Today at MITS

Greetings!   MITS has gotten big enough that no one of us has the ability to know everything that is going on -- that means we must trust one another to do what is best for the ministry - so it's good. Here are a few of the things going on right now.....

1. Francis Mbuvi and I are working on the budget for 2013.  We need to get it to the Board ASAP.  We have to increase the budget -- food costs have risen this year, and costs of transport.  Plus we want our Team members to have an increase in compensation of 10% -- since all their costs are up also! 
2. John Wambu is building new computer rooms for MITS.  We had two break-ins this year and lost 10 laptop computers.  These rooms will be secure -- concrete roof, reinforced steel windows and doors, high quality locks -- and we are making it very difficult to get inside the courtyard of the Learning Center.  
3. We are signing our 16 year olds up for skills training to begin in January.  20 of the Literacy Students are ready for skills.  This year we open up hairdressing (8), auto mechanics (6) and woodworking (6). The other skills - sewing, computers and catering - will begin their second year of studies.  
4. Victor Otieno and I are working on a new plan for skills training in 2013.  For the most part our students study one skill, and then we have all our students do some afternoon work on the farm.  In 2013 we will have the NEW skills students ALSO study agriculture.  They will have regular skills training in the morning 9 to 1 at their respective places.  In the afternoon 2 to 4 they will all be with Victor doing agricultural projects and having classes.  
5. We are also revising our educational schedule with a few tweaks.  Phillip will organize the Literacy Students into 3 home rooms - Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced - each group will have its own classroom.  Teachers will rotate through the home rooms, but each home room will have its "Home Room Teacher."  In addition to the home room teachers, the students will also have a computer teacher, a librarian, a Bible teacher, an English teacher and a math teacher.  
6. Irene Akinyi is finishing up her degree in Counseling and will become the official counselor for MITS as of January.  She will be a counselor in the morning hours and have some teaching duties in the afternoon.  
7. We have visitors from California who are in graduate programs in social entrepreneurship -- that's business with a bent toward doing good in the world.  They are great!  Today they are in Eastleigh with the young boys who come to the Center on Tuesdays.  They are also having a meeting with "masters" of several bases.  
8. God is truly good to us, and we are especially grateful to those in the USA who support this ministry. The generosity and prayers and words of kindness do wonders for our spirits.  

by Charles Coulston

PS:  We took a field trip to Art Caffe in the Village Market Shopping Center.  One of our former students, Mary Waithera, is a cook there, and we wanted our catering students to see her there and experience being waited on and seeing what an upscale restaurant does.  We were not disappointed, with Mary or the food!!

See the pizza!  He ate it!

 The second picture is Mary with Laurent Mogambi, a former student at MITS who has worked the past 8 years at the cafeteria at the University of Nairobi.  He does a great deal of their catering.  He is married to one or our girls (Eliza, who now works at MITS and runs our shops on the highway), and they have Raymond and Trinity.  On Mary's right is Magdalene Wairimu, our catering instructor.

We are grateful to a visitor from Pepperdine University and the Malibu Church of Christ, Hung Le, who graciously paid for our lunch!

Angela's Story

Angela Kimilu (married to Victor Otieno, who manages our crops at the Farm) was still in high school when her parents moved into Nairobi.  She went on to attend Daystar University, getting a degree in community development.  She needed to do an internship at the end of her program.  One day she attended worship in Eastleigh Section II and met Joseph Mwanga, who was working with Made in the Streets.  They talked, and she told him about her need for an internship.  He explained what MITS was doing in Eastleigh and invited her to check it out.  She was not at all sure that she wanted to do this -- she had once been threatened by a street guy with feces in his hands asking for money -- or else! She ran away.  But she came to the Eastleigh Center, and her first day MITS was doing an intake of street youth who would move out to Kamulu in a few days.  She says they were so dirty and smelly and noisy, jumping all over everywhere.   She was doubtful about staying.  Then one of the Team members asked her, "Are you staying? They've run off all the other girls."  She went home and told her parents about it, and her Dad asked if she really wanted to do it.  And she said, "I think so, I think I can."  Her parents agreed and did not try to over-protect her.  At the time she started daily work MITS took in 11 young boys for a one-year experiment with getting kids back in their families.

She quickly brought change to the program.  There was not much organization in the beginning, just the idea of helping these small boys from the streets.  So she wanted the boys first to learn to take care of themselves.  She made a chart with "got up and made bed," "showered," "brushed teeth," "washed hands," "read Bible" and other things on it.  They got stickers for doing their chores.  She would get up at her parents' home very early in order to get into Eastleigh before the boys woke up so she could check all the thing on the chart. Phillip was volunteering (he was just getting out of high school), and Angela and Phillip looked at the very few books that had been left at Eastleigh when the rest of the Team moved out to Kamulu.  They worked out a teaching schedule.  Soon the boys were orderly and learning and all the Team was very happy.  She says they actually wanted to do what she said!

Angela eventually came to Kamulu and taught classes and stayed with the girls.  After two years she left and went to work for an orphanage called Rafiki.  While at MITS-Kamulu she had met Victor, who has worked with MITS since 1999.  They married and moved to Ruai, which is 3 miles from MITS and 4 miles the other way from Rafiki.  After a few years she left the orphanage.  They received a loan from MITS and built a house on a plot given to them by the Coulstons, and their house is just across the driveway from the house the Coulstons built 3 years ago.

Now they have a little girl named Kelcey who is a delight and loves to play and run.  She laughs when she sees Charles and Darlene.  On Sunday afternoon the Coulstons and Tim and Ann Lewis, who are visiting from Irving, Texas, were invited to the Otieno's for afternoon tea, served with mandazi (a doughnut like pastry in a triangle shape).  What a delightful time!  We never underestimate the meaning of both being invited into someone's home and being the one who invites.

The picture is one of the family when Kelcey was a little one, but it shows the delight they have in her.

Chapel at MITS-Kamulu

We are always in process at MITS-Kamulu.  We have 5 new young men as of last week in the residence halls, and we have 15 young men and women in the Exit Program.  There are 50 students in the literacy program and 41 in skills training and Exiting.

We always want these young people to be independent and capable of making their own decisions.  So we leave them free to decide every day to stay at MITS.  We want each one of them to be leaders to the degree they are capable.

So we have begun a new phase in our morning chapel.  On Wednesdays and Fridays we now have a different format.  Our Team meets with them on those days, but only for two songs.  Then announcements are made and the Team exits to have their own development time led by Charles Coulston.  The students are left in the chapel to do their own devotional.  In the beginning we are having them sign up for song-leading, Scripture reading, prayer, sharing a message and a presentation (maybe a solo or a group song, or poetry, etc).  Later we will have certain ones of them develop the whole devotional.

We are proud of these young people who have come out of the worst situation imaginable into a new life.  The picture is of four of the newest street youth to come to Kamulu.  Pray for them that they might take their place as leaders in this country.

Street Visit in September 2012

We have this note from Francis Mbuvi -  he is our Administrator, lives at Kamulu and spends each Wednesday working on the streets in Eastleigh.  "This was the second Donholm base  we visited yesterday.  There were fifteen boys who stopped searching in the garbages for charcoal and other things to sell, so they could  listen to what we had to say. Byron and Moses had finished talking  and it was my turn when I noticed that the boys kept using "Kamsii" and not really listening.  I challenged them to do what the people  in Ephesus did when Paul told them about the saving love and power of Jesus. They burned their magic books.   What they did was completely put away their "sniffings"  until Larry and Jane finished sharing!!   We praised God for we know just how addicted they are -  showing yet again that Jesus is more powerful than any other thing.  Be blessed"

MILLIE OMONDI IN THE USA

Millie and Kehl (3 years)

Bari Henry has been an intern at Made in the Streets for a full year.  She and some friends - and her supporting church - arranged for Millie to visit the USA when Bari returned.  Millie and Bari are currently in Brentwood, Tennessee, and will be with the Otter Creek Church until Sunday evening. They will be in the Dallas/Fort Worth area from Sept 10 to 16 - mostly with women's group, including a Wednesday morning (the 12th) class at the Southlake Church, then a visit to the CEC (a ministry to poor families aged 50+), then at the Legacy Church on Wednesday evening.  On Saturday evening the 15th they will be with the Decatur Church, then spend Sunday morning with the Singing Oaks Church in Denton.  Sunday night they will be at Prestoncrest Church.  Monday the 10th they will be with a group of women from the South MacArthur Church in Irving.  On Sept 25 they will go to Malibu, California, and meet with the Malibu Church and the Conejo Church (in Thousand Oaks) during that week.  Millie is a great representative for Made in the Streets, and we are proud of her work.  She handles child care for the street moms at Kamulu, while the moms are in skills training.  Her son was born with hydroencephalus, so she and Jackton understand parental pain - but they count it all joy to have Kehl.  His shunt is working well; he now runs, kicks a soccer ball and knows all the songs!  Millie came from a very large family where her father had several wives, so she did not get family attention and affection.  Now she gets all that and more from Jackton, and they shower it on Kehl.  If you are near any of the places where she will be, you will enjoy getting to know her.  Blessings, charles

Inspection at MITS

The Children's Department of the Kenyan government must approve the operations of homes for children. They are concerned with kids under 15, and about half our street kids living at Kamulu fit there.
Joel Njue, our Student Affairs officer, has dealt with the CD, compiled all
our files and led the way in preparing our property and Team.
When inspection day finally arrived, the suggestion they had for us was "it would be good to put up some more child friendly posters." great that the facilities, care of the kids, menu, learning experience, records and team were all acceptable!
We are grateful for Joel and his dedicated work.

God Blesses Street Ministry

Made in the Streets always has a high level of activity and excitement. ****a parent-teen group from Malibu Church of Christ spent two weeks at Kamulu and Eastleigh. the MITS Team and kids were overjoyed with this group and their obvious joy at being with MITS. They led sports camps, spiritual growth times, visited on the streets of Eastleigh and down in Mathare Valley. They returned to Malibu excited about going again!! ****Steve and Magda Sherman from Otter Creek Church of Christ are there now. They have visited the Mountain View property, spent time with street kids, and led leadership growth workshops with the Team. The Team gives high praise for them. ****some people tore through the roof of our computer training facility and made off with 6 laptop computers. We are sad about that, but they did not take everything. We will replace and continue. Anyone replacing your laptop could consider letting us take it to MITS as people make trips to Nairobi. ****some friends are raising funds with an un-pizza party so our street kids can have pizza. We will make it a training experience so our catering students can practice making pizzas. ****another friend of MITS is sending $30,000 soon so we can make our girls' residence areas less crowded with an added building. The girls will be really excited about that. It will be only two to a room!! ****our girls at Kamulu have finally gotten excited about sports. Jackton organized a girls' soccer team. They lost the first few matches but have started winning. I talked to Jackton a couple days ago, and the girls were in a tournament. They had just won a game and were excited. God works for good in everything, blessing our lives and ministry. View my personal blog at "Coulston of the Streets"