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About RAHA kids rehabilitation center for street kids and OVCs

It is hard to forget the sight of a seven-year-old child roaming the streets of a city at night, sniffing glue out of a bottle to stave off the hunger pangs. Sadly, this is a very common sight in large cities in Kenya, where thousands of girls and boys live on the streets. They are AIDS orphans because their parents abandoned them or perhaps because they escaped abusive parents. Being on the street means these children are often victims of physical and sexual abuse. It was estimated in 2007 that 250,000-300,000 children lived and worked on the streets across Kenya, with more than 60,000 of them in Nairobi. The mission could not disregard the predicament of these children and, thus, the need for a program that assists and supports them. RAHA KIDS and community schools are places of hope for the children of promise – hope out of poverty, abuse, neglect, and depression. Love never fails when we share the love and joy of the Lord Jesus Christ with those who have never experienced it. They come to us, the abandoned, the abused, and the orphaned boys. Many times, due to severe poverty, they come to our gates alone, or they are brought by neighbors, guardians, or single mothers who can no longer provide for them. The children often escape their deplorable conditions and find themselves on the streets, looking for love, hopes, and dreams. What they encounter, however, is the grim reality of exploitation and false hopes and promises. In Kenya, young people often beg, carry luggage, or clean business premises and vehicles to survive on the streets. A 15-year-old orphan living in the streets for four years said he used to collect garbage and help load and unload market goods, earning him up to 80 KSH (US $1) daily. (IRIN (2007), Youth in crisis: Coming of age in the 21st century – ‘KENYA: Nairobi’s Street Children: Hope for Kenya’s future generation’)

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