In Their Own Words
Our Vocational Students’ Poem of Thanks
REFORMED They laughed at us When we roamed the streets They scorned us When we over turned the dustbins They spat at us When we passed near them with tattered clothes And stinking bodies They sneered at us When we lay on the streets In the cold nights And heavy rains They starred at us When we sniffed glue They never took notice When we begged for food But today We design their clothes We build their mansions We dress their hair We drive and repair their cars We... [Read more]
Trip Gave Us Hope for New Education Center
I will first begin by introducing myself. I am a student who just graduated from Jomo Kenyatta University with a Diploma in information technology, sponsored by Jitegemee. I have been a child in Jitegemee from 1996. I hope to continue my education if that chance opens up for me. It was during our school vacation, in August 2009, when the Director informed me about some visitors who were to come that year. The visitors were none other than architects Mark Palmer... [Read more]
A Life Changed from ‘Worse to Good’
From when I was born up to when I joined Jitegemee, my life experience was very bad. Before I joined Jitegemee, I was in the streets just sniffing glue and also drinking alcohol. I could be arrested and taken to a police station at any time. There was no one who came to see me in the police station, so I sometimes stayed there for months. When I was about seven years old, I went to the city of Nairobi. I used to take other people’s property and run away.... [Read more]
Student Always in Top 20 of His Class
Years ago, primary education in Kenya was not free and mandatory. Many children from poor backgrounds were unable to receive an education. Many problems forced these children out of school—broken families, hunger, poverty, and lack of money to pay school fees. One of our sponsored children frequently hung out with a very jovial boy in tattered clothes. This boy, a smiling kid named Kivua Kiilu, appeared very comfortable in the streets. He did not have anywhere... [Read more]
No Longer Sniffing Glue & Abusing Drugs
Life has been hard right away from my childhood. I used to live with both of my parents. When I attained the age of six years, they took me to a nearby primary school, where I was enrolled in class one (1st grade). By then my father was a drunkard with no source of income and he was not able to pay my school fees. My mother worked as a casual laborer and with the little she earned, she bought us food and paid my fees. Sometimes when dad came home drunk, he... [Read more]
‘May God Bless the Jitegemee Program’
I remember some years back when I was not in the Jitegemee program. My life was very strange because I was not going to school and I was very bad behaved. Now when the Jitegemee program was started I joined St. Mary’s Girls Primary School. But when at first I joined the school my mother told me that I had no right to go to school and I deserve to stay at home. I was very angry and noted into my heart that I would not step in the school not even a single day.... [Read more]
