Commemorating the International Day for Eradication of Poverty would not have been attained in Kenya without ‘spreading love’ at a children’s home. Arigatou International – Nairobi in partnership with Centre of Sustainable Conflict Resolution (CSCR), a member of GNRC, visited the Good Samaritan Children’s Home and Rehabilitation Center in Mathare, Nairobi, Kenya.
Welcomed by Ms. Hellen Oduor and Mr. Eric Gichimu, both social workers to the home, the team shared detail by detail about the children’s home. “This home is just like any other home and one of the most serious things that affect us is poverty,” Ms. Oduor said. She noted that poverty is one of the biggest problems they face, not only in the home and but within the wider community, and as a result, they struggle to provide basic necessities to the children and youth.Of the over 355 children in the home; 152 are in primary school, 153 are in secondary school and some 50 younger ones in a nursery school within the home.
Good Samaritan home receives abandoned, vulnerable or orphaned children from all corners of Nairobi County. In his statement, Mr. Gichimu stated that the home is motivated to work for children given the poverty in the community, which sometimes results to negligence, leaving children without the most basic needs.
“When I grow up, I want to become a pilot and use my wealth to sustain the lives of people in Mathare. I would like all of them to elevate from poverty.” – Victor Mwangi, a child at Good Samaritan Children’s Home.
The visit did not end without interacting with the children, who undoubtedly were full of life and hope for a promising future. With passion and desire for education, the children drew pictorials of what they aspire to be in future. From surgeons, accountants, doctors and teachers, the children anticipated a better future free of poverty.
Arigatou International – Nairobi’s visit to the center is just one of the many efforts and initiatives that we can all undertake in ending child poverty. Children, not only at Good Samaritan Children’s Home desire and indeed would have a better future if only we all come together to end child poverty.
As a Faith Inspired Organization, we at Arigatou International, believe that all children have rights and dignity that must be upheld, protected and promoted. Childhood adversity, especially violence against children and child poverty imposes an unbearable cost on the lives of children. We believe that recognizing and enabling the individual and collective voice of children is essential to helping us feel and share in this pain, to grieve and suffer with them and to prompt us to action.