Streetboys in Mombasa

A large but unknown number of street boys are living in Mombasa. At night they gather in a street behind the big hotels in city to get high on glue. They have spent the whole day on the street begging for money and food, mostly from tourists.

100% to the children supports a football project for street boys trough Mombasa Olympic Youth Organization (MOYO). You can find more information on the page MOYO Project.

BACKGROUND
A few weeks before our arrival to Mombasa in January 2009 almost half of the street boys were arrested by the police. Normally about 35-40 boys would show up for football at Bokey's, but this Friday they were only 20. Bokey told us that every once in a while the police "cleaned up" the streets for street boys, prostitutes etc.

The boys are put away in a youth prison in Mombasa. A fortnight later they are put on trial, and the charge is usually theft or street riots. They have two options: If they plead guilty they will be escorted to their hometown by an officer. Further more they will get a fine of 5.000-10.000 ksh. (375-700 DKK.)

If they plead not guilty, they are sent back to prison for another fortnight. Then they will be put on trail only to plead not guilty once again. This procedure usually goes on 2-3 times before they are released because of the lack of evidence.

The boys have no wish of seeing their parents again, if these are still a live.  They typically come from homes characterized by alcoholism, drug abuse and violence, and many of them has been sexually assaulted by their parents. The boys are not well come there any more, so they head back to Mombasa as soon as they get their change. Without money this is a very difficult and dangerous trip, but nevertheless the boys are back in Mombasa surprisingly quick.

NICHOLAS KARANI
Nicholas Karani accepted his sentence and was escorted back to his home village. He left again right away and went from Nairobi to Mombasa by hanging in his arms under a bus for 8 hours. The roads are very dusty and full of holes and bumps. When we met Nicholas he was still dirty after the horrible trip and he was very hungry.

The police in Mombasa has through a period of time made raids in the streets, in attempt to arrest as many of the street boys as possible. In a raid last week, Nicholas was among the many arrested boys. They were all driven to youth prison in an open truck. But on the way Nicholas jumped off and managed to escape from the police, even though his food was injured from the fall. The next day was football Friday, and Nicholas and 16 other boys showed up. They were all bruised from their escape from the police the day before. After finishing football he bought some glue and went for a swim with two other boys. Nicholas died by drowning.

After receiving the message, Bokey sent two boys to Nicholas' home village, to bring his mother the sad news. She was so drunk that they are doubtful, whether she understood the message.

Bokey and the street boys have decided to give Nicholas a small ceremony and bury him on Tuesday. Even though Bokey didn't have the money, he bought a coffin, which is about 600 DKK. 

The police are doing their best in order keep the streets clean and get rid of the street boys. The problem is that the boys don’t have many other alternatives to the streets.
According to the street boys, MOYO is one of the only organisations with some useful offers. That is why 100% to the Children has chosen to support MOYOs projects. It takes a lot of skill and patience to reach the boys, as most of them are quit shy. Bokey is a social worker and a boxer, which makes a very good role model for the kids. We need financial means to support these projects and get more people like Bokey.

WECLIEFF NDEDA
Weclieff is a street boy in Mombasa. He is missing his one arm. When we asked about how he lost it, he reluctantly told us his story. Before he came to Mombasa, he lived in the country. One day he was playing football, he fell and broke his arm in four different places. The nearest hospital was too far away, so he was brought to a local clinic in stead. They did their best to fix his arm, but a few days later it was so infected that they had to amputate it. Weclieff lives on the street among the other boys. He may seem aggressive in his attempt to compensate for his missing arm. Because of his obvious handicap, he is able to make more money on begging. This makes him unpopular with the group.

Every Friday the street boys can go to MOYO, to play football and get a decent meal. We support the boys by collecting money for these Fridays. One Friday for 40 boys is about 300.