Catholic religious sisters are working to aid vulnerable girls on the streets of Nairobi, Kenya, by offering them friendship and a chance at education. It’s believed that around 60,000 families live on the streets in Nairobi.
Sister Caroline Ngatia, of the Assumption Sisters of Eldoret, told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that in most cases the mothers of the vulnerable girls are on drugs.
Despite this, the sisters partner with the mothers and if the girls show a willingness to be rehabilitated they are sent to another organisation away from their families.
Sister Ngatia said, “Once they are rehabilitated, we empower them economically, and then we reintegrate the girls back with their families.
“Those who cannot be reintegrated with their relatives remain with us, so we take them to school, we pay for their school fees, and we do a lot of psycho-social support, because they are girls who have been sexually abused in the streets, girls who are infected with AIDS.”
When given the choice the girls prefer not to go back to their old life on the streets.
“When we manage to rescue these girls there is a total transformation to becoming a better person in society,” said Sister Ngatia.
“We encourage them to take education seriously, because only education can break that cycle of poverty.”
ACN has supported the sisters with construction projects and by providing scholarships for education.
Superior General Sister Joyce Nyagucha Ontune praised the work of her order, saying, “Because they are well trained, they can run the projects well and we can see the fruits.”
She continued, “We even have other organisations asking us to run their homes, because ours are doing well, because the sisters are skilled.”
According to the US government, an estimated 1.6 million people in Kenya have HIV/AIDS, representing nearly three per cent of the population. It is also believed that over a million children in Kenya are orphans due to HIV/AIDS.
