Hundreds of boys call Bungoma’s streets their home. They search for scraps of food on dumping sites and when restaurant workers bring a wheelbarrow of leftovers, the boys must fight off the street dogs to claim it. It’s a hard life for these children, who have been abandoned or chosen to leave their homes after being abused, neglected or frightened. Our partners, Joseph and Cate felt moved to give these fatherless boys a father figure to depend on.
Restoration Of Hope Ministries International (ROHMI) was created to give abandoned street children a loving home and an opportunity to attend school. Thirty boys are accommodated at a rented home and in 2020, the Drop-In Centre was opened to Bungoma’s street boys. The ROHMI team dream of purchasing land where they can develop a purpose-built home, school, training centre and a self-sustaining farm.
Before starting ROHMI, Joseph was a pastor and his wife, Cate, a teacher. They felt compelled to start ROHMI after seeing so many children suffering on the streets. In the early days, Joseph would take them to the river for a bath and help them wash their clothes. On Sundays, he’d feed them and do his best to treat their wounds. However, it soon became clear that more preventative action was needed. So, Joseph rented a home for the boys and placed them in good schools.
ROHMI currently houses thirty boys in a home where they are clothed and given daily meals. Joseph has enrolled these boys at local schools where they are thriving! Many are achieving high academic results at the top of their classes. A counsellor regularly works with the boys to provide psychological wellbeing and helps them overcome trauma. Birthdays and other special events are celebrated, just like you’d find in any regular home.
In mid 2020, ROHMI opened a Drop-In Centre to cater for the hundreds of local street kids. In Kenya, there are no free government hospitals or clinics and no private or NGO-run facility anywhere nearby. The Drop-In Centre provides medical care, emergency meals, clothing, showers and a laundry service. It can also accommodate a few over-night patients in desperate need of rest. In 2021 alone, the centre treated 690 patients – all of whom could not have afforded the care themselves.
Through football, ROHMI reaches out to street boys and gives them an outlet to practice their skills. On weekends or when school is finished for the day, those living in ROHMI’s home and others still living on the streets come together for training sessions. They often play each other in friendly matches and enjoy a meal together afterwards.
ROHMI provides a daily nutritious meal to 390 children, sleeping rough on the streets. The children receive a “ticket” to purchase a meal from a number of store owners which generates work for the storeowner. This lifeline not only provides essential nutrition, but takes away the desperation that could drive the boys to steal. Joseph and his team meet with the boys daily to hear their stories, provide fatherly council, settle conflict and dispense medicines.
For those that demonstrate initiative and trust, ROHMI will provide the opportunity to start a small-scale business. The boys are provided with trolleys that can be hired to carry materials, bicycles to operate as taxis or carts from which to sell produce. In 2021, twenty-one boys managed to earn enough income to rent their own rooms!
to support ROHMI and give children the care they need.
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