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We first met Vincent Halema at the Nanyuki Children’s Home in July, 2014. He was the sickest baby we had ever seen. He was severely underweight and in and out of the hospital for the first few weeks as they tried to keep him hydrated. Slowly he gained weight and began smiling. He desperately wanted to be held and screamed every time we tried to put him back into his crib.
Vincent’s sister, Maryanne, was in the nursery every day watching over her little brother. We were all impressed by her gentleness and concern for others. When her best friend, Karen, was chosen by a donor to go to a private school, she wasn’t jealous. Instead, she happily helped her friend pack and put on her new school uniform and told her how happy she was for her. Whenever we needed help with the babies, Maryanne was there to help us. Maryanne had her own health issues. When we took her to Cottage Hospital for a check-up, she had ringworm, swollen lymph nodes, a full body rash, and infected jigger (burrowing fleas) bites.
By the time we left in August, the housemothers at the Children’s home had nursed Vincent back to health. We also found out he wasn’t a baby; he was a two year toddler. His tiny body had fooled us into thinking he was much younger than he was. We learned that Maryanne and Vincent’s mother lived in the neighbouring slum, Likii, and was not capable of taking care of her children. We departed, knowing they were relatively safe at the Children’s Home.
In July 2015, we returned to the Children’s Home and were heartbroken to discover that both children had been returned to their mother.
The staff at the Children’s Home wouldn’t give us any information except that the children lived in Likii, the largest slum in Nanyuki. We spent the next three hours searching for Maryanne and Vincent. We went from neighbour to neighbour and each person told us to go a little further into the slum, that they were sure the children were just over there – no – they were down this street – no, not there – just around that corner…and on it went for hours.
Finally, we realized that the children were probably being hidden from us to protect their mother. We offered a small reward and within 10 minutes, Maryanne and Vincent came running into our arms.
Both children were thin and filthy. Maryanne looked tired and she had lost the softness and vulnerability I had seen last summer. She was guarded and edgy, clearly having suffered since we had last seen her. The children took us to their home, a dark, damp lean-to. The neighbours told us the children needed help, that they often slept outside and that rats would bite them at night.
We eventually found their mother, Cynthia Kaai. She was struggling to support the children and was relieved when two of our donors (Donna Usher and Clare Omelaniec) decided to sponsor the children to go to the Mount Kenya Baptist School, one of the best primary schools in the district. We took Jane and the children to register at their new school and bought them the supplies they would need for the coming year. A school bus would pick them up and take them home every day.
A few days before we left, we decided to visit the children to say good-bye. When we arrived, a neighbour told us Jane had disappeared and the children had slept outside without food. We spent the next two days fighting Kenyan bureaucracy to find a place for them to live before we left. We went to the police (they offered a jail cell), to the Children’s Ministry (they were closed for the weekend) and visited multiple children’s homes (they were full) but nobody would take the children.
Our flight was leaving the next day, so Ian Mungai, our PA-MOJA coordinator, and his wife generously offered to take the children until we could find a home for them. A week later, he placed the children in the Nanyuki Furaha Foundation Home for Children where they remain today. Both children appear to love their new home which is managed by a loving Italian woman named Andreina and are thriving at the Mount Kenya Baptist School. The whereabouts of their mother isn’t known.
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[one_third_last] Christmas Greetings, August 2018 Update, [/one_third_last]
