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Paul Karanja
Paul is a warm, smiley fifteen-year-old, who was only eight when hunger drove him to the street, along with his brother Geoffrey Kamau, also now at the Shelter. Their father had died and their mother used to disappear leaving the two brothers and their two sisters alone and hungry. The boys ran away finally, joined the EAWL feeding programme and then moved into the Shelter when it was completed in 2003.
Paul does a lot of work in the vegetable patch at the Shelter and would like to do something in farming when he graduates. |
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Paul Ng’ang’a
Paul has only been at the Shelter a short time. Thirteen years old, he was rescued by Naivasha Safe House, a holding centre for abused children, having spent three months on the street after running away from home, where he was being beaten by his parents. He still finds direct eye contact difficult but he is settling in well and likes gardening, cows and rabbits. He wants to study computers and become a secretary. |
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Paul Owour
Paul is fourteen and joined the shelter in 2005.He comes from Kisumu in Western Kenya. A broken family and lack of food drove him and his brother to leave home; they hitched as far as Gilgil, and walked the hour’s drive into Naivasha town, where they ended up living on the street with nowhere to go. Paul has settled in well at the Shelter, where he is in charge of the rabbits. He likes football and gardening and his dream is to become a mechanic. |
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Peter Kinuthia
Peter, now sixteen, joined the Shelter in January 2007. Following the death of his father, he was abandoned by his mother at the age of four and taken in by a Maasai tribesman, where he spent the next six years looking after Maasai cattle. A local Samaritan then fostered him and sent him to nursery school at the age of ten! But his education did not last long as his foster mother’s own ageing blind mother needed help, so Peter moved in to help with domestic chores. After the grandmother’s death, he moved back in with his foster mother until she found it impossible to cope any longer and appealed to the Shelter to take him in. He is settling in well and particularly enjoys maths and music. |
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Peter Mwaura
Now fifteen, Peter was only seven when he started attending the feeding programme that preceded the building of the shelter. His old and ailing grandmother (still alive aged 106!) struggled to take care of Peter and his two brothers when their parents died but there was not enough food and Peter and one of his brothers, who has since graduated from the Shelter, took to the street where they spent a total of four years before moving in to the newly built shelter. His younger brother, Joseph Kamau, also came to the Shelter last year. Peter is a bright boy and has made such good progress with his studies that he is attending the local state school, where he has just come tenth out of a class of forty three. His dream is to become a Doctor. |
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Peter Muiruri
Peter, now fifteen, came to the Shelter in November 2006 after three years on the street. Initially he ran away from home for just one night to escape a beating as punishment for stealing money from his mother. But the situation spiralled when he returned and was thrown out; he spent the next three years living on the streets of various towns in Kenya and did a three month stint in a juvenile jail in Nakuru, arrested for loitering. Peter has settled in well at the Shelter and shown himself to be so responsible and organised that he has been made Environment Prefect. His relationship with his parents has improved and he now sees them regularly. He loves football (although it is not his greatest strength!) and English and his dream is to become a welder. |
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Robert Nyongesa
Robert is a wonderfully gentle sixteen-year-old with a limp, who has never learnt how to read or write or speak English. A victim of poverty and a broken home in Kitale in Western Kenya, he started stealing and then ran away from home. He was picked up from the street and taken to look after some cows for a pittance in Nakuru. He decided to try his luck in Nairobi but only ever made it as far as Naivasha, where he spent two years living on the street before he joined the Shelter in 2003. He loves animals and would like to become a farmer. |
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Robert Wamalwa
Robert is a sweet-natured and endearing eight-year-old, who only joined the Shelter this year, after about a month living on the street. He has both parents, three brothers and three sisters, whom he still sees. His story is that he used to be sent to fetch milk and he would drink half and mix the rest with water; when his mother found out she was very angry and he ran away from home. Reading between the lines, there was not enough food to feed the whole family. Robert has settled in to the Shelter very well. He likes English, football, dogs, cats and geese. His dream is to become a mechanic when he grows up, get married and have two children. |
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Ruphas Chege
Ruphas joined the Shelter at the age of twelve in 2003. By then he had already spent two years on the street. His father died when he was little and there was no money to send him to school and barely enough to feed him. A street boy convinced him to run away. Now, aged fifteen, he likes football, volleyball and maths and has just joined the local state school. His dream is to become a Doctor so that he can help other people. |
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