As the most of the world goes on summer break, Kenyan schools are on a different schedule and are in full swing since a new school year began in April. The Embrace team has been busy throughout the months of May and June to facilitate the process of rehabilitation and reintegration of boys back into their families, and back into school.
As we look back on all that God has been doing, we are most grateful for the partnerships that we have been able to build over the last year with other organizations working with street children in Nairobi, to keep our center full to near capacity (30 boys) on a regular basis now. Normally our social workers have to go to the streets to do rescue work and identify those who desire change and are ready to come to Embrace, which can be time consuming and at times yielding little result. So it’s a huge blessing when other organizations can identify those who are willing to leave the streets and bring them directly to our center. This enables our social workers to focus on tracing families, and reintegrating more boys home!
Four more boys have been reunited with their families: Kevin, Daniel, Rambo and Stephen. Daniel Kahoro had been on the streets for several years since his mother died of alcohol abuse, and his father left him with his grandparents. Without proper supervision, he was influenced by his friends to try drugs and street life. His older brother is a gang leader, and is also not a positive influence in his life. At Embrace he underwent rehabilitation from drug addiction and counselling on peer influence, and was noted for developing a serious interest in reading God’s Word and being an example to other boys in obedience. He has successfully been placed with his aunt and uncle and returned back to school.
Kevin Karioki was really struggling with drug addiction, and was at Embrace on and off several times as he fought the battle against drugs. Finally, when he came at the beginning of this year, he was able to fight the temptation to leave, but still unmotivated to go to school, and with very poor conflict resolution. Recently, he has shown much improvement, and expressed an interest in his studies. He was reunited with his grandparents, and is back in school.
Stephen had been living with his mother who couldn’t provide for the family and moved around a lot, which caused him to run away. Recently she got remarried and settled down in Western Kenya. Upon a recent visit to her new home, she was much more determined to take her role as a mother more seriously and in a better position to provide for her children. After undergoing rehabilitation and showing improvement in his anger management, Stephen has reintegrated there, provided uniforms and has been placed in school and he is doing well.
Many of our cases are the opposite of smooth and predictable, and Rambo is an example of this. After the death of his mother, he lived with his grandmother since he doesn’t know where his dad is. He was influenced by friends to start using drugs and sleeping on the streets. After being rehabilitated, and reconciled with his aunt last month, he picked up some bad friends and together they were caught stealing tomatoes from a neighbor’s yard. For which the neighbor threatened to take them to the police, so out of fear, Rambo ran away from home, and has been seen on the streets.
A lot has been happening in the lives of missionaries as well. At the end of May we said goodbye to a dear team member, Marfa Katsiuba. She came to Kenya in September 2019 along with 2 other missionaries to help start up Embrace, Nairobi. She was responsible for various parts of the ministry and used her many talents to make Embrace a more creative and memorable place. Marfa left a valuable impact on our boys, staff team and community members. She is currently home in Ukraine, serving those affected by the war.
Mary has been serving on our team since 2020 and got engaged in the beginning of June to David, who is working to share the gospel in a predominately Muslim country in North Africa. The team used this
opportunity to show a skit showing the choices we make to guard our hearts according to God’s Word or
not, and the two outcomes of how one ends in heartbreak and destruction, and the other in a Godly
and beautiful marriage. Mary and David shared the testimony of their relationship, and how God richly
blesses and brings together those who are obedient to Him. This was an Embrace-wide celebration since most of our boys come from broken families, and witness abuse, divorce, and unfaithfulness from an early age. In their communities it is very rare to find an example of a faithful and Christ-centered
relationship between one man and one woman. Living on the streets they are also exposed to very
explicit media and behaviors that girls or older boys influence them to engage in, which really cripple
their perspective on the family unit.
Please pray for the ongoing spiritualwarfare our team and boys are fighting against, and especially those who are home and facing challenges.
Also prayers of blessings and thankfulness for Marfa as she starts her ministry in Ukraine, and Mary & David for the Lord answering prayers and providing a partner in ministry!
God is at Work Shadrack has been part of Embrace since the very beginning, even before our doors officially opened. We started working with him during the early outreach days, spreading the word about the center. We’ve prayed over his case for many years, and now, after three long years, we have finally seen a […]
Dear Embrace partners, we are excited to share with you our latest ministryupdates and prayer requests. Life at the Center Our boys have opportunities to try a variety of new experiences during their stay at Embrace. To encourage academic development, we organized a Spelling Bee for the first time at Embrace where boys practiced spelling […]
Reunion Camp For the first time in Embrace history, Kenyan Embrace staff, in partnership with a team ofvolunteers from Canada, organized and conducted a reunion camp for boys and their parentsor guardians.The vision for this camp, summarized in its name, aimed to create a space forthe boys and parents to “Re-connect,” while being exposed to […]
Staff Trip Before the end of year busyness set in, our team had the opportunity to go on a staff trip and spend a few days away from Nairobi to rest, fellowship and experience new adventures. Comprising missionaries, day and night caregivers, counselors, social workers, cooks, guards, and support staff, the Embrace team encompasses a […]
