HONOR TO GIRLS

WELL DONE, GREAT WOMEN OF MITS

While the writer of Proverbs has much to say about the foolishness of men, his experience also teaches him that some women are hard to live with. In 19:13 he writes of a wife's words that are like "continual dripping of rain." We presume that the rainy season was not a favorite time of his.

Our work in street ministry shows us how hard it is for some women to live together in peace. We have worked hard with street girls to help them recognize how they could 1) get off the streets, 2) take care of themselves, 3) make progress of their lives -- just by several of them living together in an apartment in Mathare Valley or Eastleigh, working when they can, pooling money to pay the rent, and so on. But the girls cannot seem to find agreement; they would rather depend on street guys to give them a place to sleep at night in return for intimacy. They cannot seem to break free of dependence on men, and they can't get along with one another well enough to make it work.

At Kamulu our girls live together in 3 small dorms (maximum 10 girls in a dorm). They do well, but occasionally there are arguments, fights, and even conspiracies against the dorm supervisors. From time to time we have meetings with the girls, let them talk, and teach them more about living in peace. Recently we did a class on communication, listening skills and non-violence. We asked them to practice what they learned, then we gave them an exam a week later.

Four of our girls did very well on the exam, answering questions as well as describing what they practiced during the week. Two of the girls, Eunice Wambui and Mary Waithera, are pictured here. The four girls received an award for their performance. We are proud of them.

Life at Kamulu with Street Kids

This report was recently written by Moses Okoth, who instructs skills students in computers and maintains our network and internet access.

"We are well, and the students are doing great, always with a lot of enthusiasm to learn something new in class and also out of class. The 4.30 classes are going on great. We have started a new unit 102 in the Business, Bible and Computer offerings. Irene alternates with Francis in the Bible course, and Joel still co-ordinates with Victor in the Business course. My classes in Computers are still a great challenge to both me and the kids. I still need some pointers on the curriculum for accounting on the business side. (note: anyone want to write some “computer business accounting for teens”? Just 20 forty-five minute lessons)

The electricity rationing is not all that bad. I have stuff to do with the skills students on these days...Monday. Wednesday and Friday. Mostly we go through the theory part, or just chat about successful people in the computer industry and make wishful stories of upcoming days. I have to say this group that are in computer skills training were really meant to be here. Imagine thay even want to know how animations are done, like in the movies Transformers and Ice Age. This makes me have to do more research and have something to tell them when they ask such questions. But all in all I am always enjoying it. As long as it’s computer related, that is me...

We used Coulston's little generator some during VBS, when there was no electricity. I must say that is one economical generator. We put in petrol on a Monday and it served us the whole week. If I could get something like that for the computers it really would be nice. So should I go ahead and enquire how much a generator costs? (note: anyone want to help with this, to serve the computer kids?)

We had a break-in at the café, losing plates and cups and utensils and sufurias (big cooking pots). It really make me feel like getting hold of the guys ad plucking their toe nails one at a time to represent the pain in all our hearts here at MITS. But better to suffer loss than to harm another.

I had a chance to visit Joseph Mburu at his place of work yesterday. I was in town with Hollye trying to network and get placements for our kids at different areas. Mburu is doing great; he now has a passion of going for further computer studies and wants to be doing that from next month. Joel and Francis will organise and maybe we can come up with something? What do you think about this? Now that he is earning, he can also take some responsibility in paying for things like his transport as he works and goes to school. Joel says he can start finding an apartment next year as funds are available. (note: does anyone want to help Joseph into further studies in computers? His job doesn’t provide enough to cover his expenses at this point, so his sponsor continues to care for his housing and food and transport needs, but he will need about $30 a month to go to school).

We have a volunteer called Victorine. She will be with us on the weekdays till Friday, then attends college in social work on Saturdays. After her classes she will head back here for the weekend with the girls. (note: since Moses wrote this, Victorine has become a regular with MITS at Kamulu, while continuing school in social work. She is with the girls and is teaching a literacy class on days she is available. Would anyone like to cover her salary while she is on probation with us, and afterwards assuming she stays? Cost is $100 a month)

Three of the single mothers are here at Kamulu now. We have tested them and put them in classes, after which they will do skills training. In the meantime Irene Mbithe and Victorine have been looking after the babies when they are not teaching. Jane Njeri, supervisor at Eastleigh, tells me she got another single mother.

Our boys’ dorm has been painted, for which we are grateful; now it looks nice. The gate has been expanded so the bus can pass through easily. We are planting more trees at the boys. We want it to look nice and be cool."