Committees and updates

Different committees have been set by the team to discuss different budget and program for the December holidays. We have plans to make this festive season exciting for both our kids and those that live out on the streets. Shopping trips, family day(the students' guardians and family get to come to the farm for a visit), Christmas parties at the farm and parties in the streets, team and student retreat,-just to hang out, bond and rejuvenate; awards for the students who have not only excelled in class work, but also in spiritual and character building.
The Eastleigh tournament started yesterday, and so far, all is well. Teams form bases have registered for the tournament are working hard to be top.
We are still concerned about security and safety in Eastleigh, we are taking precautions with visiting bases, but normal street programs are still running.
Other incidences on the streets are violence and unrest at the bases. Reports from our team in Eastleigh say that, some base 'masters' came together and met to try and have peace between them and the Somalis. They went to the local authority (chief of Eastleigh North), and tried to ask of his help concerning security, but the chief encouraged them to take revenge and take law into their own hands.
So the local authorities within the slum areas are not helping or don't want to make it their business that there is peace on the streets and around the neighborhood.

Violence on the streets

For the past few weeks, street youths have experienced a series of fights, arguments and misunderstandings.

New buildings are coming up every month by the Somalis who are purchasing properties and investing in businesses. This pushes the street families out of their known niche.

We continually pray for spiritual and moral support for the Eastleigh team. They are the people that deal with such traumatic cases when this happens. Be it day or night. The street youths are fond of MITS, our center is the first place they recognize when there is tragedy amongst themselves. There is one such building that is already built near a base that we commonly visit, called Deliverance base. A fight came out just because the Somalis want the street families living on the dump site there to move away from there. The fights have become serious. Two have died and scores injured. MITS center at Eastleigh has been helping in to dress

the wounded and taking the injured to the hospital for stitches and medical examination. The injuries and cuts are so serious, deep cuts and several of the cases have their arteries cut and oozing blood out and one case, fingers hanging down held by only the skin. For these cases they can only be taken care of at the national referral hospital.

The local authorities too have recognized the sort of work we do for the streets.

Other news, Jackton recently took the Eastleigh Sunday school church kids for a treat, they loved it. Alot of money used for the cases came from the contributions made in the Eastleigh church,which is usually attended by people from the streets.The Eastleigh street church funded for the whole trip and expenses.

Training and Rally

Terron Talley is here at MITS and is a youth minister. He organizes youth camps and retreats for teenagers of the Biltmore Church of Christ. We saw the need of him coming to MITS and helping train our team that handles Sunday school and other worker in other organizations that has Sunday school in their worship program. A team of about 12 from other congregations showed up and were trained on how to use a story board, audio, visual, hands on drama, skits.colored sheets, songs, different activities, memory verses.

They were also given some pointers on how to hold and run a VBS.

The training was successful and each trainee got a certificate of successful completion.

Last weekend we held a youth rally, invited Terron. He talked to our kids

about looking out for Jesus. He talked about exploring other factors in life, not being too rigid with factors influencing life. Getting out of the

boat like Peter did

In other new, Titus Kioko was buried this week on Tuesday. Titus was a student at MITS, graduated but fell back into his old gang on the streets, He was shot dead by the police.

The Octagon building was dedicated on Saturday by the women group. We had our first worship there on Sunday the 16th.

Thoughts about MITS from an ATM Visitor

This is a letter that Rebekah Norwood wrote to Dana Hardiman. Dana is a visitor with the Legacy group. She wanted a heads up about MITS before coming to Nairobi, Kenya.

This is what Rebekah had to say:

Hi,

Its so great to make contact with you. Charles and Darlene Coulston came to our church. It was incredible to hear from them how much progress is being made at MITS. Working at MITS was definitely the defining moment, and completely changed the course and direction of my life---so I'm always excited when newbies get to go.

I did a great number of things there. I taught English, Math and basic Reading classes, planned several youth camps, taught basic health classes for women and babies, and helped teach basic tailoring and design. I have to say though, that out of all these things, I only 'planned' to teach one. That is to say, I planned to teach basics reading and English, and they had me do everything else as well. So the biggest advice I can give is to be flexible, and be willing to do things that are 'outside of the job description' and in some cases, outside of your comfort zone.

I remember vividly visiting a base, sitting on an empty bucket in the middle of a trash pile with a group of young boys/men surrounding me and talking with them about heaven and days when

we will all stand equal before God. We had only 'planned' to take some chai and bread to one of the boys who was sick, but it turned into on of my favorite memories.

I hope you know what am talking about once you see it for yourself. I don't think i was ever excited about heaven until i visited Kenya. The reason being that I couldn't wait for the day that their suffering would end and they would stand as equal partakers of heaven's riches. Never before that time in my life had I ever considered wanting our world to end until i saw who the 'least' truly are.

The kids enjoy little gift too, like one year I bought about 1000 'Jesus Loves You' bracelets from Oriental Trading Company and handed them out to every kid I saw (even adults wanted them). They were cheap gifts, but really popular.

Get to know the staff. Some of my favorite people in this world are on the staff at MITS. They are highly knowlagable about social work in Kenya, politics, street life etc. many of them actually have (or are in the process of completing) masters' degrees. So don't discount any one of them, they are a wealth of knowledge.

God tells us to spend ourselves on behalf of the poor, I hope you get to do that in Kenya, and that you will be completely used up by the time you leave. Allow God to use you in ways you never imagined.As you can see I love talking about MITS.

Rebekah has visited MITS more than once.

Dana is currently teaching business classes with our skills students. She also works close with Ashley (her daughter) on beautifying the Tea and Coffee house, Salon inclusive.

Base and other updates

This past month there has been lots of sicknesses and deaths in the bases. Two streets youths have passed on.

One was knocked down by a car, the other from a gang fight. MITS always plays a role when such incidences occur. We always help the base guys by purchase coffins and sometimes also help with transportation of the body.

At the farm in Kamulu, plans are under to have all students wear black leather shoes. Thanks to those who have helped this happen.

The farm now has two fish ponds, we recently got our fish liner that was offered 'free' from the Government.

The fish will be a supplement to our diet for the students in future...we could go fishing in the pond if Ben allows us!

The Octagon(church/chapel) almost done, painting has been done in it, the floor painted too, all that remains is the wiring and few fixtures. The Legacy Group coming in early October will help to beautify the environs of the Octagon by helping to plant grass and flowers. The groups will also work closely with the team, 

to evangelize to the community. 

This will be done mostly in the evening hours.

They will also help with a couple if business tips to our church member who

own businesses and

our very own businesses.

On the business side of events, the Coulstons have come with a better idea for our tea and coffee house. We will go with the idea of the famous local stores in the US known as 'Cracker Barrel' restaurants, we are curently drilling a wall to allow for two rooms, one room to be used as a shopping store, then the drilled door leads through to the coffee and tea house.

Pray for our students for peace of mind, we have had two suicide attempts. We know that they are going through a lot and have been through a lot. Drug overdose is common and the team is vigil on issuing drugs. We will ask for other organizations who are skilled in counselling to come in and help counsel our students.

Activity updates!

Well after closing learning period for two weeks, we are now back at it full throttle.

-We now have a new student with us called Lucy Wairimu, she is 13 yrs of age.

-Eastleigh staff recently organized a retreat for young street boys, we took them to an Arboretum, which is located near the state house, so they got a chance to see where our head of state also lives.

-Three students have left us so far, this is of their own volition.

-One boy, named Frank was taken for home visits, and the parents ended up wanting to stay with him. The parents have been looking for him for the last six months.

-The soon to be Church/Chapel building is almost done and awaits plastering and paint job.

-The learning center is now a hot spot, and internet can be accessed through any medium supporting wi-fi. The is an achievement,because we have plans to have in future, e-learning in classroom.

-The ministry has added to its property a new van to help ease transportation issues. When we decide to go for school trips, it wont be a hustle hording other people to use public means.

-Francis Ndungu' s mother was very ill, but now she is out of danger. Beatrice Muthoni lost her mother early last month. Jacqueline Imam's uncle past on too while Jackton had taken her for home visit.

-A medical team came and visited and helped straighten out some of our health issues with the students, some were dental in nature and were handled, most were referrals written by the doctors on which we are following up with Philips' help.

-School uniforms have been tailored for our newest students, they were really excited on their first day of wearing, some of our newer kids have never been in an informal or formal school. So this is a first experience for them.
-Lighthouse Church helped prepare our kids for classes by giving each student a bag, two pencils, eraser and a sharpener. The made sue we would have enough, so the brought 100 to accommodate incoming students.
-There was a marathon organized for children homes, our students (girls - Cecilia) won some of the races. We are so proud of her.
-The boys soccer tournament is commencing so well. They are taking practices seriously. Jackton their coach puts them to practice most morning, especially on the weekends. Alex Atema as gone for training as a coach, he is the captain of the football team.
Caught a thief who was stealing our property, especially the timber that John was using to building the new church/chapel building. It is now a police case, and the releant authorities are handling it.
-Charles Kimani doing great, physically, his acute pains have stopped and he is back to his normal activity.
Edward Muhea, was attacked by chicken pox, but now has fully recovered, we had quarantined him, so he does not infect other boys. He has recovered fully.
-Exiting students are fairing on well, Mary Wambui has a job now, Jackline Njoki is currently working on her national Identity card, Mwanahawa is on attachment, John Dennis is in school studying Music Production, Isaac Jackson has been doing exams this week in college, he is doing computer engineering., Fredrick Otieno is still looking for a more comfortable place, but currently holds a job at a garage. Bernard Kariuki still on attachment on auto-mechanics, so is Luck Akinyi.
Sarah Aono and Fatuma still in search for placement.
Lets pull them in prayers as they discover life in Jesus.

-

Life at the girls' place

If you have never been in the middle of a war torn place,... if you ever want to have the feeling,... you should live with 23 teenage girls in a compound haha! However not every day is war day but I can say I have had my fair share of those. I have stayed with the girls since January and its the most rare and teaching experience I have ever had and all I can say is I am humbled by the experience.

A normal day at the girls quarters begins at 5:30 for the teacher on duty and 6;00am for the students where you have to wake them and this may mean heavy pounding on the door and or taking away the blankets from their covered faces and loudly but sweetly shouting wake up! Girls! Then its a round of duties and making of breakfast since the smart girls always know their specific duties for the day. Chapel is at 8;00 am and so by 7:30 am all the chores should be done and inspected and the girls can then finish off whatever else they want to do before we leave the girls place and always this period has to do with putting on make-up and looking good, of course they are teenage girls so dont forget. (we are a little self conscious haha! )

Once they leave for chapel a few minutes to 8:00 the gate is locked. There ends the morning at the girls place. Woe unto you if you are on duty and you forget to open the gate at exactly 5:30 pm in the evening after class otherwise you will have an army of lieutenants and generals and commanders ie girls looking for you because they have to go change for games at the boys place or do their washing trust me it is only at 5:30 that the girls become living alarm clocks and you can never be late.

So round two at the girls place involves them doing their laundry and the girls on kitchen duty preparing ingredients for making supper. Monday evening is study day,and so is Thursday and Friday, Tuesday is devotion day, Wednesday is TV day (their favorite) and Saturday and Sunday is a different program. Usually this can be a very peaceful time amid shouting and singing so long as no one decides to start up an argument of sorts.

How about you and I go on a virtual tour of a week at the girls:

Whoever is on duty whom we will call Teacher On Duty (TOD), gets a knock on the door or window and when you ask, Who is it?, the answer is always the same “Keys za kitchen” (keys to the kitchen)this is short for good morning TOD, I hope you had a good nights sleep I am so and so, may I have the keys to the kitchen.

And so TOD gets up and heads to the kitchen to hand out items for the morning chores and breakfast preparation. Once tea is ready whoever was on kitchen duty will call out.. “kujeni mkunywe chai” (come and take tea) and this is when you can be sure that we do have marathon runners in Kenya because all that is left outside are tools of work i.e brooms and dusters and settling dust as everyone whizzes past to go get breakfast.

After a noisy breakfast which will end well if no one missed their fair ration of slices of bread, everyone resumes their chores and those who are done hit the showers. At this time TOD can come back and take a quick shower and prepare for the day.

Then at exactly quarter to 8.00 TOD has to go round warning the girls that its almost leaving time an then its chaos unleashed “sina viatu” (I don't have shoes) “give me my blouse”...my blouse is wet.. “someone give me socks”” who has taken my eyeliner from here” just to give you a few of the choruses. And don't forget I said this is make up time so everyone is clustered at a mirror and if they cant get access to one, there is always one big one in our (Olive and Fiona)room. Girls will be girls right?

Finally the TOD will say... “get out! get out!” as she bundles them out of their dorms and locks up. Then they will have final inspection at the gate this entails looking at their uniform and general appearance and finally releasing them for chapel.

At 5.30 the girls place is functioning again I mean it has come alive, girls doing their laundry, others plaiting and making each others hair, others telling stories in their dorms laughter and playful screams and of course the occasional argument. Here are some of the titles for the arguments we have witnessed... ‘I want my socks back clean before tomorrow’, ‘who told you to sit on my bed’, ‘why are you staring at me funny’, ‘oh so you think you are better than me’..’don't talk to me like that’...and my personal favorite... ‘you eat too much’.

So TOD comes to give out supplies to those who need them this includes tissue paper, sanitary towels, bathing and washing soap, and toothpaste. TOD will also give out ingredients for the days evening meal so that those on kitchen duty can peel , chop grind cut whatever in order to cook it for our supper.

I know this may mean relaxing but you will never hand out supplies to all the girls at once just when you get to your room have kicked off your shoes and are about to fall on your bed and close your eyes for a second... “TOD come give me soap!!”. So naturally you ask why she wasn't with the others at the specified time to hand out supplies and then come the answers, “i was outside watering the plants” , “i didn't hear you call out”, “i forgot”, and my personal favorite, “i didn't know i needed it”.

This is also a case solving time and just so you know how our girls report cases..

Student: “ Fiona, please warn so and so for me, shes really looking for trouble, warn her,

warn her I tell you, before its too late”.

Fiona : “What has she done?”

Student : “Shes' always on my case

Fiona : What happened?

Student : I was minding my own business when she walked in and stood at the door. She Looked at me from head to toe and left. You tell her its not nice and i am not happy and its not fair and I am going to do the same so she can feel like I did.

And with this words the student leaves and you are left wondering how you helped solve the problem haha! Anyway, we have so much going on at the girls that I may need to write a series of novels but just so you know every day is a new day at the girls place. More next time from the girls place.

Fiona Ondara