We break the cycle for children living dangerous lives on hostile streets and take them to safety. The Birunda Shelter provides a chance for some of them to grow up. Birunda provides accommodation for up to 6 months for 300 of these children aged 2 to 16 including basic needs, food, vaccinations, informal education, and the opportunity to be reintegrated back with their family.
In Kenya more than 250,000 children live on the streets. Kitale is particularly badly affected by agricultural disasters and persistent poverty. Children living on the streets lack the support of a responsible adult to provide consistent care and support. Our outreach workers find these children and provide that care in a safe shelter where they have access to education and basic needs while our worker counsels them to help them return home or be referred to an alternative long term safe space.
The Birunda Rescue Centre provides safety and rehabilitation for up to 80 children at any one time rescued from the streets. It has an open door policy. In the 6 months the children are there, our social workers try to make contact with their families for reintegration and provide group or individual counselling sessions. Children who require further care, however, or who are unable or unwilling to return home will be referred to a longer term care home.
The training at Birunda includes life skills, where the children are taught how to build self confidence, improve their behavior and learn how to make healthy decisions about their lives. The families are provided with training in bio intensive farming/micro business skills to ensure a sustainable means of income. All children are followed up and helped to reintegrate into communities and back into school. We provide a long term life change for children and their siblings not a short fix.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
