They call me 'mama street' and I'm overjoyed

“My entry into serving the community started with an observation. I remember while growing up in Mawanga estate, Nakuru County, I really admired how my mother helped the needy in society as every December, we visited a children's home and shared clothing and food with them. My mother nurtured me to be a giver and I recall her paying school fees for other needy children in the community. To date, she still helps needy students at Afraha High School in Nakuru where she works as a secretary. As I was growing up, I really loved her charitable deeds and I always said to myself, ‘When I grow up, I will spread love to the needy like my mom’.

My passion for serving the community grew tremendously and I was always on the move as I identified needy cases in society. Later, I held dearly to John Bunyan's (English writer, and Puritan preacher best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory The Pilgrim's Progress) notion that, 'You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you’. I cultivated passion in my work which gave me daily confidence. I found fulfilment in helping the needy and in many instances, my friends would ask me, “How do you help people without being overwhelmed by their needs?” and I would smile and tell them “When I see them I see an opportunity to spread love”.

In 2015 when I was in form two I observed young children in the streets huddled together, dressed in tattered clothes and with no shoes. At night, they slept on the cold hard pavement with small-flattened carton boxes which could barely fit them.  I found myself buying lunch for them with my pocket money and questions still lingered in my mind on why they had to suffer immensely yet they were leaders and people that could support them.  Most of these street children claimed that their parents died, some were abandoned, and others came from dysfunctional families. Regardless, I felt a strong connection to them and I could not shake it off.

I truly treasure my mother’s sacrifice to ensure I became the woman I am today. As a single mother, she did all she could to give us the best, but I still missed the father figure in my life. With the void brought about by the lack of a male figure, I developed an intense desire to serve the community and my passion to ‘mother’ others and be known as ‘Mama street’ developed. It is at this point, I decided to reach out to street children.

In 2021, I founded Realz Hand of Love which aims at spreading love in the streets of Nakuru County and I use the platform to create awareness on street children's rights and other related issues such as sickness, hunger, abuse, and exploitation. Street families continuously face many challenges including malnutrition, inadequate health care, premature deaths orchestrated through mob justice, and exposure to drugs. If not well handled, these consequences may bring in lifelong mental health and negative social outcomes. That’s why it’s important for the society to be aware.

Through our organisation, we offer free mentorship, talent nurturing, skills enhancement, counselling and rehabilitation services, sanitary towels for girls, and education on various subjects such as drugs. We also do monthly outreaches where street children can come and celebrate together.

After interacting with the children, many have expressed their concerns about not being understood in the society, which makes them vulnerable. One street boy once told me, "One day, we were helping a lady pack her luggage and unfortunately we were misunderstood as thugs despite having good intentions to help. We were beaten severely by the police and they didn't want to hear our side of the story. Gladly, we escaped."

With each passing day, the demand for clean baths and the street kids desire to go back to school increases. It, therefore, becomes necessary to find them a home. As an organisation, we have been able to bring 26 people from the street and we have rented them a house in Kiratina Area in Nakuru where we provide basic needs for them. We also encourage them to do manual jobs, which in turn supports them in meeting their personal needs.

So far, we have two people on salary and 46 volunteers. We target street children under the age of 10 and young people in the age range of 10-30 years. The programme has reached out to over 1, 000 children in Nakuru County.

My greatest achievement has been seeing the lives of street children transformed. We have two beneficiaries of deejaying courses from Uprize Entertainment, an 11-year-old child who enrolled at I Africa, Kikuyu, and 12 beneficiaries from hairdressing courses. I believe that changing one street child at a time equates to changing future generations.

Inadequate finances are one of the major challenges I encounter since there is so much to be done but resources are limited. My mother is my greatest support system and she supports most of my programmes. I also use part of my savings from my construction and general supplies business to offset some of the expenses. With time well-wishers have also carried this burden in their hearts.

I look forward to having a street children rescue center that can accommodate more people.”    

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