Introduction |1-3|

When I lived in Kenya in 1996/1997 I was confronted with the street children for the first time. This was in Mombasa. I walked in the streets and that's where I saw these children, dirty clothes, no shoes, stoned and noisy. I asked my friend what these children were doing and if there was no home for them. They scared me a bit cause they were demanding for money and food and despite being children, their attitude was rude. I met them more times, and I knew by then already that in the future I would do something for them. Sometimes I had lunch at the restaurant Pistachio in Mombasa where you can sit outside and then the street children were watching us eating, moving their hand to their mouth, it was very hard to ignore this and continue eating. Sometimes I called them closed and gave them something sneaky cause it is not allowed to do that cause they disturb other people. Every time I went to Kenya and especially the last year when I spend more time in Nairobi, I noticed more and more street children. It hurted me but also scared me. I would not walk alone in the streets without my Kenyan friends if I saw a group of these kids. In Kenya about 700 people are dying daily of aids, most children are dropped on the streets no one to care about them. Family don't have money and the schools are expensive. The children in the streets are not friendly and definitely most people prefer to pass them fast and far from them. They sometimes carry sharp things like broken bottles and they also threat to throw you with human waste if you refuse to give them something... [more]