Blog
Meet Jacy who lives 120 kilometers from the city. Life changed for this 14-year-old girl when her parents separated leaving her with her mother and two other siblings. Later her father died leaving this family to face an uncertain future. Jacy has lived with her mother since and life has been a constant challenge for them.
“I make a small amount of money collecting ballast from the nearby quarry. This money hardly meets our basic need like food. My back has developed a chronic problem which has been affecting my work since I cannot bend without pain. It has not been easy,” her mother said.
Jacy was able to access primary school education. She worked hard at school as she reflected on her situation at home. She completed her primary school education in December 2023 and scored 248 marks.
She was hoping to get better marks but her studies were affected by the challenges at home where she needed to support her mother do chores at home before sitting quietly to study. She often missed to attend school. Jacy knew that her mother would be unable to pay her school fees to join secondary school Jacy’s sad reality weighed her down as most of students in her village joined form one.
Two weeks later, Jacy was still at home and that is where she took a step, walked for 12 kilometres to the nearest town to seek help from anyone who would be willing to help her join secondary school. This is how we met Jacy. She was not a child on the streets but a desolate child who needed someone to believe in her and hold her hand. We asked her what pushed her to take the risk of walking the long through the bushes to the town. “I know education as the only way out of our current poor state as a family. I am determined to make a better life for my mother, my sibling and I,” Jacy says.
Despite her situation, this was heartwarming for us to hear. Her determination was outright! We took the journey home, met her mother who was not feeling well. We decided to go to the nearest secondary school and the school head offered her a chance to join the school. Jacy needed school fees and other requirements like uniform and stationary before starting her studying.
In partnership friends, her school fees was paid and other school requirement were bought. This was a dream come true for young Jacy. She is in secondary school today and she is determined to catch up with other students. Her heart is glad to be doing what she enjoys – learning with others.
At home, the family is still poor. They have no beds as they sleep on the floor. They share one room portioned with a curtain. They don’t have chairs or table and we had to sit on water jericans. Jacy will have to sit on the floor to study or write her notes.
We trust God to provide these needs and support for this mother (a widow) to take care of her three children.
John has graduated against all odds!
Many people think of a child’s life in the streets as a cruel affair that tends to dim their hope & dreams. But John’s case proved that regardless of your circumstances you can excel and make it in life. With hope and determination, you can rise above your circumstances.
‘I am John and I really enjoyed going to school until 4 years ago when my parents separated and my life changed. My mother was unable to pay school fees which led to my dropping out of school when I was in class 6. I began doing manual jobs on neighbours’ farms for a small pay and I enjoyed the work. However, during the dry season, there was no work in the farms, and I started going into town to look for casual jobs. I had nowhere to stay, and I could not travel back home every day. I joined other boys in the streets, and we began working as a group. For months we helped in different markets to offload goods for businesspeople’, says John.
One day, our team was on a street outreach and they met with John. Our team realized that here was a boy with great potential, but circumstances had led him to his current situation. He was a boy on the streets who seized each opportunity that came his way. ‘During the day, I worked as a farm boy, and this gave me a great love for agriculture. I wanted to do a course to gain more skills in agriculture, but I had no means.’ concludes John.
Later John was offered an opportunity to join a college to do a course of his choice. John chose agriculture technology. This was a 2-year course and he showed the determination to stay to the end.
Recently, John graduated with a certificate in Agriculture Technology and has already been offered job!
25 years anniversary:
Lydiah writes, 19-year-old Nico was the first young person that I rescued in 2000. He had been on streets for 9 years. Nico’s face and the conviction that ‘every child needs a family’ will forever be on my heart and mind. It was early in the morning when I met with Jemima to go find Nico. He was waiting for us just as we had agreed at the appointed place eager to go home. It had been months of walking the streets and meeting with Nico every so often. One day he said, ‘Mum, I’m ready to go home. I have had enough of this life on the streets. My friend was killed recently.’ My heart was so glad that I nearly hugged him, but he was dirty and smelly, I held back!
We took Nico to an open-air market that sells second hands clothes and bought him clean clothes. We found a public toilet and he changed into the clean clothes. He came out with his bundle of dirty clothes. He then said, ‘I don’t need these dirty and smelly clothes.’ He threw them into a near rubbish dump. What a transformation! We were ready for our journey to find Nico’s home. Fortunately, Jemima came from the same area as Nico which helped us find the right matatu (a small minibus used for public transport). It took us over two hours to the town nearest to Nico’s home.
Nico left his home when he was 10 years and had forgotten where his home was located, but he still remembered his grandfather’s names. After alighting from the matatu, we started walking in the general direction towards Nico’s stopping to ask people if they knew his grandfather’s homestead. We walked for an hour and half before we met an older man who said, ‘I know your grandfather but sadly he passed away last year.’ Nico face dropped. You could see the sadness on his face. Then he said, ‘Oh no!’ The man directed us to Nico’s home where we found his grandmother. She looked at Nico but, she didn’t recognize him. Then a young lady came out of the kitchen and shouted ‘Nico’ and then it dawned on his grandmother that this was indeed her grandson. He also got the news that his parents had moved to another town. There was joy and sadness mixed, but Nico was back home with his family.
Nico was warmly welcomed home. Our job was done for today, but this was just the beginning of our journey with Nico and his family towards reconciliation and restoration of these relationships. Since 1999, we have made many journeys that that have taken us to many parts of Kenya as we have related with children on the streets, rescued and reunited them with their families, rehabilitated them and worked towards restoring these broken relationships. We thank God and our partners who have enabled us to walk with over 6,000 children on this journey of hope and transformation. 25 years on….
