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It is not really the size of a dog that matters in a fight, it is the fight in the dog that matters. 

SoulKids is one of the smallest, but most aggressive non governmental organization that deal with street children in Kenya (Nairobi). We will always fight for the rights of the minority, who are the street children. Living by the law of survival for the fittest, in the dump-sites and dangerous unhygienic streets of Nairobi. We have always believed that every kid has the right to a childhood.

The month of February has been a very active and challenging month with lots of ups and downs. At the beginning of the month, we brought in Joseph from the streets who was supposed to live with our boy Daniel who we already had living in our small home/office/store. Joseph is a boy we have been working with for some time, who went home about a year ago trying to find his family, but in vain. We had to bring him in since it was not safe in the streets anymore. There has been cases of attacks by both the authority and the streets.

Little did we know that bringing him in would cause problems, because the boys were not in good terms with each other (there are different groups in the streets and sometimes it’s a challenge to bring them together). Every day we had complaints from each of them about divisibility of labour when it came to house chores. We spoke to them many times but nothing changed so we decided to write down the house rules and regulations. Unfortunately the next day, Daniel disappeared unceremoniously. Then we knew where the problem was. Daniel, did not want to live with anyone, neither did he want to work with anyone. He walked away without telling anyone and did not come to us to talk about it. So we decided that if he decides that if he really wants the help, then he should make an effort to look for it and appreciate it, since he is above 18 years and can make decisions for himself.

As we wrote in the last newsletter that we put Joseph in responsibility for running the store, we decided to continue with Joseph who had to do everything by himself since Daniel decided to leave. It turned out quite good, despite some difficulties here and there. He is doing quite well in terms of individual responsibility and his schoolwork. He came to us when he could not write the alphabet in order, but now after a few weeks being taught by one of our staff members, he can even read and write three and four letter words.

A few weeks ago we also had to deal with a case of one of our street boys, who witnessed the death of his close friend through a car accident. He was brutally assaulted by a guard from a shop in town which made him have a big permanent scar in his face. We first assisted him with the hospital visit, but now we’re trying to follow up on the arrest on the security guard, because according to us, that was an act of brutality and it is against the law. The boy is 13 years old and we see no reason good enough to attack young boys like that. There is a very big need for the innocent young children to get a place to stay and it is up to us as SoulKids and volunteers to at least assist them financially and keep our promises.

We would like to tell you that this is not a game. It is real, and it is happening. Young children are dying in the streets, brutally beaten by the public and unbelievably mistreated by the authority who are supposed to protect them. So any contributions that you give, in form of anything, will be a great help to the lives of these kids. It does not cost a lot to help these kids and what you give will always help somewhere.

We are so grateful to all of our volunteers for donating the clothes, shoes, money, phones (See post about the results from our mobile phone campaign.), time etc. which has helped a big deal in the progress of this organisation. Some clothes has gone to our small shop, which earn them money for their food, some has helped a 13 year old mother coming from the slums of Kibera to dress up her few months old baby and her siblings. Our kids are also well dressed, especially the ones who have a court case going on. We have been given a number of phones in order to support both women in the slum and our own SoulKids children.

We do appreciate your contributions a lot, as caring volunteers. At the moment, we are trying our level best to look for a house to rent for the children, but our biggest challenge is that we are not sure what to budget for. We are still in great need of more permanent sponsors, so that we have a consistent budget every month to plan for. It is hard to bring in children without having a solid foundation.

We have now had an ad out that we are seeking volunteers and we have gotten a few responds, but not anyone has confirmed yet. We will save a lot of lives when we can seriously start this project that we have volunteered into. So let’s keep our promises and let’s try our level best to help these kids.

The new year starts a bit turbulent for us since our two volunteers Ellen and Dan had gone back to Sweden just before Christmas and our two boys had gone home for Christmas. We welcomed Daniel back home, but George sadly felt that he wasn’t ready just yet to join our family.

Daniel opened his shop where he sells clothes that was donated to him by our voluntees Ellen and Dan, some that were donated by our good friend Nina and some by myself and my family. The shop isn’t in the most optimal place for clothes business, but we are moving it as soon as we find a house for him and the other boys.

Daniel is also working on either getting his things back from the old house owner or that the man pays for his things. It’s a long story, but to make it short, the owner of the old house he was staying in broke in and stole absolutely everything. Since Daniel came from the streets, he thought it was a good idea to spread rumors that he was shot dead by the police, so that he could take all his things. But Daniel is standing his ground and doing his best to get those things back.

Looking for a house

We had found a house, but there were some reparations to be done by the owner and a water bill that was supposed to be settled first. But the owner didn’t seem interested in getting these things done, so we decided that it would be a risk to take the house.

Volunteers

The ad that we posted on websites about wanting volunteers has gotten some responses, but no one yet who could come so soon as now, so we’re still looking. Meanwhile, the boys are learning how to work in a team and generate some income of their own. We’re working on teaching them that a family should never sit down and wait for things to come to them; they make things come to them. So we all need to work on getting this home to be a home.

Helping the three boys in court

The court hearing that was supposed to be in the beginning of December was postponed until January 25th. The boys who are witnesses to the accident of their friend Felix being killed by one of the big company busses called us on the 24th to ask us to pick them up and prepare them for the hearing on the 25th. We managed to dress them up in nicer clothes and make them look presentable once again to turn up in court, but yet again the date was postponed. The driver jumped bail and there is now an arrest warrant on him. Felix father didn’t show up at the hearing and we have decided not to continue our support for him. He failed to show up when we were helping him get legal advice in December and am now not showing up in court. It should be in his own interest to get justice for his son and we were only supposed to be as a support for him, since we don’t feel he was given the rights as a victim as he was entitled to. But SoulKids are continuing to support the children to make sure they get justice and to try to prevent the same thing to happen again.

Dental care

Our boy Thomas who lives in Nakuru had some problems with his teeth, so we have also been helping him to the dentist. Thomas is going to school in Nakuru but we still support him in the ways that we can.

New SoulKids

Our girl that we’ve been working with had a terrible start of the new year. Something happened to her and she wanted our help to sort things out. She went home to her family who also tried to talk with her about leaving the street life, but she’s now back on the streets again. It will not be safe for her to continue working on a police case of what happened as long as she’s staying on the streets, so SoulKids is taking things slowly on this case.

We have invited one more boy to stay with us. He is 16 years old and have proven himself to be a very responsible and kind person. He always look after the other boys on the streets and make sure that everyone gets what they need. He doesn’t want to depend on others, and is feeling that he wants to be a part of a family. His family is very poor, and lives in Nakuru. He will go with us there this weekend to see his mother who’s sick. He has been on the streets for many years now, and it’s time for him to stop having to be a grown up. He needs to be able to be a teenager and get some time to learn something from the society, instead of having to learn everything by himself and the streets.

Way forward

• We need to visit the police station to get more information on the case against the driver and learning how to move on from here.
• We need to follow up on the t-shirts we ordered, since he’s not answering our phone calls anymore.
• We are yet to talk with George to find out what happened, since he was so eager to start his new life before he went back home. We have decided not to push him into anything and let him come to us, because he knows where we are and that he is welcome. But we are also thinking that he could need some guidance and someone to talk with, so we’re planning on going to find him to have a talk.
• We are still looking for a house that would fit to accommodate our four boys, and we’ll be ready to bring in some more boys as soon as we’ve found more support.  It’s crucial that we find a place soon, since the place we have now is only until end of January. It is not safe for these boys to stay on the streets, so it’s very important that we find a place soon.
• We also need to find serious sponsors for the children, because the children are depending on them. Many people are saying that they will send money, but at the end of the day, we are not receiving any.

We have the hopes and dreams, we want to make a change in these children’s lives. These children haven’t had any safety net to help them on the right track, we want to become that safety net. But for us to be able to do this, we need more financial support. So if there is anything you can spare, we appreciate it! We are depending on donations and we can assure you that all the money goes straight to the children’s cause. We need more sponsors, so if you know anybody, please ask around! The money will go to the rent, healthcare, helping to start the businesses and getting the schooling they need, food and other necessities. Without financial support, we can’t make this happen.

Since we’re starting a new year, we also thought we could start with something new on our website, a monthly newsletter. But for you who are new to our work or hasn’t followed the latest happenings, I thought I could quickly describe what we have been working with in the end of last year.

Until September last year, we have been focusing on the children’s rights, health and trying to make a change at the city councils centers. We have also been trying to work on changing people’s views on the children, trying to create awareness of the children’s situations and why they are on the streets. One of our ideas is also to create an album where artists produces songs that speak the words of the children. Where they highlight problems that the children are facing and plea for people to open their minds.

But having worked with these children for so long, having watched them grow on the streets, we feel that we want to try to give them another option as well. Most other centers focuses on the younger children, the ones up to 13 years, and the ones above that has no chance of getting any help from any organizations. The government centers don’t provide with any option for them either, and when they are 18 years old, they get thrown out of the centers or, if they happen to catch them again, they can be placed in detention centers or jail instead. Even if they haven’t done anything wrong.

So SoulKids has decided to bring in a few of the boys that we have been working with for a while and that we think are ready to make a change in life. They will work together with us in learning how to maintain a business and how to invest in their own future. We want to give them a little bit of schooling, as to fit their life situation.

We had a girl we were trying to help, but we realized that we might have taken things a bit too fast. Since she was a girl, we had a foster family who was able to take care of her. But we didn’t realize the life she had gotten herself into on the streets, and that she was still very attached to the street life and wasn’t ready to change her life.

Three of our boys were witnesses to an accident in town, where their friend Felix was run over by a bus. The boys had to bring his body to the morgue with the police, and then give their statements. No authority made any effort into finding the parents of Felix, and his body was buried after not even two weeks. SoulKids decided to make the effort into finding his parents, and after one day of looking, we found him. He was devastated that his only son, whom he had been looking for during three months, was now dead. He wanted to identify him and bring his body to his rural areas, the way they usually do things in Kenya, but his body was already buried. So we have been trying to support him in his case for justice and also the children as they have to testify and tell their memories again.

We went to court on December 5th, together with the three children whom we had dressed up nicely, and the father. But the driver’s lawyer wasn’t there on time, so they postponed the hearing until January 25th. We were asked by the father to help him get some legal advice and decided on a date and time to meet. But the father failed to show up at the planned meeting. Our children wanted to go back to their families over Christmas and New Year and we supported them on that decision, so we helped them with something to bring home over the holidays.

Another sad story to tell is that another boy, whom had been missing for almost two weeks, was found dead. He was buried under some ballast in town, under a bridge and it was obvious that he had been murdered. He was 13 years old and his friends had heard him scream the night before he went missing, from some kind of abuse. The children know who they suspect, but there is no evidence to prove their case. We don’t have enough information on the boy to continue our search for his parents, but if something comes up, we’re willing to continue the search.

We ordered some t-shirts in the end of November and paid 60% of the price already, but the man making them hasn’t yet held up his end of the deal. We’ve been trying to get in touch with him about this issue as well.