Street Kid Literacy

We are really excited about the growth of our curricula in our various classes, including literacy. We are finally getting close to full sets of 2-year curricula for both the literacy classes and the skills training classes.

The literacy program has been in a state of excitement lately at having 28 new students at Kamulu, who came off the streets, off the glue and the haphazard and hopeless condition, to a structured life with school!!

To see a video about the literacy program, especially teaching 7 new kids how to read, click on the following link and view the video made by Cecily Breeding. Or just look up "I Can Read on YouTube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MURP8XWu4I

Enjoy!!!! This picture is of the new boys at Kamulu taken BEFORE they were brought out from Eastleigh. But they already had their new clothes!

Jackton Omondi Reports

These are soccer players who will not stop playing because of God's blessing rain. They played till all were covered with mud. We have just come back to Kamulu from shopping for Literacy students. We spent some time in Eastleigh. At last we have rain. More updates will be coming as days go by - say hello to the South Mac, Legacy and the Hills church and all the folk. We love you. Grace mercy love peace and spirit to you all, Jackton

Two of the students pictured are part of the newest group at MITS and some of them are among the oldest at Kamulu. Almost all our young men play soccer with a passion.

Faithfulness

Hello friends, we wanted to share with you the story of our young brother in Christ, Peter. Peter lives on the streets in Eastleigh. He was one of the first t obe baptized when the church was started in July. He was working at odd jobs doing whatever he could find to bring in some money. He would sometimes carry luggage for people getting off of the bus as they arrived in Nairobi. He decided he would travel to Mombosa, the second largest city in Kenya, and try to find a better job. He was successful finding a job at a restaurant. The job went well for a few days until he was told that he would have to become a Muslim to keep his job. He told the owner that he wasn’t going to become a Muslim just to keep his job. He was forced to quit the job because of their demands. Life was difficult for him because he ended up on the streets of Mombasa with no place to live. He did some odd jobs until he could get enough money to travel back to Nairobi. We are thankful to have him back at the church in Nairobi and to hear of his strong commitment to Christ.

Our work on the streets was a bit more difficult than usual recently. We found a young boy on the street who had been sexually abused. He had been to a medical clinic, but was released since the clinic doesn’t have any place to keep patients overnight. As we learned more of the story, we discovered that four other boys had also been abused but we don’t know who they are. Many times the police are not informed of such attacks because they are overwhelmed and understaffed. Unfortunately, they are also seen as very corrupt and complacent about fighting crime. We confirmed the attack with the medical clinic and made arrangements to bring the boy to our center and help him recover and then we would begin the process of taking him into the program at Kamulu. However, a woman whom we know prevented us from taking the boy. She actually locked him into her house and told us we could not take him. She is known to be a drug dealer and has a reputation of claiming to help street kids but actually keeps them supplied with drugs. We will see the boy again soon and continue with the process of trying to get him to our center at Kamulu.

In January, 29 new students were rescued from the streets and welcomed to the center at Kamulu. This is the largest intake at Made in the Streets at one time. Please pray for the new students as they adjust to life at Kamulu and pray for the students who recently left Kamulu to begin life as graduates. God has blessed the church in Eastleigh with 31 baptisms since July. Many of these new Christians are struggling to give up drugs they have been addicted to. They need our prayers. We thank God for all you do to help us share the gospel in Kenya.

Larry and Hollye Conway

Street Ministry Notes

The singing was wonderful - loud and active - at my first chapel with the street kid students after getting back to Nairobi from the USA. We sang Tuvute Pamoja - a song that praises God for the strength and love that he gives and encourages us to "pull together." One of the girls shared an African story that finished with an encouragement to trust God today! We were crowded together in our largest classroom, barely fitting in the room

Afterwards in our Team meeting a group shared about the mission into Eastleigh on Friday - they visited 8 street youth bases and one of them was a new one. They found a young man who had a seriously injured leg, so they helped him get to a clinic for treatment. Jane Njeri, one of the Eastleigh Team members, was here and told me they have 17 moms and babies coming on Monday morning and a group of younger street boys on Monday and Tuesday, with a group of street girls on Thursday.

Moses Okoth and I met with one of our graduates, Jackson Isaac, who is being sponsored in a computer engineering program. He is having difficulty because 1) the curricula so far has been what he has already been taught by Moses and 2) the teacher has not been showing up for classes, which last 3 hours. We encouraged him to be patient about the learning, and Moses will visit the school to find out their curriculum plans and to check on the teacher. We also encouraged him to begin studying on his own in areas where he has interest, since he has several hours each day available. We prayed with him also. We are hopeful he will be encouraged. Our relationship with our students continues beyond the program itself, as we must help them through the struggles to find their place in society.

Mary Waithera started a job today!!! We are really pleased, as she has gotten a job cooking in a nice restaurant in the Village Market operated by an Israeli. We pray she will be a great employee who will lead to others getting jobs there. One great thing for Mary is that her sponsor has been sending extra money all along, so she will soon have considerable funds in a bank account that she is opening.

I met with John Wambu today to go over property matters - construction, repair and protection of property from outsiders. He has several projects ongoing - the new boys' dorm, the new staff house, a wall around the nursery school property, a wall around part of the Mountain View property, installation of two gates and a few other things. When all this is complete, in about a month, we will begin construction of two more staff houses. John continues to work with the Department of Lands on completion of title deeds for our several properties.

Mary, our new student whose tiny baby died after two weeks, seems to be doing well. She has finished literacy (because she had been to school before she went to the streets) and is in the cooking program now.

Bill Rider is with us from Mount Vernon, Iowa, and he reports that our oldest woodworking student, Charles Kimani, is doing very well. He pays attention and his skill level is high. Bill is building chests and a sofa with the woodworking program. Nell Rider baked cookies with the cooking students today, and the kids were excited. Those students cook lunch for all the skills training people, 24 in total, and they will share the cookies with them.

Victor and Angela, with little Kelcey, have moved in next door to us. Darlene and I have subdivided an acre we own and are giving plots to Team members who plan to stay long term with MITS. Their house is almost complete and they decided to move in and complete it as they go. Jackton and Milly must get their septic tank finished and get glass in the windows, then they can move in their new house also.

The sewing shop has a contract from MITS to make uniforms for all the new kids -- 29 x 5 uniform pieces means a lot of sewing. They are also putting numbers on the clothing and assigning a "property number" to each student in order to keep clear what belongs to who.

SPONSOR A STUDENT: just write me an email at charles.coulston@made-in-the-streets.org to let me know, then start sending $75 a month to

Made in the Streets

409 Franklin Road

Brentwood, TN 37027

Write them a note stating that you are a sponsor so they will credit the money properly. I will send you a picture and some info on your student, and soon your student will send you an email or write you a letter. It is helpful if we an have a mailing address for you so we can post the letters. The picture is our new students arriving on the bus at Kamulu. They cleaned up and got new clothes at Eastleigh before being brought out. What a great event, writing a new chapter in their lives, one with love and hope and fun and family in it.

Keep street kids in your prayers - they are the poorest of the poor, without hope and confidence, struggling but without direction - and they are in the heart of Jesus. So let's all get in there too. We get a blessing also.

Peace and joy,

charles

Street Ministry Quick News

Sadness with us - Jane Wanjiru's baby has died. The baby was premature; even with good care, MITS lost one we wanted to love. Please pray for Jane; she is young, and she wants to return to the man responsible for the pregnancy. He has been charged with defiling a minor and the court case continues. We hope she will stay with us, get an education here and begin to look forward to a new life. Pray that she will welcome Christ within and grow up in Him.

Jessica Cooper has almost finished her internship in Agriculture with us. She and Victor have worked out a crop rotation plan, together with nurseries, soil rehab plans and growth of irrigated areas.

We have a new volunteer in Eastleigh from the Institute of Social Work named Byron. The Eastleigh Team reports that he is a wonderful addition on the streets.

Bill and Nell Rider from Mount Vernon, Iowa, and the Central Church of Christ (Cedar Rapids) are with us for the next month. Bill is doing carpentry projects with Robin and students in woodworking, making chests now and planning a sofa and other items.

The 29 new students have settled in and begun literacy classes. They are obviously happy to be at MITS eating 3 meals a day, sleeping in their own beds and staying out of the rain.

The Coulstons are happily back at work with the Team, eating tomatoes and bananas from their garden and doing a little bit of teaching. Charles is teaching a Sunday morning adult class on "The Impossible Love of God." Darlene is teaching A-B-Cs to the new students with the least education.

SPONSORS NEEDED! If you are willing, begin sending $75 a month to

Made in the Streets

409 Franklin Road

Brentwood, TN 37027

Write me an email at charles.coulston@made-in-the-streets.org and tell me you want to be a sponsor. I will assign you a student, send you a picture and get your student to write a letter as soon as possible.

29 KIDS - THE NEW LIFE BEGINS

Last week the Team at Made in the Streets brought 29 young teenagers off the streets to live at Kamulu, begin literacy training, learn to live in a new environment with the 40 students
already living in the dorms.

A large number of students reached 18 near the end of 2010 and moved out into shared apartments as they enter into internships and jobs.

Pictured are Amina Hama (13) and Brian Kweyu (12).

We need sponsors for all 29 of these kids, and we welcome your assistance. $75 a month covers most of the expenses for a student at Kamulu. A 12 year old will be with us at Kamulu for about 6 years. When they reach 18, we help them get a national identity card, find an apartment, a congregation and a job -- then we are ready to turn loose of them as they being to pay their own way.

When you are willing and able to sponsor a student, please begin sending $75 a month to

Made in the Streets

409 Franklin Road

Brentwood, TN 37o27.

Of course, you can donate online at this blog site or at the main web site at

made-in-the-streets.org

If you wish, you may send a full year's sponsorship, or even a full 4,5 or 6 year sponsorship in one donation.

Please also make it your task to pray for these kids and the Team that loves them.

When you send your first check, please email Charles Coulston at

charles.coulston@made-in-the-streets.org

and inform him of your decision. He will send you a picture and name of a student and see that the student writes you occasionally.

The 20 Acres

MITS has a 20 acre piece of land not far from the girls' and boys' centers at Kamulu. We have built our training center there and are already training students in cooking, hairdressing, woodworking and sewing there. A local government official, a few local citizens and some thugs invaded the land in 2009 and built a school on the other end of the property, taking about 8 1/2 acres from us. They also put a barbed-wire fence across the property. In order to keep them from seizing more land, which 4 local citizens were threatening to do, we have built a facility for teaching agriculture/welding and a staff house along their fence. Here is a picture of the almost completed staff house. One of our single Team members will move in when it is finished.

Process in court is very lengthy in Kenya and prone to many delays. The most recent court date was today, January 15, but it has been once again postponed, to Feb 24. The other side served an affidavit to our attorney just before going into court. In it they claim ownership of the land because it was "public property for community use" or something like that. They have no supporting documents, since we hold title to the land under a 99-year Certificate of Lease.

Here is a picture of the staff house. It is 13 x 21 with indoor toilet/shower and with electricity. When we are ready to have a married couple living there, we can easily expand the house to double the size, adding 2 small bedrooms or one large one. The school built by the invaders is in the background; you can also see the fence. We will build a sidewalk from the road, passing by the Ag/Weld building on out to the staff house.

Thank you to those who have made it possible for us to have nearby housing for our Team members, some of whom have been living several miles away from the campus.