Cleaning the streets!

Crime rates are soaring in  Kenya.From terror attacks in major cities of Nairobi and Mombasa to tribal clashes and banditry in North,Eastern and western parts of the country. Most common  are regular reports of  carjackings, armed robbery. "Snatch and run" crimes in the city  streets...Nobody is safe anymore.However youths in a part of the country are using minimal resources to address the situation.  Below read about a youth group in Nairobi is its own way is reducing rates of crime in the city ...

Even after going  through tough  rehabilitation programs within the confines of prison , Njagi Karume came home to sad realities outside where finding employment and acceptance back to an unforgiving the society  was a major challenge.

“No one would hire me. People feared and did not want to be associated with me because of my history of bad conduct” recalled the 26 year old “when life became unbearable I would steal and use heroine to forget my hopeless life.

Hope came in 2011 when he joined Dagoretti youth welfare association, a local youth group run by his peers that conduct peer education sessions in Kawangware, a low income area riddled with problems of poor drainage and flooding. The group with support from donors,runs a community rehabilitation and detoxification program targeting ex-convicts, Sex workers, drug addicts and street children, offering counselling sessions, Knowledge sharing forums and referrals to health services and a street children feeding project.

 As group member Laboso explains, their most outstanding outreach has to be their income generating project which has become a life source for reformed members.
“We wash cars, home carpets and clothes for clients daily at a fee. That way those without jobs earn a living and do not go back to stealing, sex work and drug abuse”

Seemingly the group is changing lives of many youth in Dagoretti; the two lead members Lawrence and James are now family men, are looking for more support to establish a more comprehensive rehabilitation centre to cater for more youth and rid their society of crime and drug abuse.

All the best guys!

Names have been changed to protect identities