As we can see from our recent photos, Tumaini Youth Centers Banana forest is thriving alongside the children living at the center.

This banana agricultural project was planned in 2017 and planted in early 2018. In 2020 it is producing a delicious and nutritious food source for the youth center. Most of the children are on a two-week break from school in early January. Because of the break there is opportunity for the children to work in their-established gardens and crops. Busy hands are happy hands!

AICTYC gardens grow Corn, Tomatoes, Beans, and Cabbage for their own consumption. They also grow feed crops for the Cows, Goats and Chickens on site. Extra’s are not wasted but sold for income or shared with the local community churches.

The street children of Kitale, Kenya come from families or single mothers who are not only poverty stricken but the poorest of the poor. Often unable to provide for themselves, yet alone their children. Children on the streets are living without positive role models and relationships, missing their opportunity for education, and are susceptible to disease and violence. These kids often have no access to clean drinking water, healthy foods, health care, education or other social services. They often fear police and public officials knowing that they are often blamed for petty street crimes.

Among those who are rescued from the streets, the process of reintegration into society is so difficult they usually return to the streets. For others the relief from the pressures of street survival is the break that they need to become functioning adults and reunite with lost family members.

The word Tumaini means hope and trust in the Swahili language. At Tumaini Youth Center we never stop striving to provide hope for the street children of Kitale. Hope that there are opportunities for a brighter, healthier, happier future. And hope that we can achieve our mission and inspire our vision of a kinder world where every child’s needs are met.

The Invisible Street Girls

Blog August 2019

It is often wrongly assumed that homeless boys out number girls in a 9-1 ratio in the streets of Nairobi. However, a recent study that covered 12 locals in the Nairobi district, show’s that girls now constitute about 25% of the countable population of street kids. Alarmingly this percentage grows as the child’s age declines, in under the age of five bracket, close to 45% of the children are female. Boys have an easier time finding street jobs than girls. If they are thrifty, they can survive by collecting trash, loading and unloading merchandise for markets and doing other odd jobs. It is often easier to turn to drugs or organized crime, but at least they have an option. The girls have it even worse, if they do not have the protection of family members or a boyfriend, they have no choice but to turn to prostitution.

According to statistics about 63 percent of the children have been on the streets either on a part time or full-time basis for up to 5 years. Over 12 percent have been on the streets for between 6-10 years while another 13 percent cannot remember when or how they ended up on the streets.

There are many reasons that children turn to the streets. Most children report that they were either orphaned or abandoned. Many leave homes willingly in an effort to fend for themselves as their families have little or no resources to provide for them. Economically kids from poor families often suffer from lack of adequate care because their families have to spend most of their time and energy just trying to survive.

Tumaini Youth Center thanks all Donors and Sponsors for helping us build a new girl’s dormitory. This has allowed us to expand our girls program and take in up to twenty more needy female children. May God Bless your generosity.

Where in the World is Kenya?

As you can see from this map of Africa, the equator runs right through the country of Kenya just South of Kitale Town were Tumaini Youth Center is located. What does this mean for the population of Kenya? Here are a few interesting facts and myths related to the equator.

     The planet Earth is not perfectly round, rather it bulges at the center making the equator (an imaginary line circling our planet) nearly 25,000 miles long. This is the longest of our planet’s five main circles of latitude. Each latitude is based on the relationship between the Earth’s axis of rotation and the Earth’s orbit around the sun. The latitude of the equator is defined as 0 degrees making it the center point. If you live on the equator you will see the fastest sunrise and sunsets anywhere. Places that lie on the equator also enjoy a constant 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of nighttime. Whereas, any place that is North or South of the equator will have days that vary in length depending on the season. The equator crosses either the land or territorial waters of 14 countries including Kenya.

     It is a Myth that weather on the equator is always warm stable throughout the year. Nearly half of the world’s rain forests lie on the equator in the countries of Brazil, Congo and Indonesia. Many areas along the equator can experience wet and dry seasons, and other regions may well be wet for most of the year. The equator boasts the highest concentration of natural biodiversity as well as human poverty. While temperatures are generally high on the equator, you can find snow on the slopes of Volcan Cayambe in Ecuador, which has the highest elevation on the equator.

Girls Dormitory Operating Project is Completed

The American and African teams working for the Tumaini Youth Center in Kitale, Africa want to express their heartfelt gratitude for all the support provided in the funding of the girl’s dormitory project. Without your help this project would still be a work in progress. The Colorado Mission Committee, the Board of Directors, and Staff working at the center are truly appreciative of the prayers and financial support given during the construction and furnishing of this venture.

The girls living at the center are most thankful and appreciative for this endeavor. This new building is a vast improvement from the old rooms the girls occupied in the past. This new living space allows the older girls to have their own private room and the young girls can share a room.

Even more important we now have sufficient space for additional girls to come to the center. Since the completion of the dorm we have already added four more girls to our roster. In addition to the sleeping quarters in the dorm, we also have added a living room for the young ladies to use as well as a private living quarters for the girls’ matron.

We give the Lord the glory for his guidance in this labor of love and we know without His direction it would not have come to fruition.

We are truly grateful for everyone who was involved in this enterprise. Please ask your friends to check us out on our site (aictyc.org) and have a look at our building.

We will be begin another income-generating, project soon so please keep a lookout for more details explaining this venture.

Stay well in Christ,

Mike Heid