RAY OF HOPE

Osiligi is a maasai word meaning hope. The rehabilitation centre in Kiserian, an hour drive away from the city centre, has brought hope to youth  who had no direction in life and who felt that life had no meaning. Most of them had resorted to theft, crimes and drug and substance abuse. The rehabilitation centre gives them the hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Here is a story of a young man who joined the farm a few years ago and has now graduated to face life outside after being equipped with skills while in the centre. The skills that make him and others become great assets in the society.

Doing studies

Joseph (not his real name) is a young man who was born in Elungongo in Western Kenya. He is from a family of eight children, three sisters and four brothers. The mother stays back in the village doing farming with the rest of the family while Joseph lives with the father in the slums and shanties of Kibera (the largest slum in Africa).

The father works as a construction worker ‘jua kali’ (working under the hot sun) in any site he manages to find on a daily basis. This kind of job is not one that anyone can rely on for their daily needs. The father is also a heavy drinker who consumes the cheap liquor brewed in the slums. This kind of liquor has seen families break, men rendered useless and even some losing their lives as a result of the liquor.

Being raised by a drunken father is one of the most difficult kind of life that any teenage child could have. By this time, Joseph was not attending school because the father could not afford his fees. It reached a point that he no longer brought food home, came drunk and abused the son physically. This made Joseph to join the small gangs in the slums in order to survive. He would steal from people and buy food and later began using drugs because of the bad company he was spending time with.

Mixing chemicals for farming

He was soon thrown out of the house by his father who felt that he was a burden to him. He had to spend the nights in a nearby toilet at least to get warm from the cold at night. Life turned from bad to worse for the young man as sometimes he would be beaten up if caught stealing. In the slums if one is caught stealing they are either beaten and stoned to death or burnt alive. The rate of crime has increased due to school dropouts, lack of employment and poor parenting.

Our social workers were lucky to find him in time and talked him into joining the farm. For a while he hesitated owing to the fact that he had gotten used to the street life and felt that going to the farm would have turned him into a prisoner. He later agreed and joined our farm rehabilitation program and after that his life has never been the same again.

 The holistic program that seeks to rehabilitate the young men from their former lifestyle of crime, homelessness, lack of education to becoming assets to society. The program includes an onsite primary school system, counseling sessions, a sports program, computer lessons, media classes, business clubs and training in all aspects of agriculture. Upon graduation the trainee enters a work placement for fulltime employment. Trainees are involved in local community programs throughout the program.

Boys at the farm

All activities and programs are designed to improve the quality and economic circumstances and put them in a position where they can become productive members of society.

It is so fulfilling to see him as a changed young man who now has a brighter future. He is employed in a nearby farm and he manages all the activities carried in the kitchen farm. He is so grateful for the program and recommends it to the other streetboys.For sure there is light at the end of the tunnel.