with them.  I was happy.  I had new friends.  Since I had not eaten that day, we all went to beg.  I got money and bought food and went to my new friends’ base.  My new friends were very nice to me and I felt “at home”. 

      Most of my new friends were high on glue and offered some to me, but I did not accept.  I spent my first night out in the cold, with new friends high on glue and msii (like petrol).  The night was long and cold; I actually slept very little.  Morning came and I was ready to move out of that base.  I ended up in another base in High Ridge.  But these people were not really very friendly so I decided to move to a place where I could just be on my own.  It was scary but better than unfriendly people.  I felt a little insecure but I did not want to go back home and back to school.  After a few days, I felt confident.  I would beg for money and buy some food and then go back to my lonely base before dark. 

Unfortunately my base was near a street where my father walked on his way home.  He saw me and dragged me back home, not saying a word even when we got home.  My mother asked me why I had run away.  I told her how bad it was at school.  She was concerned and she talked to me about going back.  I refused.  Then she told me just to stay home, not go to school.  My dad still was not speaking.  The next morning he left without talking to me.  My mother left and said to stay home.  After they left, I decided this was a  trap – they were planning to come back and take me to school or maybe just beat me.  So I ran away again.

This time I went to Eastleigh to a base near Garissa Lodge.  There I started begging for food from the food kiosks and small cafes.  The only food I was given was “jombii” (leftovers from customers’ plates).  I just ate it anyway.  Sometimes the people I begged from were really mean.  There was so much evil going on in the streets of Eastleigh, lots of violence, robbing, drugs, and stuff.  Just after a week there, I saw a businessman being robbed at gun point.  The thieves shot the man and took his bag with money.  They were so heartless; even after they shot him they beat him.  After this, I talked with some of my new friends; I was ready to go home.   They weren’t listening; they were all high on glue.  During that night I decided to go home and apologize to my mother. 

When I went home, my mother did not talk about school again.  She let me stay home while my sisters went to school.  I decided I wouldn’t sleep on the streets, but I would go collect plastics and metals to sell and just stay around home in Mathare.  Out working, I met Simon Vukoma and Ian Thiga; they were living in the streets and they were also collecting stuff to sell.  They introduced me to new places to collect.  Together we would make quick money and then have time to go watch movies.  We watched movies in a place at Mlango Kubwa.  The movies were not good at all.  They were mostly explicit movies, but they only cost us five shillings.  We could watch them for as long as five hours daily.  Watching these kinds of movies changed me.  They stuck in my head and every time I left the place I could not wait til I could get a girl and practice what I had just seen.  My body was out of my control; it didn’t matter who I chose to sleep with.  My friends and I would pool our money and spend as low as fifty shillings to have sex with a girl.  I did not choose a girl I wanted; I just wanted to have sex – with any of them, and not just one.  Some of the girls would assume that I was their boyfriend but after we had sex, I felt no commitment or attachment to them.  Afterwards, I wouldn’t even remember I had sex with them.  And once, two girls fought each other because of me.  I felt so stupid because I did not want any of them. I asked them to leave me but they wouldn’t. 

Later, I got into drinking chan’gaa (moonshine).  That changed me even more.  I couldn’t deal with people.  I knew my mother would not tolerate my drinking, so now I would not go home at night.  Then I finally sobered up and thought about my family, how they worked to provide a good life.  I decided to change my behavior.  I thought about people who go to school and learn.  I wanted to be like that.  I went home and talked to my mother about going back to school. She took me to another school; I was put back a year but decided to carry on. But it was not good.

Later on, I saw a friend from the streets, named Paul Njoroge.  He told me about MITS.  I started attending the programs and I like them.  I really liked MITS because the teachers were friendly.  They seemed to understand us even when we were not behaving well.  They taught us about God and encouraged us to turn our lives over to God.  I decided I would go with MITS; I could do this.  I learned God forgives us and he loves us.  This encouraged me.  After some time attending the programs, I was chosen to go to Kamulu Center.

I was so happy with the Kamulu center!  I liked the teachers and the students.  I was thrilled to know that I would get school lessons and even job skills.  The teachers here are wonderful.  They treat us well, they encourage us.  For the first time in my life, I am able to play and joke around with my teachers.  One of the teachers, Ben, has taught me how to take care of chickens, cows and goats.  I enjoy the clean environment around here and I always feel secure and safe.  I have grown a lot since I came to MITS.  I no longer watch porn because the teachers have taught me to keep off and taught me how to live a responsible life.  They have taught me to live a pure life until I get married.  My view of girls and women has really changed and I am willing to treat girls with respect and not just for satisfying me.  I am willing to wait for the girl I will marry and will treat her well.  The teachers here have also shown us how to live in non-violent ways, by treating us not with violence but with love and concern.  As a result we are slowly changing to be like our teachers.

I am also learning computer skills; I never knew I would ever work with a computer but I’m grateful to the teachers and sponsors because computers are now a part of my daily life!  I feel well equipped here and I know that when the time comes for me to leave MITS, I will fit in the outside world.  I have no doubts.  I thank God and MITS for all they are doing to give us a beautiful life."

  

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.