Tale of brothers who have survived streets for 7 years

By PATRICK KIBET

It is not common to have brothers living in the streets like a family. But that’s just what Francis Maina and Daniel Mwangi have done for seven years.

Maina, 20, and his younger brother came to Nakuru in 2005 after their parents separated. They stayed with their grandmother in Laikipia only for a month.

“We lived in Ngarua in Laikipia but when parents separated we were forced to the streets as no one was willing to take us to school,” Maina says.

Maina was in class six and admits performing dismally in school. Though his two sisters remained with their parents they have never met them.

 Like other streets urchins Maina was introduced to drug abuse. “I used to see other street kids smoking bhang and I joined them,” Maina says.

Maina is jovial and open unlike his brother Mwangi who sniffs glue and looks wasted. The two brothers have to stuck together in the seven years they have lived in the streets.

Maina also admits joining crime and robbing people on Nakuru-Nairobi highway, but is quick to add that he has since reformed.

“I used to steal phones from people along Nakuru State House road. I would threaten to hit them with human waste,” Maina says. “I stopped after my accomplices were killed by either the police or a mob.”

Financial support

The two have also been to Nairobi, Nyeri, Olkalou and Thika in their seven-year stay in the streets before returning to Nakuru.

Through Geoffrey Esebwe’s Reformed Youth Group, the brothers have undergone rehabilitation and learnt entrepreneurial skills. “The group has helped me instil discipline through martial arts and I believe I will get out of these streets in the future,” Maina poses.

In order to survive on the streets, they are forced to beg, carry luggage, or clean business premises and vehicles.

Through the youth programme started, majority of street families have trained in basic entrepreneurial skills while other joined youth polytechnics.

“Those children interested in going back to school are enrolled to children homes where they continue with their studies,” Esebwe said. He believes with enough financial support he can help the street children get out of the streets.