Alive & Kicking UK

Kenya 

Street children are people under the age of 18 who spend some or all of their time living and or working on the street; the street being a broad term meaning outside a formal residence in an urban area.

Contrary to popular conceptions about street children the vast majority do not sleep most nights on the street, and most still have some contact with their families. They are generally on the streets to work, because their parents are too poor to provide enough income for the family on their own.

Over 60,000 of Kenya's 250,000 street children live in Nairobi. Some are second or third generation street children.  The number of children on the streets is increasing in Kenya.

Although most street children do not actually sleep on the streets there are a number that have no choice because they have been abandoned or orphaned. More and more children are orphaned because ot the increasing Aids epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa.

UNICEF defines children who spend all their time on the street as children ‘of' the street, and they are a category of children who are deemed to be at severe risk. Many street child projects are aimed at these children who are in the worst circumstances and many of those projects begin with supplying children with shelter.

One such project we have supported is the Naivasha Shelter, in the Rift Valley, some 100 km north west of Nairobi. Some 45 street children from Naivasha Town have been given a chance of schooling and a home on a farm just outside the town. The project is seemingly the result of an amalgamation of inputs from a number of people including Igal Elfezouaty, the farmer who availed 10 acres of his plot, the ladies of the Naivasha Branch of the EAWL who used their energies to make the project happen, the local contractors who built the school and dormitories, local businesses who donated fittings and equipment, and a Trust in the UK which provided whatever other funding was necessary. The shelter has its own football pitch so our balls are in great demand.

Another Street Child Project that we support is run by a group called Njia Panda Ya Tumaini which means crossroads of hope in Swahili. They are based in Kitale - some 400 km north of Nairobi where interventions for street children are grounded in teaching the children about and helping to ensure their human rights. The Children there are encouraged to participate in the decisions that effect their futures, which builds on children's capabilities instead of focusing on the negative aspects of their lives on the street.

To learn more about the Naivasha Shelter or NPYT visit www.ncshelter.org or www.npyt.org

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