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Maryknoll Brother's service to Street Children in Kenya Loren Beaudry was raised on a dairy farm in Albertville, Minnesota, along with 7 brothers and 3 sisters. He lived in Big Lake for 5 years before going to New York to become a Brother in the Maryknoll Society. After 3 years of schooling in the Bronx, he went to Kenya for overseas training, where he worked with youth in a Nairobi parish for 3 years. In 1995 he moved to Mombasa, the main port city on Kenya’s east coast on the Indian Ocean. In Mombasa Brother Loren founded the “Grandsons of Abraham”, a rescue center for street kids. The name was chosen because it was inclusive, open to everyone. The program started out as a feeding program with basic education and sports in the afternoons. It was operated on a soccer field loaned to the program by a school. Seeing the need for shelter for the kids, Brother Loren and his co-workers set up grass huts on the field. After the huts were burned down twice, the school withdrew permission to use the field. A Catholic church gave permission for the program to move onto a vacant lot they owned. They set up tents and continued ministering to the street kids. A visiting priest from Malta wanted to help and promised to help build a center. The Catholic diocese donated a small plot of land 4 miles outside the city in an area called Mikindani. With the additional help of the White Sisters, they were able to construct a two-story building. With the permanent building, they were able to comfortably care for 20 – 25 boys ages 9 - 16, though at times they have had up to 50. The second floor of the building serves as a dormitory, and the first floor has the cooking and dining facilities. On an acre of land given to them 2 miles away they were able to start a garden with tomatoes, green vegetables, banana trees and other fruit. They also raise chickens and rabbits. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they take the kids to work in the garden in an old pick-up truck with benches along the sides. The youth are so eager to go that they line the benches at 1:00 for the 2:00 departure. Seventy five percent of the youth in the program are from outside the Mombasa area. Some come from Tanzania and Uganda. One of the main purposes of the program is to reunite the youth with their families. The boys know that eventually they have to tell the social workers where their home is. It can take months for the boys to feel enough trust to talk about their home. One time when a social worker was on the bus accompanying 2 boys who had been with them for a year back to their home in Kisumu, (near St. Cloud’s sister-diocese of Homa Bay on the west side of the country), the boys revealed their real names for the first time. The Social Workers make contact with the school in the boys hometown, as well, and make a follow-up visit after a year.
The live-in program does not work for all of the boys. There are some who cannot live with the rules and regulations of the program. In an effort to maintain contact with these boys and to let them know they care, the staff run an outreach program one day per week. Maryknoll lay missioner, Melissa LePiane from Seattle, Washington, works with the outreach program. In the program they do such things as play soccer and take the boys out for lunch. They attempt to keep the opportunity open for them to join the program and abide by its rules. Another component of “Grandsons of Abraham” is outreach to older boys, ages 17 –19, who cannot go home because they have no home to go to. The program rents them a room for these boys, and apprentices them with local craftsmen to learn trades such as gardening, carpentry, and barbering. The apprenticeship is for a period of one year. During that time they are given money for food. They learn how to budget and how to live together. After one year they must look for a job, which is the hardest part because jobs are hard to find. Brother Loren found fulfillment in the progress the Grandsons of Abraham program has made. He feels it is making an impact in the life of the boys, and in the community. You can read more about Br. Loren's ministry to Kenyan Street Children. Currently he is working in "state-side" mission service, promotions, and education for the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers in Chicago, IL. To return and continue learning more about |
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