 |
Benjamin Otwele
Benjamin is a shy boy who thinks he has been at the Shelter for six
years but actually he only came in December 2005. He has no father and
his mother is an alcoholic who makes an illegal brew, which she sells
on the streets of Naivasha. Benjamin was beaten for a misdemeanour and
thrown out. He was lucky enough to come straight to the Shelter without
actually living on the street. He still sees his mother and four
brothers occasionally but often comes back feeling sick after being
given the illegal brew. He likes football and planting flowers and he
wants to become a mechanic so that he can earn money and control his
own life. |
 |
Benson Mwangi
Benson is an orphan who spent a year on the street at the age of ten.
When he was eleven he joined the EAWL teaching and feeding programme
but still had to sleep on the street until the Shelter was built in
2003. He has been trained in carpentry and has graduated and working at
Ruaraka Duck Farm. He is a good footballer and his dream is to become a
mechanic. |
 |
Chalo Mwende
Chalo was found abandoned in the street, and given to us by the police.
We were unable to trace any relatives. We dread to think of his life
before he came to the Shelter at the age of three. Today he is a
happy, singing child, mothered and adored by everyone at the Shelter. |
 |
Daniel Njuguna
Daniel is a very smiley self-assured seventeen-year-old. His mother died years ago, leaving eight siblings
in the care of a father with a drink problem who used to beat them.
Daniel ran away at the age of nine and spent a year living on the
street before moving into the Shelter in 2003. One brother and one
sister have died, two sisters have married, one brother is in another
children’s home and two are still on the street in Naivasha.
These he still sees from time to time. Daniel is bright and ambitious;
his favourite subject is social studies and his dream is to become a
Doctor and earn a good salary. |
 |
David Ng’ang’a
David has been on the street forever; his mother is mentally ill and
lives on the street. David has no idea who his father is but he has two
brothers including his little brother, Samuel Irungu, who also joined
the Shelter in 2006. David is twelve and has integrated well, though he
immediately loses eye contact when talking about the past. He says he
likes studying and football and wants to be a mechanic when he grows up. |
 |
Dennis Kamiti
Dennis ran away to the street with his younger brother, Elvis
Kinyanjui, after his parents divorced and their mother was unable to
provide enough food. After six months on the street both brothers
joined the Shelter in 2004. Dennis is thirteen now and very talented
with all things electrical and mechanical: he fixes watches and radios
and makes funny creative things like mini-propellers. He is good at
English and fascinated by the computers recently donated to the
Shelter. He likes eating mandazis (a type of Kenyan doughnut), chicken
and ducks, and his dream is to become a lawyer. |
 |
Elijah Njuguna
Elijah is the brother of Bernard, the Assistant Cook and also a Shelter
graduate. Elijah was the youngest of eight siblings who suffered from
poverty and lack of food, when their father died. Elijah was only ten
years old when he joined the EAWL teaching and feeding programme in
2000, having spent three months on the street. He still had to sleep on
the street until he was able to move into the newly built Shelter in
2003. Today, at sixteen, he is doing so well that he is in his second
year at the local state school, where he recently achieved second place
out of a class of thirty three. He is good at English, loves maths and
football, has an engaging and self-assured manner about him, and would
like to become a manager in a production company and have a family of
his own with four children – but not yet! |
 |
Elvis Kinyanjui
Elvis joined the Shelter two years ago at the age of eight. His parents
had divorced and his mother could not feed her five children, so Elvis
and his brother Dennis Kamiti took to the street where they spent six
months before being rescued by the Shelter. They still see their mother
and brothers and sisters. Elvis has made such good progress at the
Shelter that he is attending the local state school, where he recently
came twelfth out of a class of forty four. He is good at maths and
loves vehicles. His dream is to become a mechanic and have a family
with three children. |
| |
|
