The 20 children who sang and danced on the stage at Koinonia Christian Fellowship in Bloomingdale Nov. 16 looked happy and healthy and nothing like the hopeless, neglected street children they once were.
The Mully Children’s Family Choir arrived in Canada Oct. 16 to begin the Canadian leg of their North American Safari. The group is touring North America to celebrate its 20th anniversary and to raise money for its charitable foundation.
The organization, which rescues and rehabilitates street children, was founded in Kenya by Charles Mulli, who was abandoned by his parents when he was six years old and scraped out a meager existence until converting to Christianity in his teens.
Mulli eventually became a successful businessman, with companies in insurance, transportation and oil and gas. He also married his wife Esther and they had eight children together.
But Mulli was haunted by the street children that he saw begging in cities like Nairobi.
“When I looked at street boys, I saw my face in them; I saw myself in them,” he told the audience.
He began by inviting three street children into his home, and that number grew until there was no room for more. Now, the Mully Children’s Family cares for more than 2,000 children. There are three homes which house and educate the children up to Grade 12, and another three community day care centres which provide food, clothing and primary education to children who have been orphaned but remain in the care of a relative.
MCF officially celebrated its 20th anniversary Nov. 17, the day after the performance at Koinonia.
“Even though tonight we are going to be 20 years, I can see higher mountains,” Mulli told the crowd.
From Ontario, the choir headed west to Manitoba this weekend, and from there to Alberta and British Columbia. In December, the children will return home to Kenya in time for Christmas.
