In Kenya, coronavirus cases continue to rise and last week the government announced that schools will remain closed until at least January 2021. At Shelter, we are complying with all government regulations to ensure the safety of our staff and children.
In many ways, our routines at Shelter have gotten back to "normal"--with the addition of social distancing, masks, and regular temperature and symptom checks. We remain committed to our ultimate goal of returning children to their families and communities. This means that all of our onsite programs have resumed (academics, counseling, recreation), and our staff has continued to conduct street work, home visits, reintegrations and and follow-ups with extra precautions.
With school closures, and the the continued devastation of the economy, we are seeing a sharp increase in the number of children on the streets.
To do our part, we are making plans to do another rescue of 25 boys from the streets next month. In order to comply with government guidelines, we will have to move the 26 boys currently at the Shelter to an outside facility for two weeks while we quarantined the new boys and staff at Shelter.
Following Up
The children and families we serve typically require support and follow-up after they return home. Our goal is always to do our best to not just get the child off the street and home with their families, but to ensure that they continue to succeed at home and not relapse back to the street. This requires our staff to be very connected to the families and also to the street, as in the case of Jacob.*
Jacob is one of our carpentry students who returned home to his family in March per government instructions. Jacob has been doing well at home according to his mother and has been helping her around the house with chores and his siblings. Our social worker follows up with the family weekly and no problems were reported.
Jacob with his mother
However, one of our staff members learned through another follow-up call that Jacob had been spotted in town with a group of street boys. Our street officer was able to take swift action and go to meet him in town. He learned that Jacob had a conflict with his father and instead of returning home the previous night, he decided to go back to the street.
Our staff was able to talk with Jacob's mom and work with the family to solve the problem and get him back home. Thanks to the consistent follow-up and quick response of our team, Jacob only spent a few days on the street instead of completely relapsing.
Thanks to your generosity, we are continuing monthly food distributions during this time of financial insecurity and instability.
How You Can Help
If you'd like to support our COVID-19 efforts and/or our ongoing family reunification work, you can submit a one-time or recurring monthly gift.
Thank you!