Proud of Mauryn

Sorry I haven't written for a long time; I'm sure you really miss it and will hang on every word. I do appreciate anyone who reads what I write. This is a picture of Tim and Susie Neel from Midland, Texas (the Golf Course Road Church) along with our own George Mwenda, formerly from the streets. He has been with us for 2 1/2 years now and is studying computers in the skills training program. He is wearing a shirt they brought with them. The Golf Course Road Church sponsors a major World Bible School program in Kenya that is managed by our own Mauryn Mbuvi.

Mauryn is married to Francis Mbuvi, who is the administrator at Made in the Streets. They have two children, Jonathan and Jeremy.

We met Mauryn soon after our arrival in Kenya in 1992. Berkeley Hackett introduced us to her and let us know that she had no way to pay for school fees. She was in the 9th grade at the time. We paid her school fees at the boarding school in Western Kenya, and she became a member of the teenage teaching team we developed to go out to village churches and teach children on weekends. In 1993 we made 25 trips to various places in the country, and our teenagers became excellent teachers. We met Francis on the streets in 1994, and he soon became one of the teachers as well.

After Mauryn completed high school, we asked her what she wanted to do. Since I was director of the computer college (KCITI), she chose to study computers at home in Eastleigh. She completed that program in two years, and we once again asked what she wanted. By that time she wanted to work in the hotel industry; we helped her enrol in Utalii College in Nairobi which teaches catering, cooking and hotel management. After completing that, she got an internship in a hotel near Mombasa on the Kenyan coast. But after about two months there was severe ethnic fighting in the Mombasa area, many people were killed, and the tourists stopped coming. Many hotels closed for the season, and Mauryn was forced to return to Nairobi.

By that time I was involved with the World Bible School program, led by John DeFore, a member at Golf Course Road. GCR was also our sponsor for the three years 1998 to 2000. So I asked Mauryn to be my secretary and handle the WBS records and letters. She took over my office in our building behind KCITI. The street ministry was growing fast; Darlene and I were working with 9 young men and 2 young women. All the young men treated Mauryn like a sister, until one day in a Team meeting Darlene said to them, "Have any of you noticed Mauryn?" They all laughed, but a few days later we noticed some of them begin to stop in at the office, talking to Mauryn. In 1998, Darlene and I moved to an apartment down the street from KCITI, and we rented an extra apartment for the WBS office and for visitors to stay in. Again, we noticed that now and then young men would stop by and visit with Mauryn a few minutes. But it was Francis who made her laugh, and who brought flowers. We moved into our own building nearby in August, 1999.

It was not long until Mauryn was handling the relationship with Golf Course Road and developing the WBS ministry further and further. To shorten the story, she now manages more than 20 men who gather names for WBS and who work in churches around the country. And even greater, some of those men had great compassion for homeless children in the countryside, many of whose parents died from HIV infection. Golf Course Road has responded with compassion and support, and Mauryn and her team now operate several orphanages in various parts of the country. It is a great ministry that has marvelous potential. As I write this, Mauryn is on a trip to visit orphanages in Western Kenya with Tim and Susie. Last night, we had Francis over for dinner.

This family lives in our hearts.