What happens when a child of only 6 is discarded by his family and left to raise himself on the streets for 11 years in Kenya? One could only imagine this hair-raising prospect, but for Dr. Charles Mutua Mully this was a reality. “Through the suffering, the lack of food and the lack of shelter, it made me so scared about life.” But Mully continued to battle for his survival through his adolescent years, he begged for food, labored at a coffee bean plantation and walked 4 days to find work in Nairobi. He knocked on doors to find work, and finally, a family welcomed him in after he pleaded about how he was starving.

They then hired him to do housework like laundry, cultivating the gardens and to do the cooking. He was promoted to a farm assistant and life grew softer for the weary traveler. Later he would start his own taxi company after buying his first vehicle and founded the Mullyways Agencies in the 1970s, a transportation company to become a financial titan in his community. God had bigger dreams for the social entrepreneur. He was driving one day and pulled over to the side of the road as he felt God calling him to sell his business and to go back to where he grew up and minister to those in poverty, particularly the children. Mully grappled with this in his mind and in his heart. He sold all his assets, including properties and devoted all the resources to help street kids through by providing food, education, shelter, psychosocial support and giving them a future. Currently, there are Mully Children’s Family centers in Kitale, Ndalani, Kilifi, Lodwar, Yatta and Dar es Salaam. This story is remarkably documented in the film “Mully.”

Mully remains humble despite saving the lives of over 23,000 children over the years. ” I saw my face in their faces,” he said. “After that, I was compelled to give everything and to become a father to the fatherless. We have over 3,000 children at the moment.” To keep the ministry running Mully needed donations to keep the children fed and sometimes the donations didn’t come in. Mully developed a water harvesting/conservation plan for irrigation farming after the river dried up and decided that they would grow their own food to become self-sustaining.

But how? There was no water found on the land. Mully prayed and the Lord instructed him to walk to a certain place and to drill 22.5 feet and they found water. “Up to this day that well exists,” he said. “It’s called Jacobs well.”
“I have the spirit of entrepreneurship and we could not continue asking or begging every day because it is so hard to bother people. We now grow vegetables and send them to Europe (Germany and the Netherlands) to be sold to make money. We are able to sustain ourselves up to 30 to 50 percent.” Additionally, the organization has school feeding programs, job workshops and they have a future leaders program that “provides mentoring and coaching of youths with leadership and entrepreneurial skills through student internships, peer counselor training and a volunteer program.”

When God gives a person a purpose there is no stopping them. The children who he’s helping are doing just this. Through Mully, children have become doctors, lawmakers, engineers, social workers, teachers and advocates. “When you empower them, they are empowered to help other people’s welfare. Even if we help one child at a time it means a lot because that means we can transform and empower the young generation, especially the poor and the orphaned children.”

The Bible says, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,'” Mully said. “Yes, this organization has seen great success, but it is not because of me – it is because of the Lord, who gives me strength. Through God, anything is possible for the benefit of mankind.” The bottom line is when God calls us, we need to listen to His voice. Imagine if Mully didn’t. That would mean those 23,000 children would’ve been left on the streets and they could’ve perished. Words can’t adequately describe the beauty and impact this story will have on movie-goers.

To learn more about the film, visit www.mullymovie.com.