By Oscar Pilipili
Gaudencia Oludhe’s visit to Kibera slums opened her eyes to something she had never known before. Here, in one of Africa’s largest slums, she found out, it is the way of life for a mature man to marry a girl; a norm for people to consume hard drugs without a care and child prostitution seems acceptable.

Parents, either because they are overwhelmed by the magnitude of responsibility or don’t just care, ignore their children and their needs.

Sometimes the men who marry girls sicken residents and they ‘arrest’ them. But the law intervenes in the culprits’ favour and releases the beastly men. Once they come back to the community, they harass the people and the victims.

Left in tears
This state of affairs left Oludhe, a preacher, in tears. She decided to do something about it — to ‘rescue’ one child at a time from this hell they knew as home. To achieve this, she started a centre through which she would reach many hopeless children.

For the Spring of Hope Community centre to take off, Rev Oludhe got an administrator to donate land in Agwambo area of Kibera. Right now, the centre takes care of 65 desperate children.

“I strongly believe that I was called by God to serve his people because every morning desperate children would keep on knocking at my door asking for food,” she explains.

Tried to run away
“I tried to run away and shift to Tena Estate but I met the same case with children coming to my house looking for food.

“I yielded to the call and decided to return to Kibera and start an organisation to support desperate children. I started off by using my personal money.”
Soon she got friends and donors who are helping her keep the dream of improving the lot of children in despair alive.

For example, the other day friends from the United Kingdom donated donated clothes and foodstuff to the children, who received the handouts with jubilation.

Resource centre
Roy Hirons of Rooms 4U Properties Company in the UK and Sherrie Anyango who is a teacher in the UK were so moved by the children’s situation that they decided to build a modern resource centre and a block of toilets at the facility which currently has a mud-walled block.

The resource centre will also be used to teach the children life skills, an activity they haven’t engaged in as the current abode can only accommodate a few poeple. They plan to educate adults on life skills as well.

Others helping give the children quality life include Medicins Sans Frontiers — Belgium. It operates four free clinics in the Kibera areas of Silanga, Kisumu Ndogo, Katwekera and Olympic.  “The clinic in Olympic handles rape related cases which are said to be common in the slum while the rest of the facilities are for general treatment,” says youth peer educator Dorothy Anyango.

Rays of success
Oludhe says despite the organisation being just two years old, there are rays of success. Some of the children are happy that they got another chance in life. Milton Nyongesa is one such child.

“I fished out Nyongesa from the streets where he was scavenging and selling scrap metals to win daily bread for his family and brought him here,” says a proud Oludhe.
She enrolled him at St Charles Lwanga Primary School where he is now in Standard Four.

“He has undergone unbelievable behavioural change and he is one of the brightest pupils. He takes positions one to five in examinations.”

Nyongesa says: “I had almost lost hope but since I came here, my life has changed and I want to study up to university,” he says.

ories are, however, heartbreaking. For example, a mother to a little girl who is said to be HIV positive feels Oludhe is best suited to take care of the girl. In fact, she wants the girl at the centre permanently.

“The challenge is, we don’t have funds to cater for her medication or all her needs as a boarder,” says Oludhe as the girl clings onto her dress, happy to have another ‘mother’.

Adds she: “My organisation is still young and is not known much beyond Kibera and so I struggle to get money to feed these kids.”

But the church minister is not complaining. She says her God who called her to serve the children of Kibera will surely provide. He will never let the children go hungry or lack in school fees.