Do you know me?
An update from Agape:
Greetings in the name of our Savior, Jesus! Happy 4th of July to
all of you! We pray that all of you are enjoying the warm US
summer weather. Just remember, we have this same weather
year round here in Kenya. Actually, it’s probably a little cooler in
Kisumu right now than the US, so please come and visit!
Agape’s campus was a beehive of activity throughout the month of
June. In addition to rescuing 27 new boys off of Kisumu’s streets,
we had a number of our old runaways return to Agape who had
been missing for a number of months. So, what do we do with all
of these boys when they arrive? New boys go through Agape’s
three-week transition program, classes teaching basic life skills
and Bible training. In the past we would place our “old boys” who
had previously run away in the same class. However, over time
we found that boys who had previously been in this class did not
do as well the second time around. As such, we developed a new
program on campus that we have dubbed the “Returnee Class”.
We have done this in order to keep these boys busy while we
continue counseling with them and deciding their next steps.
Throughout June we’ve had as many as 10 boys in the class doing
Bible studies, remedial educational work, and chores around the
campus. Thus far, the program has been a big success; we praise
the Lord for the work that he is doing in these boys’ hearts! Please
pray for these new and old boys as Agape shares the Gospel with
them and counsels them through our rehabilitation processes.
So, where does a boy go if he runs away from Agape? Most go
back to living on the street, but in some cases the boys “hop” to
another organization. Knowledge is power with street boys, and in
late May, I invited all of the street children organizations to Agape
for a meeting. Our goal was to facilitate the sharing of information
between organizations. If one organization has been working with
a boy for significant period of time, we all agreed that it made no
sense for one of our sister organizations to start from scratch and
begin working with the boy. Each of the five street children
organizations agreed with the approach, and beginning in early
June, each organization began sharing a list of rescued boys from
the previous week. With this new practice, we are able to identify
if one of our “old boys” has shown up at another organization. If
so, we then simply go to the organization and pick-up our boy.
Thus far, this new cooperation between organizations is going very
well; please pray that this continues!
Full House in Transition Class
We praise the Lord for the work that
he is doing in these boys hearts!
Agape Children’s Ministry
PO Box 5062 Modesto, CA 95352
Local: 209.543.9255
Toll Free: 888.572.4273
agapekids@agapechildren.org
