Helping street children to be Street Smart

September is a key month for street work, when CRK social workers walk through the streets of Kitale identifying new arrivals and reminding all children that Street Smart is open and they can come to wash, attend classes and be fed. In this last term there are additional costs of going to school as exam fees are often appied to pay for the printing of the exams. For those sitting for their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (end of primary school national exams) birth certificates are needed, which many children do not have as they have to be paid for. Therefore there are always a few more children on the streets in September who feel that they cannot go to school because they cannot pay for their examinations.

In addition, as the August holiday is a long one a number of children will work on the street to provide food for themselves and their families during the holidays when there are no feeding programmes running in schools. Sometimes these children choose not to go back to school because of the percieved benefits of working on the streets, or because they have become mixed up in the negative aspects of street life. Therefore, September is about finding these children and trying to get them back to school as soon as possible.

For those children who moved to Birunda Rescue Centre, and then home, from their time at Street Smart, September is about going back to school for the last stretch before the end of year exams, and for those coming to the end of their primary or secondary schooling - national examinations. It will be a turbulent term as the schools will need to close for a couple of weeks if a second election goes ahead (the results of the most recent one were annulled last week). That will mean a delay for the exams. It was lovely however to see the children going off to school, ready, if a little nervous, for the term ahead. 

We have also seen two of the young men CRK have supported through education off to university this month. Abel is now in his second year at Egerton University studying a BSc in Agricultural Ecomonics. Jacob was recently accepted to Meru University to do Computer Security and Forensics. The boys are lucky as they both recieved good enough grades in their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education to be able to apply for governmental loans to pay fees, but there are registration fees, accommodation and related costs that must be paid for and the boys need to have access to laptops if they are to meet all the requirements of their courses. We have set up a specific appeal for help to support them through Global Giving.

It is great to have these two success stories as the young men are role models for other children completing their journeys away from the streets. It gives them something to aim for and the realisation that it is possible to succeed. Thank you for all of your support for Child Rescue Kenya's work in Kitale. We are grateful for supporters like yourself who enable our support of the children.