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Made in the Streets
Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa
The Board of Directors and the staff of Made in
the Streets express their heartfelt thanks to loving Christians for
prayers and support through the years of our existence. Street ministry
began as a work of the Eastleigh, Nairobi, congregation in 1995. After
13 years, the ministry has matured, and Kenyan Team members now
administer the program.
Staff
The ministry has 22 ministers and volunteers who
minister on the streets, with children’s families, in various
congregations and in the boarding program of the ministry. They range
from 21 to 34 years old. Most of them have had eight or more years
experience in teaching Bible classes, evangelizing and leading
projects. They are educated in Bible, computers, electronics, music,
management, marketing, tailoring, counseling and first aid. Serving in
the administration are Francis Mbuvi, Administrator, John Wambu, Property Manager,
Joel Njue, Student Placement, Irene Akinyi, Girls' Supervisor and
others. They, together with the Board of Directors, are responsible for
planning for evangelism, church growth, child care and street ministry.
Property
The ministry’s facility on 5th Street in
Eastleigh Section II is valued in excess of $120,000. There is dorm
space for 10, housing for visitors, two courtyards, a meeting hall,
library,
teachers’ resource room, two classrooms, three housing units, a
kitchen, a first aid room, showers and toilets. It is an ideal facility
to operate "from" to minister on the streets, to have street children
come for programs, for a church to meet, and for housing select
teenagers to be trained. The farm at Kamulu, 45 minutes driving from
Eastleigh, has 35 acres in several plots, plus four acres that belong
to the Coulstons. All the acreage is fenced, and 12 acres are under
cultivation. A compound that houses an apartment for the Coulstons, two
dorm rooms for girls, a kitchen, guest quarters, showers and toilets
has been built. There are also shops on the highway, a Learning Center,
two boys' dorms, and a water well. On the 20 acres, we built a skills
training facility in 2007 that houses a sewing factory and a
woodworking shop and installed a new water well. A second
building (Connor Brown Memorial Building) is being constructed in 2008
to house training areas for cooking and hairdressing. Value of
all the
Kamulu property
approaches $600,000.
Church
A church meets at the Kamulu property, and the
attendance ranges from 100 to 120 in worship and an additional 52 in
Sunday school. They meet Sunday morning, and they have care groups that
meet on Friday evening. A church also meets on the Eastleigh property,
with up to 25 attending.
Government
From the beginning, the ministry has maintained contact with government officials. When the ministry registered as Made in the Streets
in 1999 with children’s services and with the registrar of
societies, the official relationship began. In 2001, the Ministry of
Home Affairs and the Children’s Office certified MITS as an
official care institution for children, both to work with them on the
streets and to maintain the boarding program. Following that, the
Juvenile Court sent a judge to hold court at MITS, at which time he
designated our boarding students as our wards. Currently we enjoy
a close relationship with the Children's Remand Center and with
Children's Officers.
Boarding Program
In 2000, we admitted six girls into our program,
after five of them were baptized. When we finished the first building
at Kamulu, they were moved there. Now there are 23 girls at the
facility, and Irene Akinyi has care of them.
The boys, who are 13 to 18 years old, number 27 and live in two dorms. They are in
basic studies in English, math, computers and Bible. At 16 they begin a rotation
period, spending two months in a skill area or two. At
17 they begin study in one skill and start job preparation studies.
Street Ministry
Focus on the streets is on spiritual care for the
kids who sleep there. The first goal is that they might know God. The
second is to develop their confidence and hope. The third is to help
them find a way to make it in life off the streets. This might be 1) reconciliation to
family, 2) a training program, 3) admission into our boarding program,
and 4) setting them up in a small business. Constant work is done with
street youth in providing medical care, help with identity cards and
with daily life.
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