March Report from MITS by Katera Bolander

Hello friends!

March was a great month here at MITS. The month flew by with busy schedules and the blessing of some visitors. I did have the unfortunate luck of getting sick with a stomach amoeba, but I was able to get medicine and am thankfully much better now. Below are some highlights from the month. Thank you, as always, for continued prayers and support. I can feel the difference it makes to have prayer warriors backing the work and my time here. Please continue to pray that we all have focus and guidance as we work to provide new opportunities and shed God's Light in the darkness of the lives of the poor.

Monday program in Eastleigh

I continue to go to Eastleigh each Monday to work with the street ministry there. I have been working with Anne and some of the other volunteers to figure out a good system to provide care for the small children who are too young to be in the toddler class. We attempt to play games with them in order to keep them from disturbing the mothers during their lesson. However, we have about 20 small children, some unable to sit up on their own. I am hopeful that we are getting closer to a good solution. We want to enable the mothers to devote their full attention to learning from God's word during those lessons.

I have also been spending time working one-on-one with Yvonne, one of the young mothers in the Eastleigh boarding program. The other two are taking basic classes from a teacher there because they were both unable to even write their own names. They are improving, but I am devoting my time to working with Yvonne who has more prior education and is catching on quickly. She is a decent writer already, so I am working to address the problem areas (proper verb tense usage, proper capitalization, etc.). Yvonne also has classes with a teacher in Eastleigh throughout the week, so my lessons are just to focus on improving her writing abilities.

Graduation Course

I have met twice with the almost 20 students who are 16-17. Some of them are on attachment at businesses in Nairobi while others are going to college in their area of focus. I am stressing to them how important it is for them to really focus on everything they need to do in order to be prepared for the next big step in their lives. This past Saturday we discussed the importance of setting goals and making a game plan to achieve those goals. We prayed together in class that God would guide each of us in setting and working toward our goals. Then, we made short-term (one year) goals and long-term (five years) goals and wrote down the things we must do to reach those goals. I know five years may not seem like a long-term category for many of you who are used to thinking of long-term goals being at least 10 years. However, in this country and with these students, who are used to living only for the day, five years is a lot to plan for.

Time for Tutoring

It is very important that each student in MITS learn English as well as is possible during their time here since English is one of the primary languages for the nation. We have a few students right now, who for one reason or another have not been able to grasp English as well as we believe possible. However, the students are no longer in English classes due to their age placing them in skills. I am working with Phillip and Victor to set time each week to tutor these students. This week, I began meeting with Joseph Kamau (pictured). He is very eager to have our classes and to improve his English. It is a delight to work with someone who is so excited to learn. I plan to nail down a schedule for the other students this week. I am thankful for the extra time that I can work with the students. Seeing me work with Kamau has also encouraged some of my other students to focus on learning new vocabulary and to be more excited about learning.

Limuru Red Cross Refugee Camp

A group of staff and students have gone twice more to the refugee camp located in Limuru. The first time, we went to take about 250 dolls that Jackton, with the help of his employees, student workers and many volunteers, made within a week of our deciding to undertake the project. Children of all ages were absolutely thrilled to receive the dolls and went around the camp showing them off. It was nice to be able to give these children something to play with since most of them have lost everything due to the political unrest that occurred at the beginning of the year. Each time we go back to the camp, the number of children there has dropped. It is great to see that people in the nation are teaming together to place the children in boarding programs for education.

When we arrived at the camp to take the dolls, I noticed a camera crew being escorted through the camp. I introduced myself to them and asked if Anastacia, my journalism student, could just watch what they were doing to learn from them. It turned out they were there filming for a school project. They attend a local university and are in broadcast journalism courses. They were glad to have us tag along, and they even put Anastacia in the middle of the action! They let her hold the microphone for their shoots. She was out of the frame, but it was such an amazing opportunity and perfect timing for us to go there. She and I stayed with them as they chose people to interview, set up the frames, conducted interviews and gathered other images on film. I got to talk to them and get ideas of schools to contact for possible locations for Anastacia to go to school. I am planning to make calls next week and find out if there are any schools she can attend without a high school certificate. She was a natural helping the film crew. It thrilled me, and I praised God for the opportunity and timing. Also, one guy in the group works as an announcer for a local television station. I spoke with him about possibly setting up a tour.

The other time we went to Limuru in March was to take Easter celebrations to the children there. We boiled 400 eggs and took candy and biscuits (cookies). The children were separated into age groups where MITS staff and students led them in games. They were each given biscuits and an egg. Some of the kids had never had a boiled egg and began eating it, shell and all. They were quickly instructed to peel it first. I was told they had a blast. Candy was hidden in the grass, and an Easter hunt took place, absolutely thrilling the children. The staff also led a devotional lesson for the children to teach them about Easter.

Those of us who went to Limuru separated into groups with some working with the children, others helping in the kitchen, clinic, cleaning the grounds or organizing the storage rooms. I was asked to help in one of the stores. I spent the time drawing weekly menu cards. The camp is instituting the card as a necessity for people to get their meal because so many people from the community come there just to eat free meals.

Easter at Kamulu

We also had an Easter celebration with the staff and students of MITS at Kamulu (where the boarding school is based).

We got together to learn about Easter from Mbuvi that evening. He spoke, and the students performed skits, songs and poems. We all ate together and had a marvelous time celebrating Easter.