Mitumba Food Delivery

Mitumba slum is situated next to Wilson Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. Though this slum is smaller than some of the other slums, i.e. Kawangware (700,000 people) and Kibera (1,000,000 people) the need here is just as great.
There is a school in Mitumba slum that is serving the community by allowing children to attend without paying school fees. This doesn't seem significant, but because the Kenyan government does not give money to any schools, ALL schools have to charge school fees. If a child's parents cannot afford the fees, their child does not go to school.
When the school first started, there were children running around naked because they didn't have any clothes. These children were also eating dirt to stop the hunger pains in their stomachs. God spoke to a monetarily poor Kenyan man to start a school there and a few years later, there are 400 children benefitting from education and a relationship with God who otherwise wouldn't.
Our school has had relationships with this slum school since last year. We take students to their school to spend time with them and we also bring their students to our school to build relationships. One other way we help is through doing a food drive every October and November that results in us delivering buckets of food to them. Through our school really coming together, we were able to raise right at 200 buckets of food. Though there are 400 children, many are siblings and so we were able to give a bucket to every family that has children attending there.Shauna was able to go with me yesterday and she continued to comment on how great of an experience it was. We also took one child from every grade that helped contribute to raising buckets with us also. This is us right before we left.

The moment we arrived, we were greeted by hundreds of smiling faces. They were very polite and did not shove and push trying to get at the food. Instead they were incredibly humble and eager to help unload our vehicles. They were so grateful and had huge smiles on their faces. Upon leaving, I couldn't get over how I felt more blessed giving to them than they were in receiving it.

Typical of Kenyan culture, the school performed some songs and dances for us. I then spoke and wanted them to know very clearly that white people are not their providers and their source, but God alone! I told them very specifically that the only reason we were there is because there is a God in heaven who is filled with love for them and He moved on our hearts to cause us to do this for them.

I also told them that though the food will only last a short time, the greatest gift we could offer them was the gift of salvation, which is eternal. We also put a book in each bucket that is in Swahili outlining the plan of salvation and the prayer for salvation at the end. It's our prayer that God will move on their hearts.

We spend most of our lives looking for what will bring us fulfillment and we usually think that the more we possess, the happier we will be. I've searched high and low and I have never felt more fulfilled in my life than when I am able to help change and improve the quality of someone's life worse off than me. Shauna and I are so humbled and grateful that God would allow us to play just a small part in affecting change to a hurting world.