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Published: August 28th 2011
I have now been back at St Dorcas for a week. Last week was the first week of school break so they where all revising, getting ready for their exams in a couple of weeks time. They spend the first part of the day revising and then after lunch their time is free. This has meant that I have had time to get to know some of the kids a lot better, especially the older kids. It has been great talking to the older kids and finding out a bit more about them.
One of them is an 18 year old boy called Samuel. He was living in the Kibera slums during 2007 when the troubles from the elections started. Because he was from the Kikuyu tribe he was beaten and driven out of his home by the Luo tribe, so was the rest of his family. However due to the amount of trouble happening he and his family got split up. To this day he does not know if the rest of his family are alive and if they are, where they are in Kenya. He eventually ended up at Nairobi Show Grounds where a camp was set up
to house 50,000 internally displaced refugees.
While at the camp he got involved with drugs and a notorious gang call the Mungiki. After about 2 years in the camp a pastor called Moses found him and brought him to St Dorcas. At the start he kept on skipping classes and disappearing at night to drink and take drugs. After a lot of had work by both Moses and Jacianta (who runs St Dorcas) he is now off the drink and drugs and no longer is in contact with the Mungiki.
Samuel is a very intelligent lad and considering what he has been though has a great outlook on life. On the 28th September he starts his final exams. If he gets the right grades he wants go to university to study as a Journalist. The biggest thing stopping him achieving his dreams is of course money. It costs around £4000 to complete a degree in Kenya plus extra costs like Books and living costs. Also when he has started working he wants to start to helping kids like himself that have either lost or been abandoned by their family because of the troubles.
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Judi Murakami
non-member comment
Reminiscing
Hi Chris, I've enjoyed reading your blog as I was in Kenya for 5 weeks, at St. Dorcas and Watamu. I enjoyed the Rainbow home orphanage, but was not impressed by the health unit. They asked me if I wanted to give innoculations, and I was horrified. I've done fundraising since Dec. and was able to send St. Dorcas, Rainbow and KEEF funds. Life in Africa makes one realize how lucky we are. Take care