By Vicky Ferguson | Chief Executive Officer
Well, another three months have passed and it’s that time that I get to share with you all about the progress of Glad’s House Advocacy Programme.
Thanks to your generosity we continue to distribute Care Packs to three prisons in Mombasa every month, we have now delivered almost 1,500! Because of you, we are able to ensure that children and young people have access to loo roll, toothpaste, a toothbrush and soap. From all of us, thank you!
I wanted to share a little bit of other parts of the Programme that impact children and young people in the Criminal Justice System. As part of our work we are delivering training to Police and Security Officers. We are educating them about Child Rights and challenging the current perception that just because you are homeless, it does not mean you are a criminal. So far we have trained 47 police officers in Child Rights plus International and National Laws regarding Juvenile Justice. As part of this training we involved some of our young people who have been victims of round ups, arrests and unlawful detentions to share their experiences - this is what one of our young people, Eric, had to tell us about his experience…
“To me this was a perfect opportunity to inform them of their cruelty while arresting street children. Initially, I was a bit scared and not sure if should speak to them especially knowing their “I don’t care attitude”. But I thought about it and told myself that this could be redemption for the street children in Mombasa, so I wanted to do it.
They listened attentively to my story of the injuries I got through being arrested and about the plight of street children and street families. It felt good to be listened to and grip someone’s attention and especially of the [police]. “
Eric had been on the streets for 12 years when he moved into our Glad’s House Transitional Home, Eric was 18 years old and has spent almost 70% of his life in fear of arrests and imprisonment, his only crime was that he didn’t have a roof on his head. Eric’s future is bright now, he has learned to read and write and is soon starting a training course in welding. The thing Eric takes most pride in is his work with our Advocacy Team as a ‘Street Champion’. He told us, “For me, I [am] not interested in their help but the fact that they were moved by my story was enough for me. Some of them confessed that they would find a way to treat the street kids and street families better, fairly and like human beings.”
We are only able to do this work because of the relationships we have been able to build with the prisons and the local government because of the care packs you enabled us to supply. We are all on this journey together, to ensure that homeless children are seen as just that, homeless NOT criminals!
We really hope you’ll continue to support our initiative and please share with your friends if you are moved to do so!
Once again, on behalf of all of us at Glad’s House and the children and young people’s who’s quality of life you have improved, THANK YOU!
By Vicky Ferguson | CEO
By Vicky Ferguson | CEO
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