13-year-old Leah Wamaitha does not know the whereabouts of her mother. She has been separated from her for many years and cannot recall her appearance.
It all started when her father died. Her mother developed a psychological problem and she went mad. As a first-born, life was difficult for Leah. None of her relatives wanted to be involved in her problems.
She was in a fix. She did not know what to do with her mentally disturbed mother. She did not even know which hospital to take her to. After sometime, her mother's illness worsened forcing Wamaitha to the streets. Her two younger sisters soon joined her. The family broke up.
The three girls started a new life in the streets where they had to get used to eating rotten food, sniffing glue, and begging. This was a difficult life for the children, but they had to cope with it with assistance from other street children. The children stayed in the streets for almost a year.
Leah Wamaitha cries every time she recalls the difficult life in the streets. She does not want to return to the streets again. "I remember one day I tried to borrow money from a man, instead of helping me, he abused me," says Wamaitha.
Their future now rests in the Sathya Sai School Home in Uthiru. The way these children ended up there is a story in itself. As they were wandering, it started raining. They took cover in a nearby police station. Wamaitha recalls that a police officer asked her about their background and offered to accommodate them for two weeks.
The officer later brought the girls to their aunt's home in Nairobi, but she refused to take responsibility, saying their father had left a curse when he died, and she did not want to get involved. The aunt then took the girls to another relative's house, in Nairobi. She also denied the children a place of refuge. She later took them to the Sathya Sai Home.
"When I grow up, I would like to become a police woman so that I can support those in need," Wamaitha says.
The Sathya Sai Home has a school where the children study. The teacher in charge, Philip Aburaka says they are trying to put love into the hearts of children who were used to violence of the streets. He says many of them change after some time and realize that they have been in the wrong place. Others find it difficult to change.
Aburaka says the school strives to improve the physical, social, and psychological welfare of the children despite limited resources.
Leah Wamaitha and her sisters were helped by Sathya Sai School Home, a FCF project in Nairobi, Kenya.
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