Growing up too young
Kisumu seems to be screaming out a story of abandonment. Parents die at a young age, with their children being forced to grow up far more quickly than they should. That’s exactly what happened to the neighbours living beside the Milele Centre. The four children, aged...
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Soccer is transforming Bungoma’s streets
Who would have thought a ball and net would rally Bungoma’s youth and give them a vision for their future? Bungoma’s street boys spend their days searching for food and just ‘surviving’, which means there’s no time to play games or enjoy life. But our partner,...
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A new future for Shamillah
Some children have all the potential and drive in life to succeed, but it’s their circumstances that hold them back. Things happen to them out of their control and these things so heavily restrict their future. But not for Nakamate Shamillah. She lives in the slums of...
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Children rescued from terrorist group
In May, 126 children were rescued from a radical Islamic terrorist group in Uganda. These children were kidnapped, held hostage, abused and trained by the group, so they could be trafficked to the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s difficult to imagine exactly what...
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I will never forget the sight of his pink vest
When I first met Steven*, he was sitting on the railway tracks, wearing a pink puffer vest. He instantly jumped up the moment he saw me leaning out the window with my phone. He rushed up to the car waving a piece of paper at me. It was a grubby little brown envelope...
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This is why they live on the streets
There are many reasons these boys in Bungoma find themselves living on the streets… and it often takes a pretty awful situation at home for them to choose the tough street life. One such situation is caused by a cultural phenomenon called “widow inheritance” where if...
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You won’t believe what these boys are forced to eat
Before DIAS Director, Rod, left for Africa last month, he had a question he wanted answered. And while he was walking the streets of Bungoma in Kenya, it was. His question was this: does helping and feeding street boys actually make them want to stay on the streets?...
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You can rewrite this tragic story
You’re alone. It’s dark. You’re crying out for help, but no one is coming. Imagine you had to go through this, like 17-year-old Jessica did. She didn’t know what was happening to her. She was disabled, unable to talk, walk or feed herself. All she could do was lay on...
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Dirt and water bringing life
Domtila and Kevin have two very different stories, but they have one thing in common: the Milele Farm is keeping their families alive. The Milele Farm is giving more than 15 families in the community food, plus it employs three people to work the land. One worker,...
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The day I was given a gift
By Chris Emert It was May 2017, and I was on a long plane trip headed to Uganda. We were on our way to pick up three children and bring them back to Australia for surgery. I’d been before, but this trip would be different for me. Of course now I had some knowledge of...
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It all started with a dream
When Joseph arrived in Bungoma, he didn’t know what he was doing there. His wife was a teacher who was posted to Bungoma, so they moved for her work. But Joseph had no plans. But then he remembered a dream he had many years ago. “In 2002, I had a dream. In this dream,...
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“It was a moment of joy in the slum”
At the end of last year, you helped fund three Christmas parties in Kyampisi, Kisumu and Nateete. Haggai, our partner who organised celebrations for the children at New Seasons School, shares his experiences: “Most of the families in Nateete are poor of the poorest...
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