The Shelter of United Love (S.O.U.L) Ministries

Belief

When I was a kid I had parents that believed in me. They always told me I could do anything I set my mind to, but they didn’t stop there. They showed me I could accomplish anything in this world and they did so by putting their belief into action. I wanted to be a skateboarder in the X-Games, so we saved lunch money and my family built a half pipe together in our back yard. I thought I would give class president a shot my senior year of high school, so I took the money I had and my family collected hundreds of white shirts and spent the whole night with spray-paint and stencils making hilarious shirts and posters for the campaign. After high school I felt called to take an unusual route. I wanted to go on a yearlong mission trip before college. My parents believed, and on the trip I fell in love with a group of homeless children in Busia, Kenya. When I got back and told my family I wanted to move to Kenya and help my friend Cornel start an organization and open a rehabilitation center for the kids, well, they believed and here I am.

God lavished me with this amazing realization of how important belief is in all of our lives. It is so awesome to think God believes in us. He believed that with his guidance we had the potential to show amazing love. He believed so much, he died for what he believed in. I say all this about belief to recognize a major focus we have here at the Shelter of United Love. We believe. It is our goal to make every child feel their life is important, they have worth, and they are capable of doing anything they set their mind to. We had an interview with a boy named Saban. We asked Saban if he wanted to go to school. Saban frowned and said in a ashamed voice “I am not smart enough to go to school”. We told him not only was he smart enough to go to school, but he could accomplish more than he could imagine. He just had to believe in himself and that with God all things are possible. It was probably one of the only times Saban had ever been told that in his life. We want to look at these kids and pour so much encouragement and belief in them that they realize how loved they are and that they are capable of accomplishing so much more than digging through trash, killing themselves with toxic inhalants and begging for money.

I don’t know anyone who does not like to be encouraged. In the bible in the book of Ephesians 4:29 Paul writes “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”. I like to imagine an environment where everyone’s words are uplifting to one another. That is what we want for these kids. We want to create an environment around them full of smiles and positive energy in hopes that by doing so we are essentially bringing the Kingdom to earth and claiming victory over the defeated enemy.

It’s been quite an amazing 5 moths here in Busia. We have accomplished more than we could ever dream of. It is so amazing how God works. The past couple of weeks we have had two more kids return home off the streets increasing our total to 13 children returned and in our follow up program! Jesus is awesome. One of the kids, Herman, was picking through a small pile of rice when Cornel bent down to talk to him. Cornel was encouraging him and he looked at Cornel and just said “Teacher I am ready” The next day Herman was returned safely back to his aunt. Herman’s father was an abusive alcoholic and his mother left him when he was very young. He went to live with his mother’s sister but the dad reported the child stolen and had the women arrested, this resulted in Herman going to the streets. I remember having to make Herman leave several of our meetings because he always tried to give inhalants to the other kids and was always very disruptive. I recall seeing his picture on our board and telling Cornel that it would be a miracle for this kid to go home. Well, glad I serve the king of miracles!

Another story is a boy named Kevin. We noticed Kevin coming to our soccer meetings and we were able to pull him aside and talk to him. Kevin told us that he was not smart enough to go to school so he left home and ended up on the streets in debt to employers, who made him work long hard hours for little money if any money. It’s called human trafficking. These children are told they have a job and then they end up being a labor slave. We asked him if he would like to go home. He gave the worried, confused look and asked when? Cornel simply smiled. The next day he was reunited with his mother and little brothers and sisters.

There are plenty of other stories just like Hermans and Kevins but there are also the stories of those children still on the street that do not yet have happy endings. That is what we are here to fix. With outreach and one on one sit downs with the kids we will be able to continue to build these relationships which build trust leading the kids to be open and truthful with us. Our dream is to not just take the children straight home, but to one day have a center where they can come and receive love and care until they are ready to go back to the normal life like the one every child deserves.

A quick update. The search for such land to build a rehabilitation center has been quite strenuous. We know that God has the perfect land waiting for us we just need to keep planting the seeds and watering them in belief that our God is going to allow one of the seeds we plant to grow. The office is coming along great, we feel more legit everyday. The motorcycle is a stallion of Justice taking kids back home all over Kenya and Uganda!

Dennis is a boy that went home last month. He is doing great in school and is in such a warm loving home with his beautiful mother!

Benja is also one of the boys who came off the streets last month. He is improving rapidly in school and enjoying being back home.

Immanuel is the youngest boy we took home. He was 7 years old. Very soon we will be at his kindergarten graduation ceremony!

Sharron is the only street girl we have ever seen. Thankfully she is in school and living at a host home currently.

Andrew has been living with us. He saved up enough money to buy his own bicycle for his taxi business and no longer needs ours. At the end of this month he moves into his own apartment.