The vision of Capstone Ministries is a street child who is now a former street child and has been reunited with his family.
The definition of “family” in Kenya is broader than in the US. The responsibility for rearing children often stops with immediate family in a western culture. In Kenya, however, aunts, uncles, grandparents and sometimes even community members from the same clan will take responsibility for the children of a deceased parent. This positive cultural responsibility for children is encouraged by Capstone Ministries. We believe that a family is always a superior place for a child than any institution.
Many of us can remember growing up in families where the luxuries of life were absent. Sometimes even the essentials were inconsistent. But where there was love, few children would complain. This aspect of familial love and care is more valuable for a child than anything else a parent can provide. This is why we do not hesitate to reconcile a child in a challenging situation. The glue that binds a family together and which provides stability for a child is love. And no love on earth is better than love in a family.
Capstone staff make follow up visits with the families and extended families of boys who have been reconciled. We do this because we understand that if there was an issue that caused the boy to run away, that issue may resurface again. Some families are visited more often than others depending on the circumstance.
Capstone does not provide financial assistance to families or visit schools of the children. This, we believe, is part of the responsibility of families. Occasionally, in emergency situations, we may provide an exercise book or a text book but this is not part of our ongoing policy. Our role in the family is purely encouragement to parents to be responsible and children to be obedient and to study hard. We have learned from experience that a program that pays primary school fees for and gives food assistance to families only creates laxity and dependency within parents .
Capstone does have a secondary school scholarship but only for students who are high achieving and who come from families who might not otherwise be able to afford the high school fees for high school. Capstone Ministries is working with over 250 children in various stages of rehabilitation and reconciliation.