Back in August a group of young people sat around the table in the dome house to discuss how they could improve the welfare of children living in the streets of Kisumu. With the team in Korando leading the initiative, we created a program that would cater for the needs of street kids, while ensuring that we follow all the government directives during the Covid-19 pandemic. And for the last five months we’ve been able to meet these vulnerable children at a designated place every Saturday. While we are there, we shared meals and engaged in mentorship activities that range from sports, games, workshops, direct one-on-one talks and sometimes even handing out of clothes or beddings to these children.
The initiative, which we dubbed “Homeless of Kisumu”, has been able to create different intervention methods including:
An “Academy” where we have sports for rehabilitation, where we’ve been able to train a few of the boys to play football and equipped them with training bibs and soccer balls. We created a Taekwondo club and we are teaching the kids importance of discipline and self-defense. Aside from that, the academy also involves a program we call “music for change”, where we use arts expression to help the kids share their emotions including anger, frustration and joy, in the form of music. We have reintegrated more than 10 children back home as a result.
Aside from that we were able to start a Business Club for the older boys. We teach them how to manage their finances and mindset. In the streets the boys are able to access some quick cash from menial jobs (carrying heavy goods and disposing trash from hotels). We engage them in activities that enables them to properly manage their finances. Since we started, 3 boys have moved from the street and are now renting houses within Kisumu. Another 10 have small businesses that they use to sustain themselves and relieve the pressure of going into crime or begging.
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Aside from that we were able to start a Business Club for the older boys. We teach them how to manage their finances and mindset. In the streets the boys are able to access some quick cash from menial jobs (carrying heavy goods and disposing trash from hotels). We engage them in activities that enables them to properly manage their finances. Since we started, 3 boys have moved from the street and are now renting houses within Kisumu. Another 10 have small businesses that they use to sustain themselves and relieve the pressure of going into crime or begging.
Another part of the program is Women Empowerment. The women who are in the streets are mostly involved in prostitution and we’ve been able to provide them with dignity packs that include soap and menstrual hygiene products. We also talk to them frequently about their sexual reproductive health rights and mental wellbeing.
We celebrate that the initiative found incredible local support and the weekly activities are already 50% funded locally! Currently we are raising funds to provide more soccer gear for the Homeless of Kisumu SC. You can contribute to the project by making a donation here.
