All children have the same rights irrespective of their economic, social, physiological or political backgrounds but mostly this is not perceived with much significance by many people around the world. Here in Kenya, many children undergo a lot of challenges in their early life especially those coming from marginalised communities and their future is very vague. We all know children need to be nurtured for them to become great people in future but unfortunately many do not get such opportunities and instead they undergo a lot of discouragements and demoralisation in their lives. The GLO has always continued to offer children found in dire need a second chance in life and our family is growing every year.

Fast asleep triplets

2015 was relatively quiet in comparison to the previous six years but we were still busy as we now have a large GLO Family to care for on a daily basis. The triplets who joined our family in late December 2014 have flourished during this year. Mary, Lydia & Charlotte were all underweight weighing below 1.5 kilograms when they joined us. Thanks to the dedication of Mama Mapenzi, Auntie Stella and Auntie Elivina they girls have flourished and are now nearly 8kg each with Lydia being the first to crawl.

Emma with the triplets

Early 2015, one of our eldest girls, Mwaka Abdhalla was reintegrated back to her extended family having turned eighteen years old and again GLO played an important role to ensure that her dreams are not shuttered since she was still in Class 5. It was a very sad occasion when the children from Keogh Family said goodbye to her. Through proper networking, Mwaka managed to join a private day school that is near her home and we are so happy to see she is still working very hard and achieving good grades. Mwaka’s brother Kanoti is still at The GLO and has continued to excel in his school work.

Mwaka with Keogh House Family

On 16th March, we received a referral of two siblings from Kikambala Rescue Centre, Shainuru and Nuru who were four and two years old respectively. The two had been abandoned by their mother after their dad passed on, who suffered a long duration of ailment. Their mother could not cope with the financial pressures of caring for the two children and she disappeared leaving the children with an elderly aunt who is not in a position to look after the siblings. Again these children have settled very well in O’Malley House whilst getting counselling to help deal with the trauma they were subjected to before joining our GLO Family.

Madam Mercy picks Shainuru & Nuru up from the Rescue Centre

In April, one of our earlier children to join GLO, Julius Kazungu was reintegrated back to his family after tracing the mother who lives in the interior part of Tana River County near Lamu. He was excited to see his mother and as the saying goes, “east or west home is the best”, he was very happy to stay with his mother despite the economic challenges at home. Sadly due to tribal issues over land families are often displaced and it takes years to trace them, this was the case with Julius but thanks to Hemed’s dedication he continued to look for the family when others would have give up.

Mama & Julius

On 21st August, we admitted a 7 year old girl called Betty Nabwire who was referred to us by the children’s officer Changamwe. Betty was living at Kibarani dump site with her dad since she was three months old. Sadly Betty’s father developed mental illness and could no longer care for her. He appealed to a local community based group to rescue Betty from life on the dump as he was concerned about her safety. Betty is a brave girl and has adapted very well to the GLO environs. She is very bright and very inquisitive.

Betty in her new uniform

On 23rd September, Gerald Juma who was abandoned some few hours after birth and joined the GLO family mid last year (2014) was able to join his adoptive parents after a whole year of follow up with the adoption society, Children department and Court. The final declaration of his adoption is yet to be made by the court but we have no doubt it going to be successful because he got a very good family with strong interpersonal relationships. We conducted family assessments and Gerald’s adoptive mother used to visit GLO three times weekly for a duration of the bonding period. We have since carried out home visits and Gerald is so happy with his new family.

Gerald's new uncle & cousins come to greet him

On 19th October Shiroo was reunited with her family after the final hearing of her mother’s case which she was placed under two years probation. Joyce had stayed in GLO for almost two years after being abandoned by her mother. She was severely malnourished and thank God through proper care and medication she has developed into a healthy girl. We are routinely doing home visits to ensure she is being cared for properly but we have to respect the court’s decision to return Shiroo to this environment even though we have reservations about the level of care the mother can provide.

Kwaheri little Shiroo

Again this has been so successful through special support from the entire GLO fraternity: Directors, Sponsors, trustees and all staff. Well done all and we wish you a merry Christmas and prosperous 2016.