The program here in Ndalani serves 750 children, preschool through 12th grade. MCF has six other locations providing care (both residential and day programs) in different parts of Kenya. In total, they are presently providing health, education, care and rehabilitation to 2130 Kenyans from infants through young adults.
To understand the need for the MCF, it is important to understand the current situation in Kenya. For a number of reasons, this African country has found itself limited in its ability to meet the needs of many of its people, especially its children. A major issue is the lack of a reliable source of water. Every day, many of its people must travel great distances just to obtain water for the basic needs of their families. Few crops can be sustained in this situation and hunger is a constant problem.
We must keep in mind that while the literacy rate in Kenya is 80%, only 50% of its people have supportive employment. With a lack of financial income, the families become stressed and broken. Physical health is lacking due to poor nutrition, and the advent of AIDS has added to the weakening of the families. In other words, the country’s system is very much out of balance and unable to maintain a healthy environment for its people.
Because of these hopeless family situations, children may be abandoned. They are then left to resort to their own resources in order to survive. These children are defined as “street children” and usually rely on deviant means for survival.
In the midst of this challenging environment, located near the small village of Ndalani, is the program we are participating in. This program “rescues” these street children from all over Kenya. These street children make up a large proportion of the population here, along with the children of AIDS infected parents and those families severely limited by poverty. MCF is a growing and alive system providing rehabilitation services for these endangered children.
The MCF has “adopted” these children with the goal of providing a healing “family”. The eventual goal of MCF is to return them to their communities and families as contributing individuals. As enhanced citizens, they can lead their communities with the same successful ideas, concepts and beliefs that promote positive growth here at MCF. In other words, MCF is not just treating the symptom by providing the basic needs for these children. Instead, it recognizes the cause and provides the children and young adults with tools to eventually deal in a productive manner with the cause of the problem.
Before we came here, we understood that many of the students had been street children, often living on their own without either parent. Many had been physically and sexually abused. Drugs, theft and other deviant behaviors dominated their lives. We expected to find a residential school with students demonstrating major behavioral problems.
How pleased we were to discover that our students are extremely bright, well mannered, and dedicated to the process of learning.
Anne and I have often worked with disadvantaged or deviant student in the states with only marginal success. How could the Mully Childrens Family be so successful with this type of student given their past histories? Can you believe that 75% of their students complete high school with grades qualifying them for entrance to a university, some scoring high enough for scholarships?
As I write this, I am sitting in Daddy Mully’s (the founder of MCF) “office”, a metal table with benches under the cooling shade of a mammoth acacia tree I estimate to be at least 100 years old. Directly behind me are two impressive mountains with summits of at least 1000’. These mountains are the result of ancient volcanic action. The second one is more the shape of a volcano, and a massive round bolder sits precariously at its very apex.
To my left and 30’ below is the life blood of MCF and the surrounding community, the river Thika. On my right are several male workers caring for the land. A pump is running next to the river, providing moisture via sprinklers for growth in the ground around me.
Prior to the establishment of MCF’s presence, this area was a dried up brush covered land. The water from the river was not being accessed. Now, through the efforts of pumps and sprinkler systems, there is green grass around me and a small orchard of mango trees.
Each is planted in a dish like depression. The grass between the trees is brown (we are just finishing the drought season), but the cover of each mango tree supports some remaining green grass and weeds beneath it. Apparently, the depression catches and retains the water during the rainy season, and the shade of the tree keeps the water from evaporating during the drought.
Each is planted in a dish like depression. The grass between the trees is brown (we are just finishing the drought season), but the cover of each mango tree supports some remaining green grass and weeds beneath it. Apparently, the depression catches and retains the water during the rainy season, and the shade of the tree keeps the water from evaporating during the drought.
There are more than mango trees in the orchard. Other trees and bushes are scattered about, some in rows and others interspersed within the mangos. All this reminds me that while enhancement of nature is good, diversity must also play an important part. We see this in the 750 + members of this “family” here at the Ndalani MCF. They are male and female, and range in age from preschool through high school. Older children interact with younger and provide an example for the younger. This opportunity to practice life skills with their peers in this “family” prepares them to live effective social lives upon their return to the community.
A worker is now atop a tall step ladder with a machete trimming a hedge. Needless to say, with such an “imperfect tool”, the hedge has its own resulting organic beauty, and does not have the machined look of a golf course hedge. Yes, this place has no desire to be “perfect”. Instead, the only goal is to enhance the organic process of both the land and its children. The staff and teachers know each of their children well. Attention, suggestion and support help these children explore and develop their own unique selves. One of the teachers here referred to the Biblical reference of the shepherd knowing each of his/her sheep as the same recognition process used here.
Below me on the river bank is a fig tree. Its multiple trunks support an upper story of at least 80’. From its upper limbs hang hundreds of vines which return back to the ground. Within this supportive environment are many species of birds gracing my surroundings with a wide variety of musical variations. I must also assume that in addition to providing protection for these birds, there is also a wide variety of insect life meeting their personal needs.
Similar nurturance occurs with the children. Physical shelter, a simple well balanced diet, good personal hygiene, appropriate physical activity and rest seem to have helped these children recover from the severe limitations of their lives prior to MCF. We have yet to see a runny nose or hear a cough, and their smiles reveal beautifully white teeth.
In a similar manner, the supportive environment of MCF does much more than provide for the children. Much of the food that we consume here each day is raised on the MCF farms. There are 750 acres under cultivation both here and in the Yatta location. These organic fields are irrigated, many with drip systems. There are also immense greenhouses utilizing innovative hydrophonic growing techniques.
Almost every meal features string beans, the main product of the fields. The excess beans are sold to France and provide much of the income that supports this amazing system. Egg plants, tomatoes, corn and kale round out the produce and the bulk of our meals here at MCF. I am sure we will return a few pounds lighter than we arrived and perhaps a little more healthy.
The MCF farm, in turn, provides the main employment for residents of the surrounding marginal community. In addition, these workers learn and apply the skills of sustainable organic farming to their own land. They are learning sustainable horticulture.
The workers are provided with the same supportive care as the children. All are given free medical care. Each is identified according to his/her own unique qualities and capacities, and placed within positions that meet their skills and qualifications. In addition, they are continually being given training that improves their capacity to become even more effective.
Yes, the MCF is more than an orphanage. It is an emerging Eden with a fertile bed of soil and seeds for creating life and a future. It teaches new life skills and a resulting new generation of Kenyans that will help their community reach beyond the limitations that brought them here to MCF.
If you have a belief in God, you will find it in evidence here at MCF. 750 students, preschool through high school living in an unbelievable environment of support, acceptance, balance, and harmony, are a truly exciting example of the Golden Rule.
I hope you may experience what is happening here (both within the “family” and within me) through my writing. Anne and I will continue to offer more in depth descriptions of our experiences in future postings.
I invite you to respond to this blog and to us personally at wakenhut@casair.net with your perspective. Perhaps by communicating and sharing our learning and ideas with each other, we can use the Mully Children’s Family as a fertile bed for our own organic growth, the improvement of our society as a whole, and an emerging Eden.
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