5/4/2009

Street girls

It is estimated that there are 250,000 street children in Kenya. Of these, about 60,000 live in the capital, Nairobi. The children leave home for various reasons but mainly because of poverty and physical and verbal abuse. Because of the poor situation at home the children choose to live on the streets and fend for themselves, begging for money and sleeping in gutters and other places where they can find some shelter. Often the street children resort to using glue or other intoxicants to escape the harsh reality of their lives. Street girls in particular are in danger of being raped or sexually abused when living on the streets.

Many of the children in the ABC children´s home, both boys and girls, are former street children. Shakile Akinyi is one of them. She is 13 years old and the oldest one of five siblings. She and her 6 year old sister Mercyline Achieng had been on the streets with three other girls, Theresia, Wanjiku and Rose, who all are sisters, for at least three months before they were enrolled in the ABC progam. At home there was often lack of food and their parents were not able to pay schoolfees for their children, so the girls ran to the streets to beg for money and survive on their own. The place they mostly went to in order to beg was a Caltex petrol station, with an adjoining fast food restaurant, ATM facilities and a police station. A busy place, and therefore quite popular among street children.

A turning point in the lives of Shakile, Theresia and their sisters was when a woman, who lived near the ABC children´s home and was familiar with the work of ABC, noticed the girls on the streets and sympathised with them. She decided to bring the girls to the ABC office and request that they be taken into the children´s home. All of the girls had had little or no previous schooling before they were admitted into the ABC Children´s Aid program.

The families of Shakile and Theresia both live in the Njenga slums in Nairobi and are very poor. Shakile´s parents have been living there for the past 7 years after coming to Nairobi from their rural area. The mother alone is sustaining the family. She does laundry work and earns about 100 Kenyan shillings (1.3 USD) per day when the job is available. The father´s earnings are unknown. He is a casual labourer, but he is a drunkard and does not contribute anything to the family´s earnings. The house that the family lives in was given to them by a good samaritan, who is a family friend and does not request any rent. It is made of iron sheet and wood and the floor is a mud-floor. Charcoal is used for cooking. The family has access to tap water but has no electricity. Toliet facilities are shared with neighbours. The living conditions at Theresia´s home are similar but her father, who is a casual labourer, contributes to the family´s income, and earns 200-500 Ksh per week if jobs are available. The monthly rent is 500 Ksh (6.3 USD).

Theresia is a talkative and affectionate girl. She likes skipping and wants to become a nurse. Her friend Shakile is a shy girl who likes football and wants to become a doctor. Their mothers both say that they are very happy that their children are now in school and are at a safe place, not on the streets. Life has also become easier as major responsibilities are reduced with the enrollment of the children in the ABC Children´s Aid program.

It is amazing and quite miraculous to see the changes in the appearance and behaviour of former street children as they adjust to a new life at the ABC children´s home. It is also heartwarming to see that despite all the difficulties they have gone through and the harsh life that these children have had to endure, they are affectionate and gradually learn to trust and love the people who reach out to them and want to help them.

Sigurrós Friðriksdóttir of ABC Children´s Aid Kenya