Tushinde helps children and communities protect themselves.

Marie: Tushinde’s in-country technical advisor was selected for a secondment to ECPAT where she coordinated and lead the Nairobi workshop. This sensitised 13 organisations and the government department, all of whom work with children in Nairobi. ECPAT is an international organisation that aims to combat child sexual exploitation. It started in Thailand in the early 1990’s after researchers for a tourism consortium first identified the problem of child prostitution in South East Asia. It has since grown and has offices all around the world. Tushinde was pleased to be involved in this as we have encountered many cases of child sexual abuse and also sense a real vulnerability in the children we work with for a multitude of reasons. The main objective of the training was to reinforce the knowledge of community professionals on sexual violence against children. This is a major issue faced by children and their families in Kenya and worldwide, especially in densely populated, low-income areas. It trained the social workers in a ‘’self-protection’’ programme to share directly with children and their families. The programme the trainees learnt to implement aims to help parents and guardians fulfil their protective roles. Of equal importance it also aims to increase awareness in both guardians and children of situations where a child could be at risk of sexual abuse. Along with all the other social workers, child protection officers and community health professionals, Beth and Ann, Tushinde’s social workers, received training certificates and a set of materials such as training manuals, flash cards and brochures. At Tushinde, we have several cases per year of children sexual abuse and we feel that prevention measures are very important. Our children in the community are vulnerable to sexual abuse for a multitude of reasons. We were very glad to be involved in such training and could see its importance. Our social workers also learned more on reaction mechanisms and how to react professionally to a case. Beth and Anne shone in the training; not only were they enthusiastic and eager to learn, but they could also share some of their prior knowledge and experiences. It was a great opportunity for them to skill share and network with other professionals. This kind of training also helps raise Tushinde’s profile in our area of intervention and allows us to improve our networking at the local level. Following the training, we implemented the programme with a first group of 15 children of Tushinde aged between 9 to 12; the sessions took place in Mathare North primary school on 2 days and both Beth and Ann demonstrated their ability to teach children those useful skills. The evaluation showed that the children learned well and overall they were very participative. More groups of children and parents will be organised in 2014.

Two days until the election.

Last election, Mathare was one of the hotspots of violence. Maps of the area prior to the election and after it bear testimony: Whole neighbourhoods disappeared. The fighting was along tribal lines, many lives were lost. The authorities came in and restored calm but not without further loss of life. Many people lost their homes. Others went missing in that hot and dusty January and were never seen again. Children witnessed disturbing, violent crimes, sometimes against someone they knew. Women and children were sexually assaulted. Matharians refer to the period as ‘The Chaos’. As an NGO working in Kenya, Tushinde has been advised not to say anything about the coming election on the 4th that could be seen as political. The papers have many stories about ‘peace camps’ and peace meetings’. People are really trying. Kenya is still awaiting the trial at the International Criminal Court of those accused of organising the post election violence in 2008, the same people who are running for government on Monday. All we can say is that we work with 65 families, supporting almost four hundred children in the area. Many have left and gone to stay with relatives, at a considerable cost that they can’t afford, whilst also losing their earnings over the period. Others have moved within Mathare to areas that are dominated by their own tribe. We are left with six families we are worried about; families that are the ‘wrong’ tribe in the ‘wrong’ area. These families are too sick, too poor or too old to move. One Mama has fallen on hard times these past few months and in very behind on rent, if she tried to move the landlord would confiscate all her belongings. She has six children, the youngest is five months old. Two other grandmothers both lost their homes in the chaos last time. One had to get her home back using the chief, the other eventually got her one-roomed shack back but it had been gutted. They both have insisted that they want to stay, for them it’s a matter of principal. We have told all these families not to worry about their furniture, if they sense trouble, get out. For the sick ones; get in a taxi, we’ll pay whatever he charges at the other end. We have organised a safe point where we will be there to meet them. We can send money if needed through the mpesa system. If there is no food in Mathare, we will be giving out food parcels to our families at the safe point. In the meantime, spare a thought for our families and hope or pray that the coming week is peaceful.

Life stories from the slums.

We had a journalism competition at the school in Mathare to see if any good writers could help me with stories for Tushinde’s newsletter. Most were like geography or history essays and certainly beyond the 200 word limit I had set. However, one stood out, it was still way too long, but Anastacia (pictured left) said she didn’t mind if I pasted it on the Tushinde blog. I am hoping with our volunteer coming in October with the aim of doing a photo-journalism project, it will give more children of Mathare the confidence to tell their stories.

My Life by Anastacia Chepkoech

I was brought up in a happy family in rural Kenya until 2003 when my step-father died of throat cancer. He had always loved me like a daughter and life became so hard without him. My mother, three brothers and I struggled to face the challenges.
We had to move to Eldoret as my mum was a different tribe from my Dad’s family and she feared for our security.
My mum did her best to make sure that we got the necessary needs. By then I was ten years old and my youngest brother was two.
On December the 26th 2007 my brothers and I went to stay in Kapsabet with my maternal aunt for the New Year. We left my mother happy and sound and never thought that something bad would happen to her, never thought that this would be the last time we would see her. If only I knew, I could have tried to save my mum or die with her, but it’s too late. We stayed there for one week only to be called on the Saturday by my Mum’s friend who broke the sad news to us. I almost had a heart attack and thought I would die the next second.
Thought it is hard to share, and also painful, my only mother was burnt alive by mobs during the post election violence when we were gone. They attacked in a house full of smoke and fire and burnt every part of her until she was beyond recognition. The people who killed her had no human heart, they were animals. That is why it is hard to forgive. I don’t think I could ever face them and say ‘I have forgiven you’
Life became really hard and I became the mother and father to my siblings who had no-one to turn to. My brothers were taken in by my step-father’s family, but I was rejected as I was from a different tribe.
I moved from my aunt’s to my grandmother’s in Mathare and I was just about to be moved again as my grandmother is weak, when my uncle found out about Mogra Star Academy and I applied for a place there.
Since the day I cam to Mogra to study, I have been lucky because even if I lack food at home, I can get it at school as it is part of the programme. Mogra has helped a lot of needy children who have problems more serious than mine. I pray that god gives us strength to overcome these misfortunes in our lives.
My dream is to become a doctor so that I can be able to save lives of people who have cancer like my dad, or if I fail, I will be a lawyer so that I can be able to fight for the rights of weak people like my mother. I do hope that justice will be done. I want justice to be done.
Life in the slums is a daily challenge. The biggest problems are poverty and health status. The environment is full of sewage and poor housing. People help us, but they forget to show us is how they came to their existence, to success, how to go about it and where to go. Food and pity alone cannot solve our problems. They that have developed must lead us in the direction to overcome poverty.