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