Boniface

This summer I had the opportunity to meet and spend time with one of my personal hero's. His name is Boniface and he runs a ministry for street kids in Nairobi, Kenya. Boniface wakes up hours before the sunrise multiple times a week to spend time with kids and young adults living on the streets of Nairobi. He spends some time reading scripture and preaching to them and then feeds them, all before the sun rises. As the sun comes up the the kids must scatter, as being homeless is illegal during the day in Kenya. Boniface has been doing this for about 11 years and since then has taken numerous children off of the street. He sees potential in these children that no one else sees. The people of Kenya refer to street kids as trash but thankfully he doesn't. He has seen some of the kids he has removed from the streets become doctors, lawyers, international businessmen, and small business owners. 


Boniface is a man with a quiet demeanor. His gaze is intent and his voice is commanding. He displays an uncanny amount of humility being the first to admit that his chosen lifestyle is very difficult. When probed he'll tell you that some mornings it's difficult to get up and go out but he knows that God has given him a responsibility and because of this he goes. He has no one he can rely on besides God, no support from his peers in Kenya, yet his story is known throughout the world. About 8 years ago a girl from Alabama heard about Boniface while in Kenya and went to work with him. This girl would later help Boniface secure a plot of land just outside of the city. For years the property sat vacant due to a lack of funds for its development. About two years ago with the help of donations from people who he has never met, a house was built on the property. One of the builders of the house happened to be one of the kids he had taken off the street years ago. Last summer they planted a rather large garden with everything from Banana trees to corn to herbs and spices. The inconsistency of funds he receives however makes it difficult for him to undertake major projects yet he is attempting just that. 


His ministry has evolved a lot since the early days. He now takes many of the kids that he meets on the streets back to their homes in villages all around Kenya. For those children that are truly orphans, Boniface takes them in. Because of this Boniface is working on transforming his own house into a half-way house of sorts. He plans to take kids off the streets and condition them to the responsibilities of family life and the stresses of school before taking them back to their own families or setting them up in an adoption/foster care situation. In order for his vision to become a reality however Boniface needs a source of water on his property. Currently he pays the city of Nairobi to fill a water tank under his property costing him thousands of unnecessary dollars a year. The cost of a well being dug on his property is $20,000. A generous donor has agreed to match any funds we raise up to $7,500. That puts us three eighths of the way there. If you'd like to read more about his story you can at this link: Boarhole for Boniface .  


If you feel moved enough to donate there is a "chip in" widget on this blog. Feel free to email me and ask anything about Boniface or the project itself. This blog can't fully convey the impact this man has had on my life.