Father To The Fatherless

Abject poverty. Two adults and three small children live in squalor in a one room hut in Kenya; days without food and nights filled with unimaginable terror. The drunkard, demon-possessed father

returns nightly, bringing nefarious accusations and physical abuse that takes the mother closer and closer to death. Six year old Charles Mulli wishes he could protect her, but the monster is too big, too angry, too out of control. Day after day, night after night, and then no more. Mulli awakes one morning in an empty hut to which his parents and little brothers never return.

Left to die, young Mulli learned to scavenge for food, to beg, and go hungry, living a meager existence focused only on survival. In his teenage years, a friend invites him to a crusade where he hears the gospel. Mulli accepts Christ, but continues to struggle at making a life for himself. After years of hardship, by God’s grace and Mulli’s determination, he becomes a successful businessman.

Mulli began his road to success as a hired hand in a wealthy family’s home. Like Joseph, he applied himself and excelled at every task. He was given greater responsibility and eventually became the overseer of the entire household. By prudent money management he saved enough to buy a taxi cab. One led to an entire fleet of cabs and soon Mulli had the largest operation in the city. One venture led to another and he became the wealthiest man in Kenya.

Mulli married and started a family. They lived like royalty enjoying the privileges of wealth and status. But Mulli couldn’t shake the memories of his past—the abuse, the poverty, the hopelessness he felt on the streets as an abandoned child. And every day, he looked into the faces of children who had come from similar situations. How could he continue to build businesses and accrue wealth while so many languished in his view?

Much to their dismay, Mulli announced to his family his decision to sell his businesses and dedicate his life to helping the street children of Kenya. His wife and children would no longer live in luxury and the ease and convenience they were accustomed to would be no more. His family protested and then went to bed in silence, never vocalizing their support. Mulli prayed, “I am not a special man. This is the hardest decision of my life, yet I am not worried. We’ll start making a plan tomorrow for how to help the street children. The ones who have been thrown away. You will rescue them. I pray for my family. They are my responsibility and you know their hearts.”

The next morning Mulli headed to the streets. He took the children food and clothing and began a daily relationship with them. He bought land and started a mission, teaching the children how to grow and cultivate a garden. This small project was the beginning of a land transforming, atmosphere changing, life producing, nation-altering adventure which literally changed the landscape and even weather patterns of a portion of Kenya!

Mulli applied himself diligently and learned through prayer and vision how to alter the landscape around him. God provided wells where previously there had been no water; He performed miracle growth of greenery and vegetation, which then changed the atmospheric conditions, and thus the weather. Mulli’s property was unlike any in the nation, and kings and business moguls began to seek his advice on how to build self-sustaining environments that nurture communities and beyond. Mulliand his family lived and worked the vast land, providing food, shelter, clothing and schooling for the street children of Kenya.

Over the past three decades, over 13,000 children have been helped. The majority of the graduates of the Mully Children’s Family go on to live productive, successful lives, and most stay true to their faith in Jesus Christ. I had the great gift of attending a small dinner where Charles Mulli was the honored guest. His story and testimony are too phenomenal for a short article. I encourage you to purchase his book, Father to the Fatherless, and watch the movie Mulli. It is one of the most inspiring stories I’ve ever heard, full of God’s mercy, power, faithfulness, and miraculous provision.

God is looking for just one. Just one surrendered man or woman who will look beyond the self into the eyes of eternity. When God is in a vision, the impossible becomes possible. Time is accelerated and resources abundant. Though street children may not be in our immediate vision, fatherlessness is epidemic in our nation and world. Would Christ have you be an answer to a problem in desperate need of a solution?

To find out more about Charles Mulli and Mully Children’s Family, visit MCFUS.org. There are many ways to help: