Giving back - Street feeding program

dutchesswanga (28)in #photography • 7 years ago

They say to whom much is given, much is expected. Well, I really don't have much but I realized that you don't have to have much to give back. See that old shoe you never wear? Well guess what, someone would love to have it. And those clothes that you or your children have grown out off, get rid of them instead of having an overflow of clothes you'll never wear.

I decided to be a part of a street feeding program in one of the slums in Nairobi called Mlango Kubwa which when directly translated means 'big Door' I don't get the co relation because there is no door or doors that somehow lead to that slum.

I digress, now see here in Kenya and I'm sure in most countries even more developed countries, street families are seen as a menace and are everywhere. What the government does is remove these street kids/ families from the major towns but they have to be relocated somewhere else so what does the government do, they dump them in slum areas like Mathare, Mlango Kubwa, Kibera where no one would really complain being slums most people living in these areas are squatters so they can't say much.

But that is where the governments work ends, sad, really sad. These are human beings! They need to eat, be clothed and have a roof over their heads. That's where volunteers like myself and so many others come in. We help where we can with all the basic needs. I have partnered with a couple of well wishers who fund for feeding of more than 400 street families in Mlango Kubwa. This has given me so much joy, seeing that one kid, who comes back to thank me for my time really swells my heart. Most of these people are high on drugs, I guess it helps to cope with their problems.

I am not some kind of angel, but I just felt a gap in my life. Life is not just about receiving, it's also about giving back where and however you can. That is the true meaning of life.

Most of the women in the streets have very young children who are exposed to sexual predators. Like this little angels.

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We do our best to convince their mothers to let us take their young for months at a time to give them shelter and an education. Don't get it twisted, just coz these women are high on drugs and homeless doesn't mean they don't love their kids. They do and are very protective of them. You can't even touch these young kids unless you're familiar with their mothers.

For the younger girls we provide counselling especially on birth control methods and how to take care of themselves hygienically.

We are a team of about 40 volunteers and we cook both breakfast and lunch for these families each weekend.

Sometimes big people like the current secretary general to the UN(United Nations) visit but it's mostly for Public Relations purposes, they take photos, organize a football match and Boom! disappear into the abyss.

I don't blame them though, the Kenyan government has done much less to help these street families. But as for me and my group of volunteers, this is something we intend to keep doing until we can't.