Adam Kiptoo and Habiba Kiptoo are siblings of about five and two and half years old respectively. The two children joined the GLO on 6th January 2014. Adam was 3 years and Habiba was 6 months old when their mother abandoned them at a neighbour’s house after a domestic conflict between her and the husband. Their mother tricked a neighbour into believing that she was going to the market and needed someone to look after her children for one hour but she never returned.
The neighbour was very worried about the mother’s frame of mind and decided to bring the children to the police station. The Children’s Officer got in contact with The GLO and we quickly dispatched our vehicle to rescue the two children and bring them to the security of the orphanage. Both children were in a sorry state, Adam was half naked, dirty and wore only a shirt while Habiba was wrapped in soiled clothes. Adam looked healthy but Habiba was very weak and couldn’t sit up without support. Adam weighed 9.5 kilograms and Habiba weighed 5.5 kilograms.
Although the children were now safe, we quickly noticed that both were traumatised by their experiences of life within an unsettled home. During their two years at The GLO we saw tremendous changes on all elements of their behaviour.Initially, Adam believed that the only way to solve issues was by using physical force and he lashed out at other children if he did not get his own way. Habiba was also very selfish, she did not like any person from the other houses to walk into Keogh House and she would scream loudly if anyone took anything from her, she would also scream if a visitor came into her line of vision. She only felt safe when she could see the children from Keogh House and in particular Chabetty.
Thankfully Mama Delrosa, Auntie Rosemary and Lucy our counsellor quickly identified their problems and slowly, slowly both Adam & Habiba started changing and adopted the culture of brotherhood. It took Habiba almost a year at GLO before she started to walk and even to this day she experienced a lot of health problems which through great help from our well experienced Dr Duthia were counteracted. On contrary, Adam was a very healthy boy and barely got sick, he only went to hospital to attend the normal clinics. He is also a brave kid who surprised us all by joining KG1 after passing an examination and interview last year.
During the past two years Hemed our Social Worker has worked tirelessly in tracking down the children’s parents and after spending many hours with the mother it was decided that she was now capable of caring for the children as the religious problems within the marriage have now been solved. In mid December their father came to visit the Adam & Habiba, he was very remorseful about what had happened to his two children and promised that they would now care for them as a couple.
On reading Hemed’s reports the courts decided to reunite the children with their parents but it is stipulated that they are placed on one year probation with close supervision from the children’s officer. Both Hemed and Lucy will also carry out random checks to ensure the children are receiving proper care. It’s our prayer that the children will now be cared for properly within a happy family unit, both children are now very healthy and happy thanks to the dedication of The GLO fraternity. As always without the ongoing support from our financial donors and fundraisers we would have never been able to achieve this feat and reunite Adam & Habiba with their parents.
