By Lilian Aluanga- Delvaux

At only 12 years, Pendo carries her model-like features with ease.

Her story, like many others at the Nairobi Remand Home located in Lower Kabete, is similar to those recounted by victims of child trafficking often lured to cities with promises of jobs and a good education.

According to her case file, Pendo, who is from Arusha, Tanzania, says a woman who promised to enroll her in a good school sponsored her journey to Kenya. But the woman would later abandon the girl at a bus terminus. Pendo ended up at a police station, and was later presented to the Children’s court, and sent to the holding centre at the Remand Home.

Bahati, aged between 12 and 13, has a similar story. She claims to have been tricked by a young man from her home in Musoma, Tanzania to accompany him to Nairobi, only to discover that he wanted to make her his wife. She fled and would later end up at the Children’s Remand Home.

Lina, a teenager from Kitale, is on her second stay at the home, having twice been tricked to accompany someone to the city with a promise to take her to school.

Other residents at the Home that fall under the ‘lost’ category are 13-year-old Macharia, aka ‘James Okeyo’ and Betty Amina, who insists her father’s name is ‘Bishop Odoke’. That’s all Amina, 14, who was picked in Kayole in September, last year can remember.

Then there is the latest entrant in the Remand Home, 10-year-old Alicia, who was found at Machakos Country Bus station in January.

“We can often tell cases where a child genuinely took a wrong turn and got separated from their parents, or where there could be a lot more going on at home that could have led to the child’s disappearance,” says Mr Charles Maina, a child protection officer at the Nairobi Remand Home.

Body language, says Maina, often spells dynamics of the relationship between ‘lost’ children and their parents — with hugs, kisses and tears showing closeness between the two parties. Often an aloofness, cold handshake, or indifference by the child towards their kin could denote deeper problems.

Mr Daniel Tiyong, a police officer at the Buruburu Police Station cites lack of proper supervision, physical and sexual abuse, and mistreatment of children as among reasons that could drive them away from home.

“While we do have cases where children genuinely get lost, our records also show that violence in the home can cause children to run away,” he says. Where children have left their homes under such circumstances, they often lie about their identities and that of their parents or even where they live.

Reports of missing children made at the police station fluctuate, with school holidays often recording higher numbers.

In one week alone the station may handle between one and ten reports of children reported as missing. In cases where no one comes forth to claim the child they are taken to the Milimani Children’s Court, which then determines where they shall be held until the cases are concluded.

So just what should one do should their child go missing or should one find a stranded child? 

“Report the matter immediately to the police, or the chief in areas where a police station may not be near. It is also important to inform a Children’s office near you,” says Munuhe.

It has also been difficult to establish, on a national scale, trends in cases of missing or lost children given that the police currently has no system of documenting such information. Things may, however, change soon should a pilot project initiated by the Department of Children’s Service become fully operational.

According to Jane Kabiro, a Children’s Officer at the department, the national child protection database would enable information on finance and administration, alternative family care (adoption, guardianship, foster care), field services, reports, as well as information on institutions (rescue centres, remand homes, rehabilitation centres) and Orphans and Vulnerable Children become more accessible.