Street and working children with no family are found foster families by CRK while they attend school. If they get to university they do not have the family support network that other young people have to help them pay the costs of university. Government loans pay course fees for those with good grades but money for additional resources and living costs mount up. CRK are supporting two young men at university: Abel studies Agricultural Economics and Jacob studies computer security and forensics.
Abel was 6 yrs old when his mother died, leaving he and his 5 sisters to work as a shepherd and housemaids. Their father is in jail serving a 40 yr sentence for robbery. CRK found Abel a foster family and he started school. Jakob and his brother ran to the streets because their alcoholic mother could not look after them. Jakob was found a foster family when he graduated to secondary school. Both boys did well at KCSE and have places at university, but the associated costs are high.
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. In addition to their course fees, which can be met with governmental loans, accommodation and related costs add up to more than 25,000 KSH (($250) a semester. To be able to met the requirements of university studies, they also require resources such as a laptop.
Away from marginal lives on the streets, children develop into caring adults with the life and academic skills required to break the cycle of abject poverty and positively contribute to their society. They can be voices for a new generation of children, seeking change and demanding justice. Children supported by CRK now attend prestigious schools and universities, some have graduated to viable futures as nurses, laboratory technicians, mechanics, hairdressers, electricians and carpenters.
