Quality Leadership

If I were a leader, the first and the foremost important thing for me,would be to fight ignorance among the people of my community, I would start up educational projects and strengthen those already in place.

The cancer of ignorance in my community has led to growth of poverty at a higher rate, and most of the African countries suffer from this, hence, affecting the productivity of the nation.

Secondly I would try my level best to reduce poverty among my people. By this I do not mean giving “hand outs” to my citizens, rather, helping them play an active role in their own salvation rather than looking up to one person for help. A wise man once said that give a man a fish and you will have fed him for a day, teach him how to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime. I would set up institutions to help people master crafts such as carpentry so they can be self employed.

Thirdly I would fight unemployment among the youths. Being a “ghetto youth” myself, I have witnessed how a high percentage supply of manpower is going to waste. Many able bodied youths engage in deviant behaviors like drug abuse, theft and idling. I would promote development of talents in youths by setting up sports tournaments and develop young talents too.

Most youths are talented but it is just that, they do not know how to exploit their talents, if properly initiated and well structured, youth development projects can take countless youths out of the drug pints  onto the road to self employment and development.

Lastly, many communities need leaders who lead not by words but by examples, I would be a role model in words and deeds by living a practical life style and encouraging others to follow suit instead of encouraging nepotism and tribalism when giving out jobs I would look for the best qualified person to fit in any given position.

The points I have put across are just but a few of the numerous measures that can be taken to enhance community development. However, it is not worthy to point out that an individual alone can not help a community that will not help itself. Help can only come from within the people in the community so this must be taken into consideration if any fruits are expected to yield.

An old man dies in the street

He was born 1914 and died at the age of 96 years. He died of Tuberculosis, as a result of sleeping out in the cold, yet the environment was not conducive at all.

Despite going to hospital, his road to recovery was unpredictable, since most of the time he had no food and he would go hungry. This made him to avoid swallowing medicine on an empty stomach.

Later, he died and his body was taken to the city mortuary. We tried to collect money to cater for his funeral costs but it was not enough. This forced us to be going along the road side to beg for money from the motorists but the few notes and shillings we managed to raise was not yet enough.

After a period of one month and a half, we had raised enough money to buy the coffin and also to clear the mortuary bill. We put the coffin in the wagon and went to the chosen plot to lay his body, for his soul to rest in peace.

A peaceful send off it was!

Is there justice for all?

Where is the ministry for Gender and Children Rights??

Since the inception of this ministry, it has been fighting for the rights of the children, but some of us have not been successful yet we are in great need of their assistance.

I have a great friend called Eli Chi, though it is a nickname for the name Elijah. He is still young and only twenty-five years old but only few people can tell his exact age.

Eli chi was once a very handsome   guy, who would have been an envy to many in the society, would he have retained his looks. One day, as they were sleeping in their base, a vehicle lost control and rammed into the base. He, together with his friends got seriously injured.

The accident not only disfigured his face, but paralyzed him on his right hand. Life became unbearable to him and he ventured into the business of selling gum and marijuana so as to sustain himself.

Right now, if someone can have a look at Eli Chi, he looks as if he has already clocked forty years, as the habit of sniffing gum and smoking marijuana has made him have a retarded growth, more so, wrinkling his face.

The time this fateful accident occurred, Eli Chi together with his friends had no one to direct them on what steps to take as the law states. The driver was so mean and just decided to walk away scot-free, without bothering to take them to hospital not even to compensate them.

Does it mean street children who do not have someone to call, ‘’mummy, daddy,’’ or even a decent place to live in, do not deserve justice? Where is the ministry of Gender and Children Rights to address this problem?

Eli Chi is facing lots of difficulties day in, day out, the type of business he is running to sustain himself is illegal and will end up ruining the lives of many youths. His fellow street brothers and sisters are not in a position to provide for his basic needs, as the little they manage to get is not even enough for them.

Kindly, can the Ministry of Gender and Children Rights intervene???

 

Street life

Once, I had a friend called ”Bonny”,we used to be very close to the extent that other street boys and girls used to think that we were brothers.

Our friendship started way back, when we met as new comers on the street life and we would keep on following each other to avoid being bullied by the big boys.

We always did everything together, as we could spend sleepless nights in the cold, shivering, lying on tattered rugs on empty stomachs at a shoddy place we used to call base Chum.

Photo by Martin Ndung'u

Due to harassment from the city council Askaris, we had to adopt nomadic lifestyle, as they were always after us, they would arrest us falsely and beat us up senselessly at times.The situation was becoming unbearable, but what could we do?

As a result of moving from one place to the other, I failed to trace the whereabouts of Bonny, and that was the last time we saw each other eye to eye. More painfully, it was the last time I heard of him, a friend that I treasured most was all gone……………

One day, as I was busy trying to separate dirt from the food that had been thrown away as garbage, a certain gentleman approached me and asked me lots of questions regarding our family,my past and present. I answered all of them to the best of my capability and he got delighted and promised to give me a better place to live in and enroll me back to school to complete my studies.

He was God sent, but painful at the same time, for if I was with Bonny, the two of us would have benefited, right away, it was I alone. What could I have  done?

I was lucky to have completed my studies up to a higher level and was now working for a prestigious firm within the city. One day, as I was out for a lunch break, a street boy approached me asking for a penny, I dipped my fingers on my pocket, and while giving him the ten shilling coin, I looked at him, straight on the eye and realized it was Bonny.

I hugged him, immediately tears of joy and sorrow started rolling down  my rosy cheeks as I could not believe that my long time friend’s life had not changed to the better.

I took him to a nearby hotel, for him to have a quick shower as I rushed to a clothes shop to buy him clothes. After he was through with preparing himself, I took him home and promised  to provide him with capital, so that he could start running a business of his own.

A  friend in need, is a friend in deed.

A Letter to minister for Gender and Children Affairs

Dear Madam Esther Mirugi, I feel delighted, first and foremost congratulating your ministry on all the efforts you are putting to address the issues of the children.

Though, I feel that you have not yet worked thoroughly to our expectations. Right now, I am 14 years of age and my friend of 16 years of age is also devastated with the performance of your ministry.

The two of us here in this small ghetto have nowhere to call a home, not even a cloth to put on or even a slice of bread to eat. To make matters worse, my friend is already a mother of three, if feeding herself is already a struggle, what about the other three mouths crying?

We are not on safe hands at all, we fear being raped, killed or even kidnapped. Police should be their to offer protection, but we often run away from them as a result of the sharp sounds of gun we keep on hearing after each and every hour.

Madam, minister, what steps is your ministry planning to take, as your term in the office is almost lapsing, yet you have not addressed our problems?

We are the cream of the society, kindly put our needs into consideration.

My life

My names are, Mwiti Gitonga,and the nickname I am commonly known with is ”Toffee.”

I am a proud father of two children, a boy aged nine years while the girl is six years of age.My wife and our lovely children have gone through difficulties as they were born in the streets and have been brought up there. By then, I was  just 16 years of age.

Photo by martin Ndung'u

The moment I came to know that I had impregnated my girlfriend, I did not want her to abort the unborn not even think that I will run away from my responsibilities.

I had to assure her that I would do my level best to raise the child and her, so that she would not think of abortion

Photo by Kennedy

photo by joseph

This is my photo and that is the place I usually take my collection of the day, especially plastic materials  for  recycling.

What drove me to a miserable life

My name is Toffee, I am 24 years of age. I stay at Huruma estate at a place called John Saga.

I had great parents some time back before things went awry. My mother and my father met in 1980, by then, my mother was employed as a barmaid while my father was still jobless, having come all the way from Meru to Nairobi to look for job.

He was well-educated, but had no job.His life was miserable as he used to spend nights in bar, he did not have a place to call a house.

”I saw a young handsome man who kept on looking for a place to sleep from one bar to another, and would sleep till morning and that is when I decided to assist him,”said Toffee’s mother.

My father had only one pair of shirt and a trouser,and my mother decided to be washing for him his shirt at night, then he would always pick it early in the morning the following day.

One day, God heard his prayers and rewarded him with a job at the ministry of Labor, and he saw it wise to start raising a family, as he was already financially stable.

The day he decided to have a family, my mother bore me,”Toffee,” as the first child to my father, but in real sense, I was the fourth child to my mother, though, my father was not aware.

Whatever had been hidden in the darkness for a very long time, came to be revealed in the light, when my father decided to go and pay a visit to my mother’s place of birth,that is, where she was born and raised up.It is from here that he came to learn that my mother had three other children.

He got so mad about this issue and started going out with a lady friend who was a teacher, called, ”Wanja,”. She entered into my father’s love life and what became of my mother’s marriage, I cannot tell up to now, whether they separated or divorced. My father took me away and I started living with my stepmother, ”Wanja.”

Immediately, my father finished building a house upcountry for Wanja, I started living with her in that house. A t first, she was kind but after giving birth to her two children, she started mistreating me, to an extent of denying me food.

It did not take long, before my grandmother came to notice that she was mistreating me, the day she hit me with a piece of wood, knocked me down and left me lying unconscious. My grandmother sent for my father who was living and working in Nairobi. He came and got me, brought me to Nairobi, and it was there that I started schooling. By that time I was seven years old.

When I was nine years old, my mother came and took me away without my father’s knowledge. I stayed with her and my other half siblings just for few months,before the unexpected happened.

One day, she did not show up at home. Later on,we were told that she had been arrested by the police in town, as she was found prostitute business.  I stayed with my two brothers and one sister in that house for  few days before we were kicked out as a result of failing to pay rent.

It is from here that we started looking for food on our own, as we could go to hotels to beg for food during the day and sleep on the verandah outside the stalls. At that time, I was nine years old and from that time to date, I have been sleeping along the streets as a street boy, ”chokora.”

I have decided to practice and cherish the spirit of self-reliance by collecting plastics and metals and selling them, so that I may earn my daily bread.

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