St. John Bosco Rehab Centre Rescuing and teaching street children

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1 370 W Camino Gardens Boulevard Boca Raton, Florida Project 0568 St. John Bosco Rehab Centre Rescuing and teaching street children Kitale, Kenya Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

2 Project Synopsis Description Seek out poor children, provide a safe shelter and education, rehabilitate them from street life, and reintegrate them into their families. Purpose To protect defenseless children from exploitation, disease, poverty, and all the dangers of the streets, so they can live healthy lives and become self-sufficient adults. Location Slums on the edge of Kitale in western Kenya. Cost $39,600 will help to cover operational costs for a full year, benefiting 220 children. Highlights Families fleeing hunger and violence in the desolate Turkana region have migrated into crowded slum camps on the edge of Kitale, where their chances of finding work are not much better. Known for widespread alcoholism, prostitution, disease, and poor nutrition and sanitation, the slums are a dangerous place for children to grow up. Instead of going to school, many children must fend for themselves on the streets, either because their parents have died of AIDS or their families cannot afford to take care of them. St. John Bosco Rehabilitation Centre rescues these poor children from the streets, welcomes them into a two- to three-year recovery and education program, enrolls them in a local school, and reintegrates them into their families. The center is asking for support from Cross International Catholic Outreach to continue its mission of changing the lives of street children. Without the compassionate work of St. John Bosco Rehabilitation Centre, these precious children will be defenseless against exploitation and abuse, and will never get the education they need to become employable adults. 1

3 Alone on the Streets No child should have to beg for food. But in the crowded slum camps on the outskirts of Kitale, Kenya, the sight of children fending for themselves on the streets is far too common. Instead of going to school with their peers, poor children exert all their strength just trying to survive scavenging through garbage, living from handout to handout, and doing whatever they must to somehow find their next meal. Most of the people in the slums have migrated from the dry and desolate Turkana region in northern Kenya, where large numbers of pastoral farmers have been driven away by hunger and tribal conflict. Lacking any formal education, these displaced families don t have a much better chance of finding work in Kitale, and their poverty has only been deepened by national economic inflation caused by the latest outbreak in violence. Yet they have nowhere else to go. It is tempting to ask whether anything good can come out of the slum camps, known for widespread prostitution and the brewing of illegal alcohol. The typical house is a windowless, igloo-shaped hut made from plastic sheets, cardboard, and sticks a bare-bones shelter based on the design of the traditional Kenyan home, normally built with mud. Most adults are unemployed or in low-paying, unskilled jobs, and often are unable to feed their own children, who have no choice but to go out and beg. Other children end up on the streets because their parents have died of AIDS and there is no one to take them in. Completely alone, weak from malnutrition, and at risk of deadly diseases, these defenseless children fall prey to exploitation and abuse. 2

4 From the Streets to the Classroom The St. John Bosco Rehabilitation Centre, a Catholic charity run by the Maryknoll Lay Missioners, is giving street children much more than a handout. An experienced social worker seeks out the neediest boys and girls in the slums and brings them to the center, where they receive safe but temporary shelter and a chance for an education. They must be found early, before they become hardened by the squalor and criminal mischief of the streets and are trapped in that life forever. During the two- to three-year residential rehabilitation program, the children get personal attention and counseling from St. John Bosco s compassionate staff members, receive medical care (especially for those who are HIV positive), participate in non-formal schooling so they can catch up academically, and learn to protect themselves from the dangers of substance abuse, AIDS, and child trafficking. Eventually, the children are enrolled in Rescued from the streets when he was 8 years old, Edward Ekadeli now teaches English to children at St. John Bosco Rehab Centre. a local public school. The center assists them with the cost of uniforms, supplies, lunches, fees, and other expenses even after they have returned to their families. Also, to ensure that the children reintegrate smoothly with their families and get the most out of their education, a social worker conducts follow-up visits and meets with the whole family. The parents play an important role in the healing process, and all effort must be made to prevent the children from returning to the streets. Thanks to the work of St. John Bosco Rehab Centre, many children are advancing from hopelessness to self-sufficiency. In 1994, the center found 8-year-old Edward Ekadeli on the streets begging for food. His family had moved to the slums from Turkana and was too destitute to support him. The center rescued Edward from the streets and sent him to primary and also secondary school. Against all odds, Edward excelled in his studies and earned admission into Masinde Muliro University to pursue a degree in education something he never could have dreamed when he was living in extreme poverty and begging for his next meal. Now, Edward is giving back to his rescuers by working as a non-formal teacher at St. John Bosco, where he gives English lessons to kids who are facing the same challenges he once went through. Edward is the first of the center s children to enroll in a university, but others are receiving financial support to attend vocational school, which will give them a big advantage in the job market. 3

5 Transform a Child s Life! A free meal will not rescue a poor child from the streets. The hungry must be fed, but they also need a good education, a safe environment, and a loving, supportive family to help them grow into healthy and self-sufficient adults. St. John Bosco Rehabilitation Centre strives to meet children s needs holistically, so they will not become hardened by the dangerous slum culture of alcoholism, drug abuse, prostitution, and disease. But the center cannot provide all this care without the support of compassionate American Catholics. Cross International Catholic Outreach shares St. John Bosco s heart for the poor and is committed to supporting the rehabilitation of street children in Kitale, Kenya. By joining with us today, you can help rescue a hungry child from the dangerous streets, so they can be fed, educated, and ultimately reintegrated into their families. Jim Cavnar, president of Cross International Catholic Outreach, wants these precious children to get the food, shelter, and education they desperately need. With your help, they can. Our Promise to You! 100 percent of the proceeds of this appeal will be used for this project. In the rare event that we receive more than needed to fund this project, additional gifts will be used for other urgent needs for the poor W Camino Gardens Boulevard Boca Raton, Florida