By Douglas J. Lanzo
Copyright 2020

First published in Academy of the Heart and Mind, April 26, 2021

Dedicated to Doctor Charles Mulli, founder, philanthropist and human being extraordinaire

Born into extreme poverty in rural Kenya,
abandoned by his family at six years of age,
a rudderless boy begged and stole to survive,
filling his tormented heart with rage;

Despairing of continuing his misery,
considering ending it one fateful day,
a Christian teenager timely intervened,
inviting him to Church, offering another way;

Transformed by a message of hope and love,
Charles Mulli gave his heart and soul to Christ, 
and embarked for a better life in Nairobi,
overjoyed a blameless lamb for him was sacrificed;

Hired by a wealthy urban family,
he worked in their house and on their land,
earning promotion to manage hundreds
working to plant and harvest vast farmland;

There he met a sweet and lovely woman,
whom he wooed and made his wife,
a devout, caring family woman,
and proud apple of his life;

With creativity and grit,
coupled with heart-warming smile,
he founded many successful companies,
and, with that, great fortune he did compile;

Moved by the suffering of orphans
abandoned like his former self,
he felt a divine calling
to help them with his great wealth;

Selling all his business assets
to house, clothe and feed each rescued kid
he raised them as his own family,
by sharing God’s love, their torments rid;
 
Ridiculed, called crazy,
disowned by his own Church,
he relied on God for donations,
when friends left him in the lurch;

Never losing faith in God,
dearly loving his own kids and loyal spouse,
seeing each orphan as a blessing,
a soul to save and precious member of his house;

Building homes, schools and bridges,
digging wells and planting trees,
his program grew to hundreds,
then thousands freed from miseries;

Revered in Kenya, now a doctor,
his work honored around the globe,
Doctor Mulli points to heaven
citing his Savior’s healing robe.