Imagine having to curl up somewhere where you can find shelter and being woken up to the beating by a person of authority? Called the ‘street clean-up’, children on the streets of Nairobi are faced with the challenges of firstly, finding somewhere which provides shelter to sleep and secondly, avoiding being tortured or beaten to death. What is worse is that even if a child on the streets in Kenya finds shelter to sleep, they most likely go to bed on an empty stomach. Starving, treated with brutality and subjected to slave labour and child trafficking if caught, these street children are being deprived of their basic human rights: necessities to survive and education not to mention a childhood of love and hope.
Further to battling finding shelter and food to nourish their tired, weak bodies, the children on the streets in Kenya are taken advantage of through drug pushers and turn to substance abuse for comfort to alleviate pain, hunger or escape from brutality as well as the fact that other street children might be using substances.
According to Capital News, the estimation of children and young people living on the streets in Kenya was around the three hundred thousand mark in 2018 with roughly sixty thousand estimated to be street children in Nairobi. However this number can never be known for sure due to the amount of children being forced into street life on a daily basis, that figure could more likely be closer to six hundred thousand.
Further to seeking shelter and food, children living on the streets in Nairobi and around Kenya are challenged with harassment which can include sexual harassment and lack of sanitary conditions for their overall health and well-being. Contracting Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) is far too commonplace than it should be. Unwanted pregnancies occur and this is stripping young girls from their basic human rights not to be raped or sexually assaulted or sold into sex slavery and child trafficking. These children of Kenya face battles on a daily basis trying to navigate the way through their childhood which is lacking love, health and wellbeing, and hope, three things a child should have in its life. Fundraising with the Evie Grave Foundation means you are helping support children living on the streets in Kenya offering them a home and food and someone to care for them. Evie Grace Foundation partners with the reputable Global Hope Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre therefore together and with your support, we can raise funds to keep these children from living on the streets and provide them with shelter and a place to call home.
Written by: Andrea Manno
