Goodbye and Hello

Darlene and I, along with Jackton Omondi, Joel Njue, Victor Otieno and Robin Ndunda (all Team members at MITS) went to the Eastleigh Church at KCITI to say "goodbye" to Berkeley Hackett. Berkeley was one of the key people in getting KCITI and the Eastleigh Church off the ground.  He and Charlotte raised much of the funds for KCITI in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s.  After my four years as Director of KCITI, Berkeley continued as Director until Lydia Wanjiku was appointed in 2010.

It was sobering to say goodbye to someone less than 2 years older than I am, and someone with whom I worked so closely.  I mentioned in the previous post that Berkeley is the one who invited us to move to Nairobi.  There is another really helpful thing he did for me.  When it came time for Made in the Streets to leave the KCITI campus, due to overcrowding -- the industrial training was growing, the street ministry was growing and the church had a Sunday school of about 350 -- Berkeley was willing for us to stay on campus until MITS got its own building to work out of.  So he let us stay for more than 3 years after I resigned as Director and began full-time street ministry.  That was a great gift.  There was pressure on him to have us leave quicker, but he quietly let us stay much longer than some wanted.  By the time we moved out in March 1999, we already had a contract to buy a building and friends in the USA had already committed the purchase funds.  All that made saying goodbye a moment both for sadness and gratitude.

We met Charlotte for a short time.  She is doing well, confident of Berkeley's relationship to God and the happy life he now has, at home with the Lord.

And a wonderful thing about a funeral is the people you get to see!  There must have been at least 50 former students in the computer and electronics program from when I was Director. And we saw more than 30 of the youth group we led from 1992 to 1996.  And lots of the kids from the Sunday school who are all grown up now.  Plus several former staff members at KCITI who have moved on to other jobs.  Sammy Gitau was there -- he is the first street kid we ever met, and the one who brought so many more to us, including Francis Mbuvi, our MITS Administrator.  Sammy is now working in several slums in Nairobi as a community development person.  He has gone from living on the streets in 1992 to having his Master's Degree in Community Service and he has begun work on a doctorate.  What a Treasure!!!

Here is a picture of Sammy hugging Darlene.  

And we saw some of the women whom Tony Mauldin helped go to the USA to play college basketball.  There were 2 sisters, Maureen and Mercy, so I was asked to perform Maureen's wedding in June, after which she and her husband will go back to Texas.  And another former teacher at KCITI sent us a resume as she is looking for work.  I saw several people who have become preachers; I am really pleased about those guys.

Another special thing was that we sat behind a girl who was working for Good News Publishing International, who were asked to video the funeral.  She had on a black T-shirt with "Crew" on the back.  It was our own Anastacia Njoki, who completed our program in 2009, got an internship with GNPI, then a full-time job.  We have some really good kids who come through MITS.

So...a day to treasure!

Sorrow with Memories

I have felt sad for the last couple of days.  And I have been filled with memories of our early years in Nairobi.  John Wambu, who handles all our property matters and construction, went to Eastleigh Monday to do emergency repairs on our Center there.  The rains - and it is raining as I write this - have been great this year, but that means leaks and damage to buildings that were put up in 1937 (like our Eastleigh Center - we have a title that was granted by King George III).  While there he talked to an old friend whom I hired as a guard when I was Principal at KCITI.  Then John called me to tell me that Berkeley Hackett has died.  I felt great pain at the loss, especially of a friend who is only 3 years older than I am.  And I thought of the loss that many churches will feel, and especially the Eastleigh Church and the staff at KCITI (Kenya Christian Industrial Training Institute was the dream of missionaries in Kenya, and especially of Berkeley, who wanted to see a school and a church that would serve many Kenyans. The end result was the brainchild of Bill Stevens and Bob West of California, who gave computers and electronic equipment and came up with the initial scheme for courses).  The Hacketts came to Kenya in 1970 and committed themselves for the duration.

Immediately I was flooded with memories - of the breakfasts and lunches Darlene and I had with Berkeley and Charlotte, of the rapid growth of KCITI, of the occasional problems of staffing we had to deal with, of the Bible courses we wrote, of the development of an administrative structure for the school, and much more.

Darlene and I were very involved with teenagers and with Sunday school, and that led to street children coming to the building.  As we became more involved with them and an outreach program began, it became obvious to me that I could not do both things well. So I left the administration of KCITI and began full-time work with street kids.  Berkeley was gracious and allowed us to continue the street ministry on the campus for almost three years.  The street ministry grew and KCITI continued to grow, and finally it was not possible to have a college, a congregation and a street ministry together.  So we moved down the street. After that we did not see one another very much, even though we are in the same section of the city.  There is always plenty of work for a missionary.

I feel gratitude to Berkeley - especially for 2 things.  The first is that he and Charlotte are the ones who invited us to move to Nairobi to live.  I doubt we would have made the decision if they had not invited us.  And that has made all the difference to our lives, for I found my heart's desire in Nairobi, among the street kids.

The second is that he introduced me to Maureen Nduku.  She was in the ninth grade at the time, and the family did not have school fees.  One Sunday morning Berkeley and I walked in front of the church building (and chapel) and I met Maureen.  From then Darlene and I paid school fees.  She became a teacher in our evangelistic youth group, and she went on to be a teacher of street girls when that program started (she still goes to Eastleigh on Monday mornings to teach street girls).  And the day came when I did the wedding for Maureen and Francis Mbuvi, who is now our administrator at MITS. It was a little like marrying my own son and daughter!!  

Maureen has done great things for the Kingdom.  She oversees the Kenyan end of a large World Bible School program that John DeFore and others at Golf Course Road church in Midland, TX, support.  She oversees several orphanages which are supported by members at Golf Course.  And they also have feeding centers where poor grandmothers who care for grandchildren come for food.  Many evangelists look to Maureen for guidance.

I would not have met Maureen if Berkeley had not cared for her and wanted someone to pay her school fees.  Of course God is able to do what He wants in many ways, but in face he chose to work through Berkeley, and us and Maureen to accomplish a great work in Kenya.  So I am grateful.