Short Initiative Description

The UN estimates there are close to 150 million children living on the streets worldwide. Roughly 60,000 of those kids live on the streets of Nairobi, Kenya. Due to extreme poverty, abuse, neglect, and other factors, these kids find their way to the streets with only the clothes they are wearing and little hope for a future. The daily struggle to survive on the streets leads many kids to use drugs, beg, steal, and go to bed hungry and cold. Often times the streets prove to be even more dangerous than the slums, and many kids are physically and sexually abused.

The mission of Made In The Streets is to love and serve children from the streets of Nairobi, Kenya – meeting their physical, emotional & spiritual needs; loving them fully; equipping them to earn a living; and sending them out to a new life. The 3 phases in this mission include daily visits to build relationships with street kids at their “bases”; recruiting kids who are ready for a new life to join the boarding school program where they receive educational and vocational training; and sending these transformed students back into the world to be community leaders, world changers, and disciple makers.

The boarding school program of Made In The Streets is located in Kamulu (just outside the Nairobi city limits). MITS students begin in Literacy School from age 11-16 and attend classes daily in English, Swahili, math, science, computers, and Bible. They live in community with dorm parents – most of whom where former street kids themselves. Once students turn 16 and pass the KCPE (Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education), equivalent to completing 8th grade in the US, they enter the Skills Program- a vocational training where students concentrate for two years in one of four areas: Catering, Cosmetology, Auto Mechanics, or Woodworking. Upon graduation, MITS staff walk with students and assists with job placement, continued leadership development, and participation in spiritual community. The MITS boarding school program has beds for 100 students and 65% of these students are boys. MITS needs more space for girls.

In 2018 MITS desires to build a new dormitory capable of accommodating 20 new girls and 2 supervisors. This new dorm will include 10 rooms for 2 girls in each, bathrooms w/ showers, kitchen, library/lounge, and study hall. The dorm will be built next to the skills training center and provide space for older girls who currently walk over a mile from the younger girls dorm every day.

Initiative or Organizational Relationship

Made In The Streets invited me to join the organization as their Executive Director in December of 2016. I have served in that role since January 1, 2017. Previous to joining MITS full time, I was aware of the great work they were doing through friends who served as volunteers and participated in short term mission projects. I visited Kenya in 2016 to see Made In The Streets and provide leadership training for the local Kenyan staff. I was blown away and inspired by what I saw.

I have seen first hand the amazing transformation that happens when kids move off the streets, discover the love of God and join the MITS school program. I have also seen first hand the amazing love and care that the Kenyan team provides to street kids every day – from clothes, food, and first aid to prayers, hugs, and encouragement. They truly love the way Jesus loved! I am blessed to be working with such an amazing team of Jesus following Kenyans.

Initiative Sustainability Evaluation

This initiative opens up the opportunity for 20 more girls each year to move off the streets of Nairobi and pursue a faith-inspired education and skills training that will lead to employment, self sufficiency, and a future as a community leader. Although there are more young boys living on the streets of Nairobi, the girls who live on the streets are the most vulnerable and the least likely to have educational opportunities. Made In The Streets has seen the dramatic success that comes when a girl is able to leave the streets, complete her education, master an employable skill, and then head back into the world to serve others. One of MITS’ female graduates now works as a manager of food service at a large university; another female graduate went on to college and became a digital media producer; still another female graduate recently opened her own beauty shop and is ready to employ new MITS graduates this year. All of these girls transformed their lives with God’s help – from lives of sexual abuse and unspeakable mistreatment with very little hope for a fulfilling future to lives of confidence, Godly self worth, healthy relationships and overflowing hope for making a difference in the lives of other street girls. The Made In The Streets school and vocational training program gave them that opportunity.

The funds for this initiative will be provided directly to the MITS Kenyan team and the construction work on the new girls dormitory will be done by local community labor force. The MITS staff in Kenya is made up of 37 local Kenyans who provide the leadership, oversight, direction and execution of MITS goals and daily operations. This team is working on sustainable solutions for students who have chosen to leave the streets and change their lives. Rather than rescuing, Made In The Streets is recruiting young people who are taking responsibility for their future and working hard to move forward with their education, spiritual formation, and leadership.