“We are battling two wars. Hunger and Coronavirus.” One boy on the streets of Mombasa told our partner, Glad’s House Kenya. He’s one of an estimated 3,000 children living or working on the streets in the city. Many of them have experienced significant trauma due to experiences at home, and the pandemic has made their situation even worse. It’s taken away their methods of survival, with fewer people to beg from, or cars to wash to earn money. And the financial impact of COVID-19 is pushing even more children onto the streets in search of food.
Now, we’re supporting Glad’s House Kenya to open a brand-new support centre for street-connected children and young people. The centre will be a safe space away from the streets where vulnerable children can access healthcare, nutritious meals, washing facilities, counselling, and education.
The building is nearly complete, and the centre is due to open in May. But now we need your help to fill it with teachers, nurses, counsellors, cooks, and other staff who will provide the support to street-connected children to build a life away from the streets. Will you help get the new centre open and keep children safe by donating to our crowdfunder?
The crowdfunder will run until the end of March and we need to raise £7,000 to ensure it is able to welcome children off the streets. The money raised will help to provide specially trained professionals to meet street-connected children’s needs.
Staff at the centre will develop individual plans for each child to help them come off the streets by supporting their physical and mental health, providing education, access to nutritious food and exercise. Currently there is nowhere like this in Mombasa. Children on the streets go without healthy meals, medical attention and education. Through the centre, 680 children a year will be able to access all of them for the first time!
A donation of £34 could fund 24 hours of nursing care at the centre, providing essential medical care to street-connected children who would otherwise go without the medical attention they need.
With more children being driven to the streets because of COVID-19, and life becoming even more difficult for street-connected children whose means of survival have been taken away, the centre is more needed than ever. Please will you donate to our crowdfunder and help to get the centre open next month?
