Uncle Hemed and Auntie Lucy are just not any old Social Worker & Counsellor, they are part of a very dedicated team that work at The Good Life Orphanage. Just this weekend, Hemed managed to reunite Julius from O’Malley House with his family, not an easy task after five years. This is his account of the past 48hrs which included a visit to a part of Kenya that is not on any tourist trail due to the insecurity of the area.

The long bus ride to home

I successfully reintegrated Julius with his family, against all odds we found his mother is alive and lives in the interior part of Lamu County almost six hours drive from Malindi. I didn’t anticipate it was that far but thank God we had traveled together with Julius’ elder brother and he showed us the direction.

Julius with his Mama & 2 older siblings

Julius’ mother lives all alone in a five acre plot and does peasant farming. The two eldest brothers are fishermen and Julius is the last born. Following the death of his father in suspicious circumstances the family had to move at short notice and Julius’was placed with his paternal grandmother who has not been in contact with the family since then. It is unclear how Julius was placed in care but the family were overjoyed to welcome him back to the family.

Enjoying lunch with his brother

Julius’ elder brother has ensure us that he will attend school and will be well cared for by his mother & siblings. As you can see from the photos Julius is very happy to be reunited with his family after such a long time apart.

Karibu Julius

After our discussion I was forced to spend a night at the house of the elder brother to Julius and started my journey back on Saturday morning because the place is very insecure and there are no buses going back to Malindi beyond 2:00 pm. Buses also travel in convoys under the escort of the police.

Mama & Julius

With the dedication & determination of Hemed and our team at The Good Life Orphange this would have been an impossible task, Julius has been well cared for and educated during his time at the orphanage, we are sorry to say goodbye to him but also happy that he is now with his family.