Street Children Program

June 2009 saw the birth of a new ministry for Open Arms International right in the heart of Eldoret, Kenya: the street children program.


Every night from Tuesday to Saturday, and during the day on Sunday, Project Leader Morris Mordecai goes out to the streets and spends time with the street children - singing worship songs, teaching them about Jesus, helping to memorize Bible verses, and then providing each child with some bread and milk.

The children, mostly boys ages 6 to 18 years old, have found themselves on the streets for a variety of reasons. They may have been orphaned, thrown out by step-parents, or run away from abusive domestic situations. They have no one to show them concern, love, or value, and they spend their days scavenging for food and sniffing glue to dull the hunger pains.

The ministry that Morris has started on behalf of OAI is an answer to prayer for many of these kids. And Morris is the ideal person to run it; he grew up on the streets himself from ages 8 to 16, so he knows firsthand the realities and horrors of living on the streets. Morris knows what it is like to be spit upon, kicked, and treated as less than human, and the street kids know he understands. They see how his life has been changed and, as he reminds them, that it can happen for them too.

Morris shows them the love of Christ every night as he takes spiritual and physical bread to these children who have so little, and he shows them the love of Christ as he  sits on the pavement alongside them, not concerned about the dirt of their clothes, but giving them value, self-worth, and time.


The street kids function in what are called "barracks," of which there are five in Eldoret, each one named by the area in which they sleep. When a new kid appears on the streets, hopefully before long he will be befriended by others of his age, and will then join the same barrack as them. There is a hierarchy within the barrack, and fights often take place between barracks.

The street children program is for all the barracks in turn, two per night, and everyone on Sunday, but we would love to be able to increase the amount we can do so that all the children can be reached more often.

If you would like to know more about how you could help increase the work of the street children program, please contact Camille Cotton, child sponsorship coordinator, at camille@openarmsinternational.com.