K E N Y A A F R I C A

Subject:
Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings to each of you in the name of the light of our world, Jesus Christ.

I am going to write this now but our phone is completely dead so I'm not certain when I will be able to send it.

This past Monday when I came home for lunch Bill was quite excited about a phone call he had received from Abrahim, a man who introduced himself as someone involved with the street children. He asked Bill to meet him the next day. For those of you that are new to our email family, in April or May Bill became the official hospital mailman. When he began making at least daily trips to the post office to collect the mail, he began to have contact with some of the street boys in Maua. Bill began feeding about four street boys on a daily basis. He would buy them half a loaf of bread and a banana and tell them that God loved them, "Mungu akupenda". After a while the boys would tell Bill "Mungu akupenda" when they received their bread and banana. Over the months that group has grown and the number usually ranged from seven to eleven boys.

Once when Bill was feeding the boys his contact lense was irritated by dust in the air and the boys became especially concerned about Bill's eye. Every time the boys saw Bill they asked if his eye was better. The few times I accompanied Bill to the post office on Saturdays, I was amazed with the street boys behavior. Rather than being the rude, offensive boys I had come to know, they were polite and grateful.

Bill met Abrahim at 11am on Tues. morning. Abrahim explained that he worked for an Non-Governmental Organization that the government had requested work in Maua with children. When he began working with the street boys they told Abrahim about Kiambi, the man who fed some of them every day. Abrahim decided he needed to meet Kiambi. (The street boys call Bill "Kiambi" or "Savuto". Bill really never knew what Kiambi meant. He asked Abrahim and he was told that in Ki-Meru it means, "the one who loves and solves problems").

Abrahim explained that there are four parts to his work with children. The first is working with AIDS orphans. His major responsibility for them is to make certain they have a home, either with family members or others. He also has been given authority by the government to buy these students uniforms and place them in a government school at no expense. (We are so thankful the government is taking some initiate in this enormous problem of AIDS orphans. In the past the children have always gone to other family members but with such difficult financial times in Kenya, this is putting unbelievable strains on families who desperately need some help.)

The second part of Abrahim's program is as an advocate for children who are abused. He stated that parents can be put in jail for abusing their children. There is much child abuse here and any steps that can be taken will be helpful. If only to raise the awareness that child abuse is not acceptable. Female circumcision is one area Abrahim is most interested in changing. (This past week a 14 year old girl was brought into our hospital following female circumcision. She was in shock and died before we had the chance to save her.)

The third part of the program deals with children's rights. This is more of a community education program as most of the rural people in this area would not believe in rights for children. When Bill visited Abrahim later in the week a young mother was in his office. Her husband had just died and the husband's parents had taken her children (this is a patriarchal society and if the husband dies the children can be taken by the husband's family.) Abrahim was in the process of trying to reclaim the children for the mother.

The fourth part of the program is to work with the street children. Abrahim has been working with about 30 street boys. He has found that the majority of them are the sons of prostitutes or single family households where the mother does not have enough money for food much less school fees. The boys range in age from about 8 - 12 years. Abrahim has started a center in one part of a large abandoned coffee factory. It is by the Mboone River (that flows through Maua). He had asked the boys to come bathe everyday and have some literacy lessons and counseling but it was hard to get the boys to come as he has no money to provide food. Abrahim asked Bill if he could provide food six days a week for the thirty boys and bring the food to the center rather than feeding the boys in town. Bill said yes. Abrahim sent word for all the boys to come to the center and Bill said that very quickly 30 street boys arrived. When they saw Bill they began to run and hugged him. Abrahim allowed the boys to make some decisions. They decided they wanted to bathe first at 10am, eat at 11am and then have their literacy lessons in Ki-Swahili (the language of the times). At 4pm daily they will play soccer in the stadium. Abrahim has found a local volunteer to teach and referee the soccer games. They also want to run with Bill (Bill runs 4 miles four times a week at the stadium). They decided that they wanted bread and orange squash every day (orange squash rather than bananas). Once a week Bill buys them all milk. (We did decide to continue buying them bananas along with the orange squash. Bill also bought them all a cup that will be kept at the center.)

Later this week Abrahim was also able to arrange for a local pastor to visit the children's center twice weekly for spiritual guidance. We pray that the entire program for the street children will give them a glimpse of a loving God.

Needless to say, Bill is so excited to be a part of the ministry to the street children in Maua. Please pray for the 30 street boys, Abrahim and his program, and Bill. God's hand can be seen so clearly in what has happened with Bill and his small band of street children. We praise God for this wonderful opportunity.

We are so appreciative of your continued emails and cards, encouragement, love and support and especially your prayers. We are so grateful to God for the love and prayers that surround and uplift us daily in our work and lives here. Asanta sana!

Guided by the light,

Jerri and Bill

You can answer this letter at savuto@MAF.org

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