Giving children a choice
Elizabeth (7yrs)
Both of Elizabeth’s parents
died in 2007 so she now lives
with her aunt sharing a home
with four other children. Her
aunt works as a house help
but does not make enough
money to pay for Elizabeth
and her older brother Biron to
attend school. Biron is
in transition class preparing
to join primary school. Elizabeth
is receiving treatment for T.B.
Eunice (14yrs)
Since Eunice’s parent’s died she has been moved from one place to another staying with various members of her extended family, after her sister also died an aunt took her to Nakuru, a large town in the Rift Valley where she was made to work as a house girl and mistreated. She decided to run away when she was eleven and spent around two years living on the streets in Nakuru. During that time she says she slept outside and spent her days looking for food and sometimes ‘borrowing’. She says she felt lonely during that time, she missed her mum and never knew what to do or where to go but made friends with some other street children.
Eventually she decided to look for her other sister and boarded a bus to another town to look for her, she was never asked for her bus fare. She did find her sister who has sent her to live with her mother in law in Kibera who brought Eunice to Turning Point in 2009. She has joined the Transition class and is preparing to finally return to school. She says she is very happy to be in Turning Point, that God has given her another chance to go to school.
Wilson (14yrs)
Wilson started coming to
the project in 2005, when he
was living on the streets. Wilson's father deserted
the family when he was
young, and when his mother died
five years ago he ended up on
the streets with his older
brother Charles. He joined
Transition class while Charles, was supported to go to a
local primary school. They
moved in with an Aunt in
Kibera until their father returned.
By this time Wilson
had completed his time in
Transition and entered primary
school.
Unfortunately, they were not well cared for at home so after school they continued to go to the streets around Kibera searching for scraps of metal or plastics to sell. A kind lady who lived next door cared for the boys and in 2009 when their father died, she became responsible for the boys. It would be culturally unacceptable for Wilson and Charles to stay with someone who was not a relative at their age so Turning Point pays the rent on the room where they live while the neighbour, Mary, cares for them. There was a marked improvement in Wilson’s behaviour during his time in transition class and he continues to show good attendance at school. Wilson is now in class four of primary school.
