Sadness at Terror

Friends of Made in the Streets will have seen the news about the attack on Garissa University, which took more lives than the Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi.  We are all saddened at the loss of young lives, who were preparing at University for a future career.

We do want our friends to know that Garissa is 220 miles from Nairobi, and it takes almost five hours to drive there.  None of our students come from the area around Garissa.

Keep us and our students in mind when you talk with God, as the people behind this attack are angry at Kenya and have the freedom of movement to operate almost anywhere in the country.  We know that God is able, and we know that the future of many street children depend on our presence to help them have a new life -- in Christ, in families, in jobs.

May peace reign! May hope arise!

Charles

MITS Graduates with Joy

Darlene and I are at the Nairobi Java House at Thika Road Mall.  We sat down and ordered coffee and a croissant (life is so much nicer in Nairobi these days - in the 23 years we have been here, we have seen many changes).  Then Francis Ndungu stepped out of the kitchen to greet us with a smile. He began working here about a month ago after graduating from MITS in December.  He says that he is preparing lunches for the employees at Java House.  I ask him if they like his cooking and he says "yes."  He says, "They ask me where I learned to cook like this."

Thanks, Magdalene and others who work with our catering program.  They are doing well, and our graduates are finding happy places to work.  Here is a pic I took of Francis as we talked.  You can also see Darlene's broken arm!  She is doing well and managing most everything by herself now.  I still get to do the dishes and open jars.

Peace and HOPE to all,

charles

GOSPEL IMPACT

Maybe you wonder whether Made in the Streets has impact beyond what happens to street kids.  Below is the answer - the church at Kamulu continues to grow from community involvement. The MITS Team and students have shared their love of God with people outside.  Their story began on the Sunday we began our "3:16" sermons, which started with Genesis 3:16 (read it!).  That day two men married to women in the church happened to come to worship.   Mbuvi talked about growing up in Mathare Valley and his experiences with his parents and the decisions he made about how to live his life once he came to know Jesus.  He was very open and vulnerable as he talked about how Jesus wants men and husbands to live.  One of the visiting men - Amos - stopped off at a small cafe on the way home and bought the family french fries and something else for lunch.  Barbra said later that he had never done that before!  Now...Mbuvi's notes below....

This report comes from Francis Mbuvi, after baptizing Amos Mwangi at Kamulu last Sunday.
  

"It's always a joy when one more soul accepts and commits to follow Jesus. Some people take a short time while others take long listening and learning before making the final move. Such was the case with Amos Mwangi, who is Married to Barbra, a lady who cleans the church. For a long time she has come both to me and the women's group requesting that we pray for her husband who used to be a heavy alcohol drinker. She had almost given up not knowing God was still working in him. Slowly he started coming to church and over time felt convicted. He called me last week and said "the messages you have been preaching have really touched me and I would like to be baptized this coming Sunday".  So we did baptize him, and his family - even his mother - was there to witness, along with the whole church. It was also our Sunday for fellowship tea together. God continues to work wonders and we praise him. Blessings”

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96% Pass Rate

That 96% is about our graduates from the Made in the Streets skills courses.  When our students leave us after they are 18, we want each one to have the skills needed to get a job.  So we have them take the Kenya Government Technical Skills Exams for their area of study.  We had 24 students take the exams in November 2014, and 23 of them passed!!  Here is the certificate for Martin, who studied woodworking.

Martin - who can now confidently go out to find work!

STREET REPORT FROM MOSES

Moses Gicheru serves as one of the MITS street ministers, working out of the Eastleigh Center. He send in this report, which points up the emotional pain that our Team lives with all the time. They serve Christ and have compassion for kids and want to help them all, but it proves very difficult at times.  Some mothers love their kids very much; other mothers want the kids around so they can get more money begging.

"David is 6 years old and lives on the street with his mother, Jane Wangari. She is 22 years old.  Her mother passed away when she was only 16 years old, which made her life desperate.  She went to live on the streets.  

She is currently at Liliput base in Eastleigh. We have been meeting her on the streets during base visits. She sniffs glue and begs for money on the streets so that she can feed David,  who has never been to school.

We are doing what we can to rescue the boy who in in danger of sniffing glue himself since the mother uses the drug and he suffers from cold, especially at night." 

David on a visit to the Eastleigh Center

10 REASONS NEVER TO VISIT MITS

We have seen a good number of top 10 lists lately...in travel books, restaurant lists, book clubs...so we thought you would want to know the reasons you would not want to visit Made in the Streets in Nairobi.  Here they are....

WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER VISIT MITS

You will see the poorest of the poor in abject conditions.

You will be asked to eat in the home of a MITS Team member.

You will have to teach your skill to Team members.

You will be pressured to play sports and games.

You will be asked to walk to church, which will be youth-oriented.

You will have to go to compulsory chapel at 8:00 AM every day.

You will go on safari and see unremarkable animals.

You may have to associate with young girls and their babies.

You may have to visit a former student at the job site.

You will have to stay in a house with about a dozen other people.

Francis Mbuvi stands with Daniel Mutua and his family. Daniel was a
MITS student in 1998 to 2000.  You might meet up with
a former student and family!!

ON THE STREETS WITH MITS

Larry Conway reports on the daily work of the MITS street ministers and social workers, who go out almost every day to the places where street children and youth gather and sleep....
     In the mornings we discuss our plans for the day and we pray together. As we leave the office to go and visit street kids on the streets, we see friends who sell all kinds of things on the sidewalks - like used clothes, household items, avocados, mangoes, bananas, tomatoes, and freshly baked bread. It is already hot and the dust from the dirt roads fills our lungs due to the large numbers of cars, buses, and motorcycles passing by. 

     We meet many friends along the way who greet us. Some are selling items on the streets while others are walking somewhere. The Made in the Streets team has been walking the streets in Eastleigh to share the gospel for twenty years and most people know who we are. Today we are going to visit a base named “Mamba”. A base is simply a place where street kids live, hang out, or call home. This particular base is called “Mamba” because it is next to a gas station called “Mamba”. 

     This area is an unofficial dumpsite for garbage. Someone just started dumping their trash here, and it gets bigger and bigger. It is located on a main road in Nairobi called “Juja” road. When we arrive at the base, we are welcomed with greetings and a place to sit. They offer us an old computer monitor or a two-gallon metal can to sit on. The place is smoky; they are cooking something in an old tin can.  The plastic they are using to build the fire gives off a terrible odor with lots of smoke. I move around to avoid the smoke and odor. I’m sitting on a piece of an old mattress. There are about 11 guys here sifting through the garbage looking for something to resell or use. Some of the guys actually live here under pieces of plastic they have stretched from the top of a fence to the ground. 

     People in the buses stare at us as they pass by. They are curious why we are here at the base talking to these guys. Most people ignore street kids or speak rudely to them. About twice a year the city of Nairobi sends a garbage truck to come and collect the trash piled up on the side of the street. The guys gather around to hear what we have to say. We have a prayer and then we share the Word of God with them. They are eager to listen. We tell them that God loves them at all times and that our sins can be forgiven because of the sacrifice of Jesus. 

     We remind them that there is a worship service on Sundays at our building and that they can come to our facility for First Aid if they are sick or injured. All of the guys express their appreciation for our visit and they tell us to come again. We finish up with prayer. The prayer requests are for help to get jobs, and to overcome their drug addictions. It is refreshing to share the Word of God with people who are eager to hear it. 

Larry Conway

The picture is of Larry and Hollye Conway, who have served street children well for many years.  Before they came to Nairobi, they served churches and evangelized in the Eldoret area of Kenya.