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When a street kid chooses to join MADE IN THE STREETS, they must commit to 3 things:
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It sounds so simple, but this is a huge paradigm shift for teens who have lived in undisciplined freedom for months, even years of their lives. The transition is hard. Behavioral problems come with the territory. Growing pains are inevitable. We are on our knees in prayer daily that they will make good choices.
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A loving, safe and healthy environment is key to helping our students make the transition into life after the streets.
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In addition to education, our students learn life skills that will serve them long after they leave Kamulu. They learn to live together as a family through sports, chores such as house keeping and meal preparation and working in the farm to help provide food for the community.
Students are also active in the church, giving them opportunities to grow in spirit and service. Our students regularly read scripture, give talks, sing on the praise team and serve in many other ways each week in the local church in Kamulu. |
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The unemployment rate in Kenya is over 20%.
Even educated Kenyans have difficulty finding and keeping jobs in Nairobi. Prospects are bleak for any young person hoping to enter the Kenyan workforce, particularly one who is a former street kid.
At MITS, we understand this struggle and our solution is to provide two kinds of education: literacy and skills training. |
PHASE 1: LITERACYAll MITS students begin their studies with us in the literacy program. Every week day, students report to class at the Learning Centre. Daily studies include Bible, Math, Computers, English, Science, Social Studies and Swahili.
In the afternoon, we teach enrichment classes on topics such as character, ethics, business skills and public speaking. Every student who goes through our literacy program must take the KCPE (Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education), which is equivalent to completing 8th grade in the United States. Brand new students undergo testing to determine how much education they have received and how much catching up they have to do. Depending on when the student dropped out of school, we sometimes need to start at the very beginning with basic reading! I can read from MADE IN THE STREETS on Vimeo. |
PHASE 2: SKILLS TRAININGOnce students turn sixteen, they have completed the literacy program and they are ready to select a skill where they will train for two years.
MITS has courses of study in the following skills:
Our skills students also participate in business training, computer classes and Bible studies to prepare them for going out into the world to build a new life once they exit our program. |
