Helping street children to be Street Smart

It is hard to believe we are already two months into a new year.  January is our busiest time of the year at Child Rescue Kenya as it marks the beginning of the new school year in addition to the new vocational training/apprenticeship courses. 

Children who attended Street Smart in the last quarter of 2017 were, largely, reintegrated to home and families by the end of December.  Some children were reintegrated directly home from Street Smart (five in January) and others spent some time at our short-term transitional care centre in Birunda first.  Every effort was made to have children in settled environments by the time school started in the first week of January in order that they would start at the beginning of term to make transition easier for them.  This was made even more difficult due to larger numbers of children on the streets during November and December due to the long school holidays.  In Kenya, the ‘long’ holiday is November and December.  During this time, if there is little at home, it is more likely that children will gravitate to the streets.

Our staff were kept busy visiting schools, preparing families, children and teachers for the new arrivals in addition to buying uniforms and schools.   Once children progress home from Street Smart, it is vital that we maintain contact and continue to provide family support to ensure those children are adequately provided for in the home and have everything they require to attend school. 

We monitor and follow up every child who is reintegrated.  We provide family support where this is needed.  This may be providing short-term needs such as food baskets in some cases but, more importantly, we focus on the long term.  We also provide family counseling, business skills training and grants, bio-intensive farming training and set-up to ensure that poverty in the home is alleviated in a sustainable manner.   And, above all, we ensure that young people rescued from the streets of Kitale are given the opportunity to benefit from the education system. 

Children from age 4 to 18 come to Street Smart.   Some have had some education, some none, some have done well in school.  All are assessed, given the opportunity of attending non-formal education classes at Street Smart, and they are encouraged to return to school or vocational training. 

The streets of Kitale had significantly fewer children eking out an existence during January thanks to concerted efforts to get children into school.  However, we are starting to see new arrivals and, thanks to your support, we hope that those children can be helped and encouraged to join schools after this week’s mid-term break. 

In our next report, we hope to tell you all about our other exciting education development.  A mobile school!  This will be launched in March and we hope this will prove a valuable tool to encourage children to learn in a fun way.

Until then, all the best!