'This is why I wanted to abandon my baby'
Cecily had attempted to abandon her baby outside a church in Mukuru, but someone spotted her. She was then assisted to get help at a shelter.
Cecily*, 17, has been through hell, at one point sleeping out in the cold for two weeks with her one-month-old baby.
For a girl who should be with her peers in secondary school, life has been harsh, to a point she tried to abandon her baby whom she gave birth to in September last year. It is not that she didn’t care, she just hoped someone might find her and provide her a better life.
The teenager mother has suffered for long. First, her mother threw her out of their home when she fell pregnant. She sought refuge at her boyfriend’s place but he, too, kicked them out.
After days sleeping in the cold in Mukuru Kwa Njenga, hungry and sickly, she tried one last desperate move. On a Sunday morning, she abandoned her baby outside St Mathews Church, Mukuru.
But as she was about to flee, a woman spotted her and caught up with her. That’s how she ended up at Thamani Kenya, a rescue centre. But even here she is not welcome for long. Soon as she turns 18 she will have to find somewhere else since the centre doesn’t host adults.
On January 12, she told us her greatest worry is having to go back to the unforgiving streets. If she wants to go back home, she has to leave the baby somewhere. But where? This is her story.
I met the father of my child when I was 16 and in Form One. I schooled in Machakos while my mother worked in Nairobi. When we closed school, I used to come visit her. That’s when I met him. He was a shoe hawker. The first time we had sex I got pregnant. I regret ever meeting him, I regret ever interacting with him.
I did not know that I was pregnant until four months later. I hid the pregnancy from my mother until it was six months. I had to tell my mum. Unfortunately, she threw me out and told me to take the baby to the father. I went to him and we stayed together until the child turned three months.
He had been acting funny for a while, but I had nowhere to go. I remember one morning in October, a month after I had given birth, he started screaming at me, calling me names. He threw me out with the child. I started roaming around until around 6pm. In my mind I thought he would cool off. But when I went back I found nothing in the house. Not my clothes or anything that belonged to the baby. I spent three days looking for him, sleeping in dirty places and in ditches with my baby. We had no food. I did not have milk to breast feed her.
Eventually, the only option was to give up my baby, go home and ask my mother to take me back. I remember it was on a Sunday because I saw people going to church. I wrapped her in a towel and I went and left her in a ditch. But one woman saw me and ran after me. She took the baby and took me to a church in Mukuru kwa Njenga where I met Risper Kigen, a social worker, who helped the baby and took us to the shelter.
I didn’t throw away the baby, I just wanted her to find another family that would care for her and have a better life.
I want to go back home, I want my mum to give me a second chance and take me to school. I want to finish my secondary education but if she doesn’t accept me and the baby I will leave her in the rescue centre so that they can take care of her.
