URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

Remember the boy I told you about a few weeks ago - Joshua? He needs for people to stand in the gap for him.

Joshua was in a catholic orphanage, then his mother took him out. His mother is addicted to drugs and alcohol. She abused him, so he ran away to Nairobi. When we met him, he begged us to get him off the streets because he was scared and wanted to go back to school.

One of our workers found a home for him. When she went back to get him, he was no longer on his street corner. The other kids told her that Joshua had been beaten badly and ran off. She later found out that he had been arrested and taken to jail.

In Kenya, children are put in with adults. This is not a good thing for a 12 or 13-year-old (we really think Joshua is younger than this age he told us).

Pray for Joshua. Pray for protection from the men, from beatings and anything else. Pray that he can be strong in his new faith and rely on God. Pray that once he is out, we can find him and get him off the streets before it is too late.

Visitors

I had two visitors from my headquarters' office. They came to see Nairobi and to compare it to Johannesburg, South Africa. It was a fast and furious two weeks -- one in Kenya and one in South Africa.

While we were in Kenya, we visited a game park. One of my visitors is a photographer, so here are some of his photos to share with you. You can definitely tell he is a professional.

Monday Morning

Long and bulky mounds of trash cuddled against the dirty store fronts. A shoe at the bottom of the pile moved and whatever was underneath rolled over.

One of the kids sleeping beneath the trash stirred enough to notice us. With one eye open, he gave us a groggy smile. We met him last week and he remembered that we brought milk.

This boy nudged the pile next to him and another head popped up.

We started making friends on a new street in downtwon Nairobi. The ministry is going well on our normal street and it was time for us to venture out to find some of the younger boys and young mothers.

One boy in particular made a huge impression on us. He told us the same story two weeks in a row - an indication that he wasn't lieing. Joshua says he is 13, but is most likely 11. His mother sells drugs and home-made brew. When he was of school age, a Catholic orphanage took him in.

Joshua said the orphanage kicked him out three weeks ago. What really happened is that his mother came to the orphanage and got him. There was nothing the Catholic orphanage could do to keep him. Joshua's mother did not take care of him, so Joshua took off for Nairobi in search of somthing better.

Guess what?!? He did find something better. He prayed to received Christ. Joshua said in his first week in Nairobi, he tried the glue the other boys got high on. He didn't really like it, but did it at night to fight off the cold. After he became a believer, he decided (on his own) that Jesus wouldn't like him inhaling glue, so he stopped.

Joshua said living on the streets is a bad life. He fears for his own life everyday and night. "These older boys murderize," he said to me in a hushed voice.

Pray for Joshua in his new found faith. Pray that we will be able to find an orphanage for him where he will be away from any threat of his mother pulling him out again.

Christ Academy

It didn’t look like much from the outside. A cream walled front with etched letters proclaiming it as “Christ Academy.”

A scrap wood and tin bridge laid across the open sewer flowing in front of the small school.

A tiny head poked out the brown door and smiled shyly. He grabbed my friend’s hand and led us inside to a world of children only found in a school setting.

Christ Academy is a small school that a Congolese refugee set up for kids in his community. He noticed that most refugees could not afford to send their kids to school in Kenya. He began teaching a few in his home, then almost instantly, it grew to 100 kids.

They found a small building and christened it “Christ Academy.” Teachers work here on a volunteer basis – this means they don’t get paid. There are no school fees, uniforms or even book fees.

The school gives the children a cup of porridge for morning tea time (most of the kids do not get breakfast at home). They also serve a modest lunch of rice and sauce or ugali and sauce. (The teachers say they used to break for lunch, but none of the kids went home because there was nothing to eat at home.)

Christ Academy survives on faith.

The founder of the school wants to instill a Christian foundation for these refugee students, while giving them a quality education.

Students are squeezed into five rooms. For the preschool and kindergarten aged kids, it was a tight fit. Five kids sat on a bench meant for two people. Six benches filled a room that only had space for three.

The kids didn’t seem to notice the cramped quarters. They were just super excited to be at school – as most kids around the world their age are. When the teacher asked a question, everyone raised their hands – whether they knew the answer or not.

Pray for Christ Academy. Pray the Christian witness they have in the community continues to shine and get brighter with each day. Caring about someone’s child is one of the fastest ways to a parent’s heart.

Nakuru Game Park

It was a sea of pink -- everywhere you looked, there were flamingos! I spent the weekend with some friends at Lake Nakuru Game Park. This park is famous for its flamingos. However, this year -- the flamingos are FABULOUS!

I asked a Park Ranger how many were on the lake this year and he said it was the most ever. They estimate over four million flamingos. Can you imagine?

I tried taking photos of it -- but there's just no way to show the magnitude or the beauty!

Oh - we also saw other animals in the park...Black and White Rhino stood next to our car. One cape buffalo was a little too close and faked a charge at us. No harm done to us, but it sure made our heart pump faster - ha-ha!

I am always so thankful to live in Africa after visiting one of the game parks. Seeing animals in their natural habitat is really indescribable. It doesn't matter how many times I go, it's always like the first time!

Prodigal Son Returns to Village

Mwangi nervously looked out the car window. The terrain became more familiar the closer he got to his home village in Kenya. He wasn’t sure if his family would welcome him back or not. But, he was willing to suffer the consequences.

Two years ago, Mwangi ran away from home. A friend convinced him they should hitch a ride to Nairobi and experience “city life.”

At first, it was a fun adventure. They slept on the ground or street, using cardboard as a blanket. They walked around downtown, wherever they wanted. No one told them what to do.

Then they got hungry, and the adventure went bad. They begged or stole to get money for food and showers. Some older boys taught them to sniff glue. It helped ease the hunger pains, but made them act like zombies. Soon, all of the money they could steal went for getting high on glue. So, they sifted through the trash searching for food scraps.

Mwangi heard he could get free milk and bread on one street corner. He went and liked it immediately. They told Bible stories. The stories reminded him of his family. Mwangi told the missionary he wanted to go home.

As the car pulled up to Mwangi’s village, a woman walked out holding a Bible. When she saw who was in the car, she raised her arms and screamed in celebration. Mwangi’s Mom rushed to the car to welcome her lost son.

For two years, Mwangi’s mother prayed for her son to return safely. Mwangi was embarrassed of his life as a street kid, but no one seemed to mind. They roasted the fattest goat and celebrated in his honor!