Street Kids– filthy, commonly inappropriate, uncontrolled, shoeless, abandoned, homeless and hungry boys who lives on the streets in Busia, Kenya. They have no place to call home and nothing more than the clothes on their back.
Believe it or not, our ministry with these kids is spent playing soccer in large local fields. We divide up into teams (commonly Americans vs. Kenyans) and just go for it. And man, do we have some fun! For about two hours, these boys can be just what they are supposed to be… little boys!
At our first game, a particular boy kept asking me about one of my teammates who was not there. At first, I answered his questions while still keeping my focus on the game but when he kept repeating the same questions he started to wear on my patience. Then I looked into his eyes. His eyes were glazed over and looked as if he could barely keep them open. He leaned almost all of his body weight against my side and rambled on in Swahili as he made the motion of food going into his mouth. This boy was as high as a kite.
This group of boys, ranging from 3 years old to about 16, wore baggy shorts and tattered shirts tinged with red (because of the red Kenyan dirt) and not a single one of them had shoes on. Some boys were secretive about the glue they were using to get high and hid it in their clothing, while others felt no shame and carried their bottles and pieces of soaked clothe in their hands. Why were these young boys getting high on a daily basis? Because it’s the only way they know how to cope with their current situations.
After the soccer games, around 50 of them followed us back to the church so we could feed them. They sat in a classroom as we spoke to them about the Gospel but I couldn’t help but wonder if anything they were hearing was actually being comprehended. We had the boys wash their hands before they received their food and as I passed out the plates I prayed God would provide enough food for all the hungry tummies. We had to keep watch over the younger ones to ensure they ate their food and the older boys didn’t steal any of it.
In the next couple weeks, we are planning to meet with the boys in smaller groups in hopes of gaining more insight into why they are living on the streets. According to our contact, if the boys do have families these meetings will allow us to better understand their situations and hopefully help the boys go back home to their families. Please keep these young kids in your prayers.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:18
