After snobbish priests and Levites, a Good Samaritan finally helps orphaned girl

By Faith Ronoh and Brigid Chemweno

Nairobi, Kenya: Ann Natasha, a young girl whose ordeal at the hands of her guardian was revealed by The Standard recently has a reason to smile.

The girl, who was tortured by her guardian after she refused to sleep with the men she had brought home, has finally received support from a well-wisher.

She has seen them all, both priests and Levites, while lying injured on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, but none has helped her. But finally the Good Samaritan has come her way (remember the parable of the Good Samaritan?)

Regina Pacis University College, a constituent college of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa has offered to take full responsibility of Natasha.

After calling The Standard to inquire about her, the college offered to pay school fees for the 15-year-old girl whose education had been cut short after her guardian stopped catering for her needs.

Justina Ndaita, the university’s principal said: “We will take care of all her needs. First and foremost, we must ensure that she goes back to school.”

“We will also provide for all her needs for as long as she is under our care.”

Ms Ndatia picked Natasha from The Standard offices in Nairobi on Friday.

An overjoyed Natasha thanked all well-wishers who had pledged to assist her and vowed to work hard in her studies.

“I am delighted and ready to go back to school. I thank everyone who prayed for me and offered help. I will always work hard and never will I disappoint my new guardians,” said Natasha as tears rolled down her cheeks. Natasha had been going through hell since her parents died in separate incidents several years ago.

Her father, a construction worker in Nairobi’s Umoja estate, was killed at the height of the 2008 post-election violence, leaving her in the hands of her mother.

But two years later, the cruel hand of fate dealt her another blow when it claimed the life of her mother. 

A well-wisher came her way afterwards but barely a year after paying for her school fees, the ‘Good Samaritan’, a bar attendant, tried to force her to join prostitution but the young girl refused to. “I escaped death by a whisker when my guardian stabbed me after I refused to sleep with the men she came home with,” said Natasha displaying scars on her chest during an earlier interview.

“I do not know any of my relatives because while my parents were alive, we never visited upcountry. However, I thank God because I will be able to study again and my new guardian becomes my new family,” she added.