Back at Made in the Streets

Darlene and I arrived in Nairobi this week.  As always, there is much to do, and yet if we did nothing, this ministry would be a blessing.  We have visited with the kids, and they seem very happy, a good sign that our Team is doing good work.  We have 13 really industrious kids now who are on the Fast Track program -- they will take the 8th grade exit exams in December -- and they still keep up their chores, their skills training, farm work and life in the church.  These are kids who have had very little formal education, and we give them our basic literacy course, then set them on a study course to prepare for one year for the exams.  

  It has been very dry in Kamulu area for the whole year, but we have crops growing, thanks to our drip line irrigation system and the well.  The new equipment that came in the container - thank you, everyone - is working well: the tractor, the woodworking equipment and the sewing machines.  

  Our students are wearing uniforms with pride, and the sewing factory continues to develop, with two good contracts for uniforms.  In years to come, this will develop as a strong force in the ministry.  We have a new auto mechanics' teacher, who is working on probation for now.  Joel Njue and Irene Akinyi continue University studies in Business and Counseling, respectively.  

                                                                                       

 Take a look at the blog produced by the Team for the prize-giving day!  Great uplift for the students.  That blog is www.made-in-the-streets.blogspot.com   Moses Okoth (our technology guy and computer teacher) tells us that Alex Atemai is brilliant. His sponsors in Cedar Rapids, IA, and Mount Vernon, IA, will be happy to know that!

May you be as happy as I am when you look at your co-workers and those whom you teach!

The Children of Passover

Our family has been doing a Seder Passover service with family and friends for many years.  Over the years Darlene has developed an enjoyable, concise and meaningful Seder based on the joy we have in Jesus the Christ.  Now our grandchildren are part of the event, along with other families with children.  We had a great time this year with 10 adults and 13 girls. 

We sing the song "dayenu" (it would have been enough) and invite anyone to share what God has done in our lives "that would have been enough" if that were all that God had ever done for us.  One of our 6-year-olds raised her hand to say "if God had only given me faith," then later raised her hand again to say "if God only gave us the Holy Spirit."  We sang the "dayenu" after each person and enjoyed it much.  

After everyone had gone home, I walked home with the grandchildren and our daughter.  I held this granddaughter's hand and walked along talking about the stars and Orion and the moon.  Then she began to talk theology, all about Jesus and what God has done and how he made California and it was for us and about God's love and Jesus dying to help us.  She chattered all the way home.  There are few things finer in the world than listening to a grandchild get her theology straight.  I complimented her on the wisdom of saying that "faith is enough" and she said, "of course (I am your granddaughter)" -- and went on to talk some more about how smart God is.

In Honor of Street Youth

Darlene and I spent the weekend in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  Great "Poetry and Coffee Night" with the Central Church -- dessert, coffee, original poetry -- lots of fun and fundraising! Here is my poem, written as I thought about the pathos and pain involved with sleeping on the streets.

SHADOW PLAY

Shadows play on darkened alleyway

As boys gather at end of day

A shadow propped like a scene from the manger

Cut deep from bottle broken in anger

His story legion, abandoned one

Has not enjoyed childhood fun.

Once he was home, a child desired

New wife said no, Dad was tired,

Blind to the deeds of his mate,

Who for her own child's sake learned to hate,

Little food, no bed, driven out,

His worth, his hope, his heart, reduced to doubt.

In the city he disappears,

No one to listen or see his tears,

Slowly blood seeps into the shirt

And mingles with trash in the dirt.

Someone must come, come to bind,

But most of the world is blind.

If there is none to come, none to find,

Then the world loses piece (sp?) of mind.

Shadows play on walls we see

This child of destiny.

Lifted, bound, healed, sent,

He fulfills all that was meant.

But will he see the light of day,

Will he run and laugh and play,

Will he have his heart restored,

Is there someone who ceases to hoard

And answers the call from the dark place

And shines the light on this little face?

29 March 2009

by charles coulston

The true joys of life are not hard to find.  They present themselves to us in the ordinary movements of our lives.  We go someplace, and there the joys are to be found.  We come home, and the joys are there already.  

This weekend we are in Iowa - Cedar Rapids - to see old friends and visit with the Central Church. Richard and Diane Bradford have a daughter entering Abilene Christian University in the fall, and they have four 15-year-old sons who are a great mix of interests.  We've talked about school, and played table tennis, and looked at snowboards, and listened to drumming, and gone out for coffee together, and watched March Madness basketball and compared computers.  These are true joys with people we love.

And this afternoon it started to snow.  We seldom get to see snow, since most of our time is spent in Nairobi, Kenya, and when here we are often in Southern California.  And deer were running in the trees behind the house in the snow.  So I called California, and talked to a grandchild who loves the snow, who would be outside making snow angels no matter how cold it gets.  And that true joy told me about the great race at school and the award.  That's a true joy.  

And I share all this with Darlene.  True joys are all around and constant.  God made our lives for this, for joy that erupts in laughter and affection and hope.  All I want for my life is that I can share the true joys with street kids, who have borne the great abuse of having no one tell them how wonderful they are and how much they deserve to revel in true joy.

May your joy be full today, and true.

Planning the Future for Street Ministry

I may have mentioned before that I am on Medicare and Social Security now!  A real transition point in life, and I get 10% off at buffets and would get in cheaper at movies if I went.  So we are now in the process of setting up advanced health care directives and wills and powers of attorney.   It will make it easier for other people when we all of a sudden can't make the decisions we need to make.  

   In the past three years we have had five families make special gifts to Made in the Streets when a loved one died.  In each case they were people who already had an interest in street ministry and in MITS.  That has caused us to make a decision to do something similar.  

   We have talked with our heirs about using part of what is left in our estate for Made in the Streets.  We are thinking that somewhere around 25% would be great -- that still leaves something for the family but provides a future for the street ministry.  

    And doing it this way will not place constrictions on our heirs.  They can give whatever amount they want to for a few years in order to get the best tax benefits possible until the whole amount is given.  

   We are hopeful that some of you will do the same thing.  Decide an amount or a percentage you'd like to go to Made in the Streets. Talk to your kids, executor, whoever, and express your desire, then let them follow through when the time is right.  

   The 5 gifts have done great things for MITS -- we set up a visitors' quarters, we built a skills training building, we are preparing to build a new boys' dorm, we bought a piece of land that has been invaluable, and we were able to do a  refurbishing of our Eastleigh Center, which gets a lot of wear.  

   So...please give it some thought.  We want to provide the infrastructure and funding for Made in the Streets, since we have wonderful Kenyan Team members who can run this ministry themselves and who plan to stay long-term and serve street kids. 

Prayer for the Church

How's your prayer life?  

  Every day I get reminders about the power and meaning and joy of prayer.  Many things bring prayers of thanksgiving to my mind and heart

• The Eastleigh Team meets a kid who has just come out on the streets.
  
• I go to the park with the grandchildren and play and hike.
  
• One of the street youth students decides to be baptized into Jesus (such as Millicent last Sunday - she is one of the "moms" in our Eastleigh program)
  
• A Team member decides to be a long-term street minister with MITS.
  
• Darlene and I meet with a USA church that is excited about street ministry.
  

  

 There is also much that calls for sober and continual prayers for help

    A street student turns 18 and prepares to leave MITS for a job or internship.

    A student runs after being with us for two years.

    A student's relative dies and we deal with grief.

    Last week Francis Mbuvi sent me two pictures of the church meeting at Kamulu, pictures which he showed to the church and told them he was sending them to me so I could pray for them. Here is a pic of part of the church.  There's Jane and Mama Caro near the front and Kennedy waving from the back.  My heart is very  much with them.  Most of us will be with a church somewhere tomorrow morning.  When you sit down in the pew or chair, please stop a moment and pray for the Kamulu church, the street kids of the world, and give thanks for the church you are part of.  And God's powerful Spirit can then be unleashed in the church.

Happy Birthday

One of the most loving acts we do at Made in the streets is to give birthday parties to the street kids who are in our boarding program.  When we meet the kids, many of them do not know when or where they were born, and none have ever had a birthday party.  If we have no documents on them, then we take them to a dentist for their molars to be examined, and the dentist will say, "He's 13, give or take a year."  What the dentist writes is a legal document.  So we then ask the student, "what month and day do you want for your birthday in 1996?"  Ali quickly answered, "February 5."  Others decide to take the month we are in, since they will be included in the birthday party for that month!  Still others think they know the month, so they choose it.  The picture is of Mercy Kisya getting her age assessment. 

Our birthday parties are great events.  We gather in a circle at the Learning Center courtyard.  We share good things about each birthday person by passing a ball around while we are singing, then whoever has it when we stop gets to say a good word about any or all of the honorees.  We will have a devo also, and we will serve cake (baked and decorated by our own!) and maybe popcorn and punch.  

May you have a happy birthday.  And please remember to pray for kids who do not know when they were born, or why!