BOY CHILD INITIATIVE
‘Lighting the way into their lives’
P.O BOX 68122 – 00200, NAIROBI, KENYA.
TEL. +254 716 656 073 / +254 727 617 847
EMAIL:
NAME OF THE PROJECT: - ‘CONSTRUCTION OF FOUR ADDITIONAL CLASSROOMS’
NAME OF ORGANIZATION: - BOY CHILD INITIATIVE
PROPOSED FUNDING COST: - USD 9,880
FACILITATION COORDINATOR: - MESHERK ORONDO
LOCATION: - LOCATED WITHIN KOROGOCHO SLUMS,
GITHATHURU WARD,
KASARANIDIVISION,
KASARANI DISTRICT,
NAIROBI - KENYA
CONTACT PERSON: - ALLAN ODHIAMBO
INFRMATION CONTACT: - P.O BOX 68122– 00200, NAIROBI.
EMAIL: -
CELL PHONE: - +254 716 656 073 / +254 727 617 847
INTRODUCTIONS
Boy Child Initiative is a Community Based Organization working within Korogocho Slums of Nairobi City to Rescue, Rehabilitate, Educate and Empower Street boys, drug/ substance addicts, those in criminal activities and outlawed sects, the abandoned and the neglected boy child; and also enlightens the community on the rights of the boy child.
Boy Child Initiative works to address the needs of such vulnerable boys who are being raised by street-based single parents or who are street-based and are involved in picking through trash and other forms of child labor, or have suffered neglect and abuse; byproviding Early Childhood Development education and second chance primary education after these children has been removed from the hazardous conditions. This is achieved through various family empowerment and child-centered initiatives that promote self-reliance through activities such ascommunity sensitization, counseling, mentorship, hygiene and rehabilitation programs as well as provision of supplementary feeding and helping children to obtain access to ECD and primary education topromote retention.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
There has been a great neglect of boy child in Kenya as their welfare is ignored by many. Many people and organizations have come in to promote the welfare of girl child; leaving the boy child behind. This has therefore left many Kenyans ignorant on the rights, wellbeing, welfare and social justice of the boy child.
In Kenya, it is ONLY NEWS when a girl child is raped, neglected, abused or abandoned; but it is NO NEWS when a boy child is sodomized, abused, neglected or abandoned. There have been increased cases of sexual harassment, abuse, neglect and abandonment of the boy child; many of which ends up unreported due to ignorance. This situation has made the boy child lug behind; as people believe that it’s only the girl child who is vulnerable and needs attention, care and support.
This has therefore led the vulnerable, orphaned, uneducated, poor, homeless, needy, neglected, abandoned and frustrated boy child to streets, others to outlawed sects like ‘mungiki’, ‘kamjesh’, ‘chinkororo’, ‘sungusungu’ ‘siafu’, ‘MRC’ and ‘taliban’, others to criminal activities, others to drug and substance abuse, others to violence like the 2007/2008 post election violence while others have been misused by the politicians.
It’s this situation that has led to a lot of criminal activities, inter-tribal violence and formation of outlawed sects which are threats to the national security.
It is in this regard that BOY CHILD INITIATIVE was formed in April 2012 to fight for the welfare and social justice of every boy child; and to enlighten the community on the need to give equal opportunities to all the children irrespective of their sex.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
To Rescue, Rehabilitate, Educate and Empower Street boys,drug/ substance addicts, those in criminal activities and outlawed sects, the abandoned and neglected boy child; and to enlighten the community on the rights of the boy child.
We do run a rehabilitation centre and school wheresuch boys are provided with shelter, food and clothing to enable them live smoothly, effectively and attain meaningful life status; as lack of the above has forced many boys to streets, drug abuse, criminal activities and outlawed sects.
Itis at the centre that these boys are further rehabilitated, educated and empowered after which their reintegration are arranged.They are alsomentored, offered psychosocial support and have their talents nurtured.
CURRENT SITUATION
Korogocho Slums is so much affected in terms of boy child neglect; and as a result, there are rising cases of sodomy, crime, violence, drug/ substance abuse, street boys and initiation to outlawed sects.
Cases of crime are reported daily with victims injured or even killed in some cases- and these criminal activities are carried out by the boy child who has been neglected and therefore struggling to earn a living.
PROBLEM STATEMENT KOROGOCHO SLUMS
There are various categories of the boy child living in especially difficult circumstances.
These includes
a)Street boys
b)Drugs/ Substance addicts
c)Criminals
d)Members of outlawed sects
e)Abandoned and Neglected
The above stated class of boy child comes from destitute families where most of them have known no human love, care and protection. They live a life of squatter, scavengering in the dust bins and begging from the streets for survival. Their ages range from 3 years to 15 years. Experience by BOY CHILD INITIATIVEin trying to understand the causative factors of the poverty problem revealed that majority of these children hail from poor, destitute families with difficult means of earning livelihood earning less than a Dollar a day. Private observation further revealed that 80% of these children come from single parents/familieswith large families and limited social economic support. Most of these children have been to a formal education for an average of four years which depicts a high level of illiteracy, the majority have dropped out of school due to school fees and other basic requirements and most of them forced to streets of Nairobi to earn a living.
Further investigations have revealed that these children experience acute problem, lack of public sympathy, affection, city inspectorate (Askaris) harassment, sexual exploitation, lack of food, lack of medical care and sleeping facilities. All of them face a bleak future condemned to poverty unless an emergency rescue measure is put in place.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
In order to ensure an effective and efficient intervention of this complex phenomenon of well being of these needy boys, the Social Justice for every boy child program aims to:
a)To rehabilitate male children who have been in streets, criminal activities, outlawed sects, violence and drug/ substance abuse.
b)To provide education scholarships and other academic opportunities to bright male children from poor families and disadvantaged communities.
c)To equip un-academic oriented male children from poor backgrounds with livelihood skills so as to be self reliant and break the poverty cycle in their lives.
d)To enhance boy child protection, promote a culture of their rights and enlighten Kenyans on their rights and welfare.
e)To set up small scale businesses to the parents/ guardians of destitute boys at reintegration to enable them afford basic needs and hence prevent them from getting back to streets, dump sites, drugs and criminal activities.
f)To offer both in-house and home feeding program to the destitute boys and their families.
BROAD OBJECTIVES
Due to increased number of beneficiaries in the program which stands as follows:
- Early Childhood Development – 69
- Lower Primary Education – 86
- Upper Primary Education – 34
TOTAL: - 184
The classrooms are very overcrowded and hence the beneficiaries are not comfortable while undertaking lessons.
Two different classes are also combined within one room due to the current limited number of classrooms.
It is in this regard therefore that BOY CHILD INITIATIVE is appealing to its Donors/ Partners/ Sponsors/Well- Wishersto support the organization either in kind or cash towards the construction of four additional classrooms.