Kwetu Haven: Providing Children A Sense of Security, Normalcy, and Hope.

Over the years, nisria’s rescue program has reconnected more than 400 lost youth with family members and loved ones. Children are found alone for many reasons, though food insecurity ranks among the top reasons a child may be separated from his or her family.

“I had a boy with a case of lost and found who tried to hide his identity by changing his name, his residence, his parents’ details - by claiming they are dead,” said Paul Mburu Nganga, nisria’s  social Coordinator who is responsible for coordinating our Rescue and Shelter programming. The case was referred to nisria from the police after the boy had already spent a week in a jail cell while police were trying to trace his relative. Paul worked with the boy to understand the truth - that his parents were alive - and finally know the boy’s real name and residence. Finally, the boy reunited with his parents happily.

Staying in prison is a traumatic experience, and we are so happy to have our new Kwetu Haven as a safe space for lost children to await reunification. The harsh reality is, not all children are happily reconnected with their parents as shared in our first story.

For some youth, it can take many months for reunification. For others, they can wait many months only to ultimately have nowhere to go. While we do our best to keep families together, sometimes the only option is to find an appropriate children’s home.

How Can We Do Better?

At nisria, we are working on integrating our programs more completely to maximize the benefits and experiences of everyone involved. Recently, our Maisha team took its first trip to visit youth staying at Kwetu Haven, including one boy who has already been there for months. 

This boy walked hundreds of miles from home in search of his mother, who had remarried in another region. Unfortunately, our attempts to work with known family members to reunite the boy with a home are going unanswered. Sometimes, it’s too far for families who were already separated due to severe poverty to travel, or that they know they are unable to care for the child if he or she returns. Sometimes no family members are available and in other times the parents or family members are eligible to take care of the child such as being abusive, alcoholic or addicted to substance.

So, we can do better. In our journey, we've recognized the importance of providing more than just shelter and food - Kwetu is about offering a sense of security, normalcy, and hope.

Our maisha team was happy to spend time with this boy. The crew brought snacks to share and played games, and were so overwhelmed to bring such joy at such a time of need.

“When the kids are there, it’s good to have the team go there and sit with the kids and play with them,” said Valentine Mwenja, nisria’s our Project Manager. 

 The trip inspired the Maisha team to host a clothes drive: Clean, comfortable clothing can be a powerful symbol of renewal, and we've witnessed the impact firsthand. We are so happy to report the drive was met with an amazing response (see our video here). 

Many who arrive in our care have nothing but the clothes they wear. Kwetu Haven is shaping to be the space that will provide basic needs care but also transformative support to get these children back on their feet and off to a better place in their lives.