By Fraire Nyale – GLO Social Worker
Since opening our gates in April 2008 we have always encouraged our GLO family to share their views and how they feel about living at The Good Life Orphanage so a day in the calendar to celebrate ‘2021 Day of General Discussion’ was very welcome. Elvis, Melissa, Naomi, Derick, Obama, Grace, Michael and John were very keen to join in the discussions. Also some of the children that we now support in their family units since they have left The GLO, Hassan & Rama Kombe, Shainuru, Saumu, and Margastone along with two children from the community participated in the discussions on childrens’ rights among other topics.

The Good Life Orphanage is among the Charitable Children Institutions in Kilifi County that have embraced the new global care reform which is led by Catholic Relief Services in Kenya together with the Kemyan government to realize its agenda thus it was selected to participate in 2021 Day of General Discussion.

The aim of the activity was to gather young people’s views and ideas on their rights, and for many of our children experiences of alternative care as they now have been living with their extended families for some time. The activity involved three exercises which included children discussing on their resource map with their communities, Essay on their typical day in their life and also Visioning tree that required children to identify the support they may require as the live in Alternative care or their families.

A survey that was created by researchers from international Institute of Child Rights and Development(IICRD) formed part of the exercises. The findings of these activities will be written into a report by staff CTWWC-Kilifi and CRS, and shared with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child .

Together with our support and the CTWWC Team–Kesho Kenya staff the activity came into a success. Our children were lucky to take part in this global activity that their experiences and views will contribute to strengthening their rights as well as Alternative Care System in the world.

The reforms taking place in Kilifi County will soon be rolled out across Kenya so our children believe they are part of the sea of change. They are very eager to have their views & ideas recognised as they will help other children deal with being reintegrated back into the community and life outside the gates of The Good Life Orphanage.

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