By Peninah | Director
"The voice of scavenging storks wake me everyday apart from the smell of rotting debris around our home that has cling for 14 years in my throat.Brawling dogs,pigs and heaps of garbage side by side have been the friends we treasure so much.Living in a dumpsite has been the biggest nightmare of my life.Despite all the health challenges that come with it,we have to survive,we need to eat.We live in Dandora dumpsite with our single mother and we are 5.Am the last born.we wake up at 3am collect metals,rubber,milk bags,plastics,bones and used electronics.Pile them in sacks and by 6am i am off to school though i have to pass via safe spaces office to take shower. All my elder siblings refused to go to school and are all collecting garbage at the dumpsite.It is a tough life.
Am lucky because i joined safe spaces 2 years ago and i have been learning alot about life,about decisson making,about values,about goal setting and having a mission and vision for my life.I dont want to continue living in the dumpsite,i want a different life far from the garbage,i want to be a doctor and treat many people who die in the dumpsite because of contamination.I am very sad during the weekdays going back to our house everyday.The only days i feel so happy is when in safe spaces,its very clean,its entertaining it is just different.I just sat for my final exams in primary school and i hope i will get scholarship to go to a boarding school in high school"
Cecilia-14 years
We always wish our lives to be different from our current challenges but others wish they could run away from their current situations like cecilia.Life is just a journey and whatever challenges we undergo now shape where we go next.Fortunately we have friends who help us to make the next step in our lives.Friends who commit their hard earned cash to support unimagianble situations in our lives,friends who help us smile,learn,explore,play and feel the light coming at the end of the tunnel.This year,we give our heartfelt gratitude for supporting us go to school,play,learn and most of all being our friend.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.
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