Made in the Streets

We are now in Nairobi, Kenya working with a group called Made-in-the-Streets. MITS is a ministry to homeless children, primarily teenagers, in a slum of Nairobi called Eastleigh. They have a compound in Eastleigh where they feed people, take care of health needs, bring in mothers and babies, play games, and profoundly provide an environment of safety and love for the people of the streets. I say profoundly because God has really opened our eyes to the profound impact of seemingly simple things. For example, our first day at Eastleigh we walked out to a soccer field hidden behind a massive trash heap, and played with homeless guys for about 2.5hrs. At first it seemed like a very simple day of soccer, but as we walked and talked I began to realize what was really happening. We were walking out to the field and little children rushed up to us, hugging us around our legs; while playing, the boys were laughing and competing just like any normal child; and on the way back teenage boys held our hands and smiled and talked freely. It all seemed very normal – but the normal experience for these kids is starkly different! these kids sleep on the streets every night! they are seen as pests and a bother by the community! they are kicked and treated like dogs by strangers everyday! Love and kindness are not the normal treatment these kids experience!

Larry Conway, one of the missionaries that works with MITS and our host, told us a story about a time he went to put his arm around a street boy, but the boy flinched thinking he was going to hit him. These kids are so used to being abused and treated like trash. But what God is doing here in Nairobi through MITS, while it may sometimes seem simple, is so profound.

It has been hard though. Going out to the bases (the places where groups of homeless people hang out and sleep) and visiting these people stuck in such darkness. The second day we went out to a base and met some people there. They were all just laying around on a pile of trash and rocks in the middle of a roundabout. We started talking to them and I met a young girl named Nancy. Nancy had a baby, 4 months old, and she was adorable. So I asked her some questions and played with her baby for a while. And then we all gathered around to pray and hear a message about Jesus from Josh. While Josh was speaking I witnessed one of the hardest things I have ever seen. While Nancy was breastfeeding her baby, she revealed her bottle of glue that had been hidden in her baby blanket, and began sniffing the glue. It was so hard seeing someone so addicted caring for such a fragile child! I wanted to just yell at all of them and flip out on them for acting so irresponsibly and so obviously harmful to this baby! But I felt so helpless! I looked around and saw such deep darkness. Talking to Larry later he told me what another missionary, Jim Reppart, had said once, he said, “Darkness blinds people, and blind people can’t see.” This woman, Nancy, and the others around were so blinded that they don’t even realize they are killing themselves and those they care for.

We have met so many people addicted to glue and being dominated by the darkness. The darkness reigns so heavy in Eastleigh and in all of Nairobi. But there is a light. Maybe even a very small light, but still a light. And it is invading the darkness!

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (Jn 1:5).

I ask again, please pray for us; pray for the light to shine; for Jesus to appear in our flesh and dwell amidst dark places. We join you in this prayer.