Catching up

• Last week I visited a rehabilitation centre for street kids run by a Swedish Evangelican Lutheran church. On sundays street kids can come to their church for a meal and to wash their clothes. The ones who shows up regularly and shows an interest in changing their lives are taken to Bethesta outside Nakuru. There are 9 boys staying at the centre at the moment. Watching them doing acrobatics and later playing fotball with them, it is difficult to connect them with the boys you see in town with the glue bottle stuck up their nose. The vision at Bethesta is to keep it small in order to have a family feeling and also to prevent elder boys affecting the younger to run back to the streets. They go to school and sleep at Bethesta and will, if possible, be brought back to their families when ready. In comparision to phyllis where there are more than 100 children we got a good connection quite fast with the boys. After a couple of hours playing and making necklaces some boys held my hand asking if I could come back tomorrow. My heart melted.. They just want to be loved and be able to be kids like anyone else. However, the amount of scars and burnmarks on their arms, legs and heads reveals their violent history.

• The elder boys at Phyllis who go to boarding school have had their spring break. Two weeks ago they were going back to school. They were the one I had gotten to know best at the time so it was really sad waving them off. They were all dressed up in shirts and ties and I felt like a proud mum putting them on the bus..

• The same day as above another boy came back from visiting his family. He is 19 and is supposed to be in secondary school. One evening when I skipped supper he came down wondering if I was ok (alone time doesn't exist in Kenya). We sat and talked for a long time and he told me his life story. He was brought up in a violent household, with an abusive father. He left home and lived on the streets for 7 years.. Later he was taken in by Bethesta but ran away a couple of times (it was difficult to adjust). Since it was no option returning to his family he moved to Phyllis. He's the eldest here and is now catching up in school. He is a very charming, sympathic boy who has been through a lot. After his older brother and his father died he now feels the responsibility to provide for his mum and siblings. During the postelection violence his family's house was burned down too..