Jitegemee gives hope

I was a street child from the year1997 to 2001. During those times, I engaged myself in various activities including sniffing of glue, eating from garbage and collection of of scrap metals and charcoal for sale so that I could obtain money to enable me purchase drugs. The reason as to why I went to the streets is the fact that my family could not raise money to buy food and clothing for me and the rest of the family. Shelter was a problem. This was because I came from a big family having twelve children. I have six brothers and five sisters. My father was jobless, so was my mum. In the streets, we spent our nights under trees or vacated buildings. It was during this time that I heard of a place called Katoloni Rehabilitation centre, where my colleagues told me that there was food there. On arriving at the place, I met other street children and two teachers. The teachers motivated me and I started attending the classes in that place. It was during this time that I knew of Farah Stockmann. She was in charge of sponsoring street children to primary schools. During that time, she had sponsored about seven street children . In the year 2002, I was sponsored and taken to a primary school. Little did I know that I was a bright student. I worked very hard and I soon became the best student  in my class academically. I did my final exam, K.C.P.E, in the year 2006 and managed to score 420 marks and emerge as the best boy in my district. I went to Starehe Boys Centre, one of Kenya's best school and Passed my K.C.S.E with an A grade. I am awaiting to join one of the universities. During the years, the sponsorship program grew to become Jitegemee Childrens Program.

Location: Eastleigh, Machakos, Kenya