Abundant Life Campaign

Abundant Life Campaign: Loving and Serving the Children of Made in the Streets

Please help us in our effort to love and to serve the children of Made in the Streets (MITS) through the “Abundant Life Campaign.” 

Sixteen Pepperdine students, along with Drs. Donna Nofziger Plank and Loan Kim from the Natural Science Division and University Registrar Hung Le, will engage in a life-transforming experience this summer as they serve and learn with the students at Made in the Streets (MITS) in Nairobi, Kenya.

We will be ministering to street children in Eastleigh, visiting families in Mathare Valley (one of Africa’s largest slums), and conduct science camps for children at MITS’ school in Kamulu and its inner-city center in Eastleigh. In addition, we will work with the staff and students there to help develop a more comprehensive nutritional plan, enhance MITS’ ability to become even more self-sustaining with its farms, and provide more up-to-date data regarding traditional medical practices based on scientific research.

We also look to support and strengthen MITS’ “Say No to Glue” Campaign, which seeks to diminish the power of glue and other street drugs that have such destructive hold on the street children of Nairobi.

We look forward to be actively engaged in the mission of Jesus, as He articulated in John 10:10, in bringing more abundant life and to allow ourselves to be transformed by His miraculous work in the lives of these amazing children.

All fully tax-deductible contributions to the “Abundant Life Campaign” will go toward Pepperdine-led projects that will directly benefit the children of Made in the Streets. We invite you to join us on this life-transforming journey.

For more information regarding the "Abundant Life Campaign," please contact Hung Le at hung.le@pepperdine.edu.

For more information regarding Made in the Streets, please continue reading.

Made in the Streets (MITS) is an organization and a ministry which rescues street children from the slums of Nairobi, Kenya and provides these children with a new life filled with hope and a bright future.

The street children are often abandoned, abused, and/or orphaned. Some of them come from families that do not have enough to feed them, so they resort to living on the streets, begging and scavenging for food to survive. Life on the streets is cruel and harsh. These children often live on garbage because it is a source of food as well as scraps that they can scavenge to sell. Rotting garbage produces methane, which can serve as a source of heat on cold nights.

The street children often become addicted to streets drugs, the most common of which are kerosene, glue and bang (marijuana). They are often seen huffing glue from bottles practically stuck to their faces or sniffing kerosene-soaked rags. The glue or kerosene helps to stave off the terrible hunger pains that they feel from the lack of food and little hope of being able to get anything to eat.

In addition to scavenging for their own food, the children must also find ways to make money to pay the adult members of their bases, or living communities, who are supposed to help keep them safe. They live in a society which despises the poor and have very little hope of escaping the life to which they have been sentenced merely by the geography of their birth.

MITS’ inner-city programs operate in Eastleigh, the skid row of Nairobi. The staff at the Eastleigh Center scour the streets to minister to children and others in need. The staff members are trained to perform basic first aid, teach Bible studies, provide food, counsel, and recreation. They also assist the older kids to get national identity cards so they can get jobs, care for young mothers, and work with conflict resolution among the bases and their members. A major part of the Eastleigh ministry is the identification of children who seek to build a new life, free from drugs and filled with hope. After a thorough vetting and transition process that include getting off of drugs and meeting all governmental requirements for admission to the MITS program, the children are brought to Kamulu, a village about 45 minutes outside of Nairobi, where they would live, learn, develop and prepare for a productive life.

According to the MITS website (www.madeinthestreets.org), “The boys and girls who come to live with us in Kamulu are blessed with a loving, safe and healthy environment. We have separate boys and girls compounds with dorms and kitchens. Students are in charge of cooking their breakfasts and evening meals and work to keep their clothes cleaned and living quarters kept up. There are dorm supervisors who oversee the students and make sure their needs are met. 

There are many aspects to life in Kamulu. Every day starts with a chapel time, full of singing, praying, words of encouragement and announcements for the day. Students have daily studies in Bible, Math, Computers and English. They learn to live together as a family through sports, chores and working alongside teachers and visitors. Students are also active in the church, giving them opportunities to grow in spirit and service.

Skills training is available to students once they turn 16. Students choose a skills path in the area of auto mechanics, sewing, woodworking, catering, hairdressing, computers or farming. Once students turn 17 years old, they can take on an internship in a local business to further their skills. Students also take part in business training, computer classes and Bible studies to better prepare them for going out into the world to build a new life once they exit our program.”

Much of the staff are made up of former street children whose lives had been transformed by the work of MITS. Their funding is provided by the generosity of people from throughout the world. The Otter Creek Church in Brentwood, Tennessee serves as the sponsoring U.S. congregation. A board of directors serves as the governing body. The founders, Charles and Darlene Coulston, continue to direct the work of the ministry and heads up the fundraising efforts. The staff in Kenya, led by Francis Mbuvi, a former street kid, runs the organization there.