Listen: Kenyan-born Charles Mully on why he gave his wealth away to rescue abandoned children

When you think of the great philanthropists and revolutionaries of our time Charles Mully may not be a name that comes to mind. However, it’s being spotlighted in the new documentary Mully, which tells how the Kenyan-born native went on from the slums of Africa to become a mutli-millionaire, who later gave it all away to rescue abandoned children.

Charles grew up on the streets of Kenya after being left behind by his family. His dad was an out-of-work alcoholic and his mum was doing the best she could to raise the family with no support.

When Charles woke one morning to find he’d been left behind, he started a life of begging and doing what he could to survive the day.

Once he hit his teen years, Charles decided to make the long walk to the city of Nairobi to try and find paid work.

Thanks to the generosity of a stranger, Charles got a job as a farm hand that eventually led to a leadership position and set him up to go on to start his own businesses, where he ultimately became a very wealthy man with a thriving family of his own.

Charles’ status as a multi-millionaire was something to be proud of – the way he’d outgrown his past and created opportunities for himself and his children was admirable. But it’d also made him more detached from the children still living in poverty throughout Kenya.

Confronted by his own lack of generosity toward kids that begged on the streets as he had, Charles felt God compelling him to leave his wealth behind and use what money he had to start the Mully Children’s Family (MCF) – an organisation that has rescued and rehabilitated over 25,000 children from the slums since its inception in 1989.

Whatever you did for one of the least of these you did for me. Matthew 25:40
Source: MULLY Movie Facebook

Charles told Hope 103.2 that when he didn’t give to those in need “it reminded me about how I was very, very poor and how I used to go and beg”.

Hope 103.2 is proudly supported by

“I did not give these people [money] to go and buy bread but them something came into my heart and said, ‘God forgive me, I was like them. And please help me to have that love for them’,” he said.

Hollywood actor and director of Mully Scott Haze (Venom, Jurassic Park: Dominion) came across Charles’ story in the Father to the Fatherless book and, not believing it could really be true, set out to investigate Charles’ life himself.


Subscribe + stay connected with all
our latest stories

Hope 103.2 is proudly supported by