Kayaba and Satellite Pics-Erika

A parting shot from our last day at Mathare-too cute not to post.

Trenton thought he should at least kiss his lunch before he eats it

Goofing off in front of the Safaricom store

The river that flows through South B slum

Nicole sharing at Kayaba-since she won't post, at least you can have a picture of her! :)

Serving lunch to South B kids

Sunday School class with their lion masks

Trenton giving the message at Satellite Church

Welena-the precocious one

Renee helping with the dishes

Steven.

Josh Chinn Quality Blog Post #7

Today we visited the Eastleigh area which is a businessy area with mostly Somalian people. I'm going to be honest, it was a bit intimidating going in. It was an extremely bumpy ride driving to the Eastleigh MITS (Made In The Streets) center and there were people everywhere who gave us (maybe just me) weird looks. I saw a few kids sniffing glue which was very saddening to see. To those who don't know, kids sniff the glue to numb their senses, get themselves high, and to erase the feelings of hunger and pain.

When we arrived at the Eastleigh center, we were greeted by Larry (a guy who you'd probably think was a tourist if you didn't know him) and a couple other helpers who had graduated from the MITS program. We eventually got to meet about 30 kids aged from 8 up to 17ish. Each of them had their own story about why/how they got to Eastleigh. Eastleigh is a treacherous place where youth run to escape family hardships and abuse, but once they're in Eastleigh, they're on their own. Many of the youth band together and try to group up for protection. I wasn't able to go walk the streets because of my age but today I heard many depressing stories about some of the kids still out on the streets in their "bases". I was able to hear some of the life stories from the kids who were inside the Eastleigh center and many of them had run away from home to Eastleigh to escape abusing parents.

Realizing the conditions of the streets was a new experience for me. At home, I've fed the homeless in Seattle and I'd thought I'd known what "the streets" are, but in Kenya, the streets are much worse than what I had previously thought. There is trash and flies everywhere and many people sleep on the trash to keep warm. It was a different feeling from the slums. In Mathare and South B, the kids had homes to go to and parents who cared for them. In Eastleigh, the kids are on their own, literally fighting off other bullies in the streets, struggling for food and sleeping on garbage. Some of the older people on our team went out on the streets to the "bases" where most of the kids lived and talked with them. One teen Trenton told the team about during our debrief had a broken leg. He was only a teenager but was drunk one night and lying on the ground until a couple boys took a huge rock, dropped it on his leg, and broke it. The kid now only has one crutch, which is way too big for him, and is in the worst of conditions. I was stunned when I heard this story. I broke my ankle last year but I felt like my break was just a scratch and my experience was nothing compared to what this kid has gone through.

Another eye-opening fact was the situation girls are in. Girls aren't able to protect themselves, so they must join the boys groups. Unfortunately, to get in and receive respect, a young girl looking for help must sleep with each and every one of the boys- up to 50 in a group. I was really disturbed and angered by this and I can only pray that God will open up opportunities for the girls. The MITS staff say that they try to get girls off the street as soon as possible, but I'm still saddened and I really wish the girls wouldn't be put in that position.

Inside the center, we hung out with some of the kids and sung songs and played games with them. We taught some of them Ultimate Ninja and they got pretty into it. It was nice to see smiles on a few of their faces as they sang and danced but it's hard to notice the situation and conditions they live in and realize that they probably don't smile very often. While teaching the kids, Dakota and I got to meet and spend time with a little baby named Steven. He's 7 months old and his mother is young and there for an internship (I think). Steven was so cute. He didn't cry and he never drooled. Dream baby, right? Dakota and I took turns holding him. He can stand so we tried to get him to take little steps, and one time he took a tiny little baby step and smiled. This was by far the highlight of my day.

Overall it was a tough day. It was hard to fathom the situations many of the youth in Eastleigh are in. I can't imagine living out on the streets at the age I'm at now, and many of the kids out there are younger than I am. Tomorrow should be an exciting day, though. We visit the MITS Farm. Some of the youth at Eastleigh have shown maturity and are given the choice to live at the Farm. Still, many of the boys can't handle the rules and expectations that are suddenly put in their lives and run away. However, once somebody runs away from the Farm, the Farm won't accept them back. Hopefully we'll hear some encouraging stories about growth- emotionally, physically, and spiritually at the Farm.

'til next time
Josh

Quit Giraffe-ing Around

Monday, August 2^nd

Yesterday was our first free day of the trip and was meant to be relaxing preparing us for the rest of our trip. We started off by going shopping at a few different shops. The ladies were having a great time where as the men learned a new spelling for the word boring a.k.a. s-h-o-p-p-i-n-g haha. As for me personally, I was very happy that we got to go shopping and I was able to get a few gifts for my family and friends… and maybe a few things for myself :p

After the shopping trip we made our way to a giraffe center which was a lot of fun. Not only did a get to see multiple giraffes up close, but I actually got to kiss a giraffe… oh yeah you heard me right, I KISSED a giraffe. I have to admit that it was quite the experience and I would do it again if I had the chance.

After our short stay at the giraffe center, we made our way to the Hyodo’s residence. To have a relaxing evening, dinner, and we got to hear Mike’s testimony. I have to say that dinner was great, but I was so excited to listen to Mike tell his testimony. After spending the past week or so with Mike at various ministries, I can see that he is truly a man of God. When I hear the way that he speaks of the Lord and his heart for people, I can see his closeness and anointment from God. Mike’s testimony was amazing to hear and it definitely moved me and touched my heart. Mike is one of those people I look up to and only hope I can aspire to be like him one day. I know that all the glory goes to God for shaping Mike into the man he is today and I am glad to see God working through him in so many ways.

Though this was a free day and we didn’t go out to minister, I truly found blessing in our day off.

John

Doing God's Work in Unexpected Ways

Sunday, August 1^st

On Sunday we went to International Pentecostal Holiness Church in the Satellite area which is under Pastor Tobias. The plan was to do the Sunday service including teaching to the youth through VBS and then having an outreach to the community.

When we arrived at the church there was a Sunday school which happened before the main service. Pastor Tobias asked us to teach the three Sunday school classes including adults, young adults, and children. Trenton went ahead and taught the adult class focusing his sermon on family and family values through Christ. The children’s class was taken over by our VBS presentation and craft time which the children seemed to love. Now what to do with the young adults was a good question, but both Trenton and Mike knew what to do and I was assigned that class.

I can definitely say that I was out of my comfort zone especially with literally 5 minutes to decide what to talk about. But the Lord is faithful and never gives us challenges that we can’t overcome. I decided to talk about the story of David and Goliath and about the challenges we face which look unbeatable. However, with the help of God anything is possible and we are all able to overcome the “Goliaths” in our lives. We started by introducing ourselves and I told them that I was 26 and from the United States. I also let them know that it was my first time to Kenya and it was such a blessing to know all of the people I had met. After the youth got done with their introductions, the local young adults introduced themselves. The first woman said that she was 26, single, and search haha. Though she was joking, I definitely have to say it caught me off guard but we all started to laugh and had a great time. After that my sharing went pretty well for what little if any prep time I had and I felt like I was able to relate with the young adults there. After I was finished we has some extra time and Heather decided to come up and share a little about keeping our eyes on Jesus. Over all it went really well and I loved sharing with the Kenyan people.

Once the Bible studies were over we all headed into the main church service and started to worship the Lord through songs. It was nice because they sang many of the English songs that we commonly sing at our church. It was an experience to see how they had personalized the songs to almost have a Kenyan style to them. My favorite part of worship was having the words to a Kenyan worship song and being able to sing along with them in their own language. Praise the Lord!!! After they finished with their worship, our worship team got up and we did a few songs. About half way through Matt got up to share. He did such an amazing job and I can see the close relationship he has with the Lord. I truly admire what he has and how God works through him. Once we had finished worship Trenton gave a great message. One of these times we will have to video his message so all can hear what a great job he does… though I know he doesn’t like videos of them haha.

After the service we had lunch at the church which was so good. It was a mixture of rice, beans, and lamb. Once lunch was over we were planning on doing the outreach to the community. However, it had started to rain and no one showed up for the outreach. The rain was nothing compared to Seattle weather and was barely drizzling, but it was enough to scare people off since the slums great rather muddy when it rains.

Before we decided to leave, many of our team members decided to play soccer with the locals from the church. It was a lot of fun to watch and cheer both teams on. That is what our Sunday looked like and praise the Lord we got to be there with Pastor Tobias.

John

Praise God for His Salvation

Saturday, July 31^st

On Saturday we went to Mike’s work place in downtown Nairobi called World Ministries International. Driving through downtown Nairobi was very similar to any other big city, though they don’t pay much attention to light signals and are often running red lights. We made it to Mike’s building and went to see the World Ministries International office he works at. Inside we found many offices and meeting rooms. One of Mike’s dental clinics was also there and consisted of two dental chairs. Once we were situated in one of the meeting rooms, we heard of testimony of one beautiful woman. To see and hear how she lives her live day to day was amazing and truly showed me the heart she has for the Lord and the teaching of His kingdom. She literally risks her life for Jesus every day.

After leaving Mike’s office we made our way and visited Kayaba Free Baptist Church in the South B slum. When we arrived at the entrance to the slum, Pastor Paul Sitati and other church staff members came to greet us and escort us to the church. As we made our way through the slums I was expecting us to find a church sitting in a building off by itself, much like Comido School. However, we were in the middle of the slum walking down a small alley way when I saw the group turning into a building. The church wasn’t large but I could feel the love and passion of Christ there. The church choir was up singing and praises from the church arose… I loved it when I walked into the house of the Lord.

Once we were in the church, Pastor Paul had the whole team introduce themselves individually sharing difference reasons for coming to Kenya and knowing God’s love in our lives. It was great hearing what all the members of our team had to say and their sharing was definitely an encouragement to me. Worship was the next thing on our agenda and the church got into singing the songs with us. I was playing the tambourine for the first time, which isn’t quite the bass guitar but it worked. After worship we got to feed the community beans and rice. It was really amazing to see a church with so little resources still pouring out God’s blessing to the surrounding community. As meal time started coming to an end… the beans and rice was super good btw :)…. We got up and performed the skit of God freeing His people from the control of Satan. The skit led in perfectly to Trenton and his sharing which I felt really touched the people.

Trenton did an alter call as the church went into full praise and singing to God. Around ten people came to the alter and gave their lives to Jesus Christ and professing Him as their Lord and Savior. It was beautiful to watch the kingdom of God grow and as I prayed for these new believers I couldn’t do anything but cry as I was filled with joy knowing they would feel the love of Christ in their lives. There is just something amazing when people accept Christ.

Lord God, I pray that you work wonders through these people. I ask Lord, that You rain down your grace and mercy upon them allowing them to know You and Your love. Not only will they influence the lives of those that are at the church, but make them infectious with the love of Jesus that may overflow into the South B slums. Us them to bring disciples to all nations! In Jesus’ name amen.

Leaving the Kayaba Free Baptist Church was hard and I gave Pastor Paul a long hug. Pastor Paul is such an amazing man and he will continually be in my prayers. I could see the love he had for his people and for God. I wish him the best as he continues to bring more believers to Christ.

John

Cutest Baby Ever

Today we went to the Made In The Streets Community Center in Eastleigh. We spent the whole day with some of the street boys, who don't have a home or even shelter. They were very happy to see us there and they loved when we sang songs with them and danced with them. It made me very happy to see them enjoying the day with us because they all looked dirty and sick and high off of glue. Some of the team left to actually visit the bases, and the rest of the team stayed at the Community center to play games with the boys. At first there were no girls there and I asked one of the staff why none of the girls had showed up, and they replied that it was probably too dangerous for them to come and they were probably scared to come when there are so many boys there. I understood, but I really wished some of the girls could have come and listened to the worship and message.

But during the games trisha came out with this really cute little boy named Steven. She said I should hold him because she was going to get another baby. So I took him and held him and played with him. He is the CUTEST baby in the world. He never cryed and he was moving with the music and loved watching the other children playing the games. I held him for a very long time until I had to join in the games so I gave him to Josh, who also thought he was really cute. For the rest of the day I spent my time holding little Steven and playing with him, he is just so cute.

Later on his mother came back from her apprenticeship. And through a translator we talked a while. Her name is Veronica, she was also living on the streets with her 7 month son, before the MITS organization let her stay in their Center and got her an apprenticeship. When I asked how long ago she had come to the community center they said 2 weeks ago. That amazed me, she looked so healthy and so did Steven. But Larry said that Steven was really skinny and light when he came in. Wow in only 2 weeks steven looked completely healthy. I tried asking her more about her life on the streets, but the only answer I got was that it was hard to keep her and the baby alive. and that she is so blessed and happy that she can live in the Community center now.

I am so happy I got to spend the day with Steven and hearing Veronica talk a little about her life, at the end she wanted to take picture of us and Steven. Which I promised her I would send to her. God has done so much for her and I hope he continues to bless her and Steven and hopefully she accepts Jesus into her life, if she hasn't already.

Today was also very hard for me because I saw what great potential all the boys had that we met. Yet they were high and addicted to glue. I actually got to hear some of their stories and they wanted to go to school and learn, but they just didn't get the chance to. Some of the youth where taken to the Farm but ran away again, some because of peer presure and some because they couldn't get of of their glue addiction. I wanted to cry, knowing that the majority of these boys were going to spend the rest of their lives homless and starving.

I am happy that we got to make them laugh and have fun for a day...

Dakota




Steven and Me





Josh and me playing with Steven

My friend Moses...

Today we visited the community Center in the Eastleigh slum, where they minister to teenage boys and girls who live on the streets. The staff invited street boys to the Center for a day camp, hosted by our team. We played games, sang worship songs, shared a message, and talked with the kids. It was great to see the smiles on their faces, and how much they enjoyed teaching US songs and games too. We played one game that was like musical chairs, and they were very polite when it came to battling for the last chair with an older lady like me!

But the highlight of my day was seeing my friend Moses, who I met there last year. Moses came from the streets himself, but was motivated to work hard and go to school. Last year he told me he was studying to be a social worker, and volunteering at Eastleigh with the street kids. He couldn’t afford to finish his schooling, but the staff at his school was so impressed with his work, they decided to support him through the rest of his program.

Moses was hired as full-time staff at Eastleigh this Spring, and will complete his social work program by next summer. He is a very dedicated young man, with a great heart for the street kids. The conditions on the streets of Eastleigh are the worst I’ve ever witnessed, and it’s amazing he would come back to this neighborhood to work. He is a living example of what it means to care for the “least of these”, and I’m proud to call him my friend.

Mungu aku Bariki (God bless you) Moses…
Heather