In Nairobi, Kenya, 52% of the population lives in slums, and Kawangware is one of the largest. More than 400,000 people live in layered structures along winding dirt paths in the 3 km square— most surviving on less than $1 a day. 65% of them are children and youth. Unemployment is staggering. HIV/AIDS are rampant and the community does not have the proper resources to help themselves. However, the most unique problem with Kawangware is that it far exceeds other Kenyan slums in the number of children living in the streets.
Over time in Kawangware, any sense of community has eroded. The result? Broken families and young runaways who are finding it hard to cope in the world. These children live in the streets, eating garbage, and drinking the milky brown, contaminated water that runs in rivulets through the walking paths.
And yet, in the midst of Kawangware’s noisy, bustling streets filled with vibrant colors and the occasional camel, Jesus is present. And He’s on the move.
Throughout 2024, a group of thirty high school students began to gather several mornings a week to learn about knowing and following Jesus so that they could grow as leaders. They call themselves, “Changemakers.” Born out of BWAB Kenya’s Love Your City efforts, the youth go up onto the roof of the ten story office building where Boy With a Ball has an office. Each meeting, they break into teams and build relationships with one another through team-building activities. They compete in challenges that require each person to contribute their own hearts and creative ideas to help their team win, all the while learning more and more about their God-given giftings. They then break into small groups and discuss a prompt.
On the final day of the program for that year, Tuesday, December 10, they focused their discussion on the Holy Spirit. As the time was about to wrap up for the day, Moses Aboka, a historic leader who grew up in Kawangware, stepped forward and shared his own story. He spoke about being a teenager and being around the things of God but finally reaching the point where he asked Jesus to really come into his heart and to change His life. He then invited the group to do the same. Moved by the words and the Holy Spirit at work in them, exactly half of the group stepped forward and gave their lives to Jesus on that rooftop in the middle of that slum with the sun glaring down and a woman hanging up her laundry beside them.
The Jesus from the Gospels is the Jesus of the rooftop in Kawangware right now. He is the Jesus of your city, too. He is at work across the whole Earth and when He walks in, everything changes.
It can be easy to believe that God is not moving this way today but He is. We can get caught in programs, busyness, expectations, or even good thoughts. All the while, He is moving out there— in everyday places and spaces like in Kawangware or your grocery store. Take a look around, and you will find Him. Need a hint? He is particularly close to places where people are humble, where they are hurting, and where they are hungry to find Him.
