Base visits

Every other Friday, the team from Kamulu usually joins the Eastleigh team and we get to visit the guys living on the streets and I always find myself learning new things even though I have been working with them for years. Today was no different. We went around visiting the bases (the place where the street kids hang out doing their daily routine or where they sleep), and one of them....well actually two bases made my Friday. One of them is called Lilliput base. I love going to this base because they are always attentive and organized. The second base is Riddim. Maybe to explain more about this base, I could tell you what happened today...we were from the other bases and this was our last visit for the day. This base is located outside the perimeter wall of an estate and right next to the road and so the guys from the base saw us coming from afar and hurriedly tried to hide their bottles of glue because they did not want us to find them sniffing glue. Working with street kids is always a challenge because you always have to know how to approach them and so Kennedy and I sat them down as Victor and Benjamin chatted with some of them about their health. It has been raining for a few weeks now, so the ground was wet and very muddy. We found a few good spots and Kennedy immediately started with his lesson. After his lesson they told us about a friend who had been a victim of a hit and run. The vehicle left him with a broken arm, broken leg, and an open wound on his head where most of his skin and hair was missing from his landing on the pavement. The amazing thing is that the guys from this base collected some money and took him to hospital carrying him on their backs in turns, a distance of around 5 miles. Well to cut the story short, they brought him back because they did not have enough money and now he was deteriorating. We took him to a nearby clinic and he got the necessary dressings and his medication and also got him some lunch and his friends took him back. It taught me a great lesson on friendship and helping each other when in need. what lesson do you get to learn?

by phillipo