By Joan Townsend | Board Chair, Retrak America
In Kenya, Retrak works with a partner organization called Child Rescue Kenya. Below is the story of Stephen, one of the many street children that CRK is working with.
Stephen is 13 years old, the second of six children. He ran away from home after taking some money from his mother without permission. When his mother discovered that the money was missing, Stephen was afraid of being beaten and chose to run to the streets of Kitale instead.
After one month on the street, Stephen heard about the work of CRK’s Street Smart program. He started attending the programs and was an active and enthusiastic participant in Street Smart's activities. In time, Street Smart social workers contacted Stephen’s family, and unfortunately Stephen’s father was very negative about his son and the possibility of Stephen ever returning home.
Currently Street Smart staff are still working with Stephen’s parents to restore their relationship, and they’re counseling Stephen through this difficult time. In spite of the rejection and hardship that Stephen has faced in his young life, he says that he wants to be a teacher when he grows up and finishes his studies.
Stephen’s life has been a difficult one, but it would have been even more difficult if it weren’t for CRK’s Street Smart program, which enabled him to move off of the streets and into a more stable future. Thank you for your support of Retrak and CRK. Please continue to support our work so that we can continue to work with street children like Stephen.
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