Eastleigh Camp

        Eastleigh is one of the largest slums in Kenya, and is where the majority of students at MITS live before coming to school. Made in the Streets has a building, referred to as the Eastleigh Center, where they hold Bible classes for different groups of street people everyday. The staff in Eastleigh also goes “base walking” everyday; a base is a place where homeless people congregate to live together- on a street corner, in an alleyway, or on a large pile of trash. When the staff goes out they talk to, pray with, and share scripture with the needy.  I have so much respect for the staff that daily pour their hearts and souls into this work. I am so thankful that for 3 days we were able to join them in this ministry.

       Wednesday through Friday of last week we were able to hold a VBS for street youth ages 9-13 and it was WONDERFUL. Everyday there were more and more kids that came, which was very encouraging! By the end of the week we had 41 boys! We studied the book of Judges and looked at the life of Deborah, Barak, Gideon, and Samson. We talked about God’s strength working in us, being a person who leads others to do what is right in the sight of the Lord, and not turning our backs on God like the Isrealites tended to do.  Everyday we fed the boys breakfast, played games, taught a Bible lesson, worked on memorizing a verse, had prayer time, did a craft, and then fed them lunch. We taught them simple games like Simon Says and Duck, Duck, Goose and it was so fun to hear them laugh, cheer and beg to play again and again. The boys got to color pictures, braid bracelets, and paint sacks to use for collecting items to sell. It was fun to give those boys a little piece of their childhood back. One of my favorite parts of the day was praying with the boys. Each boy had such genuine prayer requests- they all want to go to school, stop abusing drugs to help with their hunger pains, and get off the streets.        

        The memory verse we chose to have them memorize will hopefully give them the courage and strength to persevere through this phase of their life and cling to God. Our theme verse was Judges 16:28- Samson said, “Lord and King, show me that you still have concern for me. God please, make me strong just one more time.” Listening to these kids says the verse over and over again broke my heart. I wanted them to know how deeply God cares for each one of us, even when it doesn’t seem like it. Which lets face it, most of these kids have every reason to believe that God doesn’t care for them. They are dirty, starving, abused, alone and rejected; yet they make no excuses. They choose joy. They choose faith. They choose hope. And that is one of the many, many, many things I love about this ministry. 

In Him,

Shannon Musslewhite