Soccer Tournament

A tournament had been organized for the streets family by Made in The Streets. It was dated 16th November till 19th. They started with 16 teams all together but for now only 8 team remain. Jam street base, Umoja base, 7th street base, Liliput base, Kamutaine base, Mlango Kubwa Base Kijiji base and Kamulu boys are the only team going for the quarter finals.
Our MITS boys have worn all the games thus far. Alex Atema is the top scorer in the tournament with 12 goals and is followed by Swara a guy from Jam Street base with 11 goals.
Today our boys will battle is out with Kijiji Base. Jackton and Philip are the official referees and the team in Eastleigh helps out as lines men.

In other news, Irene Otalo was admitted to hospital yesterday night and had surgery done on her. She had an inflamed appendix and was going through tremendous pain in her abdomen region. She is doing fine this morning, although a little weak but on road to recovery.
Irene Renee too was diagnosed with mild Pneumonia. She has been experiencing acute pain on her neck and back. Sh is on medication. Pray for these two for they hold a precious place withing the MITS family.

Young mother's retreat

On Saturday the teenage mother got a chance to visit the Nairobi Nation Park. Laquita and Jessica are visitors who are spending much of their time with the girls and the teaching the staff of MITS. They decided to give a treat to the young mothers and their babies. Their ideas was to have the mother having a bonding time with their students away from the busy schedule that they always have while undertaking their skills. We have 7 teenage mothers, inclusive our young Mary who recently came into the program. She is expectant and might deliver some time next year.

Despite the heavy traffic on the Nairobi roads, they were all so ever eager to get there. All of them have never seen wild animals before, let alone walk in a zoo. So you can imagine the excitement from both the young mothers and their babies. For some reason they all expected to see a tiger, only to realize that the closest thing to a tiger was a leopard or a big cat like a lion.

We went through all the nature walks the park could offer. Surprisingly the kids never grew weary, neither did their parents. The kids had so many questions, some we could answer but of-course some from the smaller kids like Hollie we could only guess that they are so excited seeing a hippo and not telling the difference with a warthog!

We shared a common meal together and it was fun, laughter, small chats. We all felt good inside, filled with much hope and bonding from the educative yet so fun a trip. Thanks too Jessica and Laquita for making the funds available for such a treat.

(Jessica is a grad student who is well versed in the field of Agriculture, she is probably the most educated person we have had working with us on the farm. She spends much of her time with Victor and Ben, Laquita is a grad student in Education as her major, she has been helping the team to work on their curricula and lessons plans.)

Home is best!

Today I was woken up by the bouncing basketball in the court. On checking I saw Ken Wambugu, Moses Kungu and Joseph Wambua. Moses Kungu is a former student who took catering as a skill and has been going between jobs, but last year he managed to get a job in one of the best known hotels in the city. Joseph Wambua is also a former student who too has been between jobs and finding himself in the worldly ways. He was in Auto mechanic skill. MITS managed to find him an attachment in a prestigious garage on the far western part of the city, eventually he lost that job and came back to MITS for guidance. He has been on and off doing odd jobs but getting a living with helping our fore man John Wambu in construction. Then there is Ken Wambugu, pride always fills my heart when I talk about Ken. He is now a staff here at MITS, the best addition to the team if you ask me. He is a driver, helps out in dorm supervision and training the Auto-mechanic skills kids. I remember Ken used to sit down new boys when we had an intake and take them through all that was expected of them, he showed them how to wash their clothes, do dishes and cook.
Watching these three boys play on the court gave a sense of pride, the team has molded these boys with the help of God to become important people in the society, a cook, construction worker/mechanic and a mentor/leader of peers. Because at all points of our life we definitely will need these three people and their skills.
It even fills my heart seeing them come 'home', to church, where is is safe for them, where they find comfort, where there is love. And we love having them come back, talk to us, tell us their challenges in life, seek advice and most of all be example to our current students.