Child Protection Kenya Project #22375

Protect, feed, and educate 114 rescued children

by Grandsons of Abraham Rescue/Rehabilitation/ Education Centre

Project Report | Jul 10, 2018
Love made me stay here

By Bridgita S. Mwawasi | Project Leader

Happy to be in School

John is now 17 years old and in class 7 at Abraham’s Education Centre in Kikambala, Kenya. In normal circumstances at his age he would be finishing his secondary school education and getting into college. But it does not bother John that he is far much older than any of his classmates.

“Life has given me a second chance!” Says a smiling John who is introverted but harbors beautiful dreams for the future, something that is apparent when he speaks. “To be an engineer is my dream and I am working hard to make it come true”. Says John who is academically endowed and among the top pupils in his class. But why does he say that life has given him another chance? Here is his story as he narrates it himself.

“For five years I lived on the streets, hopeless, helpless and futureless. My parents separated when I was a toddler. My dad disappeared to a place I do not know. My three Sisters and I remained with our mother who was jobless and desperate to feed and educate us. My older sister was taken by my uncle and my two younger sisters and I remained with mother.

“I was in class two when our mother left us to look for a job and did not return. I was left to fend for my siblings. I would go to the streets to beg for food and drink every day to feed my sisters. I dropped out of school in order to beg. Eventually I gave up since it was not always possible to get something to bring back home and I could not stay to see my little sisters dying. I decided to venture into street life.

“I went to Nyeri town where I met street children who were very kind to me. They helped me adapt to life on the streets and soon I was getting my own money through stealing side mirrors of peoples’ cars packed in the town. I would sell them and get money which I saved until I could buy a bus ticket to take me to the big city of Nairobi.

“In Nairobi I would forage for leftover food in garbage bins. Life became very hard. To forget my problems, I got involved in drinking and in drugs. Stress was too much and I decided in 2010 to move to Mombasa when I heard some boys saying life was better in the streets of Mombasa. I saved some money that I got through stealing and selling car side mirrors, plastic bottles and scrap metal. I got some money and I bought a bus ticket to Mombasa.

“In Mombasa however, life was not different from that of Nairobi. Street life is the same whether in Nairobi or elsewhere. You sleep in the open and often risk your life. One day we met a Mzungu (white person) with someone who introduced himself as a social worker from Grandsons of Abraham Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre. I had not come so close to a white person before and I was very interested when they asked if we wanted to go to school. Without thinking I said yes and they asked us to accompany them to their Centre in Mikindani. While there we were counseled and given clean food and clothes. It was like being home after so many years. Yet soon I would get bored with the organized life at the Centre and I missed the drugs and free life of the streets. I decided to run away from the Centre and return to the streets. However life got more difficult and I would soon get into trouble with police. I was arrested for loitering and sent to prison for six months.

“It was after prison that I had a serious thought to change my life. I was ten years old but five of them had been lived stressfully on the streets. I had had enough. I wanted to go to school; I wanted to be like other children. I wanted to sleep on a bed and wake up to good breakfast and be able to play with friends.

“It was at this point that I went to Mikindani Centre. I did not know whether the social worker, the sisters or the Mzungu would receive me since I had run away from them. To my surprise, no one even asked me why I ran away. They were only concerned that I was safe and could go to school. I decided to stay and never to run back to the streets. The whole of 2013 I underwent rehabilitation at the Centre. I was counseled and treated. Eventually in 2014 I was allowed to go to school here in Kikambala. I did two classes in one year – class two and three. I did not mind that I was more than 5 years older than my classmates. They loved me and I loved them. We play football and I draw and dance. I also conduct the choir on Sundays. I am happy here”.

Thanks to GlobalGiving and you, our generous supporters that through your selfless giving you enable John and other children like him to keep their dreams alive and to look forward to a brighter future.

School is good

The future is bright

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Apr 13, 2018
Life before rehabilitation and school

By Leah Schmidt | Volunteer

Younger children in school at the Education Centre

Every former street child you ask about their life on the streets will respond with one word: hard. They always present question “what will happen tomorrow?” Lack of food, shelter, and money makes them do extreme things. It is not only the typical pickpocketing but also threatening the target with a knife.

Every child has a different reason why they left home but in almost every case abuse is part of it. Once being on the streets they discover their freedom in every way. It does not matter whether you are 5 or 16 years old, drugs and alcohol are sort of a daily ritual. Not taking drugs is seen as a weakness and you automatically become an outcast. As an individual, there are no rules and they do whatever whenever they want. Even though it is difficult to make friends, once you got them they are probably a bad influence encouraging you to keep stealing.

Being harassed by the police, the constant search for food and money and the fear of being abused certainly does not make the life easy. Instead of trying to help, the government looks away. So they help themselves. Somewhere in town, a basement exists where families and children can live in their own space. In that area there are some rules: you are not allowed to enter someone else’s space without permission, you shall not steal from another poor person.

In this building, there is a really strong sense of unity. If someone becomes sick everyone tries to give some money in order to get a treatment. The older ones cook so younger ones can have at least one meal a day.

In addition to them being really organized some hotels and restaurants pack their leftover food into paper bags so the children can pick them up. But despite all that, sleeping next to dustbins and taking drugs in order to be strong is not a life a child or anyone should live.

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Jan 17, 2018
Mother will never see me in my school uniform

By Bridgita S. Mwawasi | Project Leader

At School

December 2017 was a turning point for Meja. It was the time he followed strangers who held a glimpse of hope for him to ever go to school. He exhibits a distant stare with the head tilted and eyes slightly closed as he narrates his story. His inner world is beaming now and he is willing to share with us just a glimpse of it. We may never be able comprehend what he has been through in his tender age, but one thing is sure – he now looks at the future differently, and proudly says so.

“I am 10 years old and this January 2018 I am able to go to school for the first time in my life,” quips a jovial Meja.

“It is something I have dreamed of for a long time but I never imagined it would one day be a reality. I prayed and cried so many times to be able to go to school one day. I wanted to study and become someone in life. I don’t believe it that I am in school now! I am happy to be in school but I am sad because my mother will never see me wearing my school uniform.”

Though taller and much older than many boys and girls in his class, Meja does not seem to be bothered by this. He is comfortable just to be in class, and he shows it thanks to his face beaming with happiness. His story is typical of the many children rescued from the streets and cared for by Grandsons of Abraham.

Meja was born of a single mother who had dropped out of school at class five due to harsh economic conditions at home and eloped with a man who abused her and infected her with a serious disease. When a few years later she returned home she was sick, with no husband and a little boy to take care of. She however could not get medical care and she died two years later. Meja was then five years old and remained in the hands of his grandmother and when she too died about three years later, he had no other place to go to but the streets since relatives refused to take him in saying he would be a bad omen to their families.

Alone and at a tender age, Meja roamed the streets for two years. “I found other boys and we slept in open areas. I ate dirty food and was harassed by older boys many times but I could not go back home. There was no one there”.

Meja narrates how all this time he haboured thoughts of going to school, and how late last year some people who said they were from a Centre for children befriended them and would visit them often.

“At first I was afraid since not many people ever give us much attention. But when our new friends promised to take us to school if we agreed to go to the Centre, I quickly threw away my bottle of gum (sniffing stuff) and volunteered to go with them. Some of my friends refused and they are still there. One day I will go back and request them to come and join school too. I am very happy and if they see me looking very clean and in school uniform, I am sure they will also want to be like me, then they will come.”

Meja is hopeful that from now onwards his life will have a new meaning. He is determined to work hard and to help other boys in the streets to go to school. Thanks to our supporters who have donated generously to Grandsons of Abraham through GlobalGiving, Meja now has a new lease of life.

We wish you a most happy and prosperous New Year 2018.

New School term

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