Christmas in Kenya

Now that we have a president in the USA with a slight connection to Kenya, we also have more news correspondents in Kenya, and they need to find something to do.  So one of them has done a good service with an interesting and true-to-life article on Christmas in Kenya.  It's Edmund Sanders in the Dec 23 issue of the Los Angeles Times.  You can find it at www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-kenya-xmas23-2008dec23,0,2397369.story

Kenyans who live in Nairobi spend a lot of money going home for Christmas -- higher bus fares and other costs, but especially relatives in the country who expect their "rich" Nairobi relatives to bring gifts and cash home for Christmas.  This happens partly because those who go to Nairobi to seek a living don't report back home that they only got a security guard job at $60 a month and one-third to half of it goes for rent.  They continue to make it sound wonderful to live in Nairobi!  The truth is that about half the people of Nairobi live in the slum areas of Kibera, Mathare, Soweto, Korogocho and the many scattered but smaller slums around the city.  And more than half of the people don't get enough food every day.  And most of those who come to the city to seek riches can't get skilled labor jobs but must work at the lower income jobs.  

We are happy that Made in the Streets can give the street kids who live with us a better Christmas than many get -- each one has a bed, and enough food to eat, and an opportunity to visit some relatives at least once during the holidays, and Team members who truly love them, and literacy education and skills training and a shopping trip and other activities that normal families take together.  

Thanks to all those who help us do this, and Merry Christmas

Tolstoy Tells it True

Had a great night last night.  The granddaughters spent the night with us for the first time.  An evening of delights for grandparents!  We had popcorn, colored Littlest Pet Shop, made a snowman craft, sat in front of the fire, blew up the air bed for the girls, ate turkey and dressing dinner, and read Leo Tolstoy's The Three Questions.  All while the parents were out of town having dinner and a night on their own.  Makes me really glad God let me live this long.

The book we read is a children's adaptation of Tolstoy's original story.  In the story Nikolai gets his 3 questions answered:  1) when is the best thing to do something? 2) who is the most important one? and 3) what is the right thing to do?  The girls appreciated the story and remembered the 3 answers -- good lessons for them, and for all of us.  I recommend the story to you, in either version.  

More good news -- social security is giving me an increase for 2009 -- such a deal!  It's great to grow old in this time.

When you pray, please remember these

  1.  Our good friend Virda Stevens needs God's healing hand,

  2.  Another friend, Hugh Fraser, needs continued improvement,

  3.  Land issue at Made in the Streets isn't settled yet - should get final court ruling Thursday

  4.  One MITS student, Joseph Kamau, left us to go and help his aunt on her farm after his uncle died.

  5.  15 young people from the streets have taken government skills exams in November and December -- in auto mechanics, 8th grade exit exams, and sewing -- and 3 others finished training programs outside of MITS (hairdressing and cooking) -- pray for their success in finding work and living on their own.  Anastasia will go to a 'bridging' program for her journalism studies at Universal College.  

Thanks -- peace and joy, charles

Surprised by Joy

We came to Oxford, England, to visit friends posted here to teach by Abilene Christian University.  Darlene has read the Narnia stories by C. S. Lewis to all the street kids in our Kamulu program.  And this year we took all the kids and team to see Prince Caspian because two young girls in Thousand Oaks, California, gave their earnings and allowance and money from recycling to Made in the Streets so we could do something with the kids.  It was a great experience -- 75 of us went to the theater in Nairobi on a day when they gave away hot dogs, popcorn and a soda with the price of admission.  The kids loved it, and Francis Wahome told us afterwards that he did not drop even one grain of popcorn but ate it all.

We had no idea we would get to see all the C. S. Lewis memories.  Mel and Jan Hailey took us on a walking tour of Oxford.  We walked down to Magdalen College where Lewis taught.  And we went to his house and walked around the little lake and wildlife trail where he often walked, which must have been his inspiration for Ransom's walks in Out of the Silent Planet.  And we saw trees there that looked like the Ents in Tolkien's stories (Tolkien was a friend to Lewis).  We walked over to the Trinity Church where Lewis attended and saw his grave in the cemetery.  And finally we went out to eat at his favorite restuarant.  

Needless to say, this was a rich experience.  Lewis influenced me greatly with his wonderful arguments in Mere Christianity about the value of the coming of Christ into the world and about the moral teaching of the Bible.  I saw in That Hideous Strength the necessity of taking action when truth and hope and joy are threatened.  

I feel once again a sense of joy, a sense that I am blessed above all men, a sense that God thinks about me and remembers me and makes a way for me.  

May you find an unexpected joy today,

charles

Love is a House

A long time ago, when I was in University, I fell in love with stories, so I read all the short stories I could find and listened to storytellers.  A few I vividly remember, like "love is a house."  It was the English countryside, and every person lived alone there, each in his or her own small brick home, for there were only so many bricks, and there was room for no one else inside.  One day a cargo plane flew over and accidentally dropped a load of bricks, which landed on a man's house and smashed it.  When he patiently rebuilt his house, it was larger than before.  

He gathered some extra vegetables and fruit, and he went over the hill to where a woman lived in her small house.  He invited her over to eat with him.  She was reluctant, but finally she came. And they were both delighted.  

So the next day he went out hunting for more bricks, and he rebuilt his house again.  Then he went into the valley and found others to invite to his home.  Years later, after he married and raised his family and lay on his death bed, his son leaned close so he could hear the last words, "love is a house." 

And it's true.  We are delighted with the home we have.  Wednesday evening we invited half of our leadership Team (and wives/husbands) to our house for Christmas dinner (I know it's early, but Darlene likes to get started on Christmas!).  I cooked steaks and sausages and roasted corn upstairs on our rooftop patio.  It was great sitting up there talking to Jackton and Irene and Robin and Victor as we cooked.  After dinner we all went upstairs and talked about the moon and Venus and stars and meteorites and whether they might ever have gold and the trouble we've faced over Made in the Streets land.  We are all so glad that we have chosen a non-revenge and patience and let-justice-take-its-course and God-will-work-his-will course.  

And the next day John Wambu came over after his work of building on the new nursery school building and his visit to the Department of Lands, and we sat on the rooftop and talked and enjoyed our friendship.

And tonight Darlene and I went upstairs after dark and turned off all the lights and felt the strong wind blow and watched Orion rise in the East and a beautiful but quickly burned meteorite.  And we felt the peace of love.  

Merry Christmas from Darlene, and may your house be love.

Feeling Good and Bad

These days I mostly feel good.  We know that what we are doing is something that God wants done, for He himself visits the garbage dump to find the needy and lift them up and seat them among the great ones of his people (Psalm 113).  And we have such good kids; we have never known a teen group that thrills us like this one does.  This morning I taught my adult Bible class (to whom several of the teenagers come) at Kamulu -- actually I let a film do the teaching called "Peter and Paul".  Darlene and I left before 10 AM with 4 of our kids -- Ken Wabungu, Francis Wahome, Mercy Wanja and Jackie Njoki -- to visit the Kayole Church of Christ.  They invited the kids to sing two songs and me to preach.  It was a great visit. 

But I seem to always have something to feel bad about. And there were two things today.  Just before they served the Lord's Supper, the worship leader mentioned the Supper and the collection, and I thought, "Oh, no, I have no money."  I hate it when I don't have anything to give, so I had to apologize to the church and promise to get it to them later.  

Then I gave myself something else to feel bad about.  I had prepared a sermon on the book of Hosea, and I wanted to present it not as an analysis but as the book itself is written.  And I wanted to make some practical application.  I forgot that I would need to have a translator -- I didn't trust myself to do the Swahili on some of the passages.  But translating means that it takes longer -- so I ended up preaching for 45 minutes, which is also something to make me feel bad.  I didn't apologize for that, except to the 4 kids and Darlene on the way home.  

This is the nature of life -- that we live in the midst of the good and the bad.  It is, I suppose, a product of Eden, of eating the fruit that is forbidden to the pure in heart.  So our hearts, or at least mine, can never be fully clean and pure, without blemish.  

It makes Romans 7 a really important word for life.  "Who can save me from this dilemma, where I want to do good but find myself doing bad?"  And the answer lies in Jesus!  So the slogan some people laughter at (what is the question? ha-ha) really has truth in it:  Jesus is the Answer! 

By the way, I think our kids are starting to think that Darlene is strange.   Of course, lots of our "mzungu" (foreigner) ways are strange to them.  Today we had the two girls come to our house for lunch since we were late (after the preacher talked too long) and the girls did not save them any food.  We sat down to make sandwiches, then we found out that neither of them had ever eaten a sandwich!  I showed them what I do -- I put mustard and Miracle Whip on bread, then got a slice of ham, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, put it all together and cut it.  They were looking at my work strangely, so Darlene said to them, "Would you like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich," to which they both quickly said, "Yes."  I think they thought the meat was raw, and they never eat raw veggies, unless it's a carrot.  Anyway, they enjoyed the peanut butter, and the orange soda, and each took an apple and went off to their Sunday afternoon Bible class.

  But the reason they think Darlene is strange is that she goes around wearing a chameleon; she even carried one around while she was videotaping the wedding.  Abdi Isaac catches them and gives them to her, but most people think they are poisonous and are a lot like snakes!  Here is is with her little pet, which she set free in the back yard, and it disappeared.

                                                           

Learning New Things

Each day I seem to learn something new.  Today it is about RICE.  I'm trying to figure out how our kids can eat at the wedding of Laurent and Eliza Saturday.  Most weddings in Kenya cost $4,000 or more, and we're trying to do this one on only a little more than $1,000.  So...I told the kids this morning, that after the wedding ceremony, they would need to go to their dorms and prepare their lunch there instead of eating at the Learning Center, since it would be for the wedding.  Of course they were disappointed.  

I found out that Laurent (who is a chef himself, so he has planned the menu for the wedding) plans to have rice and beef stew and some other things.  So I sat down with Milly and asked her what they had planned to eat on Saturday, and she said, "rice and beans."  That sounded good, so I asked if we could use the rice she had, then I could add some meat and something else and we could ask Laurent if the kids could join us.  And Milly said, "I don't know; they may not work.  We are using Pakistani rice."  I looked kind of blank, so she explained that when people pilau, they usually use Pishori rice, since the Pakistani gets kind of sticky and the Pishori gets fluffier and is a larger volume.  Wow!  There are so many things I don't know anything about.

Laurent and Eliza came later in the day to plan the wedding, and I asked about the rice.  Laurent said they had Pishori rice (of course!).  When I mentioned the kids, he said, "We couldn't leave them out.  We have 25 kilo of rice, so we have enough for everyone."  I could have just stayed out of the picture and said nothing to the kids, but of course then I would not have learned anything about rice.  Anyway, now the kids are happy.  

Darlene came home from the ladies' Bible study while I was talking to Laurent and Eliza, and then 6 of the girls stopped by because they want to help with the wedding cakes, which Darlene is preparing.  The best price Laurent could find for a wedding cake was about $400 -- a small one.  So Darlene has borrowed and bought circular pans.  The girls were thrilled to look at the dress and to know they would eat at the wedding. 

Laurent and Eliza left because they have to catch public transport back to their apartment, and they need to get home before dark.  I walked out with them and we met John Wambu, who was supervising men who are digging out the black cotton (Louisiana gumbo type) soil for our driveway, and a group of women had come over to look at the house Francis and Maureen are building nearby (I have given house plots to team members who intend to stay with Made in the Streets for a long time), so we saw lots of people on the way.  

The girls stayed and swept and mopped our floor, while some of them mixed cakes with Darlene.  They had a good time.  It's great to have a house where the teenagers can come and spend time with us.  

And it's good to know about rice!

Christmas is Coming - Happy Thanksgiving

We are only thinking about Thanksgiving because we are thinking about people who will read the blog.  If you mention Thanksgiving in Kenya, you get a blank look.  But I can tell that Christmas is coming.  For one thing, Darlene has her mind on it.  There is a stocking hanging close to my desk, and a small Christmas tree set up in the living room.  And I can tell out on the highway too, that it is near the end of the month and that Christmas is coming.  In the newspaper today is a short article noting that passengers in public transport are unhappy that there are 8 police checks in a 10 kilometer stretch on the Mombasa highway.  And driving into town this week we went through 3 checks in about 3 miles.  

If you have a little extra money as you go out to buy Christmas presents, you could send it to Made in the Streets, 409 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN, 37027, so we can give a very merry Christmas to our street kids at Eastleigh and Kamulu.  Thanks!  

We are very busy at Made in the Streets -- building the new "First Steps" building for nursery school kids, finishing renovation at the girls' center, getting ready to open the cooking school in our skills training (the Connor Brown building at the 20 acres), preparing school uniforms in our tailoring and opening the new shop to sell uniforms, planning for the December time with our students at Kamulu, getting end of year taxes and land rates paid, searching for new street kids to admit to the Kamulu program, helping several students exit from MITS into jobs and housing in Nairobi, and the daily life of English, Bible and Math classes, building up the farm and learning how to relate to one another and prepare for a successful life.  

And it is all good -- what a blessing to have these young people in our lives and to encourage them to grow and become strong and beautiful and confident in the Lord. 

Open House

Yesterday was a happy day at the Coulston's new house.  We own 4 acres of land about 400 yards from the girls' center at Kamulu.  From 2002 until last month we lived in our apartment at the girls' center, but now we are in our new place on one of our acres.  And we had open house, inviting all the team and students at MITS and everyone at church to come over.  After morning worship we started preparing food -- Charles popped 13 batches of popcorn and Darlene cooked 6 pounds of "bitings" -- small pieces of beef skewered on toothpicks.  We put out several pounds of cookies, made 6 gallons of punch, set out 124 sodas - and Darlene baked 5 cakes.  

More than 100 people came and spent the afternoon with us -- the students went up on the garage roof (our rooftop patio where we can watch sunsets and stars) where there were popcorn and sodas.  They went through all the popcorn in about 5 minutes.  The adults and little kids stayed in the living room (the kitchen, dining and living rooms are all one big room, built without trusses).  For the first time since we started working with street kids, we had food left over -- maybe a quarter pound of bitings and 2 gallons of juice.  

We feel good at having a home where we can have people come in to visit.  It's also good having two extra bedrooms so people can stay with us -- already we had Bill Smith and Bob Brannon stay and after them Fielden and Janet Allison.  

We have planted lots of stuff inside and outside the fence -- bananas, mango and avocado trees, mulberry, roses, cannas, hibiscus, passion fruit and other climbers.  Plus Kikuyu grass in the yard.  So we have good things to look forward to.  

We especially look forward to seeing some of you on our next visit to the USA -- we will be available January through March -- so please invite us to visit your congregation and talk more about street ministry and the future of MITS.  As always, we will need to raise funds -- we continue to have more kids on the streets and will be doing another intake this year. 

peace and joy, charles and darlene

Our African Home

Darlene and I have 3 homes -- not as many as some candidates, but enough for us.  One is a promised home, a place in God's eternal family.  And we also feel at home in the USA, in California, where old friends and familiar places are.  And of course Nairobi, with street kids and the MITS Team.  From 1998 to 2002 we stayed in Eastleigh, down the street from our street kids' center, in an apartment building that slowly became an almost totally Somali enclave.  Down our stairs and the next building over was a camel butchery. When they butchered a camel, they put the head in the doorway so people could see how fresh the meat was.  After a few days the flies and the warm sun made it a little less appetizing.  It was great to be close to the street kids and the Team in Eastleigh; many was the time Team members came in the middle of the night to borrow our car to take an injured street kid to the hospital.  They would usually clean it up good, but eventually a number of blood stains became part of the car.  

Then  in September 2002 we moved out to Kamulu, where we had built a center for street girls on an acre that we owned.  We added a room in the girls' center and lived there until two weeks ago.  It was also great being with the girls -- Kamulu has fresh air, we came to know the Drumvale Farmers Cooperative and received rights to the land that MITS now uses for ministry and education and skills training and the farm.  And the girls came over at all hours -- with a cut finger needing a bandaid and antibiotic, with a headache, or a heartache, with something the girls' leaders had trouble handling, with a desire to earn a little bit of money.  

Two weeks ago we moved into a house we have built on another acre that we own.  Instead of the two rooms at the girls, we now have a spacious bathroom, a bedroom, a very spacious combo kitchen, dining and living room, and two guest bedrooms (1,799 square feet, counting the garage).  And we have planted bananas, hibiscus, roses, mango and avocado and orange and mulberry trees, passion fruit and cape honeysuckle and other climbers.  We have a garage for the car (our 1989 Toyota), which we had repainted last week, and on the roof of the garage is a patio for sunset and star watching and coffee-drinking.  And it's quiet and private, a real change in our lives.  We felt a desire for this and are glad to have this change (maybe it's from being 65 and getting social security -- how much does that change a person?).  

It's a sign that we are even closer to fulfilling our desire to have the Kenyan Team take over all the responsibilities of the ministry -- administration, student affairs, loving the kids, teaching, first aid, skills training, developing new team members, holding close together in a pleasant working relationship -- all those things that make the ministry work.

We are far from a perfect ministry, maybe even far from a good one.  We need more work on our farm -- to get to zero-tilling our irrigation areas, to intensify our production, to get a full crop rotation program going.  We need more work on our businesses -- to get the cafe running again, to learn how to market our sewing and wood products in a continuous manner, to set up a more professional salon, and so on. 

Our best works are the Eastleigh ministry on the streets, the literacy education, production in sewing and woodworking, development of the infrastructure in buildings and the staff, and the congregation that meets at our learning center.  And maybe the best of all is seen in the morale and attitude and quality of the kids who have come from the streets and live at Kamulu -- our Team is doing a truly amazing work with them.  We see the signs of God's work among us. 

Anyway, Darlene and I are happy with this house.  My "office" is now a corner of the living room, and Darlene has her desk in the opposite corner, looking into the back yard.  And over in the kitchen corner sits a large bunch of Kampala bananas, which was taken off one of our many banana trees here at Kamulu.  And yesterday Joseph Kamau (ask me to tell you his story some day, and don't be squeamish) asked me to baptize him in the Indian Ocean at Malindi on our trip to the Coast.  And he said he won't be Kamau any more -- he wants his new name from God -- call me Joseph, he says.  So I will.

peace and joy, charles

A Fuller Tribute

As with most other folk, we have had lots of people in our lives. Many of those people have left tracks in our hearts, memories and pictures in the mind. Walt Fuller left a picture of Daybreak Camp, standing beside the old blue car with the flag painted on it. He came as representative of Pepperdine University to spend a week at camp with us as a counselor. What great times we had at camp with kids and teens. We always used teenagers as counselors in the youth camps, with an occasional token university student. Then Walt and Jenny married and came to Redwood City to live, and we saw their love and enjoyed them, Walt comfortable and Jenny purposeful. The years passed, and Kelly, Casey and Kristi grew, captivating and strong. When Simi Church of Christ sponsored us in street ministry, they were there. The last one we have seen is Kelly; she was at Pepperdine, and it was before her marriage. We are better for knowing all of them. I'd like to give a fuller tribute, but I never have the words to say the joy of the tracks left in our lives by friends.

Hollyhock Memories

Likely there are lots of people who do not know what a hollyhock is. But we grew them in Oklahoma. I remember that they were Mom's favorite flowers. Our old clapboard house wasn't much to look at, surrounded by farm land and a chicken house on one side, and a brooder house for baby chicks on the other, with a woodpile in between for the woodburning stove. The cellar was behind the house, a place where Mom stored canned goods and where we feared to go when the tornadoes came, because there might be scorpions or snakes down there. An old chinaberry sat determinedly near the front porch. Mom had tried to cut it out and my brother and I helped because Dad's favorite switching stick was a limber green limb from that tree.

Mom planted hollyhocks all across the front of the house and the sides - yellow and pink and white and something nearly red. I had no idea it would create such a vivid and lasting memory for me. What I seem to remember best from my childhood are the things my mother loved.

She loved the poor family down the road, the Ballards who lived in a rented house and had even less than we did.
She loved the church and worked hard for her kindergarten class - for 23 years.
She loved every hollyhock.

Today I was rereading the little jewel Safed the Sage by William Barton. He also loved hollyhocks and planted them each place where he lived, moving about now and then as preachers often did. Hollyhocks I Transplanted is a great little treatise on suffering in God's plan. And his story in which spring has come because you can anticipate it in the seeds from the mail order store is a lifter of the spirit. Reading his book made me think of Mom again. I often go for months without strong memories of Mom, but when I do remember I feel the pain of losing her. I'm 7 years older than she was when she died. I have no regrets, for her life was good, even with the suffering. But I do wish she had been given more time with my daughter, for I treasured the moments I saw them together.

Ah, well, as Safed says, now the hollyhocks rest secure in their bed hard by the house of God.

Rest in peace, charles

Things Go Wrong

Things go wrong even on wonderful days. Yesterday the Team of Made in the Streets went to the Eastleigh slum to visit the "bases" where street kids sleep. It's a great time that kids who sleep on the streets really enjoy; they experience the care the Team has for them. And those of us who stayed at Kamulu with the street kids who are now our students also had a great time, experiencing once again what a great group of kids we have now. Reading books and playing games and sharing lunch and writing letters -- it's all a great experience.

And our construction projects are coming along well. Darlene and I are building our own home on a piece of land we own near the girls' center; the trusses and stringers went up yesterday. And the John Connor Brown Memorial Training Facility, where we will teach hairdressing and cooking, is nearing completion. There are so many good things in our lives and ministry.

But things still go wrong. We have been getting ready for the Conejo Valley Church in Thousand Oaks, CA, to visit, and they arrived last night. We had a toilet to repair in the women's guest quarters, and John Wambu and I turned off the water to the girls' center and removed the toilet so he could repair it. And of course I misplaced my glasses -- this happens every day (I think it's a sign of my age), and I went into the guest quarters to look for them. Now the kids had finished lunch and were doing some work on the farm, watering banana trees and pulling weeds and such, and they were working behind the girls' center. Of course no one admitted turning on the water valve at the back of the compound, but when I walked into the guest quarters, it was a flood, and water was spurting out of the open pipe where the toilet had been. I had to hold the end of the pipe, and I felt like the Dutch boy as I yelled at the kids outside. No one seemed to know where the valve was, and one of the farm workers ran all the way to the boys' center to turn off the water from the main tanks. Good thing I have a cell phone; I called John, and he came back from working on the toilet (with his one leg!) and turned it off.

Then I was called out by Joel and a couple of the church members. Samuel Mburu, a member of the church who was taught in World Bible School, had fallen off a donkey, who got spooked and turned the cart over, which crushed Samuel's leg; The bone above the ankle was sticking out. Joel took our car and I gave him some money to rush Samuel to the hospital. Upon getting there, Samuel and Joel and the family waited for hours while getting the runaround. Of course the national hospital is always very busy. Samuel was in great pain, but was finally tended to in the middle of the night.

We have been beautifying some of the property, and we have 4 of our older boys painting at the boys' center. They have used up 40 liters of white paint and 8 liters of cream. Darlene and I went up to the boys' center to lock up the guest quarters there, where we had painted the bathroom and touched up the room and door. The place looks great. But it started raining, and it's about half a mile home. We were soaked when we got home, but it's not so bad, since we love the rain, and at this time of year, the rain is welcome.

But that also meant we didn't get to go over to see Susie, a 9 year old whose birthday was yesterday. We had a present and some goodies to eat for her, but the rain prevented it. She was disappointed.

So bad things happen on good days. It is part of the life that God has given us. We are to remember that it is not this life that is permanent. We are not to get too comfortable in this world, but to remember that this world is not our home. Bad things happen on good days to remind us that our trust is in the unseen, the God who sees us.

Can we learn to rejoice even as the bad things are happening?

Who are these kids? Everybody in Nairobi thinks they know what street kids look like, and they believe the kids cannot change, but are menaces, thieves, liars, trouble...it is amazing how well they clean up. We spent the day today with a group who came off the streets, some as late as this year. We went to the movie at Village Market, an upscale shopping center near the American Embassy and the United Nations complex.

In the past few weeks, Darlene and Philip Kariuki have read the Chronicles of Narnia to all the kids, and some of our Team members have read them. We told them that everyone who read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian in the past two months would be treated to the movie. Seven of the Team members read them, and five went to the movie. Ben Mwami had to go and pick up 100 baby chicks today, so he couldn't go (we'll get him there later). And Joel will go next week with the moms and the Team members at Eastleigh. 52 of us went today.

The theater gives away a soda, a hot dog and popcorn on Mondays with regular admission price, and the kids loved that. Since Mercy doesn't eat oil, they gave her a Mars bar instead of a hot dog, and she gave her popcorn away. Darlene told Philip she thought he has been doing a great job as a teacher and leader, so she gave him all her food. I told Scholastica that I appreciate her diligence as a student and gave her my hot dog, then I gave Jackton my soda and congratulated him on good work in the sewing plant, and I gave my popcorn to Ken Wabungu, who has been a great young person at Kamulu.

And during the movie they were so quiet, truly enjoying "seeing" the book they have read. They laughed at Reepicheep, and they reacted to the first roar of Aslan. And their behavior was exemplary; they even carried their trash out of the theater to the bins outside. I can't believe how great it is to be out somewhere with a 45-member youth group like this!!! Absolutely amazing and marvelous! My heart's desire is to know these kids all their lives, just like I want to be in the granddaughter's lives for always.

Thanks, Jesus, for the kindness you show me.

How Quickly We Forget

Those of us involved in street ministry are doing this work, not because of the pay, but because we care about children and teenagers who have no choice but to sleep in alleyways and under kiosks. We have walked the streets of Eastleigh and the warren of one-room shacks in Mathare Valley, and we have talked with the kids whose stories break our hearts. There is Caro, who was beaten unmercifully by her mother's boyfriend, and so she fled to the streets. There is Ken, whose Dad had died, who watched his uncle cut up his grandfather in a disputer over the farm -- he was unable to concentrate in school and there was no food, so he left and went to the streets. There is Titus, who at 11 was always in a stupor from huffing glue, but who always wanted to please.

But how quickly we forget. Many of us now stay at the Kamulu Centre, where we house the street kids who have come off the streets to us, ones whom we believe God has called to himself. They are clean and dressed, and we feed them and each one has a bed of his/her own, and they love the English and Bible and Math classes, and some of them are training for the Primary Education 8th Grade Exam in December, and our life together is great. And so we forget what it is like on the streets.

So Francis Mbuvi, our administrator, decided that the Team should return to the streets. Every other Friday almost all the Team will spend the day in Eastleigh, going to Bases and visiting with the kids and youth. Last Friday they went, while Darlene and Francis taught the kids at Kamulu. Ben Mwami reported, "I haven't been back to the streets since our training two years ago. It was so good to be reminded. And as we crossed a street, we say a baby that had been left out and run over by a car. That baby didn't have a chance, but our kids here at Kamulu have a chance." Abraham, who is usually quiet in our meetings, spoke up twice as they talked about the experience. Robin reported that when he goes into Eastleigh to visit his parents, he usually avoids going by the bases because it is so uncomfortable for him. But he was glad that Friday he went, and many of the kids at the bases said, "Why haven't you come back? Are you avoiding us?"

How quickly we forget the needs that surround us, because we can go and get our lattes and have outings with our kids and enjoy the good life that prosperity brings. Is today a day to remember, and to embrace the uncomfortable?

Keep remembering...and peace to you...charles

Days of Stress

We have always lived with stress. Some of it is good, for it helps us be focused and alert. But there has always been stress that hurts the heart and the soul, the kind that makes us be unkind to those we love and eventually damages our bodies.

My stress used to be about what others thought of me, or about getting my work done satisfactorily. Nowadays it most often has to do with computers and the internet. When you are using a computer, a cell phone, a local internet service, and the world wide web -- there are many things that can go wrong. I often start thinking it is me, or that the world is arrayed against me, and stress levels go up.

With me that's especially bad, because sugar levels go up with the stress. And my stress levels affect Darlene as well.

So...what to do? Breathe deeply, remember that everybody out there wants it to work well not just me, thing of good things, mentally relax my body and feelings -- lots of good things to try, but it isn't easy. I know a couple of preachers who have never gotten involved with computers; they don't have this stress. That's one answer, but the days of cell phones and the internet have made life so much better for communication and for feeling as if we are in touch.

What do you do when stress levels get too high? Write me at crc@swiftkenya.com if you have found a good answer when sitting at the computer!

have a stress-free day,
charles

Prayer Life

Many of my life is made up of realities that I can do nothing about, at least not on my own. That leads me to prayer. And since Jesus prayed for disciples, and he prayed for power and he prayed for protection, it makes sense to me to pray also. Many of my prayers are about the smaller things of life, but I've been thinking lately about some things that affect everyone. So...here's a short list of big prayers.

1. "Of the making of books there is no end." 1000s of books will be written this year, and people still read them, or at least read summaries. I want to pray that this year some really good books that will guide and improve and inspire and lift up people to higher thoughts and dreams and behavior. God, please lead some people to give us a few great books.

2. this is the age of inventions. 100s of incredible inventions have occurred in my short 64 years. And some are world-changing, like the cell phone. It has dramatically changed the lives of missionaries and teenagers, businesspeople and drivers. Here's my prayer: "Lord, help the church to learn to use the cell phone to bless the world."

3. For long ages, humans have looked up to the sun and moon and stars and dreamed and desired and even decided. Now space exploration has begun, and the telescopes look a long ways, and there's a little black hole in the Milky Way Galaxy with more mass than the sun. In an ever-expanding universe, and new explanations of our place in it, may space exploration lead to deeper faith.

4. Studies in the ancient world have shown how very diverse religion was when Jesus came into the world. And the church was a place of diversity from the beginning. It is even more apparent and more emphasized in our own age. Here's the prayer: that diversity in religion will cause a desire for God to grow and lead to a great search for truth.

May your prayers and your thoughts encompass the great and the small.

Musings of a Troubled Soul

There are days in my life when I am most conscious of failure. Fear of failure does not stop me from trying to accomplish what I want to do or what seems right, but failing troubles my soul.

We have scheduled a series of fund-raisers for special projects for Made in the Streets, and we want to bring some young people who have lived on the streets to share their message with our friends. We have received the news that the US Embassy has denied Caroline Wanjiru a visa to come to the US for April. We also want to bring Anthony Owino over, and we think that if they denied Caroline, they will likely deny Anthony as well. The official told her that she did not have adequate documentation that showed she would return to Kenya. I'm sure that the Embassy official was doing the best he or she could to serve American interests. They do need to be fully convinced that the applicant will return to Kenya.

My thought is that I have failed the ministry and the young people. From a distance I can't know what occurred and why the embassy official denied the visa. I do know that life is difficult for young people who grow up in desperate poverty, and especially those who suffer from life on the streets. They have a poverty mindset, which does not comprehend how the more affluent think and how they make decisions. And it is hard for them to raise their eyes to people in authority who will make a decision that affects them. Whatever happened, it's clear that Caroline could not convince the official that she is legitimate. That means we have not prepared our young people well enough and given them the tools and outlook that enables them to deal with people with a different mindset.

Now I have to decide how to deal with failure. It is our task to search for new ways to train young people, to make them capable of dealing with people who MANAGE relationships and decisions. The mindset of the poor is to fight over relationships and to submit to decisions by authority.

This troubled soul must also remember that he serves the will of God, and he does not even comprehend what He may be planning to accomplish in all relationships and needs.

And anyway, what is to be done about failure but to search out ways to do better next time? There are better ways to train young people, and by grace we will find them.

Justice and Humility

How does one think about justice and getting one's rights? How does one practice the humility that Christ requires?

In the recent election in Kenya, the strongest opposition party claims that the election was rigged at the last minute in favor of the incumbent. It is important for Kenya to know whether that is true and to find a way to solve the problem that moves the country forward. Forward meaning success in integrating with the outside world and reducing corruption and raising the level of integrity and optimism in the country.

But what does the opposition leader do? To resist the announced results, he must call for protests and put pressure on the government. On an individual level, Jesus calls on his people to practice humility, to accept insults and rejection and bad treatment and respond with love and peace and good will and good treatment of enemies. We understand that and can find ways to practice it. We swallow our pride, accept setbacks and continue with our lives.

What do you do on a national level? Do you practice humility, or do you pressure the government to make changes that will be good for the whole country? It may mean disruptions, riots, police action and suffering for many. The past practice of America has been to be willing to take military and police action to change the world or to hold what is regarded as evil at bay so that it does not take over.

And what does a government do when threatened by opposition? Does it respond with police action and put down protest, or does it allow protest and marches even at the risk of greater unrest?

I would enjoy hearing what our friends think about these issues. My email is charles.coulston@made-in-the-streets.org

From the point of view of Made in the Streets itself, humility is ever our goal. We do not seek to affect government or society in any way; we seek to change the lives of individual street kids - to bring them hope and opportunity - to help them develop spiritually and socially -- to enable them to work and make life better for themselves. As individuals and as a ministry, we seek to accept what comes to us in life and make a difference at the same time.

May all that comes your way to pleasant, and if not, may you find a way through it that brings joy.

Unrest in Kenya

We are sad at any event that creates more trouble for street kids. The unrest at the end of the election in Kenya has led to local riots in several places in Kenya. We are grateful that our center in Kamulu (at the eastern edge of Nairobi, 20 miles from downtown) is isolated enough that there is little likelihood of problems there. What our street kids worry about are their relatives who are in Huruma or Mathare Valley.

It hurts me that Darlene and I are not in Nairobi to go through this with our Team and kids. We love them very much. Life is short, humans are like grass, but our lives mean something when we risk ourselves in order to do good and to work God's will. We know that God wants the street ministry, that it fulfills what Jesus appreciates and wants in the world, and that there are kids on the streets whom God is calling to himself.

God can be trusted to have us in his plan. God can be trusted to keep our hearts and souls safe in Jesus. God can be trusted. So we have peace in this New Year.

Be blessed in the New Year,

charles and darlene