The Boy Child - Kenya

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This is one of the many sad scenes you'll see in Nairobi, the number of boys in the streets is at an alarming level! They sit all day going from dumpsite to dumpsite rummaging for what they can find to eat! The situation is worse today as you'll find boys as young as 5years fighting it out with older teen boys for the little scraps of food (hotel waste sometimes rotten) that is unhealthy to consume. Some 3 year olds will hold your hand and not let you go until you part with a coin, ofcourse the mum is always near seated barking and giving directions to the small kid on who to follow! I once overheard one telling her kid to look at the shoes and the skin Colour 🙄 im sure the kid was wondering how that had to do with begging!

If you have been to Nairobi city then you are likely to have encountered one or two of these kids - some are very polite and seem to have mastered people skills and communication, they will charm you with smiles and look you in the eyes until you give them something. But some are outright rude, refuse to give them and you'll be followed around town in abuses!

What has this story got to do with the boy child?

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Surprisingly a large number of street kids are boys - Almost 90%! Always high on adhesives (they call it sniffing glue) and petrol (they dip a piece of clothe in petrol and sniff it) walking in town like zombies going through dumpsites. This is a dangerous life that slowly sucks them into criminal activities engaging in robberies around the CBD. There was this older chokoraa (as they are commonly referred) a while back that would walk around holding human waste (Shit) in a polythene bag, he would come up to and demand money threatening to smear you with shit if you failed to give him! Ladies fell victim to his demands and would oftenly end up getting robbed!

In 2002 the Kenyan government under President Kibaki administration, had initiated a programme to rehabilitate stree children. It was in his manifesto that these kids would get a decent place to live and a decent meal to eat as they acquire a life skill. Most of the social halls available were converted in to rehabilitation centres where they got an education, ate, slept and received counselling. Most of them kept running away and going back to the streets until the programme was no more - kinda like the government decided to give up on them!

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Some of the are nice though, like vince above ☝who left kenyans perplexed by his act of kindness when he returned ks 200k to the owner. This is what the owner had to say.

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Unfortunately Vince passed on last year after people who promised to help him failed to. He had been taken through rehab only to come out and go back to his old ways!

BOY CHILD STATUS

Its that of the above narrative - There has been an increase of debate in the public that shows how the boy child has been neglected. The affirmative action conference held many years ago in which Kenya took part of came back with an agenda that suggested that the boy child had been favoured for many years (which is true) and that it was time to empower the girl child.

It's news we welcomed and so we shifted all focus to the girl child completely forgetting the boy child. Many and many years of empowering and supporting the girl child left the boy in the dark. Parents, teachers, government and all institutions were no longer interested in minding how the boy was fairing on and so he was left to fend for himself like a stray.

Teachers dedicated their time and energy to girls, parents adored the girl child and institutions setting up initiatives left right and centre aimed at fostering the girl child growth, promoting them with ease. The government was not left behind by setting up loans specifically designed for women to start businesses and that in the name of gender balance - special parliamentary seats in the name of women representatives were created.

The boy child was demoralised, intimidated and lost all hope resulting to crime, drugs and all sort of ills! Others will never take responsibility for anything, this is why there's an increase of single mothers and dead beat fathers. Did you know a boy was most likely to;

• engage in crime
• go to jail, 20 times more likely to be jailed.
• drop out of school
• engage in dangerous risky behaviour

If we forget to empower the boy child then the nation is as good as dead. What is a nation or a house that has men dying before they reach 25 years? Will you have men to protect your territories.? The bear children or provide (workforce).?

Whats your take on the boy child issue?