In October 2006 we met a young lad called Moses on the streets in Mombasa, he spent the day with us & appeared in the DVD we took to highlight the plight of the street children. The day we left the older street boys said we must have paid him some money so they demanded it, when he could not give them anything they beat him up breaking his arm & bruising his face badly. The following day three young Swedish students saw him & asked him what had happened. When he explained his plight they wanted to help him & took him back to their hotel to clean him up & feed him. They arranged for him to go to school paying £20.00 per month for his school fees, rent & food. Even though Moses was living on the street, he emailed us each week and we arranged to see him when we arrived in Mombasa this time. It was great to see him, his pristine school uniform from Moi Forces Academy Mombasa, such a change in just six months. Moses greeted us with his usual big smile & we went to Dormans for a burger. We were amazed at is school report ranking 28th out of 150 boys in his year. He then told us the story of how Moses, his brother & sister had been abandoned by his mother who has since died of AIDS.
Moses’ sister Sara is sixteen years old with a fourteen-month-old baby. He sends 50% of the money allocated for food by his sponsors to his sister and he was very worried about her circumstances. We said we would try to help so on Friday morning he set off with his £21.00 to bring his sister & the baby back. This journey takes eleven hours by bus to get there via Nairobi. He picked his sister & baby up and they travelled back overnight to Mombasa and arrived at 6.00am on Sunday morning. We met up with them at lunchtime & started talking about how we could help, they had not eaten since 10.00am Saturday morning but the unbelievable thing was the little baby never cried with hunger because he was so used to not having food. We bought them two bananas each & some milk. You never saw food been eaten as quickly in your life, we booked them into a “hotel” (Mombasa style) costing £5.00 for the night, and the room has a shower & fresh towels. They then went to buy some second hand clothes with £7.00 as Pastor Matheka agreed to interview her the following morning to assess her suitability to entering one of his halfway houses. It is hard to explain this, but the baby is 14mths old & has never worn nappies or pants so just goes to the toilet in the mothers arms or wherever so you can imagine the shower was badly needed, the baby appears very healthy & strong but people tell us that street children are immune to diseases that is why they are so strong in health.
Pastor Matheka along with his Dutch wife Ria are an unbelievable couple who spend all their time trying to rehabilitate streetchildren. They are very experienced and whilst they are strict, they are also very compassionate towards these children. He asked us to attend the assessment along with a couple from Co Mayo, Tom & Cliona, who were getting married in Mombasa a few days later. It was definitely a baptism of fire for Tom who had never experienced poverty on this scale before. As Tom said the livestock in Mayo have better living conditions than the children on the streets in Mombasa. Pastor Matheka said Sara had about a 70% chance of being rehabilated as it is more difficult for young girls. Tom & Cliona paid for both mother & baby to have a complete medical check and it is costing £35.00 per month to feed her & the baby, keep them at the home & provide the girl with some training and counseling. It is amazing what difference a few pounds can make to people over here, it is not the price of a meal at home. We hope & pray Sara & her baby will stay off the streets but we know it is a struggle as they are not used to the confines of a home. We will keep you updated on her progress.
Seeing the difference in Moses gives us the drive & inspiration to make our project a success, he craves knowledge & is a pleasure to spend time with. He is a very clever young man and it is just £20.00 per month has made his life different, he has now a goal to aim for, and we can help other children do the same, with your help
cliona here.we met with kevin and mary in june when we were in kenya to be married. they brought us out for a day to see the ‘real kenya’. we had a very busy day that was a real eye opener for me and tom.it is hard to imagine the poverty that these people endure. on the other hand it is great to see the difference that mary and kevin have made to some of the peoples lives. we went to see the school that they built, we visited orphanages, a village. as i said a very busy but very interesting day. we were also lucky enough to meet moses. he is a lovely young lad that is delighted with the chance that he has been given. i am sure he will do very well as he is an extremely bright and ambitious young man. i would like to take this opportunity to thank mary and kevin for a great experience and to wish them all the best with their orphanage project.
Hi, I am looking for Moses Ontuga i use to have him on facebook and i have lost contact with him, and i would appreciate it if you knew where i could get ahold of him at. Please let him know if you see him. Last i talked to him he was going to join the military. Thanks, Lisa
Hi Lisa, have not seen Moses in a long time, last time I saw him he was waiting to hear if he could join the army, if I do come across him I will tell him to contact you
Take Care
Mary