Refuge for street boy once brutally sodomized
Sammy (not his name) is a teenage street boy in Nairobi who has been to hell and back.
Born 13 years ago in the streets, his has been a life of trauma and suffering untold.
His mother died when he was 10 years old and his only option at life was to scavenge from the streets of Nairobi.
By then, he thought life would only get better. He had seen it all, he assumed. He was wrong.
One dark night in 2013 as he was sleeping at Jevanjee Gardens, he says: “a huge street boy woke me up with kicks and blows. He threatened me with a knife not to shout and pulled down my trouser and forced himself through my behind. It was so painful. I tried to cry out but he covered my mouth with his hand hitting my head hard.”
RESCUE COMES
That is the night he was infected with the HIV virus. Like most street boys, Sammy did not report to the police or seek medical help. He only went to the hospital a year later when his health had deteriorated.
He had been at Kenyatta National Hospital for five months being treated hoping against hope that someone would come to his rescue as he did not want to go back to the streets after being discharged. And someone did come.
On Monday poor Sammy saw the star he has been wishing upon, for long. He was taken to a Rescue Centre in Ngong where he joined a big family and will later enroll in school.
“I’m very happy, I really wanted to get out of here. I’m ready and willing to go back to school and one day become a doctor,” he said shyly fighting tears of joy.