Reports from Easleigh and plans

SINGLE MOTHERS
In August last year we had seven mothers from the slums in Mathare and Huruma (suburbs neoghbouring Eastleigh),who we found through networking with other NGOs in those areas and social workers. This year the team will face great challenge of searching for the mothers (single) who are only found on the bases. So far we haven’t found any, the mothers we find are married and overage. However the year is still young and through God's help we will find them.

BASE WORK
The team visited some old bases and also discovered other new ones in Kayole and Ngara (these are suburbs) respectively. In Kayole we discovered two bases and after introducing ourselves and sharing the word of God, they were invited to M.I.T.S center in Eastleigh. In Ngara we also discovered two bases and the first one we saw five boys and one girl. They all promised to visit the center. The second one had two boys,they told us the rest have gone to the city center for games. So we promised to visit them next time and come a bit earlier.
Jam street base caught fire when all its members were all out doing odd jobs and trying to make their ends meet. Since this is a base that is so close to MITS for a long time, the team decided to help in the rebuilding of their base.

GIRLS' PROGRAM
We had experienced a shortage of young street girls towards the end of last year. Plans have been made for Augustina, Jane Paul and Jane Njeri to visit the bases in search for the girls. Kennedy suggested that, we should reconcile young girls and boys to their parent if that option is available. It has been observed that a big number of the mothers that attend the program are not from streets. In this regard we have made a phase-out program of issuing cards only to the streets mothers to show at the gate of our center. The rest can be assisted to start small scale business.

COLLEGE STUDENT
Fifteen students were selected to join college at P.C.E.A. from January 2010 (this is a college a few minutes walk from our Eastleigh center). Eight were selected from our mothers’ program, two from the girls program and five from the older men living on the streets.
Last year we had cases of some of the students sneaking classes for as long as a whole term. We have made plans for all the students to come to the center and report that they have attended classes that week.We will also be in constant communication with the assistance manager of the institution and also makes visits to check on the students. The team decided that we give the students thirty shillings each for lunch and a weekly supply of cereals instead of hard cash.

COUPLES MEETING
On 27th Jan 2010, we organized a couples get-together consisting of youths from the streets. Twelve people attended, four couples were among them. This being the first couples meeting, the turn up was encouraging and they were very happy even to share their experiences and the problems they face as parents in the bases and street life.
The mothers were advised to be visiting health clinics with their children. Men were advised to be responsible people morally and guide their families in a Godly manner.

NETWORKING
Last year we were able to achieve some of our goals through networking. This year we plan to enlarge our boundaries by having exchange program with other local C.B.Os and N.G.Os, which will promote our growth and enhance development and empowerment.

Prayer Walk!

The team and students of MITS will be conducting a prayer walk this week, being led by Katera and Andrew our visitors.

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” - 1 Thess. 5:16-18

Our objective this week is to spend time in prayer for all of the MITS property at Kamulu, staff, students and goals as well as our neighbors. Below are some prayer points to give some beginning ideas of things you can pray for at each location. Let God’s Holy Spirit guide you to pray for anything and everything you have in your heart throughout the walk.

• Thank God for providing the land and resources for current operations.
• Pray that God will seal the land with His Holy Spirit and cover it with His blood as He makes it Holy land now and forever more. That evil will not be allowed to enter and no evil plans will succeed against it.
• Pray that each person who sets foot on any MITS property will feel His presence and peace and will be drawn to know Him more. That they will leave changed.
• For all future plans of MITS to be guided and used by God for His service.

LEARNING CENTER

• Classrooms: for students as they learn and teachers as they teach, that MITS will be able to keep up with the needs of our students and teachers, that all will be encouraged in their work and given strength to continue
• Library: that students and staff will be able to find needed resources
• Offices: for the leaders of MITS to be given strength, encouragement and resources needed to continue God’s work in this ministry
• Sick room: for the health of all and that we’ll have resources to treat any illnesses that come along
• Kitchen: Thank God for providing food and pray that the staff and students will continue to be given their daily bread as they rely on God for all things.
• Church: that God will continue to grow the church in His service, that all non-believers who go will have their hearts changed to serve Him, for more love and honesty among the family there, for all plans to be God’s

** As we walk from property to property, you can spend time praying for our neighbors and the land neighboring our properties. You can also pray for specific staff, students, visitors, sponsors, etc. who are laid on your heart to pray for.

NEIGHBORHOOD AREAS

“You have heard that it was said, ‘love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” - Matt. 5:43-45

“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

-Luke 6:27-28

• For our neighbors to come to know about and accept Jesus as their Savior if they do not know Him. And for all to draw closer to God.
• That we will be able to be used by God to help them in any way He wants.
• For peace to reign among the neighbors and MITS in all things. That God will be glorified.
• For God to fill their homes and land so that it will be sealed from evil and that no evil plans will be made there to do any harm to MITS or others.
• To seal their land so that all who dwell there now and forever in the future will feel God’s peace and goodness and will be drawn to serve Him.

GIRLS’ CENTER

• For the students to have peace and harmony.
• That they choose to follow God and never depart from His ways.
• That God will guide them throughout the future and that they will do all they need to do now to prepare for what He has planned for them.
• For the single mothers and their children.
• For the staff who stay there (Irene, Phyllis, Terry and Vicky).
• For all visitors who have and will stay there.
• For all the girls who have passed through MITS in the past.

JOEL’S HOME

• For God to protect and bless his home and property as He guides Joel in His work, ministry and future.
• To be always guided and used by God.

LAURENT and ELIZABETH’S HOME

• For God to protect and bless their home and family as they learn each day how to serve Him more.
• For their child to grow in God’s family and service.
• To be always guided by God.

*WBS OFFICE

• God to bless the work of WBS and to provide strength and encouragement to all staff.
• To be with Maureen as she leads the office.

THE MBUVIS HOME

• For God to protect and bless their home and family as they always feel His presence and are always guided by God.
• That they will have all they need in His service.
• For their children to grow in God’s family and service.
• For them to be encouraged and strengthened in the work they are doing for God.

COULSTON’S HOME

• For God to protect and bless their home and to be with them as they travel for MITS.
• For their family to be kept close to God as the grandchildren grow in His care and to be always guided by God.

JOHN WAMBU’S HOME

• For God’s protection and blessings for him, his family and his work.
• That God provide all they need and encourage and strengthen him.
• To be always guided by God.

BEN’S HOME (Farm manager)

• For God’s protection and blessings for him, his family and his work.
• That God provide all they need and encourage Ben in his work.
• To be always guided by God.

OTHER HOMES

• Spend some time as we walk to the next property praying for the homes of all other staff members.

BOY’S CENTER

• For the students to have peace and harmony.
• That they choose to follow God and never depart from His ways.
• That God will guide them throughout the future and that they will do all they need to do now to prepare for what He has planned for them.
• For the staff who stay there (Robin, Nzioka, Moses, Phillip).
• For all visitors who will stay there.
• For all the boys who have passed through MITS in the past.

JACKTON and MILLIE’S HOME

• For God’s protection and blessings for them and their family.
• That they will have all they need in His service.
• For their child to grow in faith through the years.
• That they will be encouraged and strengthened in their work as they are guided by God.

FARM

• That God will bless the crops.
• For God to bless and guide the hands that toil the soil.

3 ACRES

• Nursery: for the staff and children
• That the children will grow to know God and live close to Him forever.
• Orchard to produce fruits trees that one day we can all enjoy its fruits of our toils on that land.
  

19 ACRES

• For God to bless the efforts of the tailoring shop, woodworking shop and catering and for the staff and students who will work and learn there.
• For the staff who live there (Evans and Ken).

SHOPS

• For God to bless the efforts of the computer shop, salon, tea house and tailoring store.
• For God to guide all those involved in skills training in their work.
• For God’s protection.
• That all who set foot in the shops will feel the presence of God.
• For the staff and students to be encouraged and guided by God to teach/learn all they need to know.

JAMES KARIUKI’S HOME (Assistant farm manager)

• For God’s protection and blessings for him, his family and his work.
• That God provide all they need and encourage Kariuki in his work.
• To be always guided by God.

VEHICLES

• Thank God for providing the vehicles MITS has to use.
• That they will stay in good repair for more use for this ministry.
• For God to keep those who travel in them safe.
• For God’s protection from any who want to steal them.

Even after the prayer walk, keep in mind that all moments are moments we can spend in prayer with God. It helps us grow, focus and hear His voice if we are constantly aware of His presence. Wherever you are, you can spend time talking to Him and praying for the people and places you see.

Blessings as you spend time with our Father.

New staff members

Made in the Streets administration and staff had the need to add more team members to help the task of equipping the young teens for life. Empowering them in different skill training areas, team members were added in areas like hair dressing, catering, and nursery school teacher (nanny).
From left to right respectively:- Helen Wanjiku Iguanya - 31 yrs old, Phylis Wambui Koigi - 23yrs old, Magdalene Wairimu Muriuki - 26 yrs old, Terry Wambui Kamau - 22yrs old.

Helen will be the nanny to all the babies that our single mother have while the single mothers undertake their training, she has already commenced early child education and is teaching the kids who are 2 yrs and above. Part of her duty is also to feed the babies at selected intervals during the day and supervising their nap time. Phylis and Terry are both fresh from a prestigious institution known for hairdressing (Revlon Beauty College) here in Nairobi. Terry will oversee the running of the salon business and trying to get more clients. In liaison with Phylis who will be mainly educating/training the students who have taken up hairdressing as a skill in our skills training center. Magdalene will be training the catering students.



Today with the help of Laurent and Magdalene, the catering students made us a meal for the guys celebrating their birthdays on January. The meal consisted of a goat and other delicacies. The goat was bought by Dusty and Jayjay who are visiting from Pepperdine University.

A way to open the new year!

It is always a MITS tradition to open every year by going to the water park. The water park is situated at a porsche place on the western part of the town center. It is also situated near the American embassy. In the water park there are slides and swimming pools for both adults and a play area for children. Water tunnels and putt putt-miniature golf are also a fun activity to participate in.

We also had an event where the kids got to be creative and use materials such as wires to make car models for the boys and pieces of clothes and strings to make dolls for girls. The students were awarded according to the creativity, neatness and composure.

The morning surprise!

I always wonder how Jesus felt when His parents Joseph and Mary told him of that morning when three wise men followed a star from the east to bring him gifts of myrrh, gold and frankincense. He must have felt loved and treasured even though he was born in an animal shed layed in a manger. But one thing is for sure, even though Jesus was God with us, he surely knew that he had people who cared for him to come all the way from far away just to see him.
On Christmas morning, the MITS family woke up to a surprise morning of gifts in their stockings that had been made by Jackton and had probably forgotten about them. If they only knew that their Mr. Santa was none other than Joel and Mbuvi , who had woke up early to fill their bags with goodies. Each student and team got an orange, a banana, amango, peanuts, fifty shillings and a chocolate bar. It was all smiles for the children and teachers who were there. With such happy faces, it was worth waking up early and I think Mbuvi should consider a career as a Santa Claus, the only problem would be, its done once a year.
Anyway after the morning surprise, we waited for the Christmas party in the afternoon. There was rice, sodas, goat meat that had been slaughtered by the farm team and the food was deliciously cooked by Elizabeth and her team. In the evening, we finished the day with a good movie to crown a good day in remembrance of the birth of our savior Jesus Christ

Merry Christmas everyone and a Prosperous new year!!!

Sunday school trip to Aboretum

December for the Mits community means a lot of work and fun all combined. Its one of the busiest times with our students as well as with the community. This time round, the sunday school team decided to spend time with the children in a nearby park called Aboretum, where the children enjoyed playing with the monkeys, games, eating goodies until they were full. we also gave out presents for having been with them throughout this year.

Before we left for the park, we had told the children to come at 9.30 but to our surprise the children we here waiting for us at 8.00, one and half hours before time. It shows how much they really wanted to go to the park. We were blessed to have a total of 85 children altogether. Its always a blessing to see our students coming out to help in Sunday school, just enjoying giving back to the community remembering and appreciating what God has done for them. We would like to recognize and thank Eunice, Mary Muthoni, Sarah Aono, George Mwenda, Pius and Brian Ochieng for their kind heart of service to us.

Robin and Joel.

Western Tour for boys

We started of the trip by climbing Mt. Longonot, this took the boys 43minutes. The guide at the game reserve estimated that the time that unskilled climbers normally take is 2 hours to the top. After finishing the climb we planted a tree to our name at the foot of the mountain.
We headed for Sotik (a small town to the west of the Mountain). On the way there we encountered some bus problems. This made us camp at the closest town and resume the journey the following day. But once we reached Sotik town, all the boys could think of was a nap and taking a cold shower.
We then headed to Kisumu city, where we were met by Dennis Oketch who helps run the Orphanage which was to host us for the night. We played some basketball and went out to eat supper at a local hotel nearby. The boys then had a chance to eat Fish and other traditional dishes which are considered customary amongst the Luo tribe. The next day after breakfast we headed to the Lake Victoria where we saw people fishing and had a boat ride into the lake. Soon after the boat rides we had the chance of visiting a game reserve within the city.

We headed for Eldoret town, (this is the home town of our retired president- Moi). The bus was still acting up, but eventually we got there and met our contact person who led us to where were to camp for the night. We got a warm reception and got a chance to take mursik - local brewed milk which has been treated traditionally. This milk is taken when there is a special occasion and the gourd is considered a sign of respect when it is handed to you by and elderly person.
We had an adventure time of going to swim in the river nearby the village that we were camped at.

In the afternoon we headed to Kerio Valley, this is one of the highest points of the Rift Valley escarpment.
Kericho was the next town we were to visit. we arrive and meeting the contact person again, he led to our place of rest...the town was chilly and we all had to wrap ourselves with blankets just to keep warm.
The next morning we had breakfast and left for Nairobi.


A million thanks goes to Tim and Ann Lewis for making this trip possible. Thanks to those who prayed for us as we took this journey to unknown territories even to the team that was present.